PIP - Should I appeal?

Hello Rebecca, and welcome to forums.

Well done for achieving the reward which you did, and I can understand your concerns about going for an appeal. You do not say how many points you were awarded, e.g. did you get 8, so just get the standard award, or did you get 11, so were just short of it. That is something I would take into consideration when deciding whether or not to go to appeal.

If you have not found them, our PIP guides are here www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip#claims

We do not give individual advice on this site, but some general observations are:

Taking Meds; from what you have described you would only be looking at one extra point. Would that be enough to make a difference?

Communicating; Do have a look at our guides and see if you think you should have been awarded points for this. If failure to communicate effectively with an assessor was something which scored points, I think almost everyone would get that, so I think you need to look for more general everyday communication difficulties.

Reading Information; the bar here is not overly high. Again, have a look at our guide. Carefully decide if you need prompting to be able to read and understand one sentence such as this. If you do, then there is something to go for.

Budgeting; complex budgeting involves being able to manage your money for both personal and household budgets. Just knowing how much money is in your account is not doing that, so this is something you should certainly explore. Again have a look at the guide which tells you just what the legislation says is involved with a complex budgeting decision.

Planning and following a journey; what you described shows that you could potentially score points here. Again have a look at our guide. Unfortunately having to use a satnav does not give you points, but the need for implementation of your crisis plan suggests that you could be looking at overwhelming psychological distress. Remember too the importance of reliability in PIP, again, check this out in the guide, but you cannot be considered to be able to do something if you cannot do it safely for yourself and others.

As for your degree – there is no upper IQ limit for PIP. It might make it harder to argue some of the cognitive activities such as reading and budgeting, but it should not be considered an automatic bar.

Only you can decide if it is worth appealing. Remember that there is about a 80% success rate at appeal, and each of those cases has previously lost at MR. But there is of course the risk of losing what you have been awarded.

I hope this helps. I think you are wise to involve DH with the process, I don’t think it is something anyone should do unsupported.
Catherine

Hi again Rebecca,

Particularly with regards budgeting you might wish to look at this recent Upper Tribunal decision. The Judge has given some helpful guidance as to the interpretation of the legislation.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/4338-pip-...iteracy-and-numeracy

Catherine

Hi Rebecca

If you were to appeal your award and there was any danger of you losing your daily living award - the Tribunal Chair will stop proceedings and tell you and give you the opportunity to withdraw your appeal. Stopping an appeal would mean that your original award stayed in place.

BIS