PIP video call

[Rachel43]

Just received a text message to say I’ve got a video call for PIP assessment in 2 weeks. I feel sick. Any advice welcome

[sylvi]

Just tell them how you are at your worst and though i shouldn't say this, but over exaggerate your symptoms as well. xxxx

[KittyJ in reply to sylvi]

This is so wrong, you should not over exaggerate your symptoms. Telling someone to lie to get benefits is not advice we should be giving someone.

[AgedCrone in reply to KittyJ]

I agree KJ…never lie about symptoms…especially when applying for any Benefits paid for by taxpayers…..who often have ilnesses them selves…& don’t have any knowledge of all the Benefits out there!

[Chrissycl in reply to KittyJ]

When you originally apply for PIP it says please tell us how your illness affects you on your worst days.So not not telling lies as even worse days fluctuate.

[KittyJ in reply to Chrissycl]

you’ve misread what I said, Sylvi told her to over exaggerate her symptoms so if you are doing that you are lying as you are saying they’re worse than they are. I know it says on your worse days on the form and you should not over exaggerate them,

[Chrissycl in reply to KittyJ]

My point was that the next time on your bad day it could be a lot worse than the last one as RA is a fluctuating and progressive so we never know how bad we will be,

[KittyJ in reply to Chrissycl]

but you can’t claim now for something that may happen in the future or try and guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Chrissycl in reply to KittyJ]

So why do they ask us to tell us to tell them what will happen on our bad days, I'm not say lie ,I'm just saying that it's a progressive disease and we can forecast that each flare, each bad day could be worse than the last one we had.

[KittyJ in reply to Chrissycl]

worst days happen and exaggerating symptoms don’t, they are different things 😊

[Chrissycl in reply to KittyJ]

You say exaggerating thing s is wrong OK I understand what you mean I said as much in my last comment but you must agree that bad days can be really bad and non of us can truly say how bad they can be. On any given day.

[Lizard28]

Don’t sound confident on phone, that’s what they told my husband and cut his payments. What they didn’t know was that he vomited the minute the call ended. We are still fighting it, they stuck by their original assessment in the first appeal, so we went onto the next level with the help of our GP. Still waiting and that’s been months now. Because he is now 69 they think they can keep cutting it and we won’t get it back. We were told it could be ten years before assessed again but don’t believe that, it was three years. It’s the worst system ever. Good luck with your assessment.

[Hidden in reply to Lizard28]

Same happened to me. It took until the Upper Tribunal for anyone to actually read anything. Then I had to attend a second First Tribunal. It was a total nightmare. It took 2.5 years altogether. I went from nil points to Enhanced Both. I burst into tears. I was in shock for months and recovery from it all took longer ☹️

That was a ‘review’ too.

[Lizard28 in reply to Hidden]

Its a terrible system. We have now heard from them, tribunal date set for June. My hubby has been n hospital for 4 weeks now fighting cancer and had a laryngectomy. He won’t sound confident on phone again. I’ve sent a strong letter to accompany the appeal and complained about the way he has been treated. We shouldn’t have to put up with this.

[Hidden in reply to Lizard28]

It’s appalling. Hope it goes well x

[Hidden in reply to Lizard28]

Do a SARS request for all your PIP/ DLA info. I found some glaring inaccuracies.

[KittyJ]

Please try not to worry yourself sick about it. Tell it as it is and re-read what you put in your forms before the appointment to refresh yourself of what you will be asked about. They will repeat their questions in different ways I found. I hope it goes ok for you. You do hear horror stories on here but I’ve never had a bad assessor or reviewer so hopefully you won’t either 🤞🏻

[cyberbarn]

My son had a phone review and it went very well. He did better than I thought he would, and the call handler praised him for coping well, and everything went smoothly. Sometimes I think it is the luck of the draw, some people have a good experience, some not so good. You will have no idea which way it will go before hand so there isn't a lot of point worrying about it, what will happen will happen. Just reread the form you sent in, and do your best.

[Rachel43]

Thanks all. Unfortunately not the outcome I wanted. Lost the mobility side and car has to go back. Only had this one 6 weeks 😬

[Deeb1764]

just remember what you wrote and don’t if you can stress too much. Mine I felt was done with empathy and they wanted to understand what impacts I had from lifting/walking showering etc and how mentally and physically I had been affected.

All this you know, so feel good that you know how you feel and can discuss it.

Good luck