Jul 172016
Reproduced from the DWP Website
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has commissioned Paul Gray to undertake the second Independent Review of how the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment is working, as required by Section 89 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012.
This call for evidence will be one of several methods used to gather information. Evidence submitted will be used to inform a final independent report which will be laid before Parliament.
About this call for evidence
Who this call for evidence is aimed at
This call for evidence is aimed at organisations and individuals who have information that is relevant to how the PIP assessment is operating both for new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims. This includes claims made under the Special Rules for terminally ill people.
We are interested in everyone’s views, so please provide as much evidence as you can on the questions asked in this document. We know that people and organisations will have different levels of experience in the PIP process so do not feel you have to answer questions that are not relevant to you, for example where you do not have personal experience.
Purpose of the call for evidence
This call for evidence will be used to inform the Independent Reviewer’s conclusions. The Independent Reviewer will then make recommendations to the Secretary of State, which will be laid before Parliament in the form of a report to which the Government will produce a response.
Scope of the call for evidence
This consultation applies to England, Wales and Scotland.
Duration of the call for evidence
The call for evidence period begins on Monday 11th July 2016 and runs until Friday 16th September 2016 at 5pm.
How to respond
You can respond via the online form
If you are unable to use the online form, please use one of the following methods:
Email: pip.independentreview@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
Post: PIP Independent Review Team, Department for Work and Pensions, Floor 4
Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA
Please ensure your response reaches us by 5pm on Friday 16th September 2016.
We will acknowledge your response. Please note the PIP Independent Review Team cannot respond to individual customer queries about their PIP claim.
Accessible formats
This call for evidence is available in a range of formats, including large print, Easy Read, audio, British Sign Language (BSL), Braille, large print, audio cassettes, CDs and BSL DVDs.
To request these formats, please contact:
Email: pip.independentreview@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
Post: PIP Independent Review Team, Department for Work and Pensions, Floor 4
Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA
Queries about the call for evidence
Please direct any queries about this call for evidence to:
Post: PIP Independent Review Team, Department for Work and Pensions, Floor 4
Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA
Email: pip.independentreview@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
There is so much I want to say but I’m in total meltdown. My original award was till November 2017 but have just had to endure the review process. Words can not describe the physical and mental stress leading up to this interview. The assessor didn’t turn up and I phoned to be told that she had called in sick. Another appointment was made making me wait another two weeks. My assessor had no idea what MDS (myelodysplatic Syndromes) was. I am 62 and my bone marrow transplant is working but the treatment and recovery has left me with a very low quality of life. 95% of my time is spent resting in bed. My body has been damaged and I will never fully recover. I had pre existing mental health conditions including Bi Polar but I have been ignored by the mental health team. It seems that being able to dress (no matter how slowly or difficult this is and especially if you take pride in your appearance) well this is regarded by the DWP that you you are not sick either physically or mentally. Being able to make eye contact and communicate verbally goes against you.
It seems that you need to be a non responsive, undressed, incapacitated, dribbling, comastosed human being. Then there’s not even any guarantee that they would consider this enough to award you anything.
I haven’t been left without funds and I have my flat and ESA but to suddenly have £300 pounds wiped is quite a shock. I also know that many ofyou are in worse situations than myself. But my argument is this. I am not well and at 62 things are unlikely to get better. Many of you will call me greedy and ungrateful but what is the point of having the NHS spend hundreds of thousands pounds to keep you alive only then to be subjected to the indignities of dealing with welfare payments. Is it wrong to want to be able to buy your groceries and pay your bills without freaking out. Is it wrong to want to be able to enjoy a coffee or be able to take a friend out and not suffer the embarrassment of them having to pay. Part of my financial difficulties are my own fault and in some way caused by my Bi Polar I don’t feel sorry for myself and I don’t want sumpathy all I ask is for all of us with disabilities to be allowed enough income to have dignity. Not only is this being denied but in my case my award now goes to 2019 which means I have to endure all this again in 2018. Why they can’t accept that I’ve been brought back from death and I’m very weak and things are not going to change for the better. If I was in my 40’s then I might be able to have had the strength to get better and return to work but not at 62. If they want to continue to humiliate me and ensure I carry guilt (which I do with a heavy heart) then offer me euthanasia.
I would accept it immediately without hesitation. There is a lot left un said and unexplained. It’s too complicated and deep and emotional.
TISWAS Police 5 Shaw Taylor Credit Reference PIP Reconsideration Appeal. I Morine Barnes did not get my PIP Award I got nil points for Daily Living and Mobility needs PIP claim i do everything unaided. My children Myola and Rommel and family prompt me for all my PIP Daily Living and Mobility needs because they think I am a zombie. I now have to appeal for PIP reconsideration with the Help of CAB. I have asked my GP, CPN, Physiotherapist for medical form P4 V3. I pay my bill planner up budger benefits off work with Chronic Depression ends did not meet with a job. My Carers Allowance and Disabilty Living Allowance will end and leave me and my son Rommel in a rot. Morine Barnes 57. Donald 59, Myola 37 & Rommel Edwards 35. Graham 90.
These PIP assessors are terrible. I found nothing but untruths on my report.
My pip was until November 2016,but I was sent a how your disability affects you form last November even though my problem have got worse my pip has beenlowered and I have lost my mobile car,I asked for a recondition.I inform them several hospital appointment and awaiting mri scan results for mri and ultrasound, I was told that it was taking 9weeks for the recondition and not to worry,that same week a letter came telling me that my d vision was the same,I made a complained because they based their decision on report on the so-called health professional, so a manager decided to decided to do another reconsideration which was to take into account both scan result even with the results there decided. To keep decision. The same even though I have got to have 4operations with no guarantee of success. And also I have a further nhs appointment on the 18 of August which I can’t attend because they have taken the car,I have universal vitiligo. If I was to attend I would be seriously burned by the sun
My husband was lied about by the assessor, how curel are these assessors, the report had so many lies, but my husband was too stressed to do anthing about it
Hi Sheila. I can understand completely how stressful it was for your husband, but he doesn’t have to decide immediately, you can ask for a reconsideration up to a month after the decision letter
This happened to my wife as well, She suffers from mental disabilities as well as physical, she got confused during the assessment and the assessor still found her able to follow instructions????
This was on a good day as well, when I phoned to dispute their claims I found out to my horror that the PIP assessor hadn’t even looked at my wife’s medical notes and that I was supposed to give evidence for our claim? Sickening that the forms ask if you are willing to let the DWP read through a claimants medical history just for them to not even bother. Not even my local CAB center knew about this, how are people supposed to claim when the DWP wont even inform claimants about what they need to do.
I have gotten a doctors letter for an appeal but the DWP don’t want any more contact with us until they go through the reconsideration process.
We had to get forms for sick lines for my wife because I have to tell income support that DLA is stopped and we weren’t even told if we had to or not, I will be contacting them just in-case I have to make another claim for another type of benefit.
I had my PIP letter today. Exactly 16 weeks since I appilied. In it I was told I don’t qualify for PIP as I was unable to attend 2 appointments without a good enough reason! I have Elhers Danlos Syndrome and tachycardic heart, osteoporosis, ulcerative colitis, severe post operative adhesions, anxiety attacks and depression. I did tell Capita why I couldn’t attend my first appointment – I had a severe colitis attack and could not leave my bathroom – let alone the house. And my heart was just beating faster and faster. I begged for a home visit ( my sister who is more mobile than me was offered a home visit before an assessment in an office) and was told by the Capita rep that I could only have a home visit if my GP sent a letter with new medical evidence – Id sent all my new evidence with my application. I then missed the second appointment as I had anxiety attack which triggered colitis which made my heart go up to 141bpm. The next Capita rep I spoke to in the day I cancelled didn’t want to know. She said my claim will be suspended and returned to the DWP and they would get back in touch with me. Heard nothing until letter today said I don’t qualify. I’ve had to take extra beta blockers and Diazapam but my anxiety attack goes on and I won’t be surprised if I have a heart attack.
I too like thousands of other people have been subjected to the DWP and their incompetence, unfairness and stress caused by having to comply with their deadlines, face to face assessments etc.
Having been retired on medical grounds and place on Incapacity Benefit indefinitely, I was shocked to find that six months before my retirement date I was informed that I would be transferred to ESA Benefit as IB had ceased. I completed the very long form and waited and waited and waited. After 3 months I received a reply to say that I had been placed in WRAG and would be required to attend interviews at my local job centre. I immediately sent a letter stating that I requested the decision to be reconsidered and sent supporting evidence from 3 specialists, together with MRI Scan reports. Eventually after 2 months they agreed to place me in the Support Group indefinitely.
However, some 2 months ago I received a letter stating that because I was on lower rate DLA I was now required to apply for PIP because failure to do so would mean that my benefits would cease. I therefore completed yet another 26 page form, sending with it specialists reports etc and then two weeks later received a letter inviting me to attend a face to face interview at 08.10am some fifteen miles away from where I live.
I rang Capita who were carrying out the assessment, pointing out that it would be very difficult for me to attend at 08.10am as I needed carers to get me up, help with dressing and then have transport to the assessment centre in a wheelchair.I was told that it was my responsibility to make sure I attended.
After a lot of pain, stress and anxiety I attended, to be told by the lady at the desk that my assessor had telephoned in sick and that they would re-schedule my appointment. Luckily I had a citizens advice worker with me who insisted that I was interview that day as it had taken considerable effort to get me to the appointment. I had to wait a further two hours until I was seen by an assessor who stated that he was not familiar with PIP but had been called in at short notice. After ninety minutes of questioning we left and I was totally exhausted. On returning home I had a letter saying that my appointment had been changed to 09.10am on the same day as I had attended. I telephoned the office and explained that I had in fact just attended my face to face assessment approximately one hour previously.
After waiting another sixteen weeks I got a letter stating that I had been awarded PIP at enhanced rate for both mobility and daily living. However, legislation stats that you cannot be in receipt of two benefits at the same time and therefore my PIP award wouldn’t be backdated. The letter also explained that the award would not be paid for six weeks after the decision date. And they say there is no discrimination against disabled people.
Thank you for your site and among others I feel at least someone out there is supporting us because the government certainly isn,t!!!
After claiming DLA for the past 18 years my wife attended a PIP interview. She was “Ridiculed” by this assessor, who before entering the room told us “Only your wife can answer the questions”? This is NOT true!
she again filled in the form on her computer, with total Lies!
A lot of twoing a throughing later, we are awaiting my wife’s Appeal date. From the moment my wife phoned in answer to the notification she had to switch to PIP, the lady at DWP gave my wife everything ….but the truth! I demanded an Inquiry into ALL that had gone on, & eventually received a C.D. with the phone call on my wife had made. The person leading the enquiry had previously told us that certain things my wife says were told her were NOT on the recording?? Anyway, upon receipt of the C.D. I noticed the call lasted 3min. 20 sec.? After checking my phone bill for said call it states 6 mins. 20 sec’s. A deficit of 3 mins.?
The whole affair was nothin g more than a Charade where Lies have been told, etc. ALL at my wife’s expense!
I notified the DWP of additional health issues along with a previously reported illness worsening and the result was, after having a further assessment, even though the assessor LIED in her report, was to have my PIP stopped. Went through the whole mandatory reconsideration and first appeal process, simply to be told I didn’t score any points at all. Requested a further appeal simply to be told that I had exceeded the time allowed to request a further appeal to the ‘First Tier’, though I filed my further appeal the same day. The HMCTS can’t find my second appeal application, so I have lost out on the appeal process. Now, after being told that I do qualify for PIP, by a DWP advisor, I am having to make a fresh application and, no doubt will have to wait a further 18 months before I get an assessment again.
i suffer from epilepsy depression and arthritis i went 4 a pip a few mths ago and didnt even get 1 point joke!!!!
Like Adam I have epilepsy, being first diagnosed in 1969. In 1992 I was first awarded DLA (middle rate care component, low rate mobility component). Following an ATOS assessment for ESA in December 2012 I was placed in the support group. After an ATOS assessment in June 2016 I too scored no points for a severe disability and am due to receive my final DLA payment next month. None of the questions on the PIP application form allow assessors to consider mental health or invisible disabilities.
The complaints and/or appeal process only creates further, unnecessary stress that causes more seizures
Sorry to here this, my wife suffers from epilepsy too because of a childhood brain hemorrhage and I can see how difficult it can be to manage such a condition.
I have been trying to keep her hopes up during this whole ordeal but I can see her health deteriorating every day because of the stress this puts on us.
I hope everything works out for you and you have my best wishes.
It’s murdering mentallyill and people with disabilities. With the stress. And atos and the dwp or doing the government job by by giving a helping hand by doing this. And atos and all the people doing the assessmentso or making a killing out of what there doing