Pip tribunal.

Hi Filey

It's horrible that you have to go the Tribunal route again - I can only hope they have more understanding of his condition. Just because a person works and drives, it doesn't mean they don't need additional support. I despair of the quality of some of the assessors. That is so basic! I hope it goes well for you.

BIS

Hi Filey,
Make sure that you get a clear report from your son's employer, examining all the 'reasonable adjustments' that they need to make. Make sure they are brutally honest, so if eg your son is late, that they tolerate this, or if he is rude or incommunicative at work how this is managed? Or perhaps it may be that he is given a non customer facing role in the back room due to his inability to liaise with people. Do they have to remind your son to do certain things, can he complete all his tasks, what mistakes does he make? Is there any supervision, is this more than for others? Give examples of poor behaviour, disciplinary events, extra time to complete work, etc etc.
If you have medical reports/diagnostic reports even several years old include these They may show extra time for exams, or other help at school. They may indicate difficulties with processing language heard verbally or written down. Alternatively, your son may be exceptionally clever and sail through his exams but yet have no clue how to cook food or tie his shoelaces. As with all disabilities and PIP claims paint the picture! Tell DWP about the near misses and the disasters when things haven't gone at all right.
If your son is happy to please but lacks understanding explain this, maybe there is a 'disaster' story that you can use to explain how and why your son doesn't understand and the trouble/danger caused as a result. Remember that for the purposes of PIP you do need to focus on negativity, however hard this might be.
If you need to write a tribunal submission (legal arguments) I suggest you start with a paragraph or 2 as background. When did you notice your son was autistic and why, what he can't do etc has he needed any extra help at school/work etc. Include references to any educational/medical/work reports. You can also write a statement and include your own observations.

Next criticise the assessment.
First get a spare page and note down the major criticisms of the report. Ignore spelling and grammar, and inconsequential errors when doing this. Can you summarise the major criticisms into 4 or 5 bullet points?
Eg • assessor did not allow me to finish speaking and kept overtalking
•assessor failed to take into account the many 'reasonable adjustments ' made to low my son to be able to work
• the assessment is full of inaccurate comments that were not made by myself or my son

Now you can include these within the submission.
Give one or 2 of the worst examples of each bullet point, then, if relevant you can also add, in addition to the innacurate comments as indicated above the report has many spelling mistakes and poor grammar that shows that little attention was given to its preparation.
If relevant, You can contrast the 'poor assessment' which eg only took 10 minutes with eg an in depth 20 page diagnostic educational report made 3 years ago that clearly explains your son's health problems.
I doubt very much that you ever prove that the assessor lied, so don't say this, but it is absolutely ok to argue that he either didn't listen properly or simply failed to understand.
Next go through each relevant descriptor set. (Check once again with the members guides if you need to be sure)
What do you think is the correct points level. Then write a paragraph on each descriptor eg DwP awarded 0 points under Descr. 1, however my son should be awarded X points because....and explain why and give examples of the help needed.
Remember to consider the 4 so 'called reliability criteria (reg 4(2A) PIP Regs. 2013 )
Safety Repetition Reasonable time Acceptable standard
ALL of these have you be met.
If 2 or more descriptors in the same set apply then the most prevalent one will be the one to choose, or if each one applies equally the highest value is correct. (Reg 7)
Reg 7 also prescribes that descriptors only have to apply for the majority of days, this means if your son functions well for a couple of days a week, but has difficulties for the other 5 days, it won't preclude points/ benefit.
Consider the cumulative effect of other health conditions with autism of relevant.

I hope this helps.
Good luck.
LL26