I am not sure where to turn next

I contracted acute paralytic polio weeks after being born. Thus, I have lived with significant physical disability all my life. Very fortunate to have had successful career etc. Some 7 years ago had to retire due to ill health (fully supported by consultants), then into Support Group on ESA contributory scheme.

Main physical issues are paralysis,scoliosis, post polio syndrome (neurological condition), osteoporosis, disc degeneration of upper and lower spine and a few other bits.

I had been receiving DLA mobility, high rate, for some time and applied for DLA care after my change in conditions and ill health retirement and was awarded high rate.

My conditions have deteriorated over the past few years and, as the DWP system has changed, I have recently had to transfer from DLA to PIP.

I was surprised to receive a letter for a face to face Atos Health Professional assessment at home (I had not requested this) and was truthful about my abilities - despite the questions simply reiterating the questions on the PIP 'How your disability affects you' form. I did not attempt to 'display' items such as walking stick, crutches, rollator, bath board etc as i believed most things would be pretty self evident. Wrong.

I just received the outcome that I am entitled to Standard Pip Mobility and standard PIP care. In my initial application I provided a lot of evidence from a range of consultants, including photographs.

I believe I am entitled to higher rate care and mobility, as previously with DLA, but feel bludgeoned by the response and genuinely do not know what to do next.

I would say that am a strong and intelligent character but feel that I cannot, yet again, discuss the aspects of my physical abilities that I have worked so hard over the past 60 years to bury. We did not discuss disability in the 1950s; parents just tried to do the best for their children and and the children learned that life was simply better if you battled on through everything, made your way in life and did not draw attention to yourself.

Very unusual but I feel totally depressed, worthless and tearful - this is not my general character.

Any response would be gratefully received and practical advice a bonus. Thank you if you have read this.

Hi Jaddy,

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

I'm sorry that you are going through this Many of us find that having to describe our limitations in great detail is a soul destroying process.

The first thing to say is that PIP was deliberately made more difficult to get than DLA with the sole intention of reducing the welfare bill Some people who were, quite properly, on high rates of DLA will find that they do not meet the criteria for Enahanced rate PIP. Indeed, some will lose the benefit totally.

I don't know whether you are au fait with the PIP descriptors and scoring? Our PIP guide explains the criteria against which you are being assessed. Have a look to see where you believe you should have scored more points - you need 12 for each enhanced rate.

PIP help for claimants

If you decide to take this further, you have one month from the date of the decision letter in which to submit a request for Mandatory Reconsideration. This process is also explained in the PIP guide.

Do you have a copy of the full assessor's report? If not, it is certainly worth getting one as it will give you a better idea as to why you did not score the points you expected. DWP usually send these out on request.

If your copy of the assessor's report has not arrived in time, do not delay submitting the MR request. DWP do not have to accept it if it is late. You do not have to give a lot of detail when you first request the MR, simply tell DWP that you will send in further information when you have seen the report. DWP should then allow you more time to get this information to them.

I must warn you that there is a low success rate at MR level but claimants have to go through this stage before they can appeal to the Tribunal Service.

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 queries 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

Many thanks for the helpful reply. I am not over familiar with the site as yet so it has taken me this long to locate the query I initially sent!

Anyway, needless to say the rest of the time has been taken up with reading all the information and trying to relate it to the decision, the assessor's report and my original application.

I am now at the stage where I have far too much to say but am going round in circles so today I must be strict, address only main issues relating to Mandatory Reconsideration and get it posted off.

Thanks again.

I hope this follows on from the previous posts. Decision following Mandatory reconsideration is that both awards remain the same. I have not yet received the written version but hope that further reasons will be provided as to how the decision was reached. In the MR I did request that DWP inform me if they wished for further medical support but did not hear anything from them. I am very disappointed with this outcome.

Whilst I do not feel I have the energy to re-address issues for a third time and go to Appeal stage, I do feel that I am fully entitled to the higher award in view of my increasingly limited abilities and increasing number of medical appointments.

One initial question is what I should now be asking the DWP for in terms of their process, the evidence used at MR stage (I did obtain the report following medical at home with ATOS health professional).

Any help would be greatly appreciated but I will look back to other posts on the forum as I am sure that much will have been discussed.

Thank you.

I have now received the DWP submission which is very brief and simply reiterates a few points from its original report. I do not yet have an tribunal appeal date.

My major query now is whether I should seek further evidence from my GP/Consultants and if so what am I actually asking them to do? A genuine concern considering that rather a lot of evidence, including test results and consultant reports, was sent with the original claim form.

Any advice most welcome.