Pip assessment

I had my OH Assessment today and it went really well! Nurse was really knowledgeable about CFS/ME and gave me positive feedback.

I am a nurse (in primary care).

Hope yours goes all right too. Let me know. :-)

- my symptoms; for which I gave a copy of my recent CFS/ME Specialist Assessment Report which she said was ideal and really useful.

- my hours and work pattern and whether there were particular things that I find more difficult within the role.

- how supportive my manager and colleagues have been.

- what I feel would help me to manage my workload and environment better.

No physical examination.

She also recommended about applying for PIP and explained that the condition is covered under DDA 2010 which means my employer is obliged to make reasonable adjustments to my role.

All took about 40mins in total. I should get an e-mail copy of her draft report early next week which she told me to amend and said what goes in the final report is actually my decision!

It really was a very positive, supportive, reassuring appointment.

I hope yours goes just as well!

Try not to worry too much and I hope this helps a little. :-)

Sorry to butt in on your conversation with Harriet but yes you can appeal if turned down for PIP. Everyone has the right to. I fully expect to be turned down after my assessment as CFS/ME is 'invisible' and I look well despite being far from well!

Can you get someone to help you appeal should you need to? Who helped you to fill in the PIP form? There are voluntary agencies that help people with benefit claims. Unfortunately in my area, they were inundated with people needing help so I had to do it myself. It took ages and I typed a four page accompanying letter to go with it. I was exhausted after posting it off!

Along with my form I also supplied supporting evidence from my GP, specialist CFS/ME Occupational Therapist and a counsellor who I've been seeing for a long time, and who knows me well. You need as much back up and support from people as you can get! 

Did you supply an supporting evidence Dean? 

Try not to worry too much for now (easy to say i know!) but perhaps plan how you might go about an appeal should you need to, I doubt you will to though as your condition sounds very much in need of the PIP and I'm sure the assessor will have seen that.

Hope this helps Dean.

Best wishes, Mary 

To the contrary, the DWP do not expect you to send anything in or cantact anbody. They accept and are required by law that they will carry all of that out for you.

If it was the case that the claimant was required to do that work then how on earth would someone living on their own with no access to help filling in the claim form and be seriously disabled be treated? Would they fail simply because they had not the intelligence or ability to act as their own counsell?

Because I was initially turned down for ESA, I expect to be turned down for PIP. So when claiming for this, I thought it best to send in supporting evidence as well as a letter explaining in more details I what I can and can't do. In Dean's case, he may well not need any back up as his disability can clearly be seen. 

There are voluntary agencies who will visit people at home to help with claim forms. If one is able to send in supporting evidence then it can't hurt can it? And it does say on the accompanying literature sent with the PIP form that sending in supporting evidence can help deal with the claim more quickly. So if they have enough information 'up front' they can sometimes make a decision more quickly, without the need for a face to face consultation, which for someone with severe disability, would be a huge relief! 

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I wouldn't worry Dean. From how you've described your disability, I think you will be given PIP. And you know you can appeal if you aren't successful with the claim. 

Best wishes,

Mary 

Yes  I agree about what the DWP say, but it doesn't get away from the point that there is no requirement. Obviously if the DWP can get you to do their work for them they are certainly not going to complain!

As is everything that the DWP say rearding benenfits - it is their interpretation of the law plus additional bits that they would like you to do.

Anyhow that wasn't the point of my post - I merely pointed out that you gave the impression that it was for the claimant to obtain evidence - "as much back up and support from people as you can get"

All the DWP ask you to do is send in what you may have to hand without going looking for it.

The more that people do that work the more the DWP will start to expect it. Hence my asking about someone who can't get help, and can't really put forward their own claim - they must rely on the face to face assessment to get their point over.

As for voluntary agencies - they are now very few and far between with almost none of them actually having a professionally qualified Welfare Rights Officer on board.- that's if you can manage to even get an appointment.

You do know that you have a legal right to have a DWP Visiting Officer to come to your home to help fill out these claim forms? But like everything that the DWP say and do - they will put you off.

As usual you are factually correct. It is possible to get a PIP award without actually providing any medical evidence. Indeed the face to face assessment can be the most important evidence for some claimants. I would imagine that is what has happened to Dean in the opening post.

However, we also know that the DWP don’t go out of their way to help claimants and the threshold for benefit award is very high. This can cause problems with conditions which have invisible disabilities such as mental health.

That’s why I would always go with Mary’s approach. Yes it does encourage the DWP to take the lazy view but as the saying goes you have to look after number one and if that means getting the evidence then do it.

In years gone by when I was fighting the DWP over the ESA/IIDB assessments, I actually spent over £300 in obtaining my medical files from my GP and all of the many hospitals/clinics etc that have provided medical care.

If I remember correctly I had 5 hospital trusts - covering 12 hospitals ranging from my local one to one that I have to go to 300 miles away every 8 weeks and everyone else in between - Folkestone/Canterbury/Ashford/Maidstone/Margate/Dover/Deal, Southampton, Kings/St Thomas's - London, University Hospital Liverpool/Fazackerley

If appeals were needed this excercise would have to be repeated to ensure that the information was up to date.