× Members

Won APaper Based Assessment

More
6 years 1 week ago #208651 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Won APaper Based Assessment
Kevin

Other members from Northern Ireland have reported that the DIC are refusing to release the assessment reports until a Decision is made.

When you do phone them, you will need your girlfriend to be present as she may need to authorise the DIC to talk to you.

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.

More
6 years 1 week ago #208652 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Won APaper Based Assessment
Kevin

Other members from Northern Ireland have reported that the DIC are refusing to release the assessment reports until a Decision is made.

When you do phone them, you will need your girlfriend to be present as she may need to authorise the DIC to talk to you.

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.

More
5 years 11 months ago #209950 by kah22
Replied by kah22 on topic Won APaper Based Assessment
Thought I’d pop by and give an update. We received a text on 12 March informing us that the department had received the assessors report (based on a paper based assessment) and that we should here from them within 4 weeks

So far no PIP news but she did receive a letter this morning from ESA telling her that they had received new information and she was been placed in the ESA support group, she was there already. Been mindful that ESA and PIP are different Benefits and look at things from a different point of view I am hoping that that new information came from the PIP people and that that is a good omen for PIP.

I’ll come back when I’ve more definite information

Kevin
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gordon

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
5 years 11 months ago #210102 by kah22
Replied by kah22 on topic Won APaper Based Assessment
First of all my apologies as this is a longer message than I normally post.

My friend has received her PIP award; standard rate care at £57.30 week and no help for mobility. The award to March 2021. As mentioned in other posts the assessment was paper based and the condition was Bipolar.

We now turn to whether or not to look a mandatory review, she has received 11 points; that 1 extra would make a difference. I should say that while she will go for a MR but not to a Tribunal but we’ll not be saying that.

In their ‘How I made my decision’ section the DM stated that ‘they used information provided by the letter from your psychiatrist. This comment I find particularly interesting: ‘The information provided by the telephone advice from your psychiatrist . From what I’ve been reading this seems to be uncommon ie they contacting the psychiatrist. I would imagine this is something I should ask for specifically in a SAR: . What advice did he give? They didn’t mention the GP’s letter or the support letter from myself.

While I appreciate that a mandatory review may look at all descriptors in the hunt for that extra 1 point I would be homing in on the following. Preparing Food, Eating and Drinking, Reading, Communicating and Making Decisions about Money

Preparing food. 2 from 8 For this activity she was awarded 2 points for needing prompting. However, I feel that they did not take into account her assertion that: ‘ It is not safe for me to use the hob because when in bipolar depression I cannot concentrate enough to complete the task and when in a manic state working with boiling water and naked flames becomes dangerous.’ Should that pass the reliability test? Not been able to do it safely. She has actually burned herself on a few occasions. I also feel that they should have given weight to motivation, concentration, and distraction.

Eating and Drinking. 0 from 8 I feel they should have considered her lack of motivation because of deep depression and the tiredness. Again all mentioned in her application.

Reading 0 from 10 In her submission she stated that when she gets ‘a letter from say Benefits people telling me e.g. about a change in benefits I am getting I have to get help in understanding this Form and what various parts of it means or which applies to me. The main part of why I needed help here was because I just couldn’t concentrate and I became very tired and depressed and afraid I will loose my benefits.’ Could the likes of that possibly cover 8 c or d.

Communicating: 0 from 10. The DM said they decided that she can express and understand verbal information unaided While my friend is more likely to be in a depressed state she wrote that when she is manic she talks at lighting speed and constantly changes subjects. But when she is on a low she just does the bear minimum of talking. She very seldom uses the telephone. When on a high she has got violent and struck me, all this was mentioned in her form.

Making budgeting decisions. 2 from 6 For those with bipolar this, I think, is a big one. The points were for making complex budgeting decisions but in her submission she gave three examples of how she treats money, this was when she was on a high. £80 clothes form second hand shop, £500 to a nephew getting married and £40 to a beggar in the street.

While I will go through the other descriptors these, I feel, would be her strongest points, of course suggestions are welcome.

I not including here anything to do with mobility partly because when we filled the form in the High Court hadn’t declared the effective ban mobility illegal and we didn’t put as much effort into it as we did with the care section.

I would be interested in your views and what the next step should be. That 1 extra point would make all the difference.

Kevin

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
5 years 11 months ago #210119 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Won APaper Based Assessment
Kevin

If Psychiatrist was contacted by phone then there should be a record of the contact in the claimants file, you shouldn't need a SAR for this, a phone request should be sufficient, however, if not.

SAR :

www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/request-for-personal-information.rtf

From this page :

www.dwp.gov.uk/privacy-policy/data-protection/

Preparing food
You may be better off arguing a need for supervision it may hang on her being effect on the majority of days. Did any of the burns need treatment at her GP Practice or A&E?

Eating and Drinking
As prompting scores 4 points, the test is quite strict, whilst I don't entirely agree with the view they will be expecting low body weight if this is a problem serious enough to score the points. Ids this the case?

Reading
Using a benefit letter is probably not a good example, I struggle to understand them! I think you need to look at the definitions for Basic written information and Complex written information and work from there, again majority of days is likely to be the important factor.

Communicating
I'm not sure her talking fast will score as it is down to the listener to understand, I think the major restriction will be in the wording of the Descriptors as you make no mention of a need for "communication support"

Making budgeting decisions
Can you show a consistent requirement for assistance with this?

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: GordonGaryBISCatherineWendyKellygreekqueenpeterKatherineSuper UserjimmckChris
We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.