PIP appeal

petals

Hi All,

I hope you guys can help me out here. I have had my assessment for PIP and have been told that I would not get PIP and my DLA would be stopped in November. I have rang them to say I wish to appeal the decision and they say somebody will contact me (by phone) in the next couple of weeks regarding this.

Can anybody tell me what happens next? Will the decision be made during the course of that phone call or will I have to attend another interview/assessment. Also will my DLA continue to be paid until the appeal is heard/decided or will DLA stop regardless of an appeal.

When I lose my DLA I will also lose my working tax credits which will be absolutely devastating. I can't survive on 20hrs a week wages but am physically unable to do anymore than this due to my RA.

Also, would there be any point in continuing to work 20 hrs on low wage (supermarket) job, which is an enormous challenge for me or should I just call it quits and give up work. It's a shame because I have tried so very hard to keep working but now I just feel defeated.

Any advice would be very welcome at this moment as very woried about how I will manage.

Thanks Petals x

dreamdaisy

I'm afraid I cannot help but in your shoes I would contact the CAB for information. If you don't hear from the powers-that-be in the next couple of weeks then chase them: their workload must be horrendous and it's easy for claimants to fall through the cracks in the admin systems. DD

petals

Thanks Daisy,

I thought I was doing so well. My rheumatologist told me long ago that people who continue to work generally do better (health wise) than those those give up. With this in mind I have battled through, made myself go to work even on days when I was in loads of pain and collapsed in tears when I get home.

I think that the only benefit to me has been keeping mentally strong, seeing my fiends and colleagues every day and the support of knowing that financially I was recieving a small amount of help all be it was only the lowest level care and no mobility.

I now feel that they have pulled the rug out from under me and I have lost the will to continue in this battle.

I thought the idea was for the government to get people back to work, in my situation it is having the opposite affect.

Sorry, winge over.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Petals x

dreamdaisy

Of course I got that far, and I apologise for the tardy reply but today hasn't been one of the all-singing-all-dancing variety. Ah, rheumatologists: thems as generally don't live with what we do but feel the need to tell us what's good for us. :roll:

I used to work but was in the fortunate position of being self-employed. I began my little one-woman business in 1995, it was two years later that the psoriatic arthritis began but wasn't recognised as such for a very long time. I was a mobile (oh how I love the irony now!) tutor for dyslexics so I would set off in my little car, six days a week, and teach people in their own homes. After a few years that changed to them having to come to me, which increased my work time but decreased both my fees and my client group. Then the lessons became shorter so In could have some recovery time in-between pupils. Then I stopped because I could no longer find the energy. :roll: I know I am very fortunate in that my husband still works full-time in a well-paid job but I do rue my not being able to pull my financial weight income-wise.

I am still on higher rate DLA because the transfer isn't happening here any time soon. I hope I will be granted PIP but expect either a) not to be or b) at a reduced rate because I use walking aids. I accept that changes to the system had to be made but it seems that the only ones losing out are the genuine claimants like yourself. It is very irksome.

If you can dredge the energy from somewhere, Petals, then fight, fight and fight some more. Show them you ain't going to go away and that you genuinely deserve this little bit of help. We will support you as much as we can, OK? DD

As5567

I have been researching the PIP process over the last couple of days because I have an in home assessment next week.

From what I gathered if you appeal a decision the DWP will arrange for another decision maker to look at your claim, they will often call you up on the day they are making a decision to ask specific questions regarding to your claim. According to online forums these questions are usually ones relating to claims you have made on your form and there has been doubt about the legitimacy of the claims. The good news is that according to google 68% of those who appeal get their decision over turned so you have a good chance. It's a shame that the legitimate people seem to be getting declined PIP yet I know 2 people who get PIP for "bad back" but they can do luxury activities such a ride horses and climb mountains....its people like that who get the full whack simply because they lie and over-exaggerate how their conditions affect them. Where as the legitimate claimants seem to under estimate how their conditions affect them painting a better picture to the highly undereducated "medical" assessor.

If you're not successful in appealing your claim then I'd advise you to take it to a tribunal. Most people give up after the 2nd rejection and if I'm left in a situation like yourself (I suspect I will be) then I will be fighting my claim until the very end.

I also applaud you for maintain a job at this current time, it would be a real shame if your benefits get stopped (they will continue paying you up until the 2nd decision maker has looked at your claim) Having to quit your job because of this would be a real shame but I suspect you would be better off financially if your tax credits and DLA/PIP were stopped.

I wish you all the best with the 2nd decision and do update us on the outcome.

pinkdog

I failed my PIP medical last week - I scored zero on ALL counts.
I have written to ask for a mandatory reconsideration of the results.
If that comes back as a failure, I will go to appeal/tribunal.

pinkdog

As5567 wrote:

I have been researching the PIP process over the last couple of days because I have an in home assessment next week.

From what I gathered if you appeal a decision the DWP will arrange for another decision maker to look at your claim, they will often call you up on the day they are making a decision to ask specific questions regarding to your claim. According to online forums these questions are usually ones relating to claims you have made on your form and there has been doubt about the legitimacy of the claims. The good news is that according to google 68% of those who appeal get their decision over turned so you have a good chance. It's a shame that the legitimate people seem to be getting declined PIP yet I know 2 people who get PIP for "bad back" but they can do luxury activities such a ride horses and climb mountains....its people like that who get the full whack simply because they lie and over-exaggerate how their conditions affect them. Where as the legitimate claimants seem to under estimate how their conditions affect them painting a better picture to the highly undereducated "medical" assessor.

If you're not successful in appealing your claim then I'd advise you to take it to a tribunal. Most people give up after the 2nd rejection and if I'm left in a situation like yourself (I suspect I will be) then I will be fighting my claim until the very end.

I also applaud you for maintain a job at this current time, it would be a real shame if your benefits get stopped (they will continue paying you up until the 2nd decision maker has looked at your claim) Having to quit your job because of this would be a real shame but I suspect you would be better off financially if your tax credits and DLA/PIP were stopped.

I wish you all the best with the 2nd decision and do update us on the outcome.

The DWP contacted me yesterday, the lady was very nice and understanding.
There was a conflict with what I had written on the form and what I said at the medical.
I filled in the form myself, and because of my depression and the likes I did not understand it correctly (she said I had done myself a disservice).

Anyway I have 4 weeks to gather more supporting evidence and submit it, so that is what I am in the process of doing.

She said the rules are very specific, it does not matter if you can walk 200 metres (or whatever their criteria is) and you then fall over on metre 201 in their eyes you have failed that part of the medical.

Anyway, time will tell.
Do not give up is all I can say.

petals

Hi everyone,

Happy new year to you all.

I just thought i would update my thread on my PIP appeal.

I phoned up today for an update on my appeal and was told that I have won my reassessment and a letter will be posted out to me early next week.

My award is the standard rate for care and nothing for mobility.

Now, considering I scored zero points on all counts originally this is a big turn around. I am so pleased that I stuck with it and would encourage anyone else who is refused to appeal the decision. I had all but given up hope but I'm so glad I made the effort.

Good luck to anyone else who is going through this.

Thank you everyone that replied to my post, you are all brilliant and certainly helped me when I was feeling all was lost.

Petals x

stickywicket

That's a good result, petals, and I'm very pleased for you. You deserve it for your determination. Well done

petals

Thank you Sticky, such a relief but very stressful thing to go though.
My award by the way stands until 2018. Still can't hardly believe it.

stickywicket

Believe it And enjoy it. And try to forget about 2008. All the best

As5567

Glad to hear your appeal was successful. It's always worth to appeal things when you know you're entitled to something.

petals

Thank you AS, I hope others take heart from this and appeal a decision if the think its wrong.

Good luck anyone else going through this, it sucks.

JPH

Hi there

I've only been on ESA a few months, I moved over from JSA. I was advised by both JSA and ESA to put in a claim for PIP, which I did do.

About two months later I called them to see what had happened with my claim (I had heard they can sometimes take an age to reply).

They told me they were waiting on ID confirmation which jSA were supposed to forward on my behalf, ,so next day I chased that up.... then again, some time later I phoned again, they said they had sent me a form to fill out. (one I never received) .. I think this was about a month ago now... the meds mess with my memory at times..

They said they'd send a new one which only arrived today. I have till August 8th to get their novel completed and returned.

I read this thread and before I even get to the part where i get turned down, I was wondering why so many always got turned down first time.
After reading about now, yes of course, makes sense now at it being due to the amount of fake claims they must get ... but how incredibly scary and frightening it must be to hear back from pop that not only does that get declined, but you could lose ela as well!!

My sea is a joint claim with my husband, i'm in the support group, its the only income we have, id be mortified if i even got a hint I may lose it.


I was happy and relieved to read about the final outcome of petals claim, its reassuring for myself and others reading this that NO isn't always the final answer

JPH

Just wanted to thank everyone who offered advice, its very much appreciated :-)

The form is due back by August 6th, and even though after being redirected from my old house to my new one it meant I didn't have as much time filling it out and getting the supporting evidence, I've sent off the form with everything with it.

All I can do now is hope, and not be too disheartened if they decline first time (which apparently is the norm for them).

Special big thanks for the invaluable help guiding me through what was needed with the supporting evidence!
I'll update here once I hear back from them.

(I was going too come in the forums over the last few days, but the swelling in my hands has only just gone down. This morning they looked like if i bent my fingers my hands would literally split or pop like a balloon they were that swollen - and the awful part for me was having to be fed as i haven't been able to bend my fingers enough to grasp any form of cutlery.
I have family visiting tomorrow, they aren't aware of my health issues, i'm just really hoping they don't mention us all going out for dinner)
But that's a different issue from pip and not for this forum.