Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I am new to the forum as my daughter was only diagnosed with Austistic Spectrum Disorder last summer, after a year and a half of assessments. We applied for PIP last April (I am her appointee) and have just been sent a letter saying she will not receive it, despite never going out alone and not being able to cope with communication with people other than her immediate family, and that is limited. She scored 4 points for 'engaging with other people face to face' and 4 points for 'planning and following journeys'. Zero points for everything else, despite a face to face assessment where I explained that she goes out on average once a week, sometimes less, and is always accompanied. She has lots of sensitivities, particularly with food.
Has anyone else experienced this? I am preparing an appeal. It says on the covering letter ' I realise you have a disability or health condition and receiving this decision isn't the news you were hoping for'. It's a joke.
We won our appeal for Pip this week. It was very stressful taking my daughter to the tribunal but the judge thanked me for doing so afterwards and said it helped us win her case. I would advise anyone who is going through the pip process as appointee for their child to make sure they are present at face to face assessments and appeals. It took us a year but it is a huge relief to win. Although the award is only for two years so we will be doing it all again next year!