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PIP - 0 on all counts and now going to Mandatory r
- Anne
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7 years 5 months ago #171406 by Anne
PIP - 0 on all counts and now going to Mandatory r was created by Anne
I am absolutely gobsmacked! I have a 42 year old son who has suffered disability all his life. HE was diagnosed with being on the Autistic Spectrum when he was about 3, went to a special nursery but was transferred to a main stream school where he was bullied because he was different! When he reach High School age he developed OCD and only went out to go to school, he virtually became a recluse because of the name calling and bullying - I feel the whole system has let him down very badly! He was under the care of the Juvenile Mental Health team at the age of 14 and had to take various medications. At the age of 18 he had a breakdown and spent some time in a Psychiatric Hospital where he was put on major anti -psychotic drugs, he has never recovered. He suffers from severe anxiety and depression needs constant reassurance that he is not going to die soon, to wash, eat, take care of himself etc. He 'disengaged' with the mental health support as he said they were useless, we even got an apology from his GP because of the lack of mental health support in our area! His DLA is his lifeline and after getting his face to face assessment 3 weeks ago (I argued that he had to get this done at home as he would not have been able to travel the 40 miles to the Assessment Centre due to his anxiety) he was awarded 0 points on all counts. I just don't understand, myself and his Dad sat with him in his flat to give him support and were moved by his frank and honest description of how his condition affects his life - even to the extent that we were unaware of! We felt that the assessor listened and was understanding - I think we were fooled! We were told that he would get a copy of the full report but didn't and when I phoned to register that we would be asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration and could we get a copy of the report please, we were told that it could be some time as they had thousands to deal with - I did ask how we were supposed to put together a case for reconsideration without getting the full report only to be greeted with silence! Can anyone give any advice please, I feel absolutely deflated and let down by a system that is supposed to ensure that those in society are getting what they are entitled to. Sorry for the rant but how debilitating does a condition have to be? Maybe we should have forced our son into the car and driven him the 40 miles to the Assessment Centre so that he turned up a blubbing wreck as it states on his letter that he seemed calm! He certainly wasn't when we closed the door on the Assessor - we had to stay with him for the rest of the day as he was in bits and wanting to end it all - anyone else had such an experience and gone on to get the decision overturned at Mandatory Reconsideration?
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- Gordon
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7 years 5 months ago - 7 years 5 months ago #171424 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP - 0 on all counts and now going to Mandatory r
A
Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is
Welcome to Benefits and Work
In case you are not aware, your real name appears to be showing in the forum, if you want to change this then follow the instructions in the following FAQ
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We recommend requesting the Mandatory Reconsideration in writing, we still regularly see phone requests being lost in the black hole that is the DWP.this needs to be sent within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with his claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip
You appear to have already requested a copy of the assessment report, we would expect this to take about 7-10 days. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that he meets the criteria, there are many reasons he may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that he walked 50m, he did but they have failed to document that he had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with his claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is
Welcome to Benefits and Work
In case you are not aware, your real name appears to be showing in the forum, if you want to change this then follow the instructions in the following FAQ
My full name is showing, how can I stop it?
We recommend requesting the Mandatory Reconsideration in writing, we still regularly see phone requests being lost in the black hole that is the DWP.this needs to be sent within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with his claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip
You appear to have already requested a copy of the assessment report, we would expect this to take about 7-10 days. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that he meets the criteria, there are many reasons he may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that he walked 50m, he did but they have failed to document that he had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with his claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Last edit: 7 years 5 months ago by Gordon.
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- Anne
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7 years 5 months ago #171434 by Anne
Replied by Anne on topic PIP - 0 on all counts and now going to Mandatory r
Thank you for reading my rant. .... I thought I had addressed everything as your guides are very good. I have studied the reasons on the letter he received and just about everything we said has either been misinterpreted or not taken into account. I will use this as the basis for the letter and beef it out once we get the report.
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