Clarification on PIP report

Hi Katiee

I don't know why you were told to contact the DWP about your recording. I copied this from their site

"After your appointment, you will receive a link to your recording by text message or email, and a separate text message with a one-time password. The password will expire after 24 hours and can only be used once to access and download your recording. This is to protect you and the information you provided at your appointment.

If you would like a CD copy of the recording, please let the health professional know. We will also keep a copy of the recording.

After your assessment, if you have any difficulties accessing your recording, or need a CD copy, please contact Capita." haas.capita.co.uk/en/benefit-types/pip/telephone-assessments

So they have not followed their own guidance. Get back onto them as they should still have a copy of your recording. Do be prepared for them to say that they have 'lost it'

With regard to the assessor saying that you don't need any help, even though you have said you do, they are simply giving their 'opinion', which differs from your own. This, unfortunately, happens to many claimants. Cut and paste jobs are also common.

With regard to "the evidence does not support a restriction", you understandably ask what evidence do you need to provide? That's a difficult one for me to answer, as I don't know what sort of argument you have been making, what evidence you gave, or what, specifically, the assessor is referring to. Again, you are not alone in receiving a remark like that in your assessment feedback.

Generally, assessors are looking for some sort of corroborating evidence to back up what a claimant has said, and this could come in different ways - official diagnosis, letters from professionals, or relatives or friends, care plans, diaries, it could be inferred from the dosage of medication taken, aids used, or support given.

Is it worth you putting in an MR? Only you can decide this. Only 27% of MRs are successful, but those that win certainly think it is worth it. Over 65% of Appeals are won, but again, although it is a hard slog, many people think it was worth doing.

BIS

Hi Katiee

I'm sorry that you are so worn out by this, but I am not surprised. Some of the rubbish they have been spouting is just ridiculous. You clearly have given them up-to-date evidence and to have a fixation about whether you had support at school for something you hadn't even been diagnosed with is simply below standard reporting (and that's the polite way of putting it).

And as for not being referred to a 'memory clinic' - that's up to a GP not you! She doesn't even know if they are available in the area you live in. It doesn't mean you don't have a problem because you haven't been referred.

I could go on - but I won't bore you with what I think - other than I want you to remember that this person does not know you. You are the expert of your condition and how it impacts you. You know none of what you've described is your imagination, and please don't let some complete stranger eat away at your self-esteem or self-belief and your lived experience. It's not easy when you feel like you've been hit with a sledgehammer and you're not believed, but you have enough difficulties without letting one person's opinion get to you - even though the consequences are so depressing.

I hope that if you want to, you will put in for an MR if you get the result you are expecting. You know the chances of winning are small - but unfortunately, that's the process and there are still 27% of people who win.

I don't know whether in your evidence that you used what we called the 'reliability criteria'. Many claimants fall down on their PIP because they haeven't used this enough to emphasise their problems. I don't know whether you did or not (thought you seem to have mentioned that it takes you a long time to shower). - but you certainly need to for a Mandatory Reconsideration See page 17 of the Guide to PIP claims and Reviews.

It says: According to the guidance, ‘reliably’ means whether you can do so:
• Safely – in a fashion that is unlikely to cause harm to themselves or to another person. (See the
‘Safety and supervision’ section immediately below for more on this).
• To a necessary and acceptable standard – given the nature of the activity.
• Repeatedly – as often as is reasonably required.
• In a reasonable time period, no more than twice as long as a person without a physical or mental
health condition would take to carry out the activity.

Clearly if you just take your ability to shower i I would be arguing that you can't do it safely (balance issues due to pain and exhaustion with fibro, and the time it takes you to shower makes you less safe), to a necessary standard (pain and reduced mobility will make it difficult to wash effectively) - repeatedly (fibro probably means you don't shower as often as you would like to) - in a reasonable time period (25 mins is not reasonable). And that's my thoughts without knowing you. You may have other things you can add in here.

If you go for an MR - go back through every question and refute what the assessor has said using some of the reliability criteria. You don't have to use every point for every question. Just one of them is enough to say that you can't do it. Do go to the guide and read it all - because I just took a snippet. It's only a couple of pages.

BIS