PIP Result - Before Appeal Tribunal

I don't know where this post should go, so would appreciate any help the moderators can give me in relocating it in the appropriate place if here is wrong. Many thanks! It's a kind of "thank you" to B&W, and news of my PIP results.

I was awarded PIP going back to something like 2016 at the standard rate for help with daily living. I had to go to tribunal to get that award.

In 2019 I had my first review but that was only a year after my tribunal (because it all took so long to get a court date), so when the award review offered me different points I called them up and said which points were awarded to me at tribunal and pointed out that it would cost them no extra money to give me points for an activity the tribunal had awarded as well as what they had decided. They corrected their ruling by adding the points they'd removed from the original tribunal decision and I decided I couldn't face another tribunal so I let it go then, but promised myself I'd get familiar with B&W handbooks so I could represent myself better next time round.

In the meantime, the video training came along. At something like £50, it was an investment in myself and my possible future income if I were able to prove my qualification for mobility points the DWP had decided I did not qualify for in 2019. I went for it.

In 2022/2023, my most recent review took place. Armed with the information from the EXCELLENT video training *and* the handbooks (which can be a bit daunting to scan through and find the pertinent parts), I put in my award review documentation - making the assumption that the DWP already had certain medical letters and thinking I didn't need to provide them again. (Mistake!)

In February this year, they finally got to my review (submitted to them last July - we all know how long we have to wait for them to look at papers, while they insist we get paperwork to them within a month of the date on the letter that took 10 days to reach us!). They awarded me exactly the same as before, although I had been clear with them that my physical mobility had worsened and I now knew that agoraphobia did count and where I should mention its impact on me in the form.

I asked for a Mandatory Reconsideration. They gave me the results of their MR *BEFORE* I had even sent them the evidence I wanted them to consider (the medical letters I had assumed they already had since I sent them to them in 2019). I called and pointed out to them their premature reply. In this case, I actually had two MRs, which as expected, both backed the original decision the DWP had made, that nothing should change.

I knew I was going to have to go to court now. It had made me ill, having to go to court the first time, but this time I knew what to expect so I wasn't afraid. Furthermore, I had the confidence the video training had given me, and my extensive notes taken from it, backed up by the PIP manuals provided to members of B&W. I knew this was going to be tedious, but it wasn't going to make me ill this time because I had the knowledge, which gave me a sense of agency.

And so it proved! 3 days before the DWP had to reply to the court papers I'd submitted, they paid money into my bank account. Today I received the decision letter. Although it could be argued (and probably successfully) that the mobility award should go back to 2019, they've backdated it to 2022 and I'm happy with that.

I've been awarded enhanced rate mobility. But that's not all! I've also received an enhanced award for help with daily living, which was entirely unexpected because I really was focusing on my mobility issues, which go back before 2019 and are evidenced with an X-ray and 3 letters relating to agoraphobia from NHS medical professionals).

So, enhanced for daily living and for mobility. It's a slightly longer award period this time, to 2027 which is just before my retirement age.

I credit the excellent support I've had from B&W, via the video training, the handbooks, and also this forum. Gordon in particular has poured oil on troubled waters two or three times and I'm so grateful. My membership of this organisation has proved to be one of the wisest investments in myself I have ever made. Before I joined, I had been awarded DLA "for life" (which they then changed to "indefinitely") but I had no idea how to handle PIP when I applied for it the first time. And now I'm off to thank the woman who told me about B&W in the first place!