PIP

I don't blame you either, vampirequeen.
However, at the moment, it does look as though they are going to go through everybody's paperwork as it is.
If they call you in it will be to increase your payments.

Can you enlarge and copy that link I put on? It's from the DWP.

Call me a cynic but I still don't trust them. I'm terrified they will call me in again.

Midgey, just heard this matter discussed this morning on Radio 4's Money Programme. The review will all be a paper review only, that means you won't have to attend any face to face interviews. However it's likely to be some considerable time before you hear anything due to the large number of cases to be reviewed. The programme did say that any moneys due would be backdated, so something for you to look forward to. Best wishes.

Good news for those being reassessed.
No claimants will lose out.
Nobody will be downgraded.

All new assessments vary, some may be just paperwork others an hour face to face by a nurse etc.A friend has the latter coming up in a couple of weeks.

Esther McVey has resigned from Samaritans. Now we just need a few more resignations.....

fullfact.org/economy/are-people-mental-health-conditions-now-receiving-higher-disability-benefit-payments/

The government is still misusing these statistics. They ought to be called to account for it.

www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2018-01-31a.341.0

Yesterday's parliamentary debate on PIP.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2018/01/31/in-the-crap-ita-government-contractor-responsible-for-benefit-assessments-is-in-deep-financial-doo-doo/

I understand that they are going to take more notice of doctors reports from now on, vampirequeen. I am hoping they will have all the paperwork they need just to review all the previous decisions they made, rather than making applicants go through all the same trauma as before.

Although the decision might make a change in my favour as I have agoraphobia, I'm terrified of them looking at my paperwork again. Their decisions seem so arbitrary and, in many ways, cruel that I live in fear of them.

Hopefully, nina, the change of heart will see your son getting justice from now on, although it will take a while for them to go through all the cases.
My grandson is nearly 16, so there will be time before he comes off DLA onto PIP. Can't imagine him driving a car, although obviously he wants to, as soon as he's 17!
Waiting for him to arrive now for maths and English lessons.

durhamjen My son is autistic and his story is very similar. Two appeals with forms filled in by his case worker, and a face to face but still refused.
It appears to be luck of the draw to a certain extent in my opinion. My friend's brother is autistic and lives alone, drives a car and recieves PIP so does someone else we know who attends college but DS who lives with us, can't get work, can't travel alone is refused.

And whilst they are using up scarce resources on reviewing ( which should never have been necessary) there will doubtless be longer waiting times for new claimants to be assessed.

It will be a paper exercise to identify claimants receiving PIP who either a). Gave details of mental health issues when they claimed, or b). Gave details of mental health issues when they were being assessed because they were transferring from DLA to PIP. That's what will trigger further investigation, but not everyone will go through another medical.

Basically what happened is in December the High Court made a decision on a legal challenge by claimants (3 of them) who gave mental health issues as the reason for mobility difficulties. The court found in favour of the claimants.

The challenge revolved around regulation changes last February that meant people with mental health issues could only get a maximum of 10 points on the Mobility section of the PIP claim. This means that they cannot qualify for the enhanced level of the mobility component of PIP. However, if a claimant gives physical reasons for mobility issues, then they could score 12 points and qualify for the enhanced level of the mobility component of PIP. The enhanced level of the mobility component enables claimants to be eligible for other services like the Motability scheme.

The decision means that if a person's condition - physical, mental or both - is deemed severe enough, it's now possible to score 12 points in the assessment and qualify for the enhanced rate of PIP mobility.

I suspect anyone who gave details of mental health issues who was awarded 10 points for the Mobility section will simply be awarded 12 points instead. My guess is that a score of less than 10 might be re-examined. The claimants who've not been mentioned as the ones who were disallowed PIP altogether because their score wasn't high enough. Some of them may have qualified if they could get 12 points instead of 10.

This will be a nightmare for the DWP which is already reviewing around 75,000 claimants moving Incapacity Benefit claimants onto the new ESA benefit.

When the migration started in 2011 there was an error in the assessment process and the Government said it only became aware of the problem in December 2016 after the Office for National Statistics published certain benefits statistics. This is actually not true because welfare rights group had identified the problem in 2014. As of November 2017 only about 1000 claimants had been contacted.

The awful thing is both these errors involve claimants who are ill or disabled and there no telling how many of them will have died.

A good discussion about it on Newsweek, with an interview with a man whose son was autistic. He received DLA and had learning support all the way through school. Then when he was assessed for PIP, he was given nothing because he said yes to three questions like he could get on a bus, he could dress himself, he could cook a meal.
It's worth watching to see the Tory still trying to wriggle out of responsibility.

Between 2007 and 2014 the number of disabled claimants who attempted to take their own lives went up from 21% to 43%.
Esther McVey is on the board of the Samaritans.

Suffers of agoraphobia have been denied the same mobility allowance as those with a physical disability who have difficulties getting out . A case was heard in the High Court - I think

If any of my clients are invited for a PIP assessment a colleague and I always offer to accompany them; I think having independent witnesses helps to ensure best practice guidelines are followed. We've also become quite canny at spotting which questions are not asked if the answer would benefit the client rather than the interviewer - and making sure they get the answer anyway. The last PIP interview I attended (with a client) was a couple of weeks ago and lasted for two hours - it was the first wholly positive experience of a PIP interview I'd experienced.

It's the bit about allowing people with mental health problems to have the mobility allowance part that seemed to be the key thing. Good news for some people I know.

of course they can,its not about the cost to the government its about making people feel they're scroungers and shouldn't be claiming ...my daughter had three attempts at getting PIP assessments and A tribunal type thing before being told she would get it ...then told she wouldn't and it would be reassessed.She finally got it after 3 years .Then she had to reapply after a year !1 Her condition wont go away...she has it for life,what part of incurable dont the "assessors" understand

Just watched story on C4 - it said everyone would be reviewed but didn’t say what ‘reviewed’ meant. Surely it will be a paper exercise in most cases, they couldn’t possibly afford a face to face assessment of everyone

I suppose the answer is that some people with mental health issues are not receiving it when they should and that’s grossly unfair and maybe exacerbating their mental health? But I do understand to some extent how you feel about having to go through it again - hopefully you won’t need to - I’m sure the review is aimed at those who were refuse and those on lower rates than perhaps they should be!