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DLA to PIP. Is this legal or against procedure.

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6 years 10 months ago - 6 years 10 months ago #189435 by Grant McNally
The mother of my children was informed that her DLA was being changed to PIP in June 2016. As she is housebound due to chronic severe C.O.P.D which means she struggles to travel 20 meters by foot, without experiencing pain and discomfort as she struggles for breath.

Because of the mobility problems an occupational therapy assessment determined that she required a stair lift. 5 years earlier she had had to give up her two dogs which were like family to her, because she was no longer able to walk them. She had also been provided with a Nebulizer. She asked the DWP if she could have help filling in the form which they stated they were happy to do. She was visited a couple of weeks later and she was under the impression that this person was from the DWP and at no time does she recall that the person who arrived to assist her with the form was also the assessor and therefore should have informed her of that. At no time during the visit was she asked to demonstrate her ability to walk. It would appear that question 14 of the PIP form only looked at the fact she had no problems with her legs and could travel by car!

On July 4th 2017 she was informed that on the basis of the assessment she would not receive any PIP for Mobility needs. She had her high rate of mobility she received on DLA cut completely and only received 4 points for mobility. She suffers from other significant and chronic health problems and was awarded the enhanced rate for Daily living needs. Due to her ill health she did not request a mandatory reconsideration until November, She believed that a mistake had been made and did not include any further evidence.

In December she was diagnosed with lung cancer and cancer of the windpipe. In the last 5 months she been admitted to hospital for chemo therapy and radio therapy around 6 times, in addition to a number of day admissions for treatment . During that time she was also found to have 3 tumors on her brain, she was then told her condition was terminal. Her other health problems have on a number of occasions prevented her from having treatment on the days or times allocated. She also was discharged on one period and 2 days later was rushed to hospital with sepsis and pneumonia

The McMillan nurses attending to her out of hospital needs, re applied for PIP under the DS1500 rules. As they re assured her that they would sort her benefits, she was under the impression that they would also deal with her appeal, and though they were only dealing with the current situation, it was reasonable for her to believe that they were, as they had dealt with her on the 2 previous occasions she had cancer, first in April 2012, then again in February 2015 ( when she had a partial mastectomy,

This current diagnosis is now the 3rd time she has had cancer in 5 years. All through that period she has struggled with C.O.P.D. The DWP appear to have not consulted any medical professional dealing with her care. Her condition is so bad now that it would be impossible for her to be assessed now at appeal.

Was the initial visit she received legal, as it is my understanding that the form needs to be completed and then sent to the DWP who would then make arrangements for an assessment to be carried out by Capita or Atos, who I do not believe can be the people to assist in writing out the form.

If it is legal, was the fact that the normal rules and regulations were not followed render the assessment as invalid?

Can someone please help with these questions, as time is running out before for her life and the 13 months maximum allowed for an tribunal appeal (where the reason for late application is allowed - which I believe it will be given the events that have occurred since December 2016. As their is now a rush to deal with this, can I ask if people feel comfortable doing so, can they e mail me any helpful information direct, my e mail is [removed] and put " PIP" in the subject line. Thanking in advance for any helpful info.

G McNally
Last edit: 6 years 10 months ago by Gordon.

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6 years 10 months ago #189490 by Gordon
G

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

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I have removed your email address from your post, we cannot allow these in posts without the explicit permission of the user as it opens your email to attack.

I'm very sorry to hear of your wife's situation.

Neither ATOS nor Capita provide a PIP form completion service. so either the form was completed by the DWP during a separate visit or no form was submitted as part of the claim.

As to challenging the Decision further, she can make a Late Appeal to the Tribunal Service by completing an SSCS1 form, given her health I am sure that the TS will accept the request.

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

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

If you have further questions then please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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