Appeal Won and now ESA50 has arrived today

Rumplestiltskin

Go through the PIP2, the assessment report and the PIP claim guide to work out why she has failed to score points.

This could be because

- You have not shown that she has met the criteria, the Descriptors can be very specific and even using the wrong language could mean she is treated as not meeting it.

- You have misinterpreted the criteria, it is easy to try and make the Descriptors fit her conditions but this will never work, you have to make the conditions fit the Descriptors if you reasonably can.

- The assessor has misinterpreted her problems, this may be due to a lack of knowledge so perhaps a mental health nurse will be less understanding of physical issues and a physiotherapist may not understand mental health problems despite their additional training.

You can't assume this but if you can show from the report that this is likely then it may be possible to override the report. Do this by using reference material, usually common symptoms.

- Lastly, the assessor has misrepresented the assessment, all you can do is correct the errors, but stick to issues that lead to points.

Gordon

Rumplestiltskin

PIP does not consider the use of an oven and all preparation and cooking has to be at waist height, also, the DWP take the view that there is no need for a claimant to carry hot water, they can fill from cold and then heat and remove heated food from a pan using a slotted spoon so if these were the only problems that you documented for Preparing Food then this is probably why she was not asked about this.

It sounds as if you need to go back to the Claim guide to understand the criteria against which she is being assessed against, then explain the problems that she has with completing them and why. Remember the DWP will be looking the aids that can be used and the help from someone else that would allow your partner to complete the activities.

The PIP activities must be completed reliably and on the majority of days, so if she has problems with doing this then you should explain.

The PIP Appeal guide has links to the SSCS1 form that you will need to complete and the Submissions guide has a complete example that you can use to help you fill it in, you do not need to provide detailed reasons at this stage for your request.

Once your appeal is accepted the DWP will prepare their submission to the hearing and send you a copy, whilst you should wait until you receive this to finish and submit your own, you should start to prepare your own case, an increased award will only be made by your showing that you score the extra points for one, so I would start by going back through your PIP2, the assessment report and the PIP Claim guide to see how you might show this is the case.

Gordon

Benson

You are correct so thanks although I am a bit confused myself as Rumplestiltskin has replied with further questions that are PIP related rather than ESA. They will have to qualify what benefit the appeal is about.