Thank You

Thank you to everyone who has developed the guides for navigating the PIP form. 12 months ago my husband had his PIP application rejected with 0 points in all categories. He has had Alzheimer's for the last 6 years and the telephone consultation resulted in comments that because he was still driving that this was a highly functioning cognitive skill and that he was choosing not to manage money himself he didn't qualify. We asked for a mandatory reconsideration and he forgot to tell me that this had been refused so I missed the opportunity to take it to a tribunal.

I waited 12 months and in the interim his long standing back issues were diagnosed as severe spinal stenosis.

Reapplied and he has been awarded enhanced PIP in both living and mobility categories (the spinal stenosis has affected his walking a lot in the last 12 months so this was new)

Learning to use the right way to describe the challenges he faces has definitely meant that this award was made.

At his telephone assessment I made it clear that the issues with his memory was more short term - so the fact that he had been driving for nearly 50 years meant that it was a long term memory. We also made it clear that although the car is not specifically adapted we had changed to an SUV with higher seats and an automatic gearbox to enable him to continue to drive.

He reaches pension age in 10 months time and the award is for 10 years.

Without the guidance in this forum I am sure we would not have been successful!