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DLA to PIP

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6 years 8 months ago #193407 by Prabha
DLA to PIP was created by Prabha
So the time has come for me to go through the DLA to PIP process and two days ago I had the 'PIP1' telephone call to start my claim. I now await the PIP2 form arriving in the post.

My question is: do you know please at what point DWP write to a claimant's GP requesting the GP complete the factual report? Do they wait until they have received your completed PIP2 form? Or, given that they asked for the GP's details in the 'PIP1' telephone call, do they write to the GP at this stage, even before they have received your completed PIP2 form?

In my case I need to know because cognitive difficulties mean that all tasks relating to this PIP application process take an inordinate amount of time and energy, and so I have to prioritise what I do when. If there is a chance that they will write to my GP before receiving my completed PIP2 form, I must initially prioritise organising what I want to say to my GP in relation to the fact that I am making this claim and how the relevant descriptors apply to me in relation to my symptoms and condition. I have a very supportive GP who has been very helpful with other benefits applications in the past. However, he is now working very reduced hours due to sickness and so there is a good chance the report request will go to another GP at my surgery - all of whom are not helpful and who don't have a clue how my condition affects me. I therefore want to ensure that I have given the relevant details and that they are on my records in time for when the request is received by my surgery for a GP factual report. Otherwise I can clearly forsee a very unhelpful factual report being produced.

If the DWP don't request the report until after they have received your completed PIP2 form, I will continue to prioritise writing my answers to the questions on the PIP2 form, as I started that a while ago (on my computer - I will type my answer and attach those to the PIP2 form) when I received the initial letter warning me that the DLA to PIP process was now begun.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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6 years 8 months ago #193418 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic DLA to PIP
E

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The DWP won't write to your GP, if any one does and statistically this is actually unlikely to happen, then it will the Assessment Provider for your postcode who will do this. If they do then they will not do it before they receive your file from the DWP and this will only be sent when your PIP2 is returned.

So concentrate on the form as there will be a deadline for it's return.

Please make sure that you used our PIP Claim guide to help you complete the form as it explains the questions you are being asked and the criteria that you will need to meet. Please be aware that the qualifying criteria for PIP are very different from those for DLA.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa1

Make sure that you read the sections on "reliability" and variable conditions.

If you have any 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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6 years 8 months ago #193433 by Prabha
Replied by Prabha on topic DLA to PIP
Hi gordon,

Thank you so much for your response.

Apologies, I think I was unclear what I was referring to when I was asking about my GP being contacted (and please ignore my mistaken reference to the DWP - I appreciate what you say that it is not the DWP that actually does this). In my question I was meaning to refer to the GP Factual Report which is requested of a claimant's GP in relation to a PIP claim.

So my question is: at what stage is a GP Factual Report requested from the GP? Before or after the PIP2 form has been returned by a claimant?

I am not sure if I am to understand from your answer that it is statistically unlikely that the Assessment Provider for my postcode will even request a GP Factual Report? Is that the case? I had just assumed that such a GP Factual Report is always sought as a matter of course from a claimant's GP in all cases of a PIP claim? Having assumed that, my only question was at what stage it is sought from the GP.

I'd be extremely grateful for clarification on whether you are saying that a GP Factual Report is statistically unlikely to be sought. And if that is not what you meant, I would be grateful for your confirmation as to whether the GP Factual Report might be sought from my GP before I have returned my completed PIP2 form (or whether this may/will only happen after they have received my PIP2).

Apologies for not being clearer earlier and thanks in advance.

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6 years 8 months ago #193440 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic DLA to PIP
Prabha

I did understand what you were talking about :)

I don't have current statistics for PIP but my best estimate is that GP's and other health professionals are contacted in less than 25% of claims. Even if you GP is contacted, unless you have primed them about responding to the GPFR you may be disappointed by their response, statistics for ESA (I realise you are talking about PIP) indicate that request for GP information are only responded to by about 25% of GPs and often their replies are no more than "yes", "no" and "I don't know"

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: Prabha

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6 years 8 months ago #193498 by Prabha
Replied by Prabha on topic DLA to PIP
Thank you for that clarification Gordon. I'm really grateful.

I am now looking at Q13 on the PIP2 form, Going out. I have spent an age looking at this and find the descriptors in this activity very unclear and confusing and so am getting nowhere. I have three questions if I may please.


(1) Where you suffer from depression, anxiety and panic attacks which mean that you need prompting to undertake a journey, what sort of detail or evidence is needed to demonstrate that this amounts to ‘overwhelming psychological distress’ for descriptor b? I can provide an up to date prescription list which includes depression and anxiety medication plus evidence of being under the care of both a clinical psychologist and a weekly counsellor. My GP letter also confirms depression, anxiety and panic attacks. I realise that these things in themselves do not establish overwhelming psychological distress in relation to undertaking a journey but am not sure what sort of detail would be necessary to establish this quite high threshold? I only go out if I absolutely have to (e.g. medical appointments etc) and because of anxiety need a lot of persuasion and encouragement to do so. When out I need reassurance due to anxiety and also support if I have a panic attack.

(2) I am really confused on how descriptor d is applied in practice. This really depends on how narrowly ‘follow the route’ is interpreted. I have seen in previous posts that ‘follow the route’ has been explained as meaning navigating the route, and is explained as primarily being regarded by the DWP as a sensory or cognitive activity, but I'm afraid I still really don't understand what all of this means in practice? Could descriptor d apply to someone with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) who cannot journey without someone else accompanying them because CFS cognitive symptoms (of severe concentration and short term memory problems and brain fog”) mean that (a) they are not safe to cross the road alone because they become confused about direction of traffic flow and have had several ‘near misses’ of cars swerving to avoid hitting them and (b) cognitive symptoms mean that they become disoriented and lost easily when out, meaning that they could not follow a route to an acceptable standard or within a reasonable time period? If this is not the sort of situation that DWP had in mind for descriptor d, would it be best to not try for d?

(3) Are descriptors b and d mutually exclusive? i.e. if you try and show you meet descriptor b does this end up undermining your case for d or vice versa? I can't see why it would, if you have cognitive difficulties which are unrelated to psychological distress which affect your ability to ‘follow the route’. But grateful for any clarification on this.

Thank you so much in advance.

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6 years 8 months ago #193540 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic DLA to PIP
Prabha

With regard to (b), what symptoms do you suffer from when having to go out, you mention panic attacks, how severe are these and how does prompting from another person help you overcome your problems? What do you do when there is no one available to prompt you? Are you always affected and if not, when are you?

Try and stay away from the term anxiety, I realise that I am generalising but people tend to view anxiety as less extreme than overwhelming psychological distress.

Descriptors (d) and (f) are about navigating a route, this is about understanding where you are and where you need to go to, picking suitable places to cross a road and dealing with diversions are also part of the test.

You may struggle to score for this, whilst ME/CFS causes cognitive problems, the DWP tend to think of these as being the result of genetic or birth defect or brain injury and they are resistant to the idea that cognitive problems can be the result of an illness, so you will need to explain your problems in detail.

Descriptors (b) and (e) and seen as being mutually exclusive from (d) and (f), perhaps less so for (b). The argument is that if you do not leave the house then you cannot have problems with following a route as there is no route to follow, and if you are following a route then you must have left the house.

Gordon

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