PIP appeal success shows how DWP persecutes the vulnerable – until it is found out
Uncannily accurate: The Conservative government’s genuine policy towards PIP claimants may as well be as it appears in this cartoon from 2017.
A woman with an extremely rare disability was told she qualified for a bare minimum on the disability benefit PIP – until a newspaper put it under the spotlight.
The Department for Work and Pensions changed its tune sharpish when The Lincolnite took an interest in Chelsea Tyler’s story.
Ms Tyler, 22, has Glutaric Aciduria Type 2, which means she cannot wash, take medicine or even go out to the shops without the help of her partner and full-time carer Michael Mitchell.
She cannot eat normal food because the fats and proteins will clog up her system and potentially kill her. It also means that she could go into a coma if she does any kind of strenuous exercise.
Her condition has worsened. She was diagnosed with respiratory and heart failure, so she is now forced to rely on a wheelchair.
But after her assessment for Personal Independence Payment, she was told she could have only the standard rate of £58.70 per week for her daily living needs and did not need help with mobility.
She was told she would have to submit more evidence to have the decision overturned.
Then suddenly everything changed – after she shared her story with the news outlet.
The form letter she received almost defies belief – because of the straight-faced way it pretends that it isn’t a complete change of direction on the basis of no new evidence at all.
“I can still award you” is as in the initial letter, but suddenly Ms Tyler was being awarded “the enhanced rate of £87.65 a week to help with your daily living needs”.
And instead of being told, “At this time I can’t award you PIP for help with your mobility needs,” she was now told: “I can still” – still? – “award you the enhanced rate of £61.20 a week to help with your mobility needs.”
It’s a great result for Ms Tyler – but it proves beyond any doubt that the assessment process for PIP is a fiction; a fake; a mockery.
It seems – and forgive me if you’ve read this many times before – that people are awarded the benefit, not on the basis of their needs, but on whether civil servants working for the Conservative government think they can get away with cutting these claimants off.
Can anyone deny it?
And now the Conservatives – who enforce these bewildering, nonsense policies – are seeking re-election with promises of change. Based on what?
It seems clear there is no rationale for providing or denying benefits.
The aim is to harm people – without being seen to do so.
That will continue, as long as we have a Conservative government in the UK.
The general election is a desperately-needed chance to make a change. Let’s take it.
Source: ‘Tears of joy’ as disabled Lincoln woman wins benefits appeal
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There ought to be some sort of Watchdog to prevent this sort of shoddy practice and punish those responsible, in the same way that Npower was brought to account and fined heavily by Ofgem for example. If Therese Coffey, or whoever, knew that they would personally be held to account they might sharpen up their act.
I am going through the same problems and still cant get my mobility back
I have a rare disorder called cvs. cyclic vomiting syndrome, I’m sick every day, I also have osteoarthritis and a broken hip. I now have the stress of an appeal, my benefits have been reduced to a minimum.
The assessment process is disgusting, my assessor thought telling me to ask NHS for more morphine because ‘you could sell it for extra money’ was a funny joke to make. Oh, and then refused any entitlement, took 3 years to finally be awarded enhanced living and basic mobility rate. The system is the joke, and its not funny, not at all.
Why are this people. Who put all this nasty. Policy. Together. Are so horrible. None of this can be justified. It angers me and upsets. Me dame them all.
I cannot prise enough DWP for the help and understanding my situation .i am phisicaly unable to work but last year i had a bad nervous breakdown.,end up going abroad to ,,escape,,come back with the help of strangers and since then i am waiting to go to the hell on hell not hell on earth. Manny many thanks to CAB aswell for the support.
With PIP the DWP have a particularly nasty trick
Appointments are made through IAS/ATOS but only the DWP have the power to make alterations with time and dates.
Real Health Professionals mistakenly contact IAS/ATOS, who can only defer an appointment once. Yet the real power remains with the DWP so the Real Health Professionals are left floundering and unable to help vulnerable clients whilst the DWP hide smugly behind a smokescreen
It would appear from consultations with former DWP employees, who had been involved with the PIP process that, in fact it is the job of ATOS/ IAS to decide on the form of assessment imposed on sick people but they simply pretend that they are tied by what the DWP tell them to do.
This leaflet from Winvisible explains succinctly what the DWP Regulations state with regard to vulnerable sick people
https://winvisibleblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/pip-personal-independence-payments/