Pip decision

Hi Izzy26

I am sorry to hear about the result of your claim.

There are many reasons why you may have scored so low.

For example
How strong was the medical evidence?
The type and strength of the prescribed medicines you use to treat the conditions
Whether you use and mentioned aids to enable you to manage every day tasks
Letters of support from relatives and friends
To name a few.

You may have addressed all of these things.

If you haven’t already please take a look at the PIP advice and guides on this site.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/pip

Did you try the site’s PIP test?
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-indep...nt-pip/pip-self-test

You may feel you want to appeal in which case there is a guide for this too
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-indep...ment-pip/pip-appeals

You will note that the above page does talk about appeals being won from zero points.

I wish you all the best

Regards
Peter

Hi Izzy26,

I feel your frustration and disappointment! Unfortunately these sorts of poor decision happen all too often. Have you obtained a copy of the assessment report (normally called PA4)? Make sure you ask for this, and this may help you see what went wrong.
Too add to Peter's response -
If you want to pursue your case, you will need to send a letter explaining what DWP did wrong. By all means criticise the assessor - but don't call him a liar - I doubt very much you can prove this, he probably wasn't listening, or misunderstood. (You can definitely prove one or other!) No doubt you told him/her a lot of things which were either not written down or were written down incorrectly. Work out the major criticisms and explain these in say 4 or 5 bullet points giving the best examples you can. Then just go through each descriptor saying what points should have been awarded and why. Here you can refer ditectly to incorrect parts of the assessment report. Quote from your own claim form and/or own medical report to counter what has been said. If you feel (as is likely!) that your own medical reports have been ignored, then send them again and explain why! You may wish to include an opening paragraph or two about you general health, diagnosis, treatment etc as an overview at the start of your letter. The letter should be headed Personal Independence Payment Mandatory Reconsideration Letter. Put your name and NI Number at the top and clearly on each subsequent page in case pages become detached. If not done already, get your boyfriend to explain the help that he has to provide in respect of PIP activities.

You have a month from the decision date (not when the letter arrives) to send in your MR. If you have good reason (which might be not receiving the PA4 in time, but could include not being well enough etc, or if you can show eg due to postal strikes or other postal issues that you only had a couple of days left on the original time, when you received the letter this might be a good enough reason.) You can submit the MR late - you have a maximum of 13 months -clearly if you are that late you will need a very good excuse!

If you are concerned about sending in the MR late, you can always do this now, and then wait for the PA4 in due course. You can phone DWP and request the PA4 assessment report pages. Usually it doesn't take too long.

If the MR request doesn't work - sometimes they do, sometimes not, whilst this is frustrating, there is a good chance of success if you appeal to the tribunal. If you do this, you will in due course receive a copy of all the paperwork, which will include things you sent in to DWP eg claim form, MR letter, medical reports, as well all the various decisions from DWP and the assessment report.

I wish you luck. Please keep us updated.

I hope this helps.

LL26