Astonished by the number of PIP claimants!

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Both myself and husband are on it .
He has had it a few years now but was working up to age 60 before getting chronic back pain and became extremely tired and breathless and after further tests cardiomyopathy was diagnosed.
Myself aged 64 had a brainstorm stroke last year and have been left with balance issues and now permanent vertigo , I am unable to leave the house alone and now cannot drive , independently shower nor cook as cutting anything is impossible due to spatial awareness difficulties.

With all that , we both received basic living element and nothing for getting out and about , so together that is around £150 a week . We don't qualify for any other benefit as we have savings. .
We won't get state pension for another 3 years at age 67.

That should read brain stem !

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I know someone (eventually diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder) who had various difficulties in working/co-operating with other people. However, he had a very supportive manager, and the other staff were expected to also support him. After a number of years, this manager left, and the one who took his place had no tolerance whatsoever, so the support was gone. He eventually was signed off sick, then he stopped working altogether. He was allowed to retire early (aged 50) on health grounds. Empathy and help in the workplace would make all the difference for people like him.He could easily have worked in the right environment. Instead, he sits at home, watching tv mostly. He lives alone and can look after himself, plan bus trips and short holidays. He does get benefits, and his rent paid, plus most of his council tax. His benefits seem more than adequate, as his phone and tv’s are very expensive ones. It’s sad that the last almost twenty working years of his life have been wasted due to inadequate support in the workplace.

PIP assessments and reviews used to be carried out face to face, now I think by completing a form. Perhaps the huge increase has made it impossible to be personal contact now.

Granny buy
That's such a shame, sometimes it just takes a bit of care and support. Even a couple of hours a day can make all the difference to people's self esteem and wellbeing.

To those saying people with MH could work it's not that simple. A lady in my road has had several breakdowns and been hospitalised quite a few times. On a good day when she's taking her medication she's completely normal to talk to. You would never know anything was wrong. But she sometimes goes weeks when she doesn't take the tablets. She's out in the street, mumbling and whispering to herself, shouting we're all being controlled by the government via stars in the sky that are really cameras, accusing people of various bad things etc. Her daughter keeps trying to persuade her to take the medication, which she eventually does with persuasion from her CPN. Then she's normal again for a few weeks. But I doubt she could ever get a job again.

RillaofIngleside, my son too has Down’s Syndrome. He is still at home. He receives ESA and DLA. Although we had letters saying that he would eventually be changed to Pip, but it has never happened. I’m his carer. I discovered that there is such a thing as carer’s allowance. However, I wasn’t eligible for it as I receive state pension, and if you do get it, it is no longer available once you start receiving state pension. It’s not as if you give up the caring role when you become a pensioner. We too use the benefits to pay for some care support and activities.

As a disabled person with a full time working partner PIP is the only allowance I can claim in my own right after decades of working and paying taxes. If PIP gets stopped this leaves many disabled people financially vulnerable and reliant on the good will of their partner, have to go cup in hand asking for money for sanitary items and other such personal items, imagine if that partner used that in an abusive coercive way, not all couples have joint accounts.

I was on full DLA when I first met my partner, then my daughter died and I was suicidal. I had only known him a few months, but luckily for me, he was a star, the first non abusive relationship I had ever had. He refused to leave me alone in my own home because when he did I made another suicide attempt, so he took me to his home. ALL my sickness benefits stopped because I was living with him, so not only was he supporting me emotionally, suddenly this poor man was expected to support me financially too! most guys would have run a mile, I only just met him!

so for years I was purely financially dependent on him, I tried working at a checkout, then having to reduce hours to eventually doing just 3 hr shifts were too much, twice a week.

Then PIP was brought in and at last I had some dignity, I could contribute to all my financial needs and pressures my disability incurs instead of being a financial burden I can buy my own.

Just to clarify, on PIP we do not get free prescriptions, I have to buy annual pre pay to help alleviate the costs. I pay for dental, for glasses and I do not drive a brand new car for free from the DWA, because you can chose either have a car and lose your money, or have the money, you don't get both! I am rarely well enough to leave the house so a new car sitting on my drive seems senseless.

I think it very scary that vulnerable disabled people are now going to be at the mercy on the generosity of partners, and there are many who are not! Thankfully I am one of the lucky ones.

I agree there are some that milk the system because if they claim anxiety etc they know they get more money than job seekers and they do not have to prove they are hunting for work each week. If they are single, and usually earn min wage then there is not a lot in it between the benefits they can claim, to having to work, so of course they prefer to claim PIP to top up their money and sit around watching netflix all day instead of working. YES - I do know some of them!

It is very hard to claim PIP you have to provide reams of medical proof of disability, and my claim took over 18 mths to go through. The interview process is brutal and I know many people at my disability charity support group who literally cannot face the whole process and go without claiming and they would easily be able to claim. It is tough, but the ones who come from multi-generational benefits families, where they know the the loopholes how to claim and what they need to falsify to get the extra money should be looked into because it gives us a bad name.

I am fed up of all this disabled shaming that is rife on social media at the moment. GENUINE Disabled people live with enough shame and guilt, and feeling like a burden, to society, to family who support them already without everyone jumping on the bandwagon to beat them yet another stick. There will be many taking their own lives over this decision, on many online groups I belong to, already so many are so stressed about it.

There are lots of TikTok videos, which explain exactly how to apply for PIP and how to maximize your chance of success. This may be impacting on the number of young people applying.

DD2 (43) is on PIP. She has suffered from severe auto immune problems for 25 years, primarily Crohn’s (she’s had an ileostomy) plus arthritis and awful skin problems.

She does work - luckily she now has a job where she can work almost entirely from home. She doesn’t earn great money - her health has really compromised her ability to progress her career. So no holidays etc.

But her PIP is constantly at risk. The PIP assessors don’t really understand the kind of chronic pain and fatigue that come with these conditions. The question about how far you can walk is a good example. She is physically capable of walking that distance, but there are times when even a very short walk will leave her absolutely exhausted and every step will be agony.

For many years I was her main source of support - cleaning her house, paying bills when she couldn’t work etc. But it’s become much harder to do as I’ve got older. And she wants to be independent - she doesn’t want to have to ask her parents to bail her out all the time. Her PIP was removed at one time - but reinstated when she sent photos of the gaping, oozing wounds on her body. She shouldn’t have to do that.

She uses her PIP to pay for a cleaner, occasional gardening, and exercise support depending on how her condition is. She likes swimming, but even the cost of this adds up if you are trying to do it regularly. Then there is transport to hospital appointments, extra hot water for laundry and personal hygiene. And extra heating - she cannot sit around in the cold. These are real additional costs for people living with chronic illnesses and disabilities. PIP genuinely enables her to live as an independent adult.

You will notice that being able to clean your house, do laundry etc is not on the list of PIP qualifying criteria, yet these are major issues for people with disabilities.

I also don't understand why pension aged people can't get carer's allowance, so many people are carers in retirement. My son was changed to PIP some years ago. He is in the support group so I hope he will be unaffected by the changes

Not sure if you’re a new poster Rilla but there was a lengthy thread on Carers Allowance and DWPension a couple of weeks ago. I think it’ll still be under ‘Chat’ if you’re interested in the opinions of others.

Hi Georgesgran
I have posted before, but read more. Thanks for that, I'll take a look.
I do like how thoughtful and supportive most posts are on here.

Anybody who thinks getting a PIP to subsidise their Universal Credit without having a genuine need are so wrong. It took my daughter over a year to get hers sorted. She was born with a congenital condition which affects every single joint in her body, her digestive system, her eyes and skin. She also has severe anxiety which is a comorbidity to her congenital disorder. We had to fight tooth and nail for her to get help, and eventually got it. BUT every time she has a review (always earlier than the 3 years she has allocated) she gets it taken away. We then have to fight for it again which takes at least a year. The system absolutely stinks and the stress it causes is enormous. She has now got to the stage where she has given up because she can't face another tribunal. It is disgusting they are targeting the Disabled yet again.

I cant agree with Sarnia- my son whom is disabled is an excellant driver, extra careful and spent so long learning he has taken all the safety rules of driving onboard and never forgets a thing he learned- he passed at 19 and has now been driving over 7years, hes proud of the fact he has (so far) been the youngest in our family to pass, and rightly proud of attaining his licence, without driving he wouldnt be able to get to various medical appointments and he was able to get to college more easily and its been a God send to him.The whole process of learning to drive and owning and caring for his cars (his own-purchased first, and now a motorbility car) has helped him to mature & be responsible also, so nothing like a "toddler with car keys".

Theres also a hospital transport service some can book to get to/from hospital appoinments.But not sure if you have that in Scotland nexus63?

I think that to 'make' disabled people attain 4points in a category as opposed to 2 in each is just ridiculous, its just the governments way to make certain hardly anyone will get PIP at all- and most of these will be people who are being reviewed whom already had proven their illnnesses/disabilities, by medical proof/support, and by the DWP own assessors already, and exactly how can we attain 4 points in one, if those categories are still only worth 2 points per category??Are those categorys to be raised in the points stakes? Or what?In my own assessment i should have been awarded more for not being able to do more things, but they chose to ignore that & give me less, even though i could not do at least 2 other things for myself- so saving 3 extra points- 1 point below higher daily living rate.Even lady on phone who had put my reconsideration form in had questioned this.& despite reams of medical back up.In the end, they just make up their own minds and if you get someone in a bad mood that day, you lose out!

Also what SHOULD stop is the DWP being allowed to 'reassess' PIP claims a whole year earlier than the date that a persons award ends!- Their pawltry excuse is always put as "so we can make sure you're getting the correct amount of money you are entitled to" is just their lying scamming way of saying, "they want to see if they can snatch back a years extra money that they can save on disability payments".

I think the figures are relatively low, I honestly think there's quite a lot of people who are eligible but don't claim.

Certainly with Attendance Allowance many people who are eligible don't even know about it. I have helped many people make a claim who could have been getting it for years.

Nannan2

Also what SHOULD stop is the DWP being allowed to 'reassess' PIP claims a whole year earlier than the date that a persons award ends!- Their pawltry excuse is always put as "so we can make sure you're getting the correct amount of money you are entitled to" is just their lying scamming way of saying, "they want to see if they can snatch back a years extra money that they can save on disability payments".

Yes, this! My daughter would have her PIP awarded back by tribunal for 3 years and then the DWP would review after 2. She would then have to go through the appeal process again. One of their comments was that she had not sought further psychiatric treatment. That just wasn't true. There's a huge difference between not trying for help and not getting it especially when the pandemic had made it impossible to get a GP's appointment let alone help from the Mental Health Services. As for the more physical stuff, the hospital have done as much as they can for her so she is on morphine for the rest of her days without medical breakthroughs but they still dismiss her case.
I met a young man at a tribunal who had a vicious form of cancer and he'd had to fight every step of the way despite trying to fight for his life at the same time. There were obviously times when he was just unable to respond to DWP's queries because he was too ill but they would not make allowances. It makes my blood boil to think about the way he was treated.

You have to understand that some disabled people would love to be able to work. However getting an employer to make the necessary adjustments is not easy. It's costly and sometimes the premises are not even suitable. Also alot of people on PIP have lots of time when they are not able to work due to their illness, hospital appointments and hospital admissions. Employers don't want to employ people who are off work sick every couple of weeks or admissions to hospital regularly. PIP can be needed to help with utilities if someone's condition means they need a warmer home than 18 degrees. Some mental health conditions can be also very debilitating. There are also quite a few physical conditions that effect people's mental health too. I think they are targeting the wrong groups first. To reduce the Benefit costs they should start with the people whovare unemployed through redundancy and just because they left a job because they didn't like it. After that has been sorted then the Disability issues could come next if necessary. Thee aren't enough jobs for the able bodies let alone for people who would struggle to work through physical or mental health reasons.