PIP Assessments during Covid crisis

poppy12345

50Twuncle said:

poppy12345 said:

TinyEagle said:

Hi There
I was wondering if anyone can tell me if the telephone assessment on a new claim is the same as a face to face - in that they ask the same questions please? Sorry if this sounds really obvious! I'm so new to all of this. I have MS and have heard mixed reviews on how they assess this. Any help is very much appreciated.
Thank You

The only difference between them is that with the phone assessment there's no visual proof. What questions they ask you will depend what you wrote on the form and how your conditions affect you.

Doesn't that leave the whole PIP claims system open to abuse ?

Since I understand that they largely ignore doctors / specialists medical reports - are you sayng that they base their decisons purely on a single phone call ?

Not that that helps me - my speech is not good enough to use the ohone for such a call !

I have no idea what the stats are for phone assessments. Anyway, unless you've been invited to apply for PIP to start your DLA transfer then the phone assessments don't concern you.

Gillianh2

I am on PIp and my renewal was due in Nov I had a letter in June saying that my claim will now run until April because of the Covid crisis. I was so relieved as I was dreading the form filling etc. Today had a renewal claim pack and they want it back  by 11th Sept. panic has now set it. The form asks all the same questions has anything changed since last assessment in 2017 I am sorely tempted to just write no change as that’s the truth and just fill in where I have been admitted to hospital regularly over the las 2 years. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Spoonie_Turtle

Gillianh2 said:

I am on PIp and my renewal was due in Nov I had a letter in June saying that my claim will now run until April because of the Covid crisis. I was so relieved as I was dreading the form filling etc. Today had a renewal claim pack and they want it back  by 11th Sept. panic has now set it. The form asks all the same questions has anything changed since last assessment in 2017 I am sorely tempted to just write no change as that’s the truth and just fill in where I have been admitted to hospital regularly over the las 2 years. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Definitely don't just write 'no change'. Treat it as a new claim, which if you have a copy of your previous form and nothing really has changed, should be easy enough to pretty much repeat what you wrote last time.

poppy12345

Gillianh2 said:

I am on PIp and my renewal was due in Nov I had a letter in June saying that my claim will now run until April because of the Covid crisis. I was so relieved as I was dreading the form filling etc. Today had a renewal claim pack and they want it back  by 11th Sept. panic has now set it. The form asks all the same questions has anything changed since last assessment in 2017 I am sorely tempted to just write no change as that’s the truth and just fill in where I have been admitted to hospital regularly over the las 2 years. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

If you just write that then you won't be doing yourself any favours and you'll be almost guaranteed to have a telephone assessment. As has been advised, you need to write as much about your condition as possible and then add a couple of real life examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you.

Also just because your award has been extended until April doesn't mean your review wasn't due, it was.

If you need more time to return the form then you can ring to request an extra 14 days. Do be aware though that you shouldn't leave it to the last minute to return the form because it can potentially take 7-10 days for it to be received and added to the computer.

Gillianh2

thanks for for the replies xx I know I’d be daft to write no change it’s just the more I try to write the more I get upset at how impacted I’ve been. I was transferred from Indefinite award of DLA to PIP 3 years ago. I didn’t get the award I had previously and had to appeal (which I won). I just dont know if I got that much fight left. 😒

poppy12345

Gillianh2 said:

thanks for for the replies xx I know I’d be daft to write no change it’s just the more I try to write the more I get upset at how impacted I’ve been. I was transferred from Indefinite award of DLA to PIP 3 years ago. I didn’t get the award I had previously and had to appeal (which I won). I just dont know if I got that much fight left. 😒

Which is even more reason not to write "no change" you had to appeal the last decision and the last thing you want is to head back down the same road as you did before.

Muttleythefrog

I had a few difficulties with my review form completion because although I like my PIP award I also cannot honestly tell them the descriptors chosen for the award are correct. So I've significantly used my reconsideration material (in which at the time I stated, a correct prediction, that one day I would be asked in the future if my difficulties and needs had changes and I would be faced with the problem that they likely had not but the wrong descriptors were chosen for award causing issue with review) from when I was first awarded PIP to say nothing has changed and these remain my problems while adding in a recent ESA WCA assessment report which verifies some of the relevant difficulties. I've tried to cover all bases basically - no change, restated problems and support required (in detail so printed separate sheets). 

anxiousbetty

Hi, I have my PIP assessment on the telephone in a few weeks time and I am already stressing over it, it’s making me feel sick. I suffer from anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia and arthritis. Has anyone here had a telephone assessment recently. Many thanks

Betty 

Daisy2016

I had a telephone assessment a couple of weeks ago anxiousbetty . I too worked myself up the whole entire time before hand . The wait is not easy . They then said they couldn’t do it because they didn’t have the staff . When it did go through the person was very nice and friendly and tried her best to put me at ease . I’m not good at explaining myself or talking so it wasn’t an easy conversation .

good luck on your telephone assessment x

poppy12345

anxiousbetty said:

Hi, I have my PIP assessment on the telephone in a few weeks time and I am already stressing over it, it’s making me feel sick. I suffer from anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia and arthritis. Has anyone here had a telephone assessment recently. Many thanks

Betty 

It's perfectly normal to feel anxious before any assessment, even for those that don't suffer from it usually, feel the same way. If you kept a copy of the for before sending it then have a read of that before the assessment just to remind yourself of the things you wrote. Part of the assessment will be for you to verify what you wrote in the form, as well as any additional information they ask.

You can have someone with you during the assessment and put the phone onto loud speaker, this will help with your anxiety by just having someone with you.

Good luck.