PIP Help

Alice_Holt wrote: »

Re Mobility 1b

Basically what you wrote in your OP "He cannot travel on public transport alone and he is never in public without me." , together with " my son suffers from social anxiety and being in an open place with people causes him distress; let alone engage with them. He cannot go out unless it's with me and even then, he appears stressed and will make me take him home."

If you can expand a bit on that, and maybe quote some examples in your MR / tribunal submission.

Be aware that "any journey" means any single journey on the majority of days.

This is taken from the assessors guide:
"This descriptor applies to claimants where leaving the home and
undertaking any journey causes overwhelming psychological
distress and where they need prompting on the majority of days to
be able to go out.
‘Prompting’ means reminding, encouraging or explaining by another
person. ‘Prompting’ can take place either before or during a journey.
‘Any journey’ means any single journey on the majority of days.
‘Overwhelming psychological distress’ means distress related to an
enduring mental health condition or intellectual or cognitive
impairment which results in a severe anxiety state in which the
symptoms are so severe that the person is unable to function. This
may occur in conditions such as generalised anxiety disorder, panic
disorder, dementia or agoraphobia. In cases of agoraphobia, going
out provokes anxiety but may still be possible with prompting. If
agoraphobia is severe and the claimant is unable to go out even
with support on the majority of days, descriptor E may be more appropriate.

Does the claimant need prompting to be able to make any single
journey on most days? In other words, if they get support from
someone else, can they successfully make a journey on most days?
If so, descriptor B is likely to apply.
For example, a claimant who goes out to his local shop four days
each week but needs to have his wife with him to be able to cope
with this journey. He will sometimes try to go to his weekly
physiotherapy appointment alone if his wife is working, but this
causes him significant anxiety and he has only managed to cope
with this once in the last month; he cancelled the other
appointments rather than make the trip alone. He can go out on
most days but requires prompting / support to be able to do so. He
is only able to go out alone on occasion and very infrequently. He
would therefore satisfy mobility 1B.

If, however, a claimant can undertake any single journey on the
majority of days in the required period without prompting, for
example, regular visits to the local shop to collect the daily paper, or
regularly collect their children from school without support then they
will not satisfy this descriptor, even if they are unable to undertake
other journeys without prompting during the required period. The HP
should ask clarifying questions of claimants who state they can
undertake some journeys but not others without prompting to
ascertain the reasons why and to obtain corroborating evidence
where necessary. The HP should also explore what the claimant is
“able” to do rather than what they “do” do. For example, a claimant
who goes out twice a week – is this through choice, or because they
need prompting due to overwhelming psychological distress?"

Would that apply to your son?

Evidence could be provided by other family members / friends etc.
If your son's GP / CPN / another health care professional could confirm this, it would be very valuable evidence.

A diary which details when your son goes out, and with whom, how long for, and what happens, how he is the rest of the day, how many days he can't go out etc would be useful.

The How to win a PIP appeal guide is useful on this (see link in my earlier post):
"You should think about keeping a diary of the help you need each day. It will help the tribunal panel to get a proper understanding of your situation. It is particularly helpful if your illness or disability isn't the same every day. Keep a diary for a month if you can (but a shorter time will also be helpful). It can be very brief. For example - 'Monday - Joints and back very painful today. Needed help to fasten my bra, and put socks and shoes on, as I couldn't bend down. Marie had to help me downstairs'. Include everything that is connected to the entitlement to PIP is based on.
If you get help from somebody and find this sort of thing hard, you could ask them to keep a diary of the help they have given you instead (as an alternative to the letter - see above)."


I'm afraid the decision won't be changed by calling PIP up and telling them the assessor and case manager have got a few pointers wrong meaning missed he out on points.
It is very likely to necessitate a tribunal appearance, hence the suggestion in my earlier post to see if you can access a caseworker from your local CAB / advice agency. The success rate for PIP appeals are over 65%.
Represented PIP appeals at my local CAB are almost always successful.

Alice_Holt wrote: »

It looks that way. Are there 2 copies of the letter?
Does the letter say if you disagree with their MRN you can appeal to the Tribunal Service (TS)

In a way that could be advantageous to you. The MRN hasn't decreased your existing award.
If you decide to appeal to the tribunal, and then change your mind you can withdraw the appeal (in writing) at any stage.
This is the form to continue your appeal to the TS :

The SSCS 1 form needs to be with the TS within 1 month of the date of the MRN .

Use your wording on your OP for the grounds for the appeal.
Do opt to attend the appeal.
Don't ask for short notice of the hearing.

Timescales (very roughly and will vary by region) about 2 months to get the DWP evidence bundle then c. 6 weeks till the hearing date (of which you will receive about 2 weeks notice).
That should give sufficient time to contact your local CAB, start gathering evidence, read through, and act on, the online guides, see if your son's GP would support him, etc

If your son does want to appeal, I think (and this may be contentious) take advantage of the DWP error and appeal to the TS. Remember that if you can't get the evidence / help / or your son becomes too anxious then you can withdraw the appeal at any time.

Realistically it is unlikely that a tribunal will reduce an award that has just been awarded, particularly if you are well prepared, have evidence, and your son can explain the problems he has to the panel. The recent occasions when I have seen an award downgraded have occurred at MR stage not at tribunal.
If you and your son are confident the decision is wrong, then this is an opportunity to rectify it.
Tribunal panels are very thorough, but they are very used to dealing with anxious, chronically depressed appellants and are usually very careful to set them at ease and draw out the required info. They will want to know about your son's day-to-day life, and the typical difficulties he has with the disputed descriptors on the majority of days.