PIP Mandatory Reconsideration help please.

swingaloo

I have a relative who put in a claim for PIP in November last year. He had his support worker fill in the forms for him as he cannot write legibly. He then has his assessment done on the phone.

When this was done I was present with him as well as his support worker so heard everything that was said.

He has a list of medical issues which are well documented and has also been off work for 8 months with massive anxiety issues and just cannot cope with daily living without a lot of help. He will not be gong back to the job as he just could not manage that now. His company are understanding and are following the prosses to let him go.
I know PIP is based not on your illnesses but on how they affect you and the help you need. His support worker was quite sure he would get full care and lower mobility.

Yesterday he got the results of the claim and he has been awarded 0 points in every category. But the letter is so way off what was said that it almost seems like it does not relate to his claim at all.

Things like- I have decided you can walk 500 yards as you did not seem breathless during the assessment.
 He was sat down! 

You do not have a CPAP machine.
 Yet he has a letter from the consultant saying he wakes an average of 50 times per hour every night and he has an appointment to get the CPAP machine in 3 weeks time.

You seemed confident talking during the assessment and not at all stressed.
He actually told the assessor that he would not have even answered the phone had he not had his support worker with him. He stumbled over his words and at one point his support worker had to ask for the assessment to be paused for a couple of minutes whilst he calmed down

Its like they talking about a completely different person. So he is going to ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration and I along with his support worker will help him.

I have looked at the online form but have a question about filling it in on his behalf. He does not explain himself properly, get confused and would miss out so much information so needs the help. But, when you fill the form in on behalf of someone else do you refer to them by name or do you write as if the person themselves are speaking. As in 'I need help to do----' or, 'John needs help to do----'

Sorry it seems a simple question but I want to do this right .
Thank you for reading.

Robbie64

I would suggest you write as if you were the person, for example "I need help to do" etc. Your relative can explain that he needed help filling in the form (i.e. that someone filled in the form on his behalf). if you write "John needs help to do" it may seem as you are offering an opinion on help that is needed rather than the person stating the help they need.

prettyandfluffy

If your relative is making the claim he needs to read and sign it, so it should be written in the first person.

Muttleythefrog

Above answers your question.

But quickly.. the descriptions you use regarding the decision/report are actually not uncommon alongside zero points. Try not to be disheartened too much by this... so many people face same and ultimately are able to overcome poor decisions and assessments. It's not even uncommon for people to get zero points from DWP including in reassessment which typically returns same result but then get a maximum award at appeal. It gets typically easier (in future reassessments) after an initial accurate award is in place but it might require beyond the reconsideration an independent appeal where I suspect they (and you if supporting) may feel better listened to. So don't give up if an award is something they should get.

peteuk

`focus on the effects of the conditions rather than the conditions.  Chronic sleep apnea will be discounted once the cpap machine is issued.

MH is the one of the main issues to focus on, take each activity and state why it is affected.

BTW mental health has no impact on ability to walk, nor does Sleep apnea.  To walk under 200 meters there has to be a physical issue.

Spoonie_Turtle

Another thing to be aware of is to make sure to focus on the PIP activities as assessed - what descriptors the person meets and why.  Where relevant you can refute assertions and faulty reasoning in the report, but don't get distracted by trying to 'correct the record', as it were.  The important evidence for the decision will be the claim form and the information/reasoning in the Mandatory Reconsideration request.  

[If the person wanted to make a complaint about the assessment they have a right to do that, but that's to the assessment company and completely separate from the MR request to DWP.]