‘I was rejected for PIP because I had a degree and smiled during my assessment’
https://inews.co.uk/news/rejected-pip-degree-smiled-assessment-3113261
by BestButtons
‘I was rejected for PIP because I had a degree and smiled during my assessment’
https://inews.co.uk/news/rejected-pip-degree-smiled-assessment-3113261
by BestButtons
45 comments
> A woman suffering from anxiety and depression which led to two suicide attempts has told how she was rejected for personal independent payment (PIP) for “having a university degree” and smiling during the assessment.
What the hell is wrong with this country?
I have Cystic Fibrosis and was rejected by default. Their goal at the time was basically to reject everyone and send them through the appeals process to hopefully reduce numbers, scumbags.
I had to see a panel of Doctors (if I remember rightly) who were basically like yeah this is daft and granted the appeal.
Rejected for PiP because the pain I experience with ME only inhibits me about 4 days per week so I can just “Do things on days I feel ok,”
Before my dad died from his condition and provided evidence from multiple doctors that he would be dying from his condition (they just couldn’t pinpoint a date), they gave him zero points.
My mum got rejected from her Chronic back pain caused by a fall at work, putting her on medical retirement.
Assessment rejected her because she stood up to open the door without clutches, *therefore she can return to work*.
Fucking Tories and their managed decline. *Fuck you.*
[deleted]
Having supported three family members (with various cognitive issues) through this process, I can confidently say that the assessors they have do the interviews could give flat earth believers or political spin doctors a run for their money, with their ability to misconstrue facts and ignore any context.
Then there was the time “not enough evidence” was given, until we contacted FightBack, then the eidence we had already provided was apparently more than enough to get the higher rate for both components.
It’s slightly different, but my dad has severe pain in his spine, neck, shoulders, knees, and femur. He had been going to the GP for months, asking for something for the pain, which the GP refused. My mam has bad migraines and sometimes needs a doctor called out for injections. One time it was the GP who my dad sees who came out. When he answered the door, the doctor was surprised and said “oh Mr Orr, I didn’t realise you were married.” He prescribed my Dad Tramadol and Co-codamol within a few days, which he’s now been on for years. The GP simply didn’t believe my dad was in pain and thought he was trying to scam pain meds, but as soon as he realised he was married prescribed them?!
He also had a nightmare getting PIP, it took months and multiple assessment and my mam basically had to plead and explain that he can’t even stand up from a chair without severe pain.
That sounds about right. The assessments are a complete joke, and they aren’t medical professionals who do them. A close family friend got rejected for PIP because they asked if she could lift her right elbow. She did, and she was rejected for mobility despite being stuck in a wheel chair. Thankfully, a good man at the Citizens Advice Borough helped out, and she went to court and easily won her case because she had extensive medical evidence.
She really needed the added financial support for her to get around in taxis, etc. But the fact it took her ten months before it went to court gave her so much stress. I’m just glad she won in the end and got some help.
Yeah if you’ve claimed PIP for mental health and the not a medically qualified “professional” phones you on a good day for your review and you dare to say that you’ve improved beyond laying in bed every day, trying not to kill yourself, because fuck you for trying to improve yourself, they’ll decide that finally being able to summon up the energy to do basic self care (and I’m talking like showering once a week and doing your teeth) means you’re completely fit for work.
You now have the joy of trying to living off just ESA while trying to convince employers that they should employ you despite still mostly being a mess and having a gap in employment. This naturally makes your mental health worse again. All because you weren’t completely destitute for a review. Fuck the DWP.
Rejected as: I had a medical degree before I got sick, able to engage in a phone call, “didn’t seem mentally ill during conversation”, lives alone so can’t benefit from help/prompting, not referred to pain management (even though this wasn’t clinically indicated at the time).
I got assessed by somebody less qualified than me who wrote lies and assumptions in my report. They had little understanding of physical and mental health conditions and treatment options. Most of them are adult health nurses with only 2 weeks training in mental health from Capita/Maximus. As if that qualifies them to do a mental state examination via telephone.
They purposefully go against their own criteria and small print guidance about it and hope you don’t contest it. You can still get points for “prompting” if you live alone and would benefit from it happening – but not according to my assessment and mandatory reconsideration. An example being that I’m so depressed, fatigued and pained that I spend five days in the same clothes not bathing – but this wouldn’t benefit from prompting according to the DWP. Not like self-neglect is a common symptom of severe depression, is it? Or reduced motivation and concentration. Or becoming scared of leaving the house and interacting with others. Or a sequlae of other things I reported that were ignored or downplayed. Supposedly I would “regularly go to the shops” when I got all my food delivered.
70% of appeals are successful. It costs them millions of pounds to go to tribunal and have multiple stages of obstructive bureaucracy – just to punish and discriminate against disabled people. I spent a year living off £368 a month until I finally got awarded LCWRA this month. Now I’m stuck appealing PIP whilst being severely mentally ill and physically disabled.
My mum (no longer here) had Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis and COPD was denied twice because one of the “tests” was to push her arms apart against the Dr’s arms and they said she pushed hard enough and was too capable. This poor woman couldn’t make it to the toilet without help. Fuck the PIP assessment
They reject en masse regardless of what the situation is. My mother is completely illiterate but the assessment deemed her to have “strong reading and writing ability”. You need to count the initial assessment and appeal as part of the application process. Most of the rejected claims get allowed at tribunal, so unfortunately you have to go all the way if you want to get PIP. It’s a stressful and demeaning experience, my mother got hers allowed at tribunal, going from 6 to 13 points. I’m dreading needing to reapply in a couple years and doing it all over again.
Waiting on the review outcome for my wife, nothing has improved (indeed some things are worse) so we’ll see as she has been on PIP for a while now. When we did the f2f assessement we went in with (approved) recording equipment and me taking notes and being her “external memory & brain” (as is my normal function in managing brain fog). Doing a “we WILL appeal” without saying “we will APPEAL” approach
As far as I’m aware, they almost always reject the first application, then usually grant it on appeal. They just try to filter out casual claimants. It’s a discussing practice which dehumanises the process.
Well it sad to see the Land of Hope and Glory is anything but these days.
I hope we’re close to the bottom of our decline because I can’t imagine it getting any deeper
Brilliant ambitious minds already left to work in the EU and the newer ones in America, NZ, Canada or Australia by now. Britain offer nothing today for anyone who is young, talented and ambitious.
If you are young talented, ambitious, please just leave to leave to greener pastures
I once got rejected for PIP because the non-medically trained decision maker had decided that my epilepsy was low risk because I hadn’t had a seizure in public for a few years. I had a seizure a week later, having collapsed in the middle of the road.
I got rejected another time because I played World of Warcraft, and that showed I didn’t have social anxiety.
I wish I had made up both of those, but they are both true.
Oh, it’s not PIP-related, but I also got told by a work coach at the job centre that I can’t have PTSD following a sexual assault because I had a boyfriend.
Made the mistake of going to the assessment. They want you to go. Ask for a home assessment.
If you’ve washed your hair recently/are reasonably clean for your PIP assessment they count it against you. It’s crazy what they use against you.
My Mum went through the assessment because she had an accident that left her with more metal in her than the terminator, chronic pain and mobility issues. My brother accompanied her to the assessment, they were so cruel to her that they had her in tears and humiliated her in front of her son by asking questions like “How are you able to wipe your backside if you’re in so much pain?” They wanted a detailed, step by step response to that question
My son was just rejected on his latest assessment , having had to wear a prosthesis and receive disability for 22 years and suddenly this year is the one they kindly helped his leg to grow back.
It’s one area I will fail Labour on if they don’t fix the department for evil, er, work and pensions. I can’t tell whether its mandate from Whitehall or just the sheer uncaring nature of the people who work there. It seems like they’re out to catch people out rather than helping people. It’s completely the wrong mentality.
I once had a PIP assessor ask me, about 30 mins into a meeting
“What’s wrong with you”
Their paper work said I had a physical disability and they spent 30 mins looking at me trying to work it out. I do not, and never have had, a physical disability
If you’re not a paraplegic cripple in constant full body pain then you just aren’t entitled to it!
And patients with cancer and told they have 1 year left to live have been told – you can work now though right?
Conservatives have made it so that if you have an illness, you are the bad guy
I can beat that.
My dirty skiving ways was cut short by the all righteous DWP of course I should have been in work,
After all despite spending three weeks out of that month in a high dependency ward.
And having never claimed anything before, I was clearly shirking I could have got a work online job if only the NHS WiFi wasn’t so shit and I was a little more conscious.
I got rejected because “there was no evidence the client has heart disease” fired in my full medical notes, like, honestly, one phone call would have sufficed
I was rejected because the lady I spoke to didn’t understand the medical terminology used to describe my illness. It was also a phone assessment and her English was piss poor. One of the questions was: “Can you hold your phone to your ear?”… Like yeah, obviously, but how is that relevant to my gastrointestinal disease?!
I know someone personally who was rejected because she was able to reach out and take a tissue from the assessor, while crying her eyes out during the assessment.
Vote. Don’t sit around “both sides”ing it. Vote like the lives of you and your loved ones depend on it, because if they’ve got any kind of illness or disability they probably do.
I’m trying for the 4th attempt with a congenital heart condition and MDD (Major Depressive Disorder). Last time the assessor focussed on a couple of attempts at suicide. Was asked..
* How many times have you attempted suicide?
* How did you attempt to commit suicide? What methods did you try?
* Do you plan to commit suicide in the future?
* Have you considered other methods of committing suicide?
I was turned down because I was well dressed, clean, and articulate. Bitch, it took me eight days to prepare for that assessment.
It’s the US insurance model. Reject everything, make the entire system based on appeals.
I lost points as despite being tearful throughout, I “managed to regain composure to answer the next question within 20-30 seconds”.
I was a wreck in the appointment and my ex husband was with me as I couldn’t it alone. I wish I had appealed more but I wasn’t mentally well enough after assessment.
I thought I would get in trouble if I didn’t answer. The system is awful.
I have a few diagnosed mental health conditions, Bipolar being 1 of them. It’s not going away unfortunately.
The thing I find particularly irritating is that I used to work for the DWP years back.
I would have been that jumped up little hag’s senior in a previous life but unfortunately the psychosis gods picked me. Great balls of fire!!
The system has changed and is unrecognisable.
Not fit for purpose.
The DWP is a very, very thinly veiled eugenics programme.
One of my exes is blind, and I once went to an assement with her. The amount of paper forms they expected a BLIND woman to fill in, and the sheer amount of contempt, criticism and scrutiny levelled towards her (as well as plenty of other obviously disabled individuals) filled me with a murderous rage.
It was the most dehumanising and inhumane thing I’ve ever witnessed first hand.
I sincerely wish life altering illness and injury upon every single person in government who supports the DWP, and likewise the same for its staff. Maybe then there would be some semblance of empathy and humanity from those who endorse it.
Wouldn’t be surprised if she smiled thinking “it’s nice I’ll be helped/finally things’ll be easier for a while”.
To be fair to the assessment people, I know this isn’t going to be popular, but we do have over 10% of the working population on disability benefits at the moment and that just isn’t sustainable in the long term.
Too many people taking the piss. I’ve had anxiety and depression about my job in the past but I still went in every day. The people who deserve it will have to stand at the back of the queue while the people who don’t really need it game the system. Theres plenty of them in my shitty area and they make me sick.
Took me over 4 years to get mine, I had rejected at least 6xs.
First time was 2019, spent ages filling it all out with my job coach…I got a face 2 face meeting so my dad took me…the lady in the interview didn’t even look at me throughout the interview, she asked basic questions about movement, if I could stand etc…then months later I got my first rejection…the only points they actually gave me was for something I said I was actually good at which was budgeting…so it showed they never read anything or took anything I said into account.
I went to appeal and needed my job coaches help but she was away a lot due to a family death and by the time we had appealed…late by a few days, they said no, I would need to reapply again…I spoke to someone else at my autistic group who does appeals and told me to ignore all that as he will sort it and he has won every case…only this was close to Xmas and he had sent emails but not heard anything back from them…then covid hit.
I reapplied again but as they were unable to do face 2 face meets due to covid, they were doing phone interviews instead. First one came along and no one called during the time they allocated me…I even sat down the bottom of the garden where you are guaranteed a signal, in the freezing cold but no call…they said attempts had been made to call so it was automatic rejection and I’d need to reapply again.
This happened another 3xs during covid, with months in between each…I finally have a phone call off them, telling me they will call me to do the interview and be ready at this time/date…I agreed…no call again…rejected even though it was their fault…finally another date for a call, they actually call me and 5mins into, saying their having technical difficulties and we need to reschedule…they never did and I was rejected again…reapply again….So I did and I got a full interview this time…months later rejected.
Really pissed off…my closest friend who has had PIP most of his life, told me not once did he have to reapply during labour being in charge but everytime the Tories are in power, he is constantly kicked off it and has to go through all this stuff over and over again…he can not work. Anyway he suggested a local disability place who do these cases but they ask for 15% of your first pay…we agreed…I had to reapply again as DWP didn’t keep any of my details….Alex the disability lawyer, interviewed me and filled it all in, sent it off…and we were rejected again so he started the appeal straight away…months and months later…I get an appeal date to go to court but then out of nowhere I get a letter saying I’m being awarded and having it back dated a year to when I applied
My friend, spent 10 months trying to reclaim him…it was his main source of income so he was struggling big time, using food banks. He got it back and back dated…but a year later…they cancelled his again…this was in Feb 2023…I believe the stress of it all, not having the money for bills that were rising more than ever due to Tories, caused him to have a heart attack at 53…he was found dead days later. I believe if they hadn’t kept screwing him over with PIP, he’d probably still be here today
From what I’ve witnessed, DWP do everything possible to get you off PIP…everyone is rejected first time and they hope you don’t bother reapplying, they want you to give up. I go to a weekly autistic group and everyone there claiming PIP is struggling to get it. Its sickening what these people do.
Things I’ve had used against me:
* Completing a Master’s degree, therefore I don’t have anxiety – I finished the degree years before the assessment, and most of medical issues didn’t start until quite some time after university.
* Being observed walking from my front door to a settee (<5m) – based solely on that, the report concluded I could reliably (i.e. safely, as often as is reasonably required, and in a reasonable time period) “stand and then move more than 200 metres”.
* Apparently not being on any medication for my anxiety/OCD – I provided them a current list of prescriptions (showing sertraline and temazepam) during my application (on the form and I included a GP’s repeat prescription list), and reiterated all of my medications and the reasons for them during the interview. Another part of the report referred to the list I provided them.
* Apparently not appearing withdrawn/anxious during the assessment – I had my mother with me for support, and still had to halt the interview and leave the room for about ten minutes as I was struggling to cope.
I have M.E, fibro and PoTS and was rejected because at the time, my husband worked five days a week, but one of those days was at home. Meaning he was at home ‘half the week’ and could look after me.
Not how it works at all, but sure.
PIP is abused constantly by fraudulent and lazy people but the ones who actually need it never seem to get it, that said there should be a very slim slither of society today that are truly unable to work – countless people are claiming depression and anxiety as a reason not to work, how either of them things prevent people from 100% of jobs I’ll never understand.
I got rejected when I applied. When it got to appeal two years later, it was noted the assessor hadn’t read any of my supporting evidence. Thankfully the appeal people gave me both PIP and back pay.
Anxiety, depression, PTSD. Rejected because I didn’t sound nervous on the phone
I am autistic and have adhd. I was rejected because I have a degree and went to work on the train.
Ah yes. Because autistic people famously hate trains.
Happens all the time. Mandatory Reconsideration then go to appeal.
Mine ended up going to court, I wasn’t well enough to attend, but when I checked the notes afterwards it took them all of 5 minutes to throw out the agency’s case and find in my favour, he made a point in his decision of stating that he didn’t even have to read to the end of the case notes to make the decision and that there was “no possible reason” to find against me. Just madness, a system designed to pass down bad decisions and waste everyone’s time on the vague hope that people won’t be able to escalate it.