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Pip due to end feb 2020

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  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Thanks for the information, its a very difficult process isnt it? ??? did u get your award in the end?
  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Hi again, can you advise how i ask for a paper assessment instead of a f2f due to overwhelming stress and anxiety it will cause?
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    Most people have a face to face assessment, it's rare to have a paper based one. For them to agree to a paper based then you'll need to send in good evidence to prove those descriptors apply to you.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Thanks poppy x
  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Would a letter from my g.p and local councillor requesting paper based assessment due to overwhelming stress and recent overdose count as good evidence for paper based? 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    All you can do is try but unless your local councilor knows you well then it will be of very little use.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Ok poppy thanks very much again x
  • worried33
    worried33 Community member Posts: 492 Pioneering
    edited August 2019
    cristobal said:
    @anthonyj1 I agree with Poppy. If you ask your doctor for a 'supporting letter' then it will inevitably include what you have just told him/her to write. I imagine that's why DWP don't consider them. My GP knew nothing about PIP when I asked her so would have been of little value anyway...

    You must do what you think best but my advice is to spend your money on something else...
    You could make that argument for consultants as well, there is no difference between a GP and consultant in that regard.

    I personally think GPs are well placed as they tend to see a "lot" of the patient whilst a consultant may see someone once, twice, if more maybe once or twice a year?  I dont think I have ever seen a single consultant more than 3 or 4 times.

    OT's are also good people to have for supporting evidence.

    I think its disrespectful to GPs to imply they will go against their medical opinion when supplying evidence for benefits, as thats their integrity they damaging.  I can understand a GP if they 50/50 on it would lean towards supporting their patient, but I dont believe many GPs would outright lie.

    I have had GPs refuse me requests before for things like sick notes and evidence for ESA.  You make it sound like they just write whatever anyone asks when I know by experience they dont.

    There is also a lady on here who recently posted her GP didnt support her when asked for PIP evidence, thats further proof they wont routinely go against their own medical opinion.

    I have heard stories that the DWP (and AP's) routinely ignore evidence from family members perhaps for similar reasons, something I have took anger to and wrote a letter to my MP about, I can understand that evidence having a low weight if its disputed by a professional, but it shouldnt be routinely disregarded if there is nothing opposing it.  On my PIP report, there was not even a mention of my sister's letter which suggests it was completely disregarded, as all my other evidence (including from myself) was mentioned even when the HCP disagreed with it.

    Thats a cultural attitude that basically assumes people are guilty of dishonesty without proof, thats a dangerous road to go down.

    This is why I dont like reading comments like "assessor will see right through you", there seems to be a cultural attitude that by default people are dishonest and treated as such, the AP's and DWP should be assessing on evidence, and not making assumptions that certain pieces of evidence are fake because the person might decide to lie.  HCP's are not there as anti fraud officers (or at least they shouldnt be) they just there to provide a medical opinion.

    The harrington report showed a lot of cultural issues within the DWP, recommendations included pushing DM's to treat HCP reports a single piece of evidence "equal" to others and not as a sole source of decision, to not be scared to go against these recommendations, recommendations to treat claimants with respect, not to assume they dishonest, worryingly I find a lot of happenings on PIP assessments go against this report, and are strongly in the other direction.  I am not even sure if PIP assessment procedures have even been reviewed by an independent external auditor.

    https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2012-11-05/debates/1211058000015/HarringtonReport

    There was another auditor more recent who assessed the DWP, and he was very critical of them, his recommendation was to disband the entire department as the cultural issues within were too severe, the DWP rejected simple ideas like providing a cup of tea when doing interviews with claimants at a job centre.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    This comment you made "This is why I dont like reading comments like "assessor will see right through you"

    This is what could happen and what i advise others when i see people giving the advice to fill out their form "as if it's their worst day" This is the worst advice i've ever seen and makes me cringe when i see it. Why? because if someone does this and attends their face to face assessment they have to confirm what's been written in their PIP2 form. PIP isn't about how you are at least 50% of the time over a 12 month period not about your worst days.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • cristobal
    cristobal Community member Posts: 984 Disability Gamechanger
    @worried33 - just to clarify my comment above I'm not at all saying that GPs are dishonest, incompetent or anything else and I am sorry if I gave that impression. They are highly trained to diagnose and treat a multitude of conditions. My GP is exceptional.

    My point, which it seems that I didn't make very well, was that GPs aren't trained in OH nor contracted to carry out examinations for the DWP. 


  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Hi poppy just to clarify so pip is in respect of how you are 50% of the time and you should not base your form on your worst days although my worse days are almost always present. I dont really have good days
    And regarding my g.p letter/record. My g.p has been my g.p for 25 years, he has been extremely supportive throughout my difficuties/illnessesss and i see/speak to him a lot so he has full awareness of .my difficulties and the support i receive from my family. He also stated he has completed leeters/reports on numerous occassions for other patients so I do feel the letter/record would be vakuable evidence for me but please consider my response and if you could ler me know what you think i would be most grateful. Also worried 33 has stated they dont read evidence submitted by family. The citizens advice have advised me this is treated as evidence as family have a better insight. Worried 33 post has again left me confused. Could you please provide further advice in respect of my queries,
    Thanks poppy
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    Yes, PIP is about how you're affected at least 50% of the time over a 12 month period. You say your worst days are almost always present but that means they aren't always your worst days. Your days are never good but maybe you have days that are better, just not good. Tell them this, give real life examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity.

    I'm not saying don't send a supporting letter from your GP, of course you can send it but whether it's used or not is a different story. It really depends what exactly was said and how much detail they went into in relation to the PIP descriptors but again does a GP really know enough?  It's good you have a supportive GP because lots of people don't have this.

    Supporting letters from family and friends. I sent a supporting letter from my daughters PA that supports her for 8 hours per week and it went into detail about what she needs support with and why but it was completely ignored and it wasn't even mentioned in the report. For my daughter it didn't really matter because she was awarded Enhanced for both parts anyway. That letter could have been useful at a Tribunal, if needed.

    I've never found CAB particularly helpful in the past to be honest. I've used them a few times to fill out ESA and PIP forms but what they've wrote down has always been very limited.

    For evidence, all you can do is send what you have and they'll either use it or they won't. Only you can decide what you send. Remember though that the only person that really knows how you're affected is yourself and those real life examples will help. There are good stories out there but we don't often hear about them.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Thanks poppy once again your advice has been exceptional
  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    At the assessment should it be asked if all evidence hss been looked at?.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    You're welcome. There's no harm in asking that question.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • anthonyj1
    anthonyj1 Community member Posts: 115 Courageous
    Okie dokie thanks poppy. Also as you are not that impressed with the CAB would you just complere the short boxes saying see additional information as their is just no room to write anthing, as you have already stated.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    Yes, just use extra sheets of paper which is what i did for my daughters last PIP review.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • worried33
    worried33 Community member Posts: 492 Pioneering
    This comment you made "This is why I dont like reading comments like "assessor will see right through you"

    This is what could happen and what i advise others when i see people giving the advice to fill out their form "as if it's their worst day" This is the worst advice i've ever seen and makes me cringe when i see it. Why? because if someone does this and attends their face to face assessment they have to confirm what's been written in their PIP2 form. PIP isn't about how you are at least 50% of the time over a 12 month period not about your worst days.
    yeah dont get me wrong, people should never lie I even held back my CAB advisor who wanted to lie on my behalf, I just dont like the way those type of comments are worded thats all as it implies people are dishonest by default :)

    A bit like the sun calling all claimants fraudsters.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,333 Disability Gamechanger
    You seem to really have an issue with me...

    The only time i'll ever make that comment "assessor will see right through you" is when someone advises that they should base it on their worst day.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • worried33
    worried33 Community member Posts: 492 Pioneering
    I got no issue with you poppy  I am not good at putting things into words sorry.

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