- Posts: 64
× Members
Low award of PIP from DLA, next step MR
- pollenpath
- Topic Author
- Offline
Less More
6 years 5 months ago #201435 by pollenpath
Low award of PIP from DLA, next step MR was created by pollenpath
Hi everyone,
I got the brown envelope today. Have gone from DLA high rate care and low rate mobility to standard care (8 points) and no mobility award (4 points). This follows a face to face assessment as my 'second chance' appointment option, which of course I then had no choice but to accept, except they manipulated things so that my carer had much less oppportunity to attend and, as it turned out on the day, wasn't available and so I had to go alone.
While they've awarded me 4 mobility points for moving around, they've used my attendance at the face to face against me to 'prove' I have no problems undertaking a journey! Except that they have completely (and I mean absolutely) ignored compelling medical evidence to the contrary from my psychotherapist and fibromyalgia team, not to mention the well-articulated examples I gave in my answers to the questions on the form. The HP has made no mention of the evident emotional and psychological distress I was in before and during the assessment, part of which was due to my asking her why a very recent piece of evidence warning of the high risk to my safety of an asessment outside the home had been ignored. I asked her what IAS's safeguarding responsibilities and duty of care to clients was under such circumstances (when they have clear medical evidence spelling out the risk) and she blinked and smiled with a look of surprise and said something like, "Yes, we have a policy!"
So I must go for MR as I'm determined to score at least 8 points for my mobility needs. I could try to argue that they saw with their own eyes I can't stand without difficulty and then have difficulty moving more than 50 metres aided or unaided, even though they've conveniently overlooked that, but I feel very strongly that my mental health impacts on my ability to go out and move around and there must be a way of arguing this. Any suggestions would be very welcome. I realise they've shrunk the criteria down very unhelpfully this year, but they use weak arguments to justify their decisions. For example, in the report that came with the award letter, they repeat in three different places that I'm on a moderate first line treatment for depression and was discharged from local MH services 2 years ago. However, apart from the fact that my GP and any psychiatric professional would dispute the first part of their argument, and my prescription history disproves their fallacy, they've failed to mention a report from my psychotherapist written specifically for this claim that shows I've been under his care for over 7 years and, among other difficulties, am being treated for chronic anxiety which restricts my ability to go anywhere. They've also conveniently chosen to ignore my testimony that provision of MH and support work services in my local area has declined drastically because of cuts and my GP is regularly monitoring me instead, reviewing meds when necessary, etc.
Sorry for going on, I'm furious! Gordon and Mrs H, I know the law has changed and you can't help. But I appreciate your input nevertheless and want to thank you for being here for us all.
I got the brown envelope today. Have gone from DLA high rate care and low rate mobility to standard care (8 points) and no mobility award (4 points). This follows a face to face assessment as my 'second chance' appointment option, which of course I then had no choice but to accept, except they manipulated things so that my carer had much less oppportunity to attend and, as it turned out on the day, wasn't available and so I had to go alone.
While they've awarded me 4 mobility points for moving around, they've used my attendance at the face to face against me to 'prove' I have no problems undertaking a journey! Except that they have completely (and I mean absolutely) ignored compelling medical evidence to the contrary from my psychotherapist and fibromyalgia team, not to mention the well-articulated examples I gave in my answers to the questions on the form. The HP has made no mention of the evident emotional and psychological distress I was in before and during the assessment, part of which was due to my asking her why a very recent piece of evidence warning of the high risk to my safety of an asessment outside the home had been ignored. I asked her what IAS's safeguarding responsibilities and duty of care to clients was under such circumstances (when they have clear medical evidence spelling out the risk) and she blinked and smiled with a look of surprise and said something like, "Yes, we have a policy!"
So I must go for MR as I'm determined to score at least 8 points for my mobility needs. I could try to argue that they saw with their own eyes I can't stand without difficulty and then have difficulty moving more than 50 metres aided or unaided, even though they've conveniently overlooked that, but I feel very strongly that my mental health impacts on my ability to go out and move around and there must be a way of arguing this. Any suggestions would be very welcome. I realise they've shrunk the criteria down very unhelpfully this year, but they use weak arguments to justify their decisions. For example, in the report that came with the award letter, they repeat in three different places that I'm on a moderate first line treatment for depression and was discharged from local MH services 2 years ago. However, apart from the fact that my GP and any psychiatric professional would dispute the first part of their argument, and my prescription history disproves their fallacy, they've failed to mention a report from my psychotherapist written specifically for this claim that shows I've been under his care for over 7 years and, among other difficulties, am being treated for chronic anxiety which restricts my ability to go anywhere. They've also conveniently chosen to ignore my testimony that provision of MH and support work services in my local area has declined drastically because of cuts and my GP is regularly monitoring me instead, reviewing meds when necessary, etc.
Sorry for going on, I'm furious! Gordon and Mrs H, I know the law has changed and you can't help. But I appreciate your input nevertheless and want to thank you for being here for us all.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Gordon
- Offline
Less More
- Posts: 51071
6 years 5 months ago #201473 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic Low award of PIP from DLA, next step MR
pollenpath
The Going Out activity looks at three things.
Planning a route - this is primarily a cognitive or sensory (e.g. blindness) activity. You are being asked about the problems you would have with working out how to get from one place to another, you do not need to be able to follow the route that you are planning..
Undertaking a Journey - this is do with mental health issues such as agoraphobia and social anxiety and is concerned with you leaving the house to go somewhere, they will be interested in the things that stop you doing this. You need to show that you would suffer "overwhelming psychological distress" to meet the criteria.
Following a route - the DWP regard this as a cognitive or sensory activity to do with navigating the route, SO are there problems that would prevent you from doing this? This is different from undertaking a journey, in fact if you cannot undertake a journey then you will struggle to score points for following one. The reasons that you are unable to follow or navigate the route must not be due to psychological distress.
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 your 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
You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
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
The Going Out activity looks at three things.
Planning a route - this is primarily a cognitive or sensory (e.g. blindness) activity. You are being asked about the problems you would have with working out how to get from one place to another, you do not need to be able to follow the route that you are planning..
Undertaking a Journey - this is do with mental health issues such as agoraphobia and social anxiety and is concerned with you leaving the house to go somewhere, they will be interested in the things that stop you doing this. You need to show that you would suffer "overwhelming psychological distress" to meet the criteria.
Following a route - the DWP regard this as a cognitive or sensory activity to do with navigating the route, SO are there problems that would prevent you from doing this? This is different from undertaking a journey, in fact if you cannot undertake a journey then you will struggle to score points for following one. The reasons that you are unable to follow or navigate the route must not be due to psychological distress.
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 your 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
You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
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
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Moderators: Gordon, Gary, BIS, Catherine, Wendy, Kelly, greekqueen, peter, Katherine, Super User, jimmck, Chris