Zero points

Hi Boo

Welcome to the forum and the zero club, you are not alone.

You might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is; www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/faq/forum

Now you have the assessors report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and you will now be able to argue against them.

I usually use a highlighter to highlight any inaccuracies, once you have gone through the report you then set out why you are applying for a MR and go through each descriptor one at a time why you disagree with the assessor and try and match it with any supporting documents you may have sent in.

Understand that the assessor is offering an opinion when they say 'in my opinion' you can do the PIP activities, tackling these head-on is unlikely to be successful, you need to show that the basis of that opinion is founded on incorrect information, so try and refer to your evidence to undermine what they have said, remember they are just an opinion which is not based on fact.

Also, try and stick to issues that lead to your scoring points, I often hear members referring to the assessors spelling, as an example, whilst it may show a lack of professionalism, raising it as an issue isn't going to help you get an award.

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;

Lastly, make sure that you understand the criteria that you are being assessed against you can put the best case forward that is possible but you won't score points if you do not meet the PIP Descriptors.

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; benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/pip

For the CRMR1 form to initiate your MR; www.gov.uk/government/publications/chall...ork-and-pensions-dwp

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.

Gary

Hi Koo

I have done 3 tribunals in the last 2 weeks, all three of my clients were awarded zero points at the initial claim and at the mandatory reconsideration stage, all three claimants were outside the initial one month time limit so we had to do out of time appeals with good cause. The reason I gave was that the claimants could not get an appointment for help and waiting for the assessors report PA4.

I just worked out the backdate for PIP for my last client, over £12k, another client turned state pension age whilst waiting for the Tribunal wthey were awarded daily living component which meant they would be eligible to claim Guarantee Pension Credit, which is a qualifying benefit and therefore eligible for full housing benefit and CTS.

As BIS once stated in her post a while back, get a copy of the assessors report and then do one question at a time if you disagree with what the assessor has written.

Gary