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Personal Independence Payments application (PIP) waiting time?

Mysterio23

Hi guys, my 18 year old was in receipt of DLA throughout his childhood. Diagnosis of Aspergers, ADHD, Tourette’s, OCD and is trans f to m. This was stopped when he came of age and then PIP was automatically applied for - but refused. Over the past 2 years, he has struggled massively in the big outside world and we are finding we have to chaperone him everywhere. Other people are the main problem - the bullying and abuse has been horrendous. He is no naive and vulnerable and I’m petrified for his safety. Also, he is not coping with day to day stuff like catching the bus, making meals, etc. So with this in mind, we feel he needs extra help and have reapplied for PIP again. This was about 4 months ago and we’ve heard nothing! Is there a big back log of applications, does anybody know? There has been zilch communication and when I call the helpline, I’m literally on there for ages and have to hang up in the end. Incredibly frustrating! If anybody knows about waiting time frames, please enlighten me. Thank you!

Parents

  • We claimed for PIP and after the assessment, received 0 points. The assessor at the interview decided there was nothing wrong with him, even with a diagnosis of autism.

    I appealed and went through and challenged each comment the assessor had made. It was stressful and took a while. But the end result was we got more points, and qualified for PIP.

    It is a disgrace that parents, already stressed and worried about their child, have to go through this. 

Reply

  • We claimed for PIP and after the assessment, received 0 points. The assessor at the interview decided there was nothing wrong with him, even with a diagnosis of autism.

    I appealed and went through and challenged each comment the assessor had made. It was stressful and took a while. But the end result was we got more points, and qualified for PIP.

    It is a disgrace that parents, already stressed and worried about their child, have to go through this. 

Children
  • in reply to NAS65450

    To a great extent I can appear generally normal and even very healthy on my better days. On a so called better day I may appear almost unautistic I guess, whatever that may mean. Some days I might feel I can talk a bit more, other days I feel immensely drained and I really don't want to talk to anyone. I can be quite formal and I work hard to mask my abnormal tendencies and it's almost something that I do by default, a learned sort of behaviour. But I have real issues anxiety. At home when no one is around I'll very much retreat into my quite weird behaviours. Like how I choose to eat, or my binging issues, or anger issues stemming from frustration and stress and other things. Possibly my peculiar body language would give the game away or my eye contact might do so but otherwise I'd probably be seen as normal and not needing any support, let alone extra money. I don't know. Fundamentally I've always wanted to be as normal/typical as possible so I try hard to put on that front in public/at workplace. 

  • in reply to NAS65450

    Its very difficult for assessors to assess someone with autism, who may seem fine externally, they can only ask questions and get an idea - they may not ask the right questions, or may not believe valid answers to right ones.  Its very much the case of relatives or parents having to talk for them, get across their difficulties, and fight on their behalf.

    Its been this way a long time, under DLA and incapacity benefit, and as autistic people have difficulties gaining employment or keeping it then earning an income to be independent is difficult and can isolate them or keep them dependent on family/parents, if they don't qualify for social care.