PIP appeal

Hi Tilly,
See if you can group the criticisms into say 4 or 5 bullet points.
Is there anything that you can prove externally from PIP. Eg low dose medication, when in fact if you Google bnf (British National Formulary - which is the UK medicine Reference and you can look up doses and contraindications etc. If this shows that eg drug X can't be used if you have illness Y, quote this, or quote that eg pyou are on 200mg and this is the highest dose for your condition.
Equally your GP may have written a letter confirming what you can you can't take perhaps due to allergy.
This is all external proof.
Similarly if it is your right arm that is weak and the assessor says it's the left, this is good evidence that the assessor has done a poor job.
If the assessor says you can walk more than 200m, and you clearly can't say that that the assessor clearly ignored or misunderstood what you said. It is unlikely that you can prove that the assessor is lying ir being dishonest, but hd can definitely misunderstand. If the assessment was over the phone, the assessor can't see you, so he won't have seen the slow and laboured way you walk. Even if face to face, he will probably only have seen 5 or 10 m walking, which clearly is irrelevant if you can actually do 50m!
These sorts if things can be used to criticise the report.
There might also be inconsistencies. Eg Assessor accepts you have very poor grip but yet believes you can still do up buttons or chop food without problems.
The assessor may have forgotten or ignored safety reasonable time, acceptable standard or repetition.
He may also have ignored your need for prompting, your tearful manner, the stuttering or mumbled answers.
These are all various scenarios where the assessment report does not reflect the answers or your manner. If you have mental health problems and the assessor is titled nurse or physiotherapist it is a fair comment to say that they have no obvious mental health qualifications.

You can confirm that your daughter was present during the assessment and daughter will confirm the inaccuracies you have cited.
If you felt the assessor was rude or didn't allow you a chance to answer say so.
If you have a more uncommon health condition see if you can Google to find a charity that gives info or help for the condition, or even NHS website. Include information from the site eg explaining typical symptoms etc that you have.
Work out the bullet points, and give the worse examples of each scenario.
Then start your letter. Give a bit of general info about your health, diagnosis, what you could do before you were ill, general overview of what happens now. Include reference to your own medical reports, and any info from NHS website or charity one.
Then say that you dispute the assessment: the main criticisms are as follows, giving the bullet points./examples.
Then go through each descriptor and explain how you can't do the activity. You can expand upon specifics that the assessor has said here, but only if it adds to the bullet points. Don't go through absolutely everything as then the tribunal won't see the clarity of your argument and your points (literally!) will be lost.
Remember Regulation 4(2A) PIP regs 2013
All PIP activities have to be done
Safely
In reasonable time
Repeatedly across whole day as many times as reasonably required ( the repetition rate will depend in the activity.)
Acceptable standard- can include significant pain
All 4 criteria must be met.
If more than one activity in a descriptor set applies the highest value is the award if all/ both apply equally or otherwise the most prevalent activity value if unequal. (Reg 7.)
You need to consider what happens for the majority of days.
( Members guides will give more details about all of these concepts.)
Work out which descriptor applies taking into account the definition and criteria set out above. You can then use this as a framework to illustrate which descriptor applies, and it is not a problem to say eg "I should therefore be awarded 2pts -1b"
Your daughter can make a statement confirming the inaccuracies of the assessment. Given that you have already listed the major criticisms there is no need fir daughter to repeat these. Just a sentence confirming these would do. However if your daughter knows of your disabilities, and/or has to help you to perform PIP activities, then get her to write about the help she gives the struggle thst she sees etc and eg noticing cuts, bruises, dealing with falls etc, or calming your anxiety during a journey etc etc. The sentence about the assessment could be included at the end.
Your daughter can attend he tribunal and give evidence if you wish. ( Or any partner/husband if this preferable.)
I hope this helps.
LL26

Hi Tilly

When I do an online appeal, I usually write a few sentences as to why I am appealing and then I up load my submission. I have recently change the way I complete the online appeals but I still upload my submission.

Gary