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pip awarded till March 2017 but new forms sent

Posted , 5 users are following.

mermeo
mermeo

Hi all I am new to this group, I have been reading the posts and it looks like a great source of info and support. I have a rare auto immune condition called Polymyositis... I was awarded pip on my 1st application to run to March 2017. I have received new forms from the DWP to fill in again, When I rang them they said that this is normal practice with 1 year left on award. So My question is​ will I have to have another Atos assessment?

0 likes, 15 replies

15 Replies

  • gill50535
    gill50535 mermeo

    Posted

    Hi mermeo, I have just been awarded pip till november 2018 but in my award letter it says with review in nov 2017, so i would imagine it will be the same thing all over again with new medical etc.

    That's how my letter reads anyway. 

    Good luck.

    Gill

     

  • mike09523
    mike09523 mermeo

    Posted

    Hi mermeo,

    This does seem to be a regular thing with awards these days. It has been explained by other posts as routine practice to keep the awards flowing. Not convinced personally, if you get an award for 10 years you don't want to hear from them until year nine so it should follow in that sort of pattern, that is probably the case, bearing in mind how busy they are. I am on middle care and full mobility with DLA indefinetly, my mobility car comes for renewal in June and I don't know what to do.Get a new car and possibly have it taken away when PIP assessment turns up the next day or hang on to my present vehicle which may be offered at a discount with Motability scheme that is running???

    Hope you don't have to have full Atos assessment, or whoever else takes over from them.

    • les59996
      les59996 mike09523

      Posted

      PIP is a benefit that has regular reviews. Even those on the 'ongoing' basis (the old idefinite for DLA) are told that they will have regular reviews ie go through the re-assessment process, every few years.

      For those on say a 10 year award, the DWP will not want to assume that you will inform them of any improvement in that period - hence you will be called for a re-assessment at regular intervals.

      Whether that is a good thing or not it depends on your point of view. Many in this country believe that if you want the money, you should have to prove your entitlement at regular intervals. Others with disabilities like myself object to these inappropriate re-assessments every few years when you know full well that there can never be any improvement. In my case if I had have gone through the conversion process I know full well that these re-assessments followed inevitably by MR's and Tribunals would carry on until the day I die - I'm 68!

      I did have a Mobility car but that went back in June 2014 after having it for 19 months when it became clear that I could well lose it at some time from then until 2018. I bought my own which they can't touch!

       

  • mermeo
    mermeo

    Posted

    Thankyou Gill and Mike for your comments. I just dread going through the whole process again.
    • gill50535
      gill50535 mermeo

      Posted

      feels like you're constantly on trial for being disabled doesn't it.

      x

    • les59996
      les59996 gill50535

      Posted

      You are and that is the reason why PIP was brought in.The public perceived that those claiming DLA were long term scroungers. A job well done by the government in getting the public to think that way.

      It got the public on the side of the government whose only real intention was to find a way of saving money and the disabled were the target.

  • mermeo
    mermeo

    Posted

    Well I have just received a call from Capita inviting me to a re-assessment this Friday. It appears that the overwhelming evidence I have proveded is not enough!! Never mind off it all goes again!!
    • gill50535
      gill50535 mermeo

      Posted

      Same here for my ESA, got my letter this morning for another face to face assesment even though i only had one 8 weeks ago for PIP. they really do love to torture don't they.. it seems daft to me that all the evidence i sent in got me my pip (on reconsideration) but it's not enough info for ESA so they need to see me face to face.. they do it on purpose to try and catch you out i'm sure.. the problem is how can they catch you out when you're telling the truth...

      ​Anyway, good luck with yours on friday. (mines on the 28th)

      ​Gill

    • mermeo
      mermeo gill50535

      Posted

      Thanks Gill I know exactly what you mean....Ive just spoken to Capita as the gentleman that called me informed me they had various assessment slots still available this week, as Friday lunchtime is not great for me in the Town Centre Ive changed it So... Im going tomorrow morning now. I have nothing to hide so the sooner I can get this assessment out of the way the better. Good luck with your ESA assessment too.

       

    • les59996
      les59996 gill50535

      Posted

      It's got nothing to do with telling the truth. It more about you convincing the assessor that with the truth and with evidence that you fit enough of the descriptors to get you to at least 15 points.

      You can tell the truth and be so disabled that you have no hope of ever being able to work again, yet approach the assessment in the wrong way you may well find yourself being told to get a job!!

    • mermeo
      mermeo les59996

      Posted

      I understand what you are saying but when you've been assessed by a occupational health doctor as being unemployable, had a full OT assessment and modifications done in your home. And had your contract of work terminated through ill health after assessment  and receive a pension that states that I am not employable after assessment it all seems a bit much, And may I add this is all new evidence to my 1st claim
    • les59996
      les59996 mermeo

      Posted

      I understand what you are saying, but which descriptors and at what level of those descriptors do you think that someone who doesn't know you would give you?

      When I had my first ESA assessment back in Jan 2010, they awarded me 0 points. This was despite being retired on ill health grounds from the government, plus a whole host of serious of mental and physical difficulties/conditions. I was that doped up of high levels of psychiatric medication along with morphine etc for pain. I had recently been sectioned and discharged, physically could not eat and couldn't move about any more than a few metres.

      None of that mattered - I was still fit for work. 

      I then picked holes in the assessor's report and matched what my problems were with the relevant descriptors - a week or so later the 0 points were increased to over 15 and I was placed in the Support Group for the max of 3 years!!

    • mermeo
      mermeo les59996

      Posted

      Hello again, as I worked on an acute adult mental Health ward for the NHS  before being finished I can relate to what you are saying... I even wrote 49 A4 pages of additional information on how my disability affects me on a daily basis...anyway we'll see what tomorrow brings
  • mermeo
    mermeo

    Posted

    Hello all I have been for my pip re assessment this morning. I did as suggested and asked the assessor if she knew anything about polymyositis .. She said that she has never heard of it until she read my file and that she had looked it up online.. She is an ex mental health nurse . I can't say how it went because they never give anything away do they? But I said everything that I could , I answered truthfully, basing the questions on a bad day. She was pleasant but very very thorough I was in for 1 hour 20 minutes . She asked me to do various movements which I politely declined, she did not put any pressure on me to do them. I tried to explain my illness and fit the descriptors of pip. She said that she would now write her assessment report mostly concentrating on what has changed since my last assessment in 2014, and that it will be seen by DWP decision maker adding that the decision maker would not be medically trained.she estimated my decision to be made between 4-8 weeks. Thankyou all for your support and advice.
    • gill50535
      gill50535 mermeo

      Posted

      Good luck. i hope you get the outcome you want. At least this bit is out the way.
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