Pip decision - declined

Hi guys,. 

I got my pip decision today,. I only scored 1 point.. I don’t understand the logic.  Citizens advice filled the claim in for me. I paid the GP for and advanced letter and my ASD report. I paid a website fightbackforjustice to go throu my claim. 

im so confused, suicidal and utterly depressed. 

social services are waiting for my pip.. I pip = no help!

this is not cool at all

  • That's good, sounds like your claim wasn't processed properly and they will now award it - but check with them in a few weeks if you haven't heard anything.

  • Hi guys. I’m not sure what to make of this one now.

    so I phone pip today. I ask for the assessment report and more time to send in a written mandatory reconsideration. I was put on hold and after 5 mins a different lady took my call.  She questioned why I need more time.. so I told her I have a welfare rights appointment in 2 weeks with a autism specialist..  

    the lovely lady went through my claim whilst I was on the phone. She said they’ve missed evidence from my decision. They’ve not taken my universal credit assessment into account and she sees no reason DWP not to offer me an award soon..  do not change your phone number!

    so now I in 2 thoughts what to think.  

  • This sadly is the norm. We were told to apply for pip, and that we should prepare to wait a very long time to be told we don’t qualify. And at that point, we must appeal. The whole thing is a joke.

  • From a financial point of view, you may not need the money, but I'm fairly certain that you are still entitled to PIP as a result of how your mental health affects you.

    I appreciate that as you are currently full-time job, albeit a temporary one, your free time is obviously limited. However, I do feel it might be worth seeing if you can have a discussion with a welfare rights officer via Citizens Advice if you haven't already done so.

  • At the moment I am in a full time, although temporary job, working through an employment agency, so I don't need the PIP.  But just before I applied for PIP, I had been fired from a job and at my dismissal hearing I had been described as totally lacking in social skills, unable to work either alone or with others and having bizarre and unpredictable  behaviour.

  • I am so sorry that you lost your appeal. Were you/have you been able to make a new application for PIP? What's the situation now?

  • It was a farce, I appealed and lost 

    For those of us unfamiliar with the PIP questionnaire and assessment.  The first half is purely physical, the second half is about social and mental disabilities.

    So at my assessment the examiner went slowly in great detail into the physical side.

    • Can I walk ten paces.
    • Can I lift my arm above my head
    • Can I make a fist
    • Can I tie my shoe laces
    • Can I boil a kettle
    • Can I use a microwave
    • Do I need help getting in and out of the bath
    • Do I need help travelling
    • Do I need help in and out of bed.
    • Do I need help getting dressed 

    Then at the stroke of one hour terminated the interview saying he's got another appointment.

    All my social and mental disabilities were never considered.

  • You are right. It was a farce. An incomplete assessment that I feel the Decision Maker should have picked up on. If an appeal is made, that is something that definitely needs to be mentioned - the fact that the assessor who carried out the assessment had told you he didn't have time for the mental health part of the assessment. 

  • big oof, housing will never get anywhere, i was on the housing list for years and even if i was the first to apply for a house because i got up as soon as the list was updated i still got pushed down 100 places and other lazy people who got up later in the day took priority, getting a house is impossible, probably worse now with all the millions of refugees we have to house that takes priority over us.

    its probably easier for you to just get the universal credit thing, i know its rubbish but thats housing and job seekers rolled into one so they will pay you both jobseekers allowance amount and also pay the housing benefit too if the housing is waiting for a source of funds.

  • My PIP assesment was a farce.

    My disabilities and problems with life are mental.  So the assessor who was an ex paramedic went through all the physical sections and terminated the assessment just before we got to the mental questions claiming he didn't have the time to look at these.

    I would compare it to going to a doctor complaining about a pain in the right hand.  So the doctor examines the left hand and decides that you are in perfect health.

  • Glad to hear you got it in the end Slight smile Shouldn't have to go through hoops to get what you need but I'm pleased they helped you. X

  • You have my sympathies Stephen.

    I had a PIP assessment at home at the beginning of 2020. Due to feeling incredibly anxious, I'd had my adult son and a support worker present. The nurse who had carried out the assessment had noted on her report that whilst I had 'claimed' to be feeling anxious, I had appeared calm and not displayed any visible signs of distress, such as rocking in a chair or sweating excessively.

    To put this into context, if I feel distressed when in the company of people I don't know, I will go out of my way to try not to make it obvious because I don't like drawing attention to myself.

    I failed the assessment.To be honest, I hadn't known whether to laugh or cry when I read what the nurse had written in her report.

    Fortunately, the local organisation that my support worker was employed by had links to a welfare rights officer. The WRO intervened and wrote a letter appealing the decision. I have no idea what had been written in that letter, but a few weeks later I was awarded PIP.

    Should you choose to appeal the decision, which I feel would be wise, I will keep my fingers crossed for you. As Fibonacci Squid has stated, the system has been set up to fail the claimants, hence why so many claimants fail at the first stage and often end up having to appeal.

  • Totally appeal if your able. They do this to so many people like you who clearly need the help and support. They did this to me at first, I appealed and during that they claimed I was fine and not entitled and in the middle of it all I got slapped with a section 2 under the mental health act... I was entitled then. If they hadn't messed me about and driven me even lower that might not have happened to me. Idiots! 

    I hope you do appeal and they actually do help you sooner rather than later. I know your feeling bad right now try not to let them get you down. Thinking of you. X

  • I’m currently looking for a solicitor. It’s been going on for 3yrs now.   The impact of this decision is unreal.   

    u need a case worker, I have communication problems and I clearly need help.

    social services and housing are waiting for my award, no award means no help. 

    like I’ve said, I don’t need the money is just simply the award

  • I'm sorry to here that, the PIP decision processes are designed to exclude people, especially at the first stage.

    Are you planning to appeal? I recommend it if you haven't already considered and if so talk to someone about it quickly because the deadline for doing so is unhelpfully short (because it is designed to exclude people)

  • I think they get a bonus for everyone that they can off  the benefit system. Then you get some polititian coming on the Tv saying how much they're doing to help people.

  • Sorry to hear it.

    My local money advice service, who advised me to apply for PIP, actually filled out my application.  And I scored zero points.  So I know how you feel.