personal independance payment/dla

nimblebequick

Hi there
I am hoping for a little advice here. My circumstances in brief are as follows.

Married with one child of 18mnths

Diagnosis
Bipolar/diabetes/Rheumatic Enthisitis.
Under hospital consultants for all 3.

Previously claimed DLA, claim ended Sept 2013. Failed to return reapplication within timescale. Returned 8 days late. Reason: Mum passed away due to cancer, was with her in hospice for last 4 weeks of her life. For me this was very traumatic and resulted in severe reaction due to mental health meaning I was unable at the time to complete the form.

Expained circumstances to DLA but they were unwilling to accept the completed form plus evidence late and insisted I reapply for P.I.P. which I did (form submitted 4th september) so now of course I am being treated as a first time claimant.

I am now 4 months in and still have received nothing in terms of communicatoon from them. My wife has phoned and chased the appication without success. (I find dealing with these matters very stressful, so avoid if i can) Different information is provided by each person spoken to and there appears to be little or no consistency in their replies to questions. In addition there appears to be a lack of concern shown, condescending attitudes, unhelpful staff belittling approach to questions.

Today we had somewhat of a break through and have been told that it has taken DWP 6 weeks to forward the application to ATOS and 7 weeks after them receiving it, they are still at the "initial" stages cannot give any turnaround timescale.

The situation has caused untold amounts of stress and although I do receive ESA (recently reassessed by way of medical) and on top of everything else it has only served to make my mental health much worse.

Any advice on this situation would be greatly appreciated. Pease don't misunderstand, this is not a "poor me, poor me" post as I am sure that there are many people in a much worse situation than I am.
Kindest regards and thanks in anticipation for any help.

cazz2013

Hi Nimble, sorry to hear about your situation. There are a lot of threads about the claim process peoples have been going through on the 'Disability & Dosh' forum, with many people in the same boat. Claims are taking upwards of 24+ weeks - one member at the moment is over 30 weeks. Check out the thread - although you find the length of times shocking - you will also find a wealth of support and sympathy for your situation. Good Luck.

nimblebequick

Thanks so much for your reply.

I wonder if admin could move my post to the disability & dosh forum? I didn'see that one.

Regards

Morglin

They are taking months for assessment, as the whole thing (as ever) seems to be chaotic.

You can ring them to find out what stage your claim is at, and, of course, if it's awarded, you will get back pay.

Lin

Tofudragon

I'm hitting around the 25 week mark I think, I have had the home assessment and had a phone call from the DWP asking for my bank details. The guy on the phone said they have the reports and a decision should be made soon (also got a letter dated 20th Dec 2013 saying they have all the information they need). Sorry to say but the new claim process can easily take over 6 months. Here's some dates from my process, keep in mind I am still awaiting a decision.

Completed phone questionnaire with PIP - early June 2013
Received and completed form, posted - 26th June 2013
Found out the DWP received and looked at paper form - 17th July
Details passed to Capita - Sept 2013
Home based face to face assessment - 17th Nov
Received letter saying they have all info/reports needed dated - 20th Dec 2013
Received phone call asking for bank details and stating DWP have had all the reports etc they needed, decision to be made 'soon' - 7th Jan 2014

This is just my experience so far, many others are in the same boat. It's realistic to assume you probably won't have a final decision 6 months plus after original application date.

nimblebequick

Thanks both for your replies. I will assume that nothing will happen quickly and wait it out.

Does anyone have a viewmor info on he fact that they refused to accept my reapplication for DLA on account it was late? I find it difficult to accept that they did not consider the difficult position I was in and accept that the form was late due to rather extenuating circumstances. It seems a little unfair to me that I have been forced down the route of a new claimant.

baza52

Sorry but I cant see your reason as a valid excuse.
I appreciate you were going through a bad time but the rules are clear.

Morglin

nimblebequick wrote: »

Thanks both for your replies. I will assume that nothing will happen quickly and wait it out.

Does anyone have a viewmor info on he fact that they refused to accept my reapplication for DLA on account it was late? I find it difficult to accept that they did not consider the difficult position I was in and accept that the form was late due to rather extenuating circumstances. It seems a little unfair to me that I have been forced down the route of a new claimant.

They are very unwilling to accept any excuses, even valid ones.

You could ask someone from the CAB or welfare rights in your area to contact them on your behalf, but it's unlikely they will budge.

Hopefully, it won't take much longer to get a PIP decision, and you can phone them once a week to chase them up a bit.

Lin

nimblebequick

Thanks once again for you replies.

Good luck to all that are awaiting a decision, I hope things go well for you all.

youngo

Hi guys

I've been a carer & power of attorney for my mentally ill father for 9 years now & you name it, i've probably fought it. In terms of this issue, I relocated dad 4 years ago & found that the transition was far from seemless. Long story short, his benefits were stopped, so i challenged & appealed which lead to a tribunal which was found in his favour. Even at the tribunal stage, stand firm, you don't always need costly solicitors, As long as you have a clear, concise, chronological recollection of the details & can evidence it if asked, the processes can & do work. good luck

nimblebequick

Thank you for that info youngo.
I didn't realise I was able to appeal against the withdrawal of benefits but I think that ship has probably sailed.