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PIP Medical with Recording Device.

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6 years 4 months ago #201227 by ibm
Hello!

Very new to this site, im writing on behalf of my dad, so i hope this is the correct forum. After reading the horror stories mass amounts of information omitted by the HP ( Health care professional) during face to face assessments my dad and i decided to record our his interview with a hope the HP would record the data accurately for the decision maker. We contacted the DWP and made them aware that during the house visit we would be using the device, they agreed it was ok as long as there were 2 identical copies and that the HP could take one away. To cut a long story short, we had the interview however when the results came back, my dad had gone from Standard DLA living and indefinite motability for over 10 years to Standard living PIP and no motability. To our shock! After requesting and reviewing the detailed medical report by the HP and comparing it to what was actually on the recording we were astounded by the amount of information which was omitted, not to mention several bare face lies! We additionally provided medical reports from GPs and medical professionals. My dad has suffered 3 strokes, has chronic heart disease, sciatica and depression so you can imagine he was quite stressed by the whole event. My question is, do i raise these points in my mandatory reconsideration? How much information should i provide and most importantly if any other members on this site has experienced similar outcomes and if so how did you go about building your case? Thanks in advance for any help! If anyone needs information on which recording device i used i can repost the info!

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6 years 4 months ago #201249 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP Medical with Recording Device.
ibm

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

Welcome to Benefits and Work

Whilst you should not ignore the contents of the report an award will only be made by your showing that your father meets the criteria for an award, so I would first start by going through his PIP2 and our PIP Claim guide to make sure that he should score the points he needs.

If you do tackle the report then limit yourself to issues that are directly related to his scoring points, anything else is diluting your message, feel free to mention the recording but be aware that the DWP Decision Maker will not be interested in hearing it.

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with his claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.

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

When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum 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 4 months ago #201278 by ibm
Replied by ibm on topic PIP Medical with Recording Device.
Hi Gordon,

Thanks for your prompt reply. Ive been studying your guides now for several days and i think i will try mandatory reconsideration based on a letter from his doctor, with specific reference to his inability to walk more than 20 meters with an additional letter from his specialist stroke doctor detailing his muscular atrophy. Included in my argument i will shed light on the complete omission of data from certain areas of the informal observations and relying on the fact that these procedural errors should show that the report itself is unreliable. Verified by the recording. However i have some questions if you dont mind answering,

1. We are not challenging the daily living part as my dad is scared it will be rescinded. Can we still draw on evidence from that section however to fight the mobility part? If it had to go to appeal would he still receive daily living as it is unapplealed, or is the entire benefit stopped during the process?

2. He has just been awarded ESA Support group, a transfer from WRAG. Can we use this an evidence of his condition if the DWP have assessed him as being severe enough to be put in that group?

Just for context, during the interview the HP asked my dad to calculate the change from £2 if he bought a 79p pint of milk, my dad answered £1.10 whereby the HP answered 'almost'. When my father answered wrong again he simply moved on. All noted in the recording. However in the report it states he answered the sum with ease. They've used this as ammunition is his mobility section therefor i think it could be a relevant example of lies essentially. What are your thoughts?

Thanks again

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6 years 4 months ago #201297 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP Medical with Recording Device.
ibm

1. HIs current award remains in payment until and if it is changed, both during the MR and any appeal. Even though you only intend to challenge the Mobility component I have to warn you the DWP will still look at both during the MR.

2. You can use the information from his ESA claim, but be aware, even where there are areas of overlap the criteria can be quite different. For example, the ESA Moving Around activity uses 50m as the distance for an SG award, unless the assessor has mentioned a shorted distance in their report, then it may not actually help with a PIP claim if you are going for the 20m Descriptor.

Gordon

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

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6 years 4 months ago #201365 by ibm
Replied by ibm on topic PIP Medical with Recording Device.
Gordon,

Thanks again. I've requested his esa medical report to see if it sheds any light on the mobility issue to use in the PIP MR. During his assessment he was wheelchair bound and the assessor didn't see the need to physically examine him therefor she must've had good justification.

Just touching upon MR and appeals again, in your experience what are the reasons a MR would reduce a claimants award? Again although we aren't appealling daily living we are very aware not to submit any further evidence which would do more harm than good. We have acquired a doctors letter which highlights specific difficulty he has with relation to the mobility part of our argument.

Thanks

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6 years 4 months ago #201380 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP Medical with Recording Device.
ibm

The most obvious reasons for the points being reduced would be failing to show that you meet the criteria for points, this could simply be because you haven't but could also be because you have misinterpreted the criteria.

It's rare for an award to be reduced or removed but we do see it perhaps once a month.

Gordon

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

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