PIP Engaging face to face

Hi Perdita

To answer your question you need to get hold of the assessors report and see what they have written.

Understand that the assessor is offering an opinion when they say that 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.

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.

For Example on engaging face to Face

If someone believed they needed social support.(4) points
They would have to frame their arguments around, not being able to do the task at all unless they received support from a family member for example.

They would have to give an example of what happens when confronted with a social encounter.

i.e Due to my anxiety becoming so overwhelming, my mind begins to race and I can not calm my thought process down enough to think clearly, I will panic and go into flight mode, I need the support of "x" in order to calm me down and remind me that I am safe and help me to remove myself from the situation safely.

Afterwards, when I get home, I will ruminate about the incident for days afterwards which makes my anxiety worse which results in me not being able to leave my home for days as I dare not risk another encounter, therefore I can not carry out this task reliably and I feel I should have been awarded 4 points .

Gary

Hi Perdita

I understand why you are upset that they used old information. You might want to complain about that, but I would advise you to make a separate complaint regarding that issue. In your MR, you need to explain that, once again, they have not looked at your current information. Even if you explained on your form, say again why you find it impossible to engage with people and what happens when you try. You need to show that it causes you "overwhelming psychological distress" and you also need to link this to a diagnosis of some sort. It's great that you have a letter of support and you need to reiterate what you have already said and explain that this information has been overlooked because they read an out-of-date and inaccurate report. You can say that you believe you should have scored eight points.

BIS