PIP Appeal.

Had my PIP Assessment and was awarded the standard rate for the daily living(9 points). Not awarded PIP for help with mobility needs.

Have been told I can appeal so am in need of some advice from those who have been through this.

Do I need to make a PIP mandatory reconsideration of this decision first or can I make a direct appeal via a letter in this respect?

Additionally, read here that if I appeal it will go to a tribunal. I am disabled these days and cannot cope with crowded, busy areas nor travel, due to ongoing chronic stress. Would they make an exception for me or will I be expected to give evidence directly at the tribunal.

Hi Lydia and 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

Your first step to challenging your award would be to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, you cannot proceed to appeal until this has been carried out.

When was the decision made? You have 1 month from the date on the decision letter in which to get your request submitted to DWP and accepted without question. After this (and up to 13 months) you would have to explain to DWP why the request was late and it is entirely up to them whether to accept it.

Please read our PIP guide so that you understand the criteria against which you are being assessed. The mobility component was deliberately made much harder to get!

PIP help for claimants

The guide also explains the MR process.

Have you requested a copy of the assessor's report? This is very helpful as it shows why you did not score points where you might have expected to. DWP usually send them out with no problems, just ring them and ask (although we always suggest following up in writing).

If the copy of the report has not arrived by the time you need to request the MR, don't wait for it. You don't need to include a lot of information with the request, just tell DWP that you will give them more information when you have seen the report and they should give you an extra couple of weeks to get it to them.

Don't get bogged down arguing against every sentence with which you disagree - spend your time and energy explaining exactly how/why you should score points against the relevant descriptors.

May I suggest that you bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future? This will allow you to return with further questions or comments about your PIP without having to start a new topic each time. We ask members to keep everything relating to the same claim in one topic as it helps us enormously - and I hope you will find it useful too

Hi Mrs Hurtyback,

Read your reply and am in the process of writing out a letter requesting for a mandatory reconsideration.

I wonder if you can answer this question, in addition. Is it possible for me to get extra money for electricity as, due to the chronic stress in my life, for decades now, it has released stress hormones into my body, prematurely aging it and now I have great difficulty regulating my body temperature in even warming weather. Quite dangerous and with the possibility of overheating. Have an air conditioner for this but the PIP I have been awarded has reduce down by £200 per month from what it was with DWP. can you advise here?