Denied PIP - Help!

harveyj

Hi There,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I've been on DLA for 14 years after i was hit by a car abroad, which resulted in my left leg being torn off. My left leg was amputated below the knee in a Turkish Hospital. The whole of my stump is scar tissue, it rubs often so i am unable to wear my prosthesis. I get around on Crutches.

I recently had the dreaded PIP assessment and they have stated that I no longer qualify to receive the payment. I have two part time jobs that pay around £600 a month. Until yesterday i was also getting £300 a month DLA. For Daily Living Activities i've scored 6 points and for mobility activities i've scored 4 points. I need at least 12 points in total.

Just wondering if anyone has had any success with an appeal? The letter says they will look at the information again, but what are they going to discover that they missed before?

Basically, i'm done for without this, I don't get housing benefit as i am working more than 24 hours per week, i'm 38 and single, living in a 1 bedroom flat that i pay for myself. I'm getting by at the moment OK, but to lose 1/3 of that income with no chance of getting it back, the only thing i have to look forward to now is a life of poverty.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated, Thanks, H

Horseunderwater

Actually you need 8 points on each bit to get the standard rate of PIP.

nannytone_2

you should probably already be receiving housing beneefit as it isnt restricted by hours worked/not worked but by household income.
as DLA isnt classed as income, on wages of £600 a month, its more than likelu that you would have received some HB all along

pmlindyloo

Put your details into the calculator on here to see if you would be entitled to HB.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/benefits-check

Which part of the PIP results do you disagree with? Have you looked at the descriptors to see if you disagree with the scores given?

If you can find 6 more hours a week working then you may also be eligible for working tax credits. Is that possible?

Oh, and by the way, if you are entitled to HB then you can ask for it to be back dated if you have a good reason for not claiming before (6 months). A good reason would be someone official telling you that you were not entitled when you were. Why did you think you weren't entitled?

harveyj

I received a letter in 2011 saying that i am no longer entitled to HB as i am now working, I was earning around £1100 in 2011 however i got laid off from that job. I'll have to ring them Monday and see if i can get it again.

8 points on each part, i guess that's the end of that then

Icequeen99

harveyj wrote: »

I received a letter in 2011 saying that i am no longer entitled to HB as i am now working, I was earning around £1100 in 2011 however i got laid off from that job. I'll have to ring them Monday and see if i can get it again.

8 points on each part, i guess that's the end of that then

But you only need another 2 points to qualify for the standard rate of daily living. Have a look at what they scored you on daily living and see if there are any descriptors they have missed or scored you lower than you think and put them in your appeal letter.

Similar on the mobility component (although there are only 2 descriptors so not as easy to find the additional points)

IQ

rogerblack

harveyj wrote: »

My left leg was amputated below the knee in a Turkish Hospital. The whole of my stump is scar tissue, it rubs often so i am unable to wear my prosthesis. I get around on Crutches.

I am assuming for the moment that you have no other serious disability.

A quick skim of the descriptors leads to:
'needs to be able to use an aid or appliance to either prepare or cook a simple meal' 2
'needs to use an aid to be able to wash or bathe' 2
'... aid to dress' 2

And this does in fact add up to 6 on daily living.

The aid would be either your prosthesis, cruches, stool, ...

Onto descriptors that might apply.
Have you been proscribed any course of treatment you should follow for care of your scar - and are you following that?
Have you been proscribed any other medication for anything and have problems remembering to take pills, so use a pill timer or similar device?
(either 1 point for 'needs to use an aid to manage medication' or 2 or more for 'needs therapy that takes more than x hours a week'. If or not you get it.

Do you have serious problems with managing money?

On 'moving around' - the relevant descriptor they've selected would seem to be 'Can stand and move more than 50 meters but no more than 200m'.

Can you, most of the time, reliably stand and with crutches go over 50m - in under twice the time a slow person would take to walk this distance?

If you can't reach 50m, this would be 10 points, can't reach 20m, 12 points.


http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/how-we-can-help/benefits-information/personal-independence-payment-regulations

when a claimant is being assessed for personal independence payment under those Regulations, that assessment must take into account whether the claimant can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period.

'Repeatedly' means at least twice within a fairly short period.
Safely - if you can get to half the speed of a normal person but unsafely - you can't do it.

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-points-system


It seems extremely questionable you can gain a care award.
Possibly with an aid - be it a chair, crutch, or other thing, you seem likely to be able to prepare food, take nutrition, wash and bathe, manage toilet needs, dress, communicate verbally, read and understad information, and communicate verbally as well as make budgeting decisions.

_HOWEVER_.
Read and understand the descriptors carefully.
If there is any act that you cannot do repeatedly... time... then you cannot do it, and you pop up to the next highest descriptor you could do it with.

So, if you can cook a meal just fine with an aid - but not in twice the time, then you'd go up to the next applicable one '. Needs supervision or assistance to either prepare or cook a simple meal. ' in this case - which gets 4 points.

Mobility - it's all down to distance.
Many of the people assessing this will be thinking of DLA criteria in the back of their minds, for which shuffling really slowly an acceptable way to get a distance and not qualify.

For PIP, this isn't the case, you need to be able to do it in under twice the normal time.
So - twice the time of a nondisabled slow walker.
_NOT_ twice the time of someone with arthritis who has to walk slowly or they get severe pain.

I would argue also that it's 'half the time of a normal 38 year old man', due to the way the legislation is written.

northerntwo1

Oh this is very harsh. Ive been one legged only for months and yes I can use crutches but what the descriptors fail to show is that when you are fully dependent on them you lose your hands, so are 1 out of 4. The loss of your hands greatly disables you. You can't shop (can't use a trolley or basket), can't carry a cup of hot coffee, yes you can push a tray inch by inch but it's very time consuming. I often bottom shuffle with food/drinks.

I'm now able to use my leg although it's painful and slow and I often find for speed I go back to one leg but it gives me hands. Having hands is amazing, I know overall I'm better with 2 legs slow and painful with hands than 1 without. Just being able to shop, carry drinks, open doors is easier by far.

Yet pip recognises my 2 legged disability more than 1 which is crazy. It's not distance is total dependency on your hands to move. It's not like now when I need crutches but not as I did.

I can't help as I know nothing about the benefit but have you considered how losing your hands impacts you? As I said it's easier with 2 legs in pain and slowly than losing your hands too.

When_the_going_gets_tough

Op contact the CAB put in for a mandatory reconsideration and if necessary go all the way to an appeal. There are organisations out there to help you, do not be disuaded by the difficulties. I wish you luck.

Horseunderwater

I concur with fighting this all the way. If CAB useless there might be a welfare rights person at your local council or hospital who could help.

kingfisherblue

northerntwo1 wrote: »

Oh this is very harsh. Ive been one legged only for months and yes I can use crutches but what the descriptors fail to show is that when you are fully dependent on them you lose your hands, so are 1 out of 4. The loss of your hands greatly disables you. You can't shop (can't use a trolley or basket), can't carry a cup of hot coffee, yes you can push a tray inch by inch but it's very time consuming. I often bottom shuffle with food/drinks.

I'm now able to use my leg although it's painful and slow and I often find for speed I go back to one leg but it gives me hands. Having hands is amazing, I know overall I'm better with 2 legs slow and painful with hands than 1 without. Just being able to shop, carry drinks, open doors is easier by far.

Yet pip recognises my 2 legged disability more than 1 which is crazy. It's not distance is total dependency on your hands to move. It's not like now when I need crutches but not as I did.

I can't help as I know nothing about the benefit but have you considered how losing your hands impacts you? As I said it's easier with 2 legs in pain and slowly than losing your hands too.

Apologies to the OP, as my response is not to their problem, but to the above post.


My friend is currently reliant on crutches after breaking her foot. She is struggling and although I go down when I can, she is on her own a large part of most days. A couple of things that we have come up with are using a flask filled with boiling water, plus the coffee, milk, etc into a bag that goes over her shoulder, and taking them into the lounge where she is sitting, so she doesn't have to struggle carrying drinks (as you said, virtually impossible with no hands). The bag is also used for everything else that needs carrying about. She perches against the kitchen worktop to make sandwiches for lunch, then puts them into a lunchbox before putting it into the bag that goes over her shoulder.


My mum has come up with a new idea this week. A desk chair on wheels could be used to scoot around if the flooring allows. My friend has wooden flooring rather than carpet, so this is something to try this week. Hopefully by using her 'good' foot to propel herself, she will be able to carry bits and bobs, or a tray.