PIP Review, Absolutely Fuming!

I will briefly document My dealings with the DWP/PIP department so far.

Oct 2013 - I made a claim on behalf of My Husband for PIP

Dec 2013 - Face to Face assessment completed by Atos at a centre in Colchester, My Husband was so distressed He spent the entire Hour, Crying, Shaking, Rocking, and was completly unable to speak or engage with the assessor. I answered all questions on His behalf.

Feb 2014 - Pip awarded, Enhanced Daily Living Only, Award end Date October 6th 2016

April 2014 - I submitted a late revision request as I believed that My Husbands problems with Following and Planning Journeys were not assessed correctly and no one had contacted the Health Professionals involved with My Husbands Care.

June 2014 - The PIP award was revised and Standard Mobilty was awarded/revised to the beginning of the claim.

My Husbands mental health became much worse from June 2014 and He was placed Under The Enhanced Pathway for Complex Mental Health.

July 2015, I again wrote to the DWP asking for an Any Time Revision due to Ignorance of a Material fact, that being, My Husband had been diagnosed as suffering from Autism from birth and that was the most disabling condition that was having an impact of all aspects of My Husbands life. I sent in reports from a Consultant Psychologist, and a detailed letter from My Husbands Care Coordinator at Suffolk IDT, Enhanced Care Pathway.

August 2015, The PIP award was again revised and My Husband was awarded extra points for Daily Living, again giving Him the Enhanced Daily Living Award and The Mobility Following and Planning Journeys was revised to 12 points and revised again to the beginning of the claim to Enhanced Award, My Husband can not make a familiar journey without another person for Navigation and Supervision for when He has an Autistic Melt down.

October 12th 2015 - I receive a New PIP form with the statement, We are looking at Your award to check that You are still receiving the correct level of Benefit. ( Letter was dated 6th October ) This is also known as a planned Intervention or Review. This was instigated by the DWP/PIP and not by Myself as Stuarts Care needs had not changed and were still the same as the Revised decision that was only reassessed in August 2015.

I filled in the PIP form fully and in great detail, enclosed the evidence that I had already sent in July 2015, it was posted 14th Oct and Received 15th Oct 2015. ( tracked and signed for ) Nothing has changed with regards to My Husbands Care needs or Diagnosis, He has not been Cured of Autism and The co morbid Personality Disorders or The Anxiety and Depression caused by many Years of trying to cope without help.

November 11th- I receive an appointment for My Husband to attend an Atos consultation the following week at a centre in Norwich. This was despite My Husbands Care Coordinator sending in a letter Stating that My Husband cold not Participate in Any Face to Face due to the extreme reaction He has when Engaging with people He does not know. I rang the DWP and Atos and eventually after many phone calls it was agreed That a Paper Based Report would be done.

November 12th 2015 - I receive a phone call from A Health Professional ( HP ) at Atos, informing Me that They have completed a Paper Report and it was being Sent to DWP asap.

December 10th 2015 - I received The Decision Letter from DWP/PIP dated 4th December 2015. ( It was addressed to My Husband, When as His DWP approved Appointee it should have been addressed to Me as I deal with All of His Financial and Benefit affairs )

The Decision letter says on the first page,

I've considered all the evidence about Your conditions and how they affect You as identified in , The ''How your disability affects you'' form, The information provided by Your psychiatrist ( it was actually The Consultant Psychologist who had diagnosed the Autism ) and The information provided by the letter from your specialist nurse ( who is also My Husbands Care Coordinator )
I have decided that You're still entitled to the daily living component of PIP at the Enhanced Rate . The period of the award is now the 7th October 2013 to 11th November 2019.

I've decided that You are still entitled to the Mobility component of PIP at the enhanced rate, The period of award is now from 7th October 2013, to 5th October 2015, ( this is where the problem starts again! )

On the next 2 pages it shows the points awarded for The descriptors of Daily Living and the total 19 points, then for the Mobility component it says under Following and Planning Journeys. You can not follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid, This gives You a score of 12, This means your total score for Mobility activities is 12 points.
How we will pay You, We will pay you £329.20 into your account on the 25th December ( this is missing the Mobility payment of £221.00) On the next page it then says We have paid You too much money, We will write to You as soon as possible to let You know if you need to pay any money back.

Then I spend the entire day from 9am until 4pm Talking to various people at the DWP/PIP asking for an explanation as to why they have stopped My Husbands Mobility award on the 5th October, especially as the letter for a review was not typed up until 6th October 2015. I got nowhere!,

All that kept being repeated was that the Decision was correct and that My Husbands award has been removed!, When questioned further The person speaking to Me said, the wrong points have been given, I said that they were the correct points for the descriptor chosen and that My Husband had only in August been awarded the same descriptor and points in His revised award.
The case manager said it was Human Error, I asked to speak to the Decision Maker who had made the decision, Her Name is *****************, ( she is also the Decision Maker who made the Revised award only 2.5 months before in August 2015 ) and I was told, She was away on Annual Leave!,

I again asked How do You know it was ''Human Error'' regarding the points when You have not spoken to the Human/Decision Maker who had made the decision!, I did not get an answer, I asked when was the Decision Maker back from Holiday and was told it would be Wednesday next week ( 16th Dec) Maybe they had her desk diary in front of them! ,

Anyway the call ended after I asked again for the Atos report to be sent to Me, ( they said it could take 2 weeks, which is rubbish, I had His report from Atos in 2013 sent within 3 days ) and I wanted a complaint form to be sent as well. The Case Manager I was speaking to said a different Case Manager would telephone Me the following day, and No One has called!, I have been indoors all day!, I even took the phone into the toilet when I went, I must admit I did not really expect the call as it is Obvious I was not going to get a satisfactory answer to My Queries.

I am Speechless as to how this review for My Husband has been Handled from the start.
My Husband has extensive imput from His care team at the IDT, He is visited at home by His care coordinator every 2 weeks and Weekly by His CBT Therapist again at home because of the difficulties He has engaging with people. Even His Psychiatrist has done home visits and The consultant Psychologist who did the Autism assessment over 4 sessions, did so at Our house.

My Husband is not Agoraphobic, but The Autism causes cognitive and sensory problems that make Him react in unpredictable ways if anything changes that He is not expecting when We are making a journey. He can not recover from even minor diversions or disruptions, This is Not Anxiety related! This is much more and can not be made better by prompting! This was all put in writing from My Husbands Care Coordinator and it is why He was awarded Enhanced Mobility in August 2015.

This situation is ridiculous!

Hi

It is ridiculous and it is being done repeatedly all over the country to the most vulnerable in society.

I suggest you go see your MP and lay it all out to them. You can also submit a written complaint without waiting for a form. You can also submit a written request for an appeal. Whilst the telephone provides an instant outlet for getting on to somebody it is often better to put it in writing so you have proof of what was said.

I have already e mailed My MP, and am waiting to hear back, This all happened last Thursday!, I can not send a mandatory request in Yet as The Decision letter is all wrong, and I can not even be sure that the points for Daily living are correct! I do not know what I am arguing for!
I am going to try ringing them again Monday to see if there is anything else going on, They have said the award has stopped but apart from the date Oct 5th 2015, everything else, says Still Entitled!
Honestly You couldn't make this up!

Terrible situation for you.

I think some focus should also be put on the enormous amount of wasted taxpayers money, money that is being used to bolster the profits of private companies. Money that is being used to terrorise and mentally destroy disabled and very ill people and their families.

Maybe by highlighting the way the DWP is wasting money, the media and MPs would take note.

There seems to be very little sympathy and understanding coming from the general public. I often point out that they who are unpleasant about PIP, ESA recipients, should think ' there but for the grace of God go I'. They are only interested in the gov hype, spread by the media. So try the money angle, your MP will be very interested, unless they are close to the cabinet, or in it!

It is easily verifiable that huge sums of taxpayers money is being thrown away on an unworkable system. Look at universal credit, look at PIP and ESA appeals. More money is wasted than saved by these measures but people just want to hear that only the deserving are getting benefits, they don't even know or care what deserving really means.
I'm glad you are on to your MP. Keep it up.
You are appealing against the mistakes made in the decision letter. You only have 28 days to request a MR so don't let it run out wasting your time on the morons. File it anyway, confirm in writing and get a copy of the Paperwork assessment report. Just because there are factual errors and omissions doesn't stop you getting the appeal in now. It means another decision maker will have to review the decision(s) and hopefully see what a load of tripe it is!!!

The shambles just continues! , I went shopping on Sunday and My Debit Card was declined! , On returning home I checked My account online and low and behold, My Income support had not gone in!

I rang this Morning ( Monday) and was told it had been stopped, I asked Why! ? They said they had a notification from PIP on Friday!

I said I have a query ongoing with PIP re the mobility component, but as far as I was aware My Husband was still entitled to The DL component and so nothing should have altered re My Income Support or Carers allowance.

Anyway off She went to check with PIP and come back to say We are releasing Your Payment now, ( It appeared in My account 1 hour later, Thank God! )

It just goes to show How One wrong decision, One wrong press of a button and Your whole safety net can just collapse!

Anyway I rang PIP again and apparently another decision letter is being sent out, I will have to wait and see what this says before I can proceed with a reconsideration, as the decision Maker who made the Decision is not available to explain Her reasonings until She returns from Annual Leave Weds.

Oh and apparently there is an Urgent call back logged on My Husbands claim!