Applying for PIP support

I recently sent off my application. I was strongly advised to get professional help to fill in my application. Not just the CAB, literally someone versed in PIP case law to draft out the application for you. Basically you have an appointment, they ask you questions, then they write your answers in a way that fits with the way that PIP is assessed. It's extremely legalistic. It should be possible, I've been told, that in taking this route you can avoid having to appeal. I don't regret taking this advice but it was a nightmare for me. But still better than doing it alone.

One big mistake I made was to listen to advice from everywhere to make the first phonecall as soon as possible because your PIP is backdated to that date. Nobody told me that this would set the clock ticking for a deadline. You only have one month to fill out the form. For me this is no time at all. And the deadline ended up being close to Christmas, when I had tried to clear my diary so I could mentally prepare for seeing my family. I ended up getting three extensions. For the last extension I had to get a manager to approve my extension and he made it sound like that was the last extension I was going to get. It was the first week of the year. So both me and the person helping me were working on it over Christmas. It was extremely stressful.

I had a lot of trouble checking the draft I was sent. The person helping me wrote a draft based on my answers and asked me to check it for accuracy. My autistic brain pulled the whole thing apart and I sent them back pages and pages of corrections and extensive re-writes, some of which were totally unnecessary. So that's what we were dealing with over Christmas. The charity had a huge caseload so they were too busy for me to be able to call-up this person and discuss the details, so I was working blind. I actually tried to start applying about 5 years ago but after looking into it I was ironically just too unwell to make the application at that stage- I find the whole thing upsetting, thinking about myself in that kind of way, I just find it upsetting and difficult. Anyway, I did it in the end.

I don't know what the result will be. But the biggest lesson I have is that you should decide for yourself a reasonable deadline for when you can comfortably get it done, and then make the phonecall one month ahead of that deadline. 

If anybody wants to know the name of the agency I used then DM me, I'm not going to advertise on here. It cost me around £120.

I recently sent off my application. I was strongly advised to get professional help to fill in my application. Not just the CAB, literally someone versed in PIP case law to draft out the application for you. Basically you have an appointment, they ask you questions, then they write your answers in a way that fits with the way that PIP is assessed. It's extremely legalistic. It should be possible, I've been told, that in taking this route you can avoid having to appeal. I don't regret taking this advice but it was a nightmare for me. But still better than doing it alone.

One big mistake I made was to listen to advice from everywhere to make the first phonecall as soon as possible because your PIP is backdated to that date. Nobody told me that this would set the clock ticking for a deadline. You only have one month to fill out the form. For me this is no time at all. And the deadline ended up being close to Christmas, when I had tried to clear my diary so I could mentally prepare for seeing my family. I ended up getting three extensions. For the last extension I had to get a manager to approve my extension and he made it sound like that was the last extension I was going to get. It was the first week of the year. So both me and the person helping me were working on it over Christmas. It was extremely stressful.

I had a lot of trouble checking the draft I was sent. The person helping me wrote a draft based on my answers and asked me to check it for accuracy. My autistic brain pulled the whole thing apart and I sent them back pages and pages of corrections and extensive re-writes, some of which were totally unnecessary. So that's what we were dealing with over Christmas. The charity had a huge caseload so they were too busy for me to be able to call-up this person and discuss the details, so I was working blind. I actually tried to start applying about 5 years ago but after looking into it I was ironically just too unwell to make the application at that stage- I find the whole thing upsetting, thinking about myself in that kind of way, I just find it upsetting and difficult. Anyway, I did it in the end.

I don't know what the result will be. But the biggest lesson I have is that you should decide for yourself a reasonable deadline for when you can comfortably get it done, and then make the phonecall one month ahead of that deadline. 

If anybody wants to know the name of the agency I used then DM me, I'm not going to advertise on here. It cost me around £120.

Hi, I would like to know this agency, I sent you a friend request as I can't DM you unless we are friends I think. Surreal and complex test is right! And incredibly depressing and immorally designed to have such huge gaps that most people fall between them.

Once mine is done I intend to complain to my MP about it, showing him the deliberate attempts to avoid actually helping people. I wanted to do it last time, but not only was I utterly exhausted by the process but I got my award just a few weeks into the pandemic. Even if I'd been able to tackle it, which I wasn't, all the MPs were busy with covid and brexit.