PIP and DLA benefits

Since February 2017 I have become familiar with the DWP at Hemel Hempstead. They have a job to do but sometimes the staff are not empathetic.

In May 2018 I was told that my DLA benefit will be changed to PIP. I have taken the decision to record the process through blogs on the website. My DLA benefits were 100% mobility and 50% carers award. The PIP process is different. The initial process is now contracted out to private companies and the measurement of one’s disability is now done in a very different way. My main objection is that people with a disability caused by a Long Term Condition need to look at what they can still achieve but the report wants to know what they cannot do.

The questions on the form are measuring disability by awarding points on what cannot be achieved. There are 14 topics to measure physical and mental disability. I am not a political person and I don’t have an axe to grind but the stories I hear about the assessment process by the DWP are frightening.

Let’s see how it all goes with me.

DWP decide my Personal Independence Payment

DWP decide my Personal Independence Payment

This morning I received a brown envelope from Belfast. I knew the contents straightaway, the DWP had made a decision. I had already read the assessor ‘s report. How will the DWP decide my Personal Independence Payment benefits. A normal life I did not know if the DWP decision was going to be a mere […]

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Assessment for my PIP benefits

Assessment for my PIP benefits

A week after my face-to-face assessment I phoned up the DWP and requested a copy of the assessor’s report. I was told to expect it within 7 to 10 working days. Two weeks later I received a letter from the DWP which said they now had enough information to be able to make a decision […]

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PIP face to face assessment

PIP face to face assessment

Finally Wednesday 1 August has arrived, it’s my PIP face to face assessment. I had not slept well the previous night. Stress and worry were not the only reasons, that irascible little friend MS was in the mix. I just could not get out of bed as early as usual. In fact it was a […]

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My PIP benefits form is in the post

My PIP benefits form is in the post

I am in France it’s a beautiful hot sunny day but I cannot sit outside. Uhthoff’s syndrome has put paid to that little pleasure. Back to the plot. My PIP benefits form is in the post. So relieved that I have finished it. Bit controversial here Why do the DWP need to make their questions […]

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DWP will discover and evaluate what I cannot do

DWP will discover and evaluate what I cannot do

The DWP have kept their side of the bargain. I have received a form so I can explain how my disability affects me. It’s a horror, 40 pages booklet with about 45 questions and statements to be completed. DWP will discover and evaluate what I cannot do. I am then awarded PIP benefits but its […]

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5 comments

Your Disability Living Allowance is ending

Your Disability Living Allowance is ending

It was the usual brown envelope from the DWP with a return address of DWP PO Box 535 Belfast. It’s never an expensive white envelope and it’s never by first-class mail. Their letters always arrive on a Saturday morning just like this one, 21 April 2018. I opened it, the message was very simple, Your […]

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Paying people who receive benefits

Paying people who receive benefits

I recently attended a one day seminar on ‘paying people who receive benefits’. Typically these people are service users. How can I condense an intense six hour seminar into 500 words? Not easy, so here are a few important points. Paying people who receive benefits is not straight forward. The rules are complex. Also the […]

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Capability for Work questionnaire

Capability for Work questionnaire

Every once in a while the postman delivers a letter and I think ‘Uh oh this could be trouble’. On the front of this letter in big black letters I was told ‘IMPORTANT INFORMATION THIS IS NOT A CIRCULAR’ and it was ‘PRIVATE &  CONFIDENTIAL’. The really important clue was the sender, printed on the back […]

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Feeling of being flattened by a steamroller

Feeling of being flattened by a steamroller

Do you remember a blog I wrote a month ago? The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) summoned me to an interview. I arrived at the appointed hour and came out 30 minutes later feeling as if I had been mauled by an angry lion or flattened by a steam roller. This will definitely not rank […]

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DWP invite me to a meeting, The Department for Work and Pensions

DWP invite me to a meeting, The Department for Work and Pensions

The postman delivered a buff brown envelope on the 7th Feb. The Wife gave it to me. The return address was DWP, PO Box 585, Belfast. Straightaway I said, “Oh this is something about my disability allowance”. Instead the DWP invite me to a meeting, much more sinister. The basic gist was as follows The […]

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