Face 2 Face Meeting

rockingbilly wrote: »

I can't help with advice about a face to face for PIP. I have had them with other benefits and all were extremely stressful and found that what the assessor wrote about me was completely at odds to what had been put on the claim forms and what I said at the assessment.
As has been said on your other thread, having a claim form that has been completed fully and in line with what the DWP would want to see goes a long way. Unfortunately for me I found this out too late - I never got as far as a face to face assessment for my PIP claim - it was denied after them just reading the form which I now realise was a load of utter rubbish.

To right as there is no way you should be even thinking about offering advise with your condition and again your post boils down to me,me and more me.

Hi Vicki,
My Daughter has recently been through the process, obviously everybodies experiences are different, as are the disabilities.
We attended the F2F early in March this year. My daughters assessor was a qualified Nurse, who, in my opinion, apart from a couple of niggles, made a fair assessment of my daughters needs. She had clearly read all of the PIP paperwork and supporting evidence supplied and approached my daughter appropriately (ie: spoke to her using an appropriate level of language that she could understand). So, not all Assessors are weak in the training department!
Obviously you MUST explain yourself fully - please don't fall back on either just yes or no answers to any questions - expand on anything asked - indeed give them more information if you feel you did not expand enough on the original PIP form.
Read up on 'questions you may be asked'. There are plenty of sites/forums/help centers out there, CAB, Disability UK, Benefits & Work etc etc
When it comes to the physical - be honest, they will tell you what movements they want you to carry out - if you feel that these will leave you in any great discomfort or pain - please tell them so, again, explain why - DO NOT give them the opportunity to report that you refused without explanation.
My daughters assessment lasted 1 1/2 hours - She was awarded enhanced rate in both categories. To be perfectly honest with you, I was gob smacked, as, like you, I had filled my head with an awful lot of negative reading and was quite anxious throughout the whole process!

Please remember that it is an unfortunate fact that many more people take to the keyboard to complain than to report good news/results.

Good luck with your claim, I hope this information will go a little way towards helping.

Sheila x

vicki84 wrote: »

Thanks do you remember how long it was from sending the form in to getting an appointment for your daughters face to face please.

In terms of being referred for PIP not quite sure what you mean. There are people currently getting DLA who are being told DLA is ending and they may wish to make a claim for PIP before their DLA ceases. But otherwise you're free to make application. In terms of timeline... seems these things can vary significantly depending on where you are. But they have your returned How Your Disability Affects You form I understand and if you are going to be asked to attend a face to face assessment I would take a punt you'll get an invite in the next month. As far as wider advice should you be called for such a face to face... lots already on threads... and online elsewhere... no doubt people will give advice as I may well in the lead up to such. Good luck!

Hi Vicky,

My daughter was moved over from DLA to PIP, we had to get the paperwork back by 16th February (we were given 6 weeks to fill it in as I rang up for an extension)
We received the F2F appointment through the post, on approx 2nd March - F2F was 9th March.
The decision was made on 30th March

Hope this answers your question

Sheila

vicki84 wrote: »

I have not claimed for anything is the past so I wondered if new claims were harder to get.

Statistically I'd be confident people who have previously claimed DLA will be more successful at claiming PIP at the outset than people new to disability benefits... but this is for reasons that are quite logical and certainly shouldn't cause concern for a new claim from someone like yourself who has never claimed a disability benefit before.
People who have previously claimed are more likely to be successful because:
1. They've previously claimed a disability benefit and so may be more familiar with going about claiming such and dealing with problems that arise like poor decision
2. They're more likely to have established disabilities and evidence alongside that could lead to successful claim
3. They're more likely to have contact with or appreciation for the resources and people out there that can assist their claim

Just by coming here you can probably do away with 1 and 3..lol.

In the end it comes down to what the criteria for the benefit is and the evidence of meeting it.