PIP refusal

[Shadowhawk]

Have been refused PIP now for the third time last Wednesday after ongoing heart ops and heart related conditions since my initial cardiac arrest 3 years ago today. Any suggestions would be welcome as I am self employed and work / income are suffering.🫀

[Happyrosie]

please make an appointment with Citizens Advice Bureau. They are very helpful

[Shadowhawk in reply to Happyrosie]

Thank you for your reply Happyrosie but it was through Citizens Advice that my 1st claim was aided by. They (DWP) have disregarded my consultant letters too yet I now have a blue badge for my condition ...bemused

[Snowdrops_17 in reply to Shadowhawk]

Strange 🤔 well I was refused PIP in 2019 June, after my heart attack and also diagnosed with vascular disease in my legs due to 2 blockages in my left leg! If you are still mobile, can look after yourself and work, do certain exercises they ask you, to do, you be lucky to get PIP 👍 You literally have to be half immobile, needing help, or suffer from a disability affecting your daily life!

It's hard to pick yourself up from this 👌

But I needed to work, gritted my teeth and carried on! It was tough in the first year but looking back, with God's help I got through it all!

Tell you, the strength and stamina I had to develop when I was evicted from my 1 bedroom house recently, searching for a new home, packing and cleaning, then moving out and cleaning my new 2 bedroom flat again 🤔👍

I don't expect anything from the government concerning benefits!

If you need it then yes pull every lever to get the support you need!

Heart problems can't be seen on the outward appearance unless they are severe and affects your daily life 👌

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

Hello,

I am sorry your PIP application has been refused.

I was awarded a PIP, enhanced for both sections indefinitely, first time.

I used this organisation which charges a small fee.

benefitsandwork.co.uk/

Alternatively there is this charity who maybe able to help you.

turn2us.org.uk/get-support/...

[Shadowhawk in reply to Milkfairy]

Many thanks I shall look into this 👊

[WoodlandLover in reply to Shadowhawk]

Yes, benefitsandwork.co.uk/

You can sign up to get the members guide, and it's invaluable with presenting your situation through each step of the application.

Good luck ❤️

[Snowdrops_17 in reply to Milkfairy]

This benefitsandwork.co.uk is interesting Milkfairy! Didn't know that existed 👍

[Suebedoo in reply to Milkfairy]

Ooh - that's interesting - my husband and I are trying to get him the equivalent of PIP. We contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau who advised us that the backlog is so long, my husband will probably have retired by the time any payment would be processed and then when you retire you have to start another claim for a different named payment. We will look into benefitsandwork.co.uk/. Let us know how you get on Shadowhawk

[Di1967]

I would recommend Fightback they are an amazing organisation, i and a few friends have used their help with positive outcomes. Personally I used their service where they help fill out your forms with the medical information you supply, this service is isn’t free but you can talk to them before for free to see if they could help. It’s well worth a phone call to see if they can help. They are online and also have a Facebook page if you wanted to check them out first. They also help challenge refusals from pip, but there is a time limit from the government to challenge this so I wouldn’t leave it too long.

[Shadowhawk in reply to Di1967]

Many thanks to your reply Di967👍

[WireLady]

Have you ever challenged your decision? I did some training with citizens advice a few yrs back and their advice was always to challenge, as 9 times out of 10 the decision was reversed

[PaulMac64 in reply to WireLady]

My wife appealed and then took case to tribunal. They then awarded lower PIP before tribunal hearing. Be persistent!

[CatLady246]

Appeal and ask for someone else to review

[Mfaepink1973]

Ask your MP’s office for help. I worked in a benefits office a long while ago and if an MP enquiry came in we had to go through the case very thoroughly to make sure our decision was correct (or to reverse it in several cases!)

[sandandkev]

Have you applied for sickness benefit?? You have to prove your national insurance contributions but should be entitled to that,my hubby had cancer and his application for pip failed,the citizens advice bureau got it for him but you have to exaggerate your mobility symptoms as its hard to get,good luck

[Snowdrops_17 in reply to sandandkev]

Well exaggerating your mobility issues would mean, pretending they are worse then they are! If found out, you end up paying money back 👌 Why would you exaggerate your mobility issues! Staying truthful is better then lying ‼️ 👌 I definitely would not recommend doing that 👌

[Murderfan58]

It took me 35 years of fighting for disability benefits. As they said no diagnosis no money. 2020 diagnosed with hole in the side of my heart and PAF. But it wasn't until I was diagnosed with my rare hereditary neurological condition that I applied for PIP they gave me zero on everything. But I got in touch with the Brain Charity who got me a solicitor pro bono in July 2022 so we could go to tribunal.

My solicitor told me to claim universal credit as my savings where very low . My wonderful case worker sent for the UC health forms can't remember the correct name. After my PIP assessment was over the phone I asked for face to face assessment and got it. I had both UC payments.

Had my tribunal end August 2023 and they where lovely and a support worker from the Brain Charity went with me. I was awarded enhanced PIP for living and enhanced PIP for mobility indefinitely and back dated to 7th March 2022 when I had asked for the forms. The judge apologised for how I had been treated since 1988 when my health got worse.

I went to the Citizen advice as I was 66 this year so both UC stopped . And with the help of the CA I got pension credit on top of my full state pension.

Don't give up and get an appointment at the CA and they will help you plus any other benefits you should be getting.

[Suzz7 in reply to Murderfan58]

Did you apply for attendance allowance?

[Murderfan58 in reply to Suzz7]

No because I didn't become state pension age until April this year. Attendance allowance doesn't contain the mobility payment so with PIP you get more money. I was 63 when I applied for it as I wasn't 64 until end of April 2022. Don't think you can apply for PIP if you are state pension age. But the Citizens advice would help you get everything you are entitled to.

[Murderfan58 in reply to Murderfan58]

But if you are the age to get PIP and the MRN decision goes against you the CA will help you go to tribunal. The tribunal is made up of a judge ,doctor and either a disabled person or someone who works with the disabled. It's a court really because it's a real judge and his decision is final. I had nearly £13,000 in back pay. Plus if you are under retirement age see if you can get UC and the health UC.

[Displacedheart]

Please take it to tribunal !!! Very tactfully the way u have to fill the forms u base it on your worst day. If u can contact the hospital for their social worker or the council for a benefit advisor that will fill forms in for u they now what to do and say. Keep fighting. I'm sorry its like this, I really hope u find some help. Fight it. I won mine at tribunal only. Keep trying

[BicuspidBloke]

Declined three times? Sounds like you don't qualify. If people who don't qualify stopped applying the wait times for those that do would be a lot shorter.

[Safeangel in reply to BicuspidBloke]

Hi Are you saying Shadowhawk shouldn't keep applying? If you are I feel that is a really unhelpful comment.

It is extremely difficult to get PIP and I have also been turned down for this and currently put in a MR for reconsideration.

We have no idea how people's condition affects their daily living and mobility and it is wrong for us to determine who should get it or not.

There is an art to completing the forms and although this doesn't seem fair that's unfortunately the system which has been put in place by DWP.

Many people end up having to go to tribunal for the decision to be overturned when declined PIP, and I will also happily take this route if I get declined again.

If Shadowhawk requires any assistance please contact me.

[BicuspidBloke in reply to Safeangel]

I looked in to it when I was diagnosed and then after the op but could see I didn't qualify so didn't apply. You say it's wrong for us to decide - I absolutely agree. But it is up to the DWP so let them do it, even if we don't like it. You say we have no idea how the condition affects people - again, I agree. But we've also no idea how a sense of entitlement affects people.If someone doesn't qualify then yes, go for the reconsideration as something may have been missed in the decision. But after that just accept a "no" and let the anxiety over it pass.

[Safeangel in reply to BicuspidBloke]

I agree there are a few pockets of people who apply and get PIP and maybe they shouldn't (they just know how to play the system) but there are genuine people out there that should be getting it.

It isn't about the condition but more about how it affects your daily life.

I have gone from being a very active person and being in a very active job to being someone I don't even recognise.

I am constantly tired (to the point I could sleep on a bed of nails) I am constantly lightheaded and faint on so many occasions I have lost count.

I struggle to walk upstairs without heavy breathing or feeling faint.

I have fainted in the shower and no longer shower unattended and fainted whilst cooking, but I still don't qualify and hence I have put in a Mandatory Review.

If I still get turned down I will go to a tribunal as with others it is not a sense of entitlement but I do believe I deserve some assistance when you can no longer work.

[Artnmusiclover in reply to BicuspidBloke]

Is this a joke??? Bad taste

[BicuspidBloke in reply to Artnmusiclover]

Genuinely helpful advice. Sometimes people don't qualify or aren't entitled to everything they want. Shock news, I know!

[Artnmusiclover in reply to BicuspidBloke]

It's not shock news at all... my daughter who is almost blind had the same problem!! The whole system is where the problems lie

[BicuspidBloke in reply to Artnmusiclover]

The system is horrific. Always was. It's got much worse and is getting worse still. At least on that we can wholeheartedly agree.

[AH31]

Hi

Have you spoken to your heart consultant or clinical nurse as they might have knowledge on what you could do and what you could apply for. Unfortunately Pip doesn’t cover heart related disease.

[Partner20 in reply to AH31]

No specific diagnoses are either covered or not covered by PIP, whether heart-related or not. The criteria for acceptance are the ways in which any medical condition affects your life and how it limits your daily activities.If you were given the advice that PIP does not cover heart-related conditions then you were unfortunately misinformed, as an actual diagnosis is not the primary point of reference

[fishonabike in reply to AH31]

PIP does not cover or exclude any specific condition or disease - it is mean to help with the additional expenses of having a condition which limits your ability to perform the "normal" activities of daily living

so it is about how a condition affects you, not the condition itself

[Qualipop]

Join the Benefits and work website. Small charge but well worth it. Remember you condition has to affect the way you live and what you can no longer do significantly. Most people get turned down on first try. You have to appeal against the decision. within the time limit. The criteria says it must affect you significantly and repeatedly. The usual question that's important is can you do things repeatedly and without pain. Gather up ALL your medical reports and names of consultants and add them to your claim. Don't be restricted to those little boxes. I had 11 extra pages with my last claim and 3 pages of doctors. The first application is assessed just using a tock sheet so if you don't use the trigger words, you get turned down. Appeal and appeal again.

[Scho1]

persevere and opt to take it to a tribunal.

Also if you have paid full national insurance for two years you may get new style ESA. Speak with citizens advice they can help in claiming PIP.

[Shabana1974]

Depending where you live you may find other charities that offer free support to correctly apply. I have found Citizens advice extremely useless. I also found this website useful as it shows how the points are awarded so helps answer the questions.

benefitsandwork.co.uk/perso....

My dad lives in Northampton and as an amazing advisor

[KIMMY60]

Can you get the doctor to put you off sick. Could maybe claim universal credit but I think that one depends on how much savings you have. We are stuck like that just getting by working part time which is all I'm capable of doing and using savings will all be gone in a couple of years so will have nothing left fir retirement is just not fair at all think your only allowed £6,000 savings

[Nuttyshirlz]

did you get a copy from them so you can read what they wrote and what you can disagree with on what they wrote