Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a state benefit for people who are having problems with care and/or mobility.
The payments can be made at lower and higher levels for both care and mobility and you can claim PIP even though you are still able to work.
PIP has replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for all new applications and people claiming DLA are being progressively re-assessed to see if they meet the new criteria for PIP.
The MEA is now receiving more queries about PIP problems than we do for ESA.Although many people with ME/CFS are making successful clai,ms others are being refused and only succeeding after taking their case to an appeal
So we thought it was time to find out what sort of success rate people are having when applying for PIP
MEA notes on PIP Applications, Medical Assessments, Reconsiderations and Appeals
1 PIP checker from the DWP
As we are currently dealing with a lot of queries and news items about PIP, including the difficulties people are facing when transferring from DLA to PIP, it's worth noting that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has produced a useful website checker that you can fill in to find out if you can claim PIP and what will happen if you apply for PIP
You can use this tool to check:
* if PIP affects you or someone you care for
* how PIP will affect your child
* when you can make a new claim for PIP or you are transferring from DLA to PIP
2 FILLING IN THE PIP APPLICATION FORMS
We have a very comprehensive MEA guide to filling in the PIP application forms.
The MEA guide goes through ALL the PIP questions and how to answer them in relation to ME/CFS.
It also emphasises some of the key points that we have been discussing with the DWP in relation to PIP – e.g. that you are able to carry out the activities that are being assessed in a way that is reliable, repeatable, safe to yourself and others, and can be carried out in a timely manner.
People have found this guide to be very successful in relation to obtaining this new benefit.
MEA guide to PIP and other DWP benefits:
www.meassociation.org.uk/shop/benefits-leaflets/
3 ATTENDING A MEDICAL ASSESSMENT
The CAB have a very useful guide to all aspects of the medical assessment with Atos, Capita or Maximus:
If you are unable to travel to an assessment centre, the medical assessment can be carried out out in your home.
Contact the assessment centre, explain your situation, and obtain written support from your GP if there is a reluctance to do a home assessment.
Please note that this assessment is not carried out by the DWP – the report on your condition is ent to the Decision-Maker at the DWP
4 SUPPLYING SUPPORTIVE MEDICAL EVIDENCE FOR YOUR APPLICATION OR RE-ASSESSMENT
You need to source as much ‘supportive medical evidence' as you can
Do NOT rely on the DWP asking for and chasing this up – they won't.
This means written support, if you can obtain it, from:
* Your GP
* Members of a multidisciplinary hospital-based service – Doctor, Physiotherapst, Occupational Therapist, etc
* Anyone involved in your social care – do you have anyone helping with care or mobility needs?
* Anyone else who is involved in your care
Letters should focus on your level of disability and relevant symptoms (e.g. cognitive dysfunction; orthostatic intolerance/hypotension; limited mobility; problems with balance etc) in relation to the way in which this is going to be assessed for DWP benefit purposes
The fact that you have a fluctuating medical condition, and this means that you may not be able/are not able to carry out PIP tasks in a manner that is reliable, repeatable, safe (to you and to others) and in a timely manner on a day to day basis should also be included/stressed
5 RECONSIDERATION PROCESS
If your application has been refused there is an initial mandatory reconsideration process.
6 GOING TO APPEAL
In relation to an appeal, there are several things people can do to increase the chance of winning an appeal. These include:
* Obtaining good supportive (written) medical evidence to support your case. In relation to PIP, this can come from people involved with your care (e.g. a care or social worker if one is involved) and any health professional who is involved with your care (e.g. OT, physio, nurse) in addition to your GP and/or consultant
* Turning up in person at the appeal
* Obtaining feedback from people with ME/CFS who have been through the appeal process – you could do this by using MEA Facebook where there are plenty of people who are always willing to pass on this sort of practical feedback.
7 USEFUL VIDEOS
This is a useful source of information on preparing for an appeal from the MInistry of Justice:
hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/sscs001a-eng.pdf
This video (made in relation to ESA) was made by the Ministry of Justice (who handle DWP appeals) with an introduction by Dr Jane Rayner, Senior Medical Adviser, First Tier Tribunal. Dr Rayner is a very kind and helpful doctor who I have met at the House of Lords.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbWXG6Ho4i8
Minutes for meeting at House of Lords with Dr Rayner:
Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, ME Association
The DWP/ATOS do not follow their own rules. They say *reliable, repeatable, safe to yourself and others, and in a timely manner.*
The reality is IF you can do this once on a good day, they try to claim you can do it as much as you want everyday. And if you can’t do something they want evidence to prove that.
I have applied for PIP this year and I was lucky enough to get one of the good assessors and lucky enough to be awarded enhanced rate PIP on both components.
However, it was impossible to persuade Atos to let me have a home visit and we ended up having to borrow a wheelchair from the Red Cross in order to get me to the assessment. After initially being told by one advisor that they would reconsider my request, I was flatly told the very next day that no I do not qualify, despite being 95% housebound but given no reason as to why. The rearranged appointment that turned up in the post a few days later was for a centre a further 15 miles away, not the one closest to my home. Go figure the logic or fairness of that one.
My other issue was that I scored 0 on components relating to cognitive issues, despite the fact that for me it is one of my most disabling symptoms. They don’t seem to take into account that it is relative to your normal abilities. I have worked full time for 30 years in a variety of roles that require thinking on your feet, flexibility, adaptability, sticking to tight deadlines and a high degree of numeration and communication skills. Yet my abilities these days are considerably reduced. However, because I can still spell world and after much thought and having to use my fingers to slowly work it out I could even spell it backwards, I am considered to not have any problems with cognitive skills. This does not take into account the fact that for decades I had several different bosses who used to get me to either check their communications or write them for them as they recognised my abilities in this area. I can no longer drive as I know I can’t focus or concentrate enough to be safe. I don’t do the household budgets any more or bother attending appointments with the bank etc as it just goes over my head these days, despite previously working in a finance department. I think it seems you actually have to have dementia to gain points in cognitive skill components despite how foggy and muddled you may know you get.
Despite that I did get fully enhanced awarded. Yet I do seriously wonder if the DWP have any real understanding of ME and Fibromyalgia.
Brain fog strikes again. I forgot to mention that I couldn’t get a home visit despite the fact that it didn’t just affect me. Borrowing a wheelchair meant my husband had to push it, and he is on the list for a knee replacement due to happen in the next few months. He is also asthmatic with prinz metal angina and Atos were well aware of all this.
My MP sat in on my PIP assessment (she’s a friend and at the time was Shadow Minister for Disabled People, and we both thought she’d find it interesting), it was at home. My assessor didn’t physically examine me, as she could see I’d deteriorated over the course of the assessment, both physically and mentally. I was awarded enhanced for care, standard for mobility – my assessor (without seeing me move from lying on the sofa), decided I could walk more than 20m safely, reliably, repeatedly and without pain. I asked for a MR, no change in the assessment, then started my appeal. Before I received a tribunal date, DWP wrote to me saying they’d changed their minds and I now receive both at enhanced rate.
I’ve also just been placed in the Support Group for ESA.