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Decision Overturned!
- crow30
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5 years 8 months ago #215885 by crow30
DLA to end after PIP Assessment was created by crow30
My son recently had his face to face assessment to transfer from DLA to PIP. It was a fairly awful experience with a young woman firing questions at him and clattering away on a keyboard.
Bizarrely right at the end she asked him to do some basic mental arithmetic and spell out a word backwards -the spelling words backwards is one of his 'special skills' and he is pretty quick at basic mental arithmetic, dates and so on.
However he does have learning difficulty with anything complex or practical and it takes a lot more work to get the teaching job done. The trouble is he does 'nod and smile' incredibly well and runs a fantastic emulator. he is the classic 'AS Duck'.
Needless to say his application was declined and they stop payment on 14th August.
From reading what they said in the letter it looks like they have completely failed to take in to account the 'invisible disabilty' that is Autism and extrapolated his performance in an hour long interview to be indicative of how he copes with day to life, and completely dismissed everything i wrote on the form. The woman at the assessment couldnt confirm if they had stuff from previoius claims (i was told when we rang up that they can access stuff from previous claims).
I feel I should appeal this as, if my son is ever going to stand a chance of leaving home and being independent he is going to need to be able to buy in support, as frankly, I'm not going to live forever. (I am probably not a unique in having nightmares about him ending up on the streets once I'm not around - he has no siblings or cousins).
I have looked through the guide. I think I am going to need some help to do this though and would like to ask for advice on where to go for help.
Thanks for reading
Bizarrely right at the end she asked him to do some basic mental arithmetic and spell out a word backwards -the spelling words backwards is one of his 'special skills' and he is pretty quick at basic mental arithmetic, dates and so on.
However he does have learning difficulty with anything complex or practical and it takes a lot more work to get the teaching job done. The trouble is he does 'nod and smile' incredibly well and runs a fantastic emulator. he is the classic 'AS Duck'.
Needless to say his application was declined and they stop payment on 14th August.
From reading what they said in the letter it looks like they have completely failed to take in to account the 'invisible disabilty' that is Autism and extrapolated his performance in an hour long interview to be indicative of how he copes with day to life, and completely dismissed everything i wrote on the form. The woman at the assessment couldnt confirm if they had stuff from previoius claims (i was told when we rang up that they can access stuff from previous claims).
I feel I should appeal this as, if my son is ever going to stand a chance of leaving home and being independent he is going to need to be able to buy in support, as frankly, I'm not going to live forever. (I am probably not a unique in having nightmares about him ending up on the streets once I'm not around - he has no siblings or cousins).
I have looked through the guide. I think I am going to need some help to do this though and would like to ask for advice on where to go for help.
Thanks for reading
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5 years 8 months ago #215890 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic DLA to end after PIP Assessment
Crow
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 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
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5 years 8 months ago #216021 by crow30
Replied by crow30 on topic DLA to end after PIP Assessment
Thank you.
I have just spoken to them on the phone and asked for the report, which should apparently arrive fairly quickly.
The lady i spoke to asked which areas we disagreed with, mobility and/or living, and then which areas within those sections. Luckily I had already been through the letter and made notes by the sections so was able to answer.
She then advised we now have 28 days to submit extra evidence - so the deadline is September 4th.
The irony is that I've helped other people with their claims in the past but it has all changed so much and I have been so out of touch that I am really not sure where to start with it all.
At least when son was at school we had teachers and doctors willing to write about him. Now he is an adult there is only me and his step father who really know him and deal with the day to day support/prompt/reassure issues.
I have just spoken to them on the phone and asked for the report, which should apparently arrive fairly quickly.
The lady i spoke to asked which areas we disagreed with, mobility and/or living, and then which areas within those sections. Luckily I had already been through the letter and made notes by the sections so was able to answer.
She then advised we now have 28 days to submit extra evidence - so the deadline is September 4th.
The irony is that I've helped other people with their claims in the past but it has all changed so much and I have been so out of touch that I am really not sure where to start with it all.
At least when son was at school we had teachers and doctors willing to write about him. Now he is an adult there is only me and his step father who really know him and deal with the day to day support/prompt/reassure issues.
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- Gordon
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5 years 8 months ago #216023 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic DLA to end after PIP Assessment
Crow
Start by speaking to his GP to see if they can provide any input you can also look at his medical records at the Practice to see if there is anything there that may help.
Go back to the claim form and make sure that you have explained how he meets the criteria to score the points he needs. Have you considered where aids would or would not be applicable, in the same way; help from someone else?
Have you used the reliability criteria effective? What about the majority of days?
Gordon
Start by speaking to his GP to see if they can provide any input you can also look at his medical records at the Practice to see if there is anything there that may help.
Go back to the claim form and make sure that you have explained how he meets the criteria to score the points he needs. Have you considered where aids would or would not be applicable, in the same way; help from someone else?
Have you used the reliability criteria effective? What about the majority of days?
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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5 years 7 months ago #217321 by crow30
Replied by crow30 on topic DLA to end after PIP Assessment
Thanks for replying. I did manage to get some help - my son's Access to Work support worker, so thats good. What isn't so good is that in my mind the deadline was 6th September and I've just seen that I've written the 4th which is today.
I was planning to post this by registered post tomorrow <waiting fro it to come from the support worker> so it would get there by the <what i thought was the >deadline on Thursday. I wonder how sticky they will be about it arriving two days late.
Too late to worry about it now, cant turn back time.
I was planning to post this by registered post tomorrow <waiting fro it to come from the support worker> so it would get there by the <what i thought was the >deadline on Thursday. I wonder how sticky they will be about it arriving two days late.
Too late to worry about it now, cant turn back time.
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5 years 7 months ago #217328 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic DLA to end after PIP Assessment
Crow
If you can afford it then send it Next Day delivery, if you can't then I would still recommend a Tracked post so that you have proof of delivery.
Contact the DWP tomorrow they may give you an extension to the deadline to get it returned.
Gordon
If you can afford it then send it Next Day delivery, if you can't then I would still recommend a Tracked post so that you have proof of delivery.
Contact the DWP tomorrow they may give you an extension to the deadline to get it returned.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: crow30
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