Advice Needed about PIP, ESA or other

Evans2016

I'm seeking any advice on behalf of my mum. She has recently been turned down for PIP. Her condition (which she has provided medical evidence of) is degenerative spondylolisthesis. In the last year I have witnessed her turn from an able bodied person into someone who is unable to perform simple tasks or even walk the shortest distance without sever difficulty and pain. This has had a massive impact on every aspect of her life. Employment wise, she worked in catering. The work is quite physical and required her to be on her feet for the majority of the working day. The pain my mum suffers has made it impossible for her to continue working, and her GP has signed her off for the past 6 months. Surviving on statutory sick pay, with zero help being forthcoming from any income support or PIP has left her in a perilous financial situation.

Socially and mentally her condition, pain and limited mobility have had a massive affect. The assessor judged that she could walk over 50 meters. This is a blatant untruth, as she relies heavily on a crutch/walking stick, and even then cannot complete even the shortest distances without immense pain and a numbness of the leg. Because of this she is restricted to her own home for the majority of the time as she does not drive, and the nearest bus stop is 0.5 miles away from her home. To walk this journey is now impossible for her. Meaning she cannot commute to work. She cannot leave the house to shop, visit friends and family, or to run errands unless someone offers to drive her. A family friend drives her to the supermarket once a week. This trip to the supermarket is often her only foray out of her own home in the course of a week, and only possible because of the generosity of someone offering to drive her and the fact that she finds walking slightly easier when she is able to lean on a shopping trolley for support. Even then though, she has to rest afterwards as it’s a painful and tiring experience, just to walk round a supermarket.


Her sick pay is due to run out in the next couple of weeks as she has been receiving this for 6 months. She was turned down for income support and PIP (she asked for a mandatory reconsideration of PIP but again was refused so is now going to tribunal, but this is a lengthy process). She has no income coming in, lives on her own and for the past 6 months when she has been on a reduced income only receiving SSP she has been struggling to pay bills, direct debits and buy her food shopping, so has gotten further and further into overdraft and credit card debt just to live basically. We know she can apply for EAS once her SSP runs out, but we are concerned it's yet another assessment tested benefit (and the system doesn't seem to want to give her anything!) and also concerned about how long the process will take.


Can anyone advise of any help she could get or what benefits she could be entitled to? It seems so unfair - you read about people all the time "milking the system" and claiming thousands of pounds worth of benefits, yet my mum who has worked her whole life, and worked two jobs at once while I was growing up and has always worked hard and paid tax can't seem to get anything and her financial position is growing more and more dire.

pmlindyloo

You do not say whether your mum owns her own home (mortgaged?) or rents?

Statutory sick pay is more than Income support and that is why it was not awarded.

As she is only on SSP she can claim housing benefit and council tax (from her local council) based on a low income. She can ask for it to be backdated (believe it is only for a month).
Please let me know if she has a mortgage rather than rent.

Once her SSP runs out then she can claim ESA. (will need a fit note) She may be eligible for contribution based ESA because of her NI contributions but should also be assessed for income based (as I presume that she has no savings)

Income based ESA will give her automatic entitlement to housing benefit and council tax reduction.

If she has a mortgage then she will be eligible for Support for Mortgage Interest - help towards the interest on her mortgage. Will give more information if needed.

As she is appealing the PIP decision then there are no other benefits she can apply for.

Once you tell us about her housing situation then there may be some help for the debts that she has acquired.

Evans2016

Yes, sorry, she owns her own home and the mortgage is paid off. Unfortunately she has no savings which is why she is spiralling into debt. She has been getting SSP which is less than £400 per month, and from this, she is trying to pay all her bills; although she doesn't have mortgage or rent payments, she has council tax, energy bills, phone bills, television licence occasional vets bills (she has a dog) to pay, plus food and essentials. Less than £400 per week isn't sufficient to do this, so she has been dipping further and further into overdraft and credit cards, so another monthly expense is the credit card bill which is mounting and mounting - it's a vicious circle.


Was she wrong then to appeal the PIP decision - if she hadn't have applied/appealed for PIP would there have been any other benefits she could have applied for?

w06

Not wishing to dismiss your Mum's situation at all as it sounds as though she's struggling, but 400/month is more than many folk working full time have after paying housing costs, there are probably ways to reduce some of the outgoings to make it more manageable.

What grounds is your PIP appeal on? You've said that "The assessor judged that she could walk over 50 meters. This is a blatant untruth," but also talked of your Mum walking around the supermarket which seems to concur with the assessor. It's important to know whether there's a likelihood of the stress of an appeal being worthwhile

Evans2016

She gets driven to the supermarket once a week, and has to have several sit downs at the seating area near the pharmacy through the trip.. she says she only find it manageable because she has a shopping trolley to lean onto for support. She has a shop at the end of her street and I try to encourage her to go to that sometimes to get her out of the house, and get herself moving a bit. But a short walk which would take you or I around 2-3 minutes takes her 15-20 minutes each way, so around half an hour (this is with a crutch). She experiences severe pain, and incidents where her leg goes numb and she is afraid she will fall. She only feels confident if there is a wall or a fence close by she can hold onto if her leg feels as though it's starting to go numb.


She used to work full time in catering, walk 15 minutes to get the bus there, no problem and be on her feet in her job for the majority of the day, up until this condition caused these symptoms. She is a lady in her late 50s, yet now walks with as much pain and tentatively as a woman in her 90s (my husbands gran is in her 80s and walks better than my mum!). Consultants have agreed that she needs spinal surgery and have sent her for a pre-op and a couple of scans for bone density etc, but the results of some of these have suggested that this needs further investigation, as the bones in her spine have holes in (or something - I'm not a doctor!) so she is scheduled for another scan, a CT scan this time, before an op can take place. She is on numerous types of painkillers and medications and because of this feels drowsy all the time even though she isn't active.


She outlined all of this and more to the assessor, but at one point, the assessor asked her to grip her hand, at another point while my mum was sat down, her mobile phone rang and she reached into her bag to turn this off. The assessor put both of these in her report as evidence of my mum being able bodied! She never stated that she had any issues with her upper body - it's walking, and her back going down to her legs she has the issues with. Because of this I have serious issues with this whole "one size fits all" style of assessment.


Thing is, on only £400 (it's actually a bit less than this) per month, after her bills have gone out that leaves her with around £200. Then overdraft fees and credit card bills eat up another £100 or so of this, meaning she has a tiny amount to buy food and essentials. My husband and I both work full time, but we are not really in a position to help her as we are expecting our first baby. I stress constantly about if her washing machine breaks or she gets a leaky roof or her fridge breaks because she has no back up for emergencies like that.

w06

It would be worth going through the PIP descriptors with your Mum and seeing what she is likely to be entitled to (google PIP descriptors will find a few links) The actual diagnoses and investigations are almost irrelevant to benefits claims, what's looked at is how it affects everyday life (PIP) and how it affects ability to work (ESA) for example I was entitled to enhanced rate PIP on both parts but would presume I wouldn't be entitled to ESA as I can and do work full time. Looking at ways to smartly reduce charges (overdraft fees and credit cards) might help too, worth talking to the bank for example.

pmlindyloo

Evans2016 wrote: »

Yes, sorry, she owns her own home and the mortgage is paid off. Unfortunately she has no savings which is why she is spiralling into debt. She has been getting SSP which is less than £400 per month, and from this, she is trying to pay all her bills; although she doesn't have mortgage or rent payments, she has council tax, energy bills, phone bills, television licence occasional vets bills (she has a dog) to pay, plus food and essentials. Less than £400 per week isn't sufficient to do this, so she has been dipping further and further into overdraft and credit cards, so another monthly expense is the credit card bill which is mounting and mounting - it's a vicious circle.


Was she wrong then to appeal the PIP decision - if she hadn't have applied/appealed for PIP would there have been any other benefits she could have applied for?

No she is right to appeal the PIP decision. Did she get some help with this? Did she send off all the medical information that she has to back up her claims?

Often people believe that they will speak to the health care professionals involved but they rarely do. Therefore it is best to send the medical evidence to them. She can do this up until the appeal date.

May I suggest that she gets an appointment with CBA/welfare benefits adviser for help with the PIP appeal and check that all medical evidence has been sent, who to send it to etc etc?

Next, as already said, she can apply for council tax reduction. Do this asap and ask for it to be backdated.

When the SSP ends then she can claim ESA. ESA, at the beginning, is less than SSP but will give her automatic entitlement to council Tax reduction - she should end up paying very little council tax.

When she gets her ESA form then find help to complete it. CAB should be your first port of call. If your local CAB is too small to help with this then they can sign post you to someone who can.

CAB may also help with making sure that she is on the lowest tariffs for utility bills as she is on a low income.

If your CAB is unhelpful then come back here to find out about social tariffs for people on low incomes. Arrears/debt may also be addressed by CAB.

If mum is awarded PIP then this will mean that she may be entitled to extra money (called disability premiums) which are added on to her ESA so it is worth continuing the appeal.

Benefits are a minefield if you have no knowledge of the system so please get your mum to ask for help from CAB. She will need to take her recent bank statement with her.

Ames

Just as an aside, most supermarkets have electric scooters for customers to use, which would make shopping much easier.

GlasweJen

If you're on low income related benefits like the council tax reduction you can see if there's a PDSA in the area as they would be cheaper (though I'd keep the pet insurance going as PDSA won't cover everything)

faerielight

join up http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/ it's £`18 well spent, as others have mentioned, it's all about the wording or "discriptors" they have all the guides to help with claims and appeals..It's not about exaggerating, more about key points about how her illness effects her , and there is some room for fluctuating symptoms, try and discribe what she struggles with on her wost days ge t as much supportive evidence as p[ossible, photocopy any consultant letters etc. best of luck.. the new system really is brutal for those who desperately need it.

Savvy_Sue

Couple of thoughts: if she is better walking leaning on the supermarket trolley, would she be better with a walker rather than a crutch? Worth asking the GP for an assessment for this.

the other is that it would be worth her contacting CAP to discuss how to get the debts a) under control and b) reducing the debts. If they have a local service then they may very well be able to send someone out to see her at home. If not, there are other recommended debt advice charities listed here. Because, let's face it, even if she gets PIP and every other benefit going, the debts will still be there and not a vast income to service them.