How to complete a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) form?
At the moment 22% of PIP claims are paper based, so the claimant does not need to attend an assessment. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would like this to increase, but they need the full picture of the claimant’s disabilities and lots of evidence. You may have been keeping a diary which will help you to give the picture of your life and how you are coping, keep it short but break it down in to morning, afternoon and evening.
Evidence can also be statements from people who support you, it may be a family member or neighbour who does your shopping, helps you to have a bath and so on.
What is PIP made up of?
PIP is made up of two parts; daily living and mobility. The daily living questions, which are called descriptors, come first in the form, followed by the mobility questions. There are ten questions for the daily living section and two for the mobility one. When you receive your form please do not panic, it looks huge but it is not too bad, there are lots of words!
There is one pot of money put there by the tax payer and if more people take out by way of benefits, than put in by way of taxes, then we are in trouble, so the system has been tightened up, but if you are a genuine case and you feel you should definitely be awarded PIP there should not be any problems.
The points that you require for a PIP award are:
Standard award for daily living – 8 points
Enhanced award for daily living – 12 points
Standard award for mobility – 8 points
Enhanced award for mobility – 12 points
(You do not add the points together)
I cannot stress enough how important it is that you send up evidence to show you have the disabilities you are stating on your form. Make sure you have informed your GP, physiotherapist or whoever you have put on the form, that you are making a PIP claim as the Department for Work and Pensions may get in touch with them.
You can put anything you like on your form, but you have to back it up with evidence.
The right evidence
Good evidence can be many things, a GP’s letter, hospital discharge notices, x-rays, psychiatrist reports, occupational therapy letters explaining the aids you need, specialist consultant letters and reports, letters from support workers, family or friends, a day-to-day diary, but please not too long.
On all your supporting evidence please put your National Insurance Number. This is really important if your paperwork becomes separated from your PIP form.
Before completing your PIP form, please gather together the name, address and telephone number of your GP and any other health professionals you see, for example a consultant; also your medication, so a prescription list and your evidence.
In all of your answers stay with the question that is being asked, do not deviate to something else, for example when replying about preparing food, do not discuss eating and drinking. Explain how your disability stops you from carrying out the descriptor.
Questions you have to answer
When you are asked a question, ‘can you do something?’ in your mind substitute the word CAN for DO. So, if you are asked ‘can you make a sandwich?’ You probably think, ‘of course I can make a sandwich’, but actually stop and think. Do you actually make a sandwich, it is so easy to say you do something when you do not and of course everyone can make a sandwich, but do you actually do so? If not, why not? Do you have the motivation to do so?
Keep remembering that you have to do things REPEATEDLY, RELIABLY and SAFELY, it is no good being able to do something once a week, that does not count and means you are not actually doing it.
Applying for any benefit is very negative and all of my clients can become emotional whilst completing their forms with me. It is in our DNA to say we are fine, so ‘Hello, how are you?’ ‘I am fine thank you and you?’ Well, completing a PIP form you have to say what is wrong, how you are not coping and what is happening. You are painting a picture of your life and it is not a three-stroke abstract painting, it is a Constable with all the rain drops, leaves, blades of grass and so on in there.
You may be grieving for the person that you were and you must miss that person, so the PIP process where you have to say what you cannot do is very distressing.
Try to think of an able-bodied person and what you do differently from them to cope. You will have put in coping mechanisms to be able to do things, so before you answer the question, run through what it is you do to enable you to carry out the descriptor before answering it, or you may not be able to do it at all, so say so.
NB: If you need help, say so, you do not actually have to have any help in order to put this, if you need help but do not receive any, write it in.
You will need to send your Medical Evidence with the PIP form, this may be a prescription list, a physiotherapist’s report, a psychiatrist’s report, a GP’s letter and so on. Please do not get the GP to write a letter specially as they will charge you.
Mental health
With regards to mental health, the Healthcare Professionals carrying out the assessment are now looking further in to it. This means that if you have mental health disabilities, take medication but do not have any input from counsellors, etc. they will ask more questions, which was not the case in the past.
In the form we can write anything at all, but we need to back it up with evidence. If, for example, you had broken your leg, you would be expected to have a plaster cast put on it, no cast, no break will be the thinking of the Decision Maker. So, if you have mental health disabilities you will be expected to be taking medication to help you and be engaging with counselling of some form. Again, the thinking will be, no medication and counselling, no mental health although, as above, HCP’s are asked to try to gain more information regarding the mental health.
Daily living
Question 1 - Preparing food – does your disability stop you doing this, for example do you use a microwave but are not able to use a conventional oven? This question is not about eating and drinking, so answer the question you are asked, not the next one. Read the questions carefully, you will be asked for each one if you use aids or if you need help.
Question 2 - Eating and drinking - do you need reminding to eat and drink? Can you be bothered? If you lived on your own would you do it?
Question 3 - Taking medications - do you use a dosette box? Who monitors the medication? Do you need reminding to take it?
Question 4 - Washing and bathing - do you use aids, can you wash your back and feet? How often do you have a shower? Have you the motivation to do so? Do you need help?
Question 5 - Managing toilet needs - do you use the sink or wall to get on or off the loo? It is not about reaching the loo on time, it is about what happens when you are there. Do you need help?
Question 6 - Dressing and undressing - do you sit on the bed to dress/undress, if so this becomes an aid. Do you get dressed every day? Do you sleep in the clothes you have worn all day? Do you need prompting to get dressed or undressed, to wear appropriate clothing?
Question 7 - Communication - this is about whether you can hear and speak, not mixing with people, so do you have a hearing aid? Do you have a speech impediment? Do you need help to communicate?
Question 8 - Reading and understanding - this is a headline in a newspaper and two sentences. Do you need someone to read things for you and then explain them? Do you use a magnifying glass?
Question 9 - Mixing with people - do you need support to mix with others? Do you avoid mixing with others? Are you aggressive towards others?
Question 10 - Making budgeting decisions - can you understand a bank statement, can you set up direct debits? Are you in debt? Do you have County Court Judgements? Do you need help with your finances?
Mobility
Question 1 - Planning and following a journey - can you read a map, can you go anywhere on your own? Would you bother to go out if you did not have to? Do you need someone to help you plan a journey? If you drive and were out on your own and there was a diversion, would you follow it or go home?
In November 2016, there was a change to the way the DWP considers how someone’s overwhelming psychological distress affects their ability to plan and follow a journey. The DWP describe it as – overwhelming psychological distress is distress related to a mental health condition, intellectual or cognitive impairment. It may result in a person being unable to complete a journey without another person to help them to do it.
In March 2017, there was a change to how the DWP decide whether someone can carry out an activity safely and if they need supervision. From then on, they considered the seriousness of any harm that may happen, as well as the likelihood of it happening.
Moving around - how far can you walk? This is really important and you need to know, do it in time, distance or number of steps, but do not say 'I do not know', it is your job to know. An average person will cover 40 metres per minute.
Say what is stopping you walking, is it pain and explain it in detail. Do you use a stick, crutches, a wheel chair or someone’s arm? Do you walk slower than an able-bodied person?
So many people say they walk for a few minutes, but that is a very long time. Do you walk slowly? Do you keep stopping and if so do you sit down or lean on something?
Please remember that you would like the taxpayer to pay you, so in return you have to complete a form and do an interview, just like in a job.
Remember it is about how the disabilities you have impact on your daily living, you do not get points for what is wrong with you. If you need help with everything, you must put it under each descriptor, not just once and never assume anything.
NB: You need to keep mentioning that you need help, this is help you get and help you need, but do not receive.
Complete the form, then re-read it and add in anything you have missed.
If you cannot visit a PIP assessment centre, please say so on the form, ask for a home visit or a telephone assessment. Explain why you need this.
Completing the form
Completing a PIP form is very distressing and draining as it is very negative, it is about the things you cannot do. Be kind to yourself afterwards, do not think about what you have written and have a break from it. After a week or so, have a little notebook and pen and if you think you have forgotten anything, write it down, keep it short and then mention it at your assessment but do not keep thinking about it as this will wear you down and make you exhausted and anxious before your assessment. You need to be thinking clearly for your assessment.
It would be good if you did not have an assessment, but I work with a borrowed line from the Jack Reacher books ‘hope for the best but prepare for the worst’, so think that you probably will have an assessment and prepare for it.
Sending the form
Please make a copy of your PIP form and medical evidence and post it at the Post Office by signed for post so that you can track it. Go to the Royal Mail Track and Trace website, put in the number on your Post Office receipt, then write down on the receipt the name of the person who signed for it, the time and date so that you have a record. Things happen and forms can sometimes be delayed so you need proof that you sent it in time.
Sometimes forms can be received by the DWP but take two weeks to be put on your case, this often means that claimants are informed that their forms are late, you need to make sure you have the evidence from your receipt to show this is not the case.
If you would like me to complete your form with you, please telephone me at One Stop Advocacy as soon as your form arrives to book an appointment. It will take approximately 2 hours to complete and require a donation. Telephone – 07464 106903
One Stop Advocacy.