{"id":232835,"date":"2025-07-02T20:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232835\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T20:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:02:12","slug":"my-dad-cant-even-hold-a-glass-of-water-but-a-pip-assessor-took-away-his-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232835\/","title":{"rendered":"My dad can\u2019t even hold a glass of water \u2013 but a PIP assessor took away his benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tDisability rights campaigner Emily Pomroy-Smith had to fight to reinstate her father’s personal independence payments after an assessor said he was fine\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

When Emily Pomroy-Smith was eight years old, she would pretend her father had been taken over by a monster as a way to cope with manic episodes he experienced as a result of his bipolar disorder. It helped to separate the illness from the man, she said.<\/p>\n

Now 37, Pomroy-Smith is a campaigner for Disability Labour, a group affiliated with the Labour Party. She is disabled herself, diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos (EDS), Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia (POTS) and Mast Cell Activation (MCAS) syndromes.<\/p>\n

Her father, Keith Passingham, 67, lives in Hackney, east London, and is reliant on personal independence payments (PIP).<\/p>\n

Ministers have shelved plans to restrict eligibility for the disability benefit<\/a> after a Labour backbench rebellion, with any changes only coming after a review of PIP in the autumn.<\/p>\n

But for Mr Passingham, who was medically retired as a result of his bipolar disorder at the age of 40, and his daughter, any possible future cuts remain a concern.<\/p>\n

During the manic episodes her father has, Pomroy-Smith said she can receive 100 calls a day.<\/p>\n

Mr Passingham will have trouble sleeping or eating properly, drinks heavily, is quick to anger and has previously racked up huge debts during these episodes, she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Emily Pomroy-Smith, aged two, with her father Keith Passingham (right) (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)<\/p>\n

Despite receiving the highest level of PIP, he still needs help from a support network, including his daughter, her sibling Theo, carers and a lodger, who had to call an ambulance during a recent manic episode.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he didn\u2019t have the support network that he has, either he\u2019d be homeless or dead,\u201d Pomroy-Smith said. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole point of PIP.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 20, she left university to be her father\u2019s live-in carer. Children under the age of 18 are classed as young carers, with councils obliged to assess their needs, but Pomroy-Smith was frustrated with the lack of support she could access.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dropped out of university when I first became responsible for him, because working, keeping a roof over our heads while doing a degree was just too much, and something had to give. And that has absolutely had huge consequences for the rest of my life in terms of my earning capabilities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that frustrated me was that when I lived with him, I wasn\u2019t entitled to carers allowance because I was working too many hours and yet I was responsible for him 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Emily Pomroy-Smith, aged 11, with her father Keith Passingham, who suffers from bipolar disorder and was medically retired because of it at the age of 40 (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)<\/p>\n

The manic episodes that define Mr Passingham\u2019s condition are often triggered by sudden changes in his life, his daughter explained.<\/p>\n

But he has twice been refused benefits. The first time he lost his payments was in 2013, when Mr Passingham was moved from receiving disability living allowance (DLA) to PIP.<\/p>\n

He failed to fill out his application form on time, and it took over a year to get a new assessment. The shock of losing his benefits sent him into a manic episode that resulted in him being sectioned, Pomroy-Smith said.<\/p>\n

The second time, in 2019, his PIP was refused after reassessment, when claimants are reviewed to determine if they still meet the eligibility criteria to claim PIP. <\/p>\n

In the report of his claim, his assessor had stated that he could walk unaided and drink on his own, both claims that his family disputed.<\/p>\n

\"ImageEmily Pomroy-Smith on her wedding day with her father Keith Passingham. She left university to be her father\u2019s live-in carer when she was 20 years old (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe genuinely thought there\u2019d been a mix-up because when we read it, the assessor referenced having done a physical examination \u2013 he hadn\u2019t got out of his chair,\u201d Pomroy-Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said my dad was able to drink on his own \u2013 he has lithium-induced shakes similar to Parkinson\u2019s. He cannot hold a glass of water, so he\u2019s not able to drink without supervision and support, and he has to use straws and covered cups.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he claimed that he walked into the room unaided. He had actually walked in with my sibling supporting him.\u201d<\/p>\n

His PIP was reinstated after just three months after his children challenged the decision.<\/p>\n

\"\"Keith Passingham with his grandson Logan (Photo: Emily Pomroy-Smith)<\/p>\n

Pomroy-Smith said she was frustrated with the Government\u2019s proposed welfare reforms.<\/p>\n

She believed the bill should have been thrown out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be a real rollback; we need to go back to the drawing board,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said the Government is delivering \u201cone of the biggest and most ambitious packages of welfare reforms in a generation \u2013 to put the system on a sustainable footing and ensure the safety net will always be there for those who need it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are putting disabled people at the heart of a ministerial review of the PIP assessment to make sure it is fit and fair for the future, and we will work with them and key organisations representing them to consider how best to do this,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disability rights campaigner Emily Pomroy-Smith had to fight to reinstate her father’s personal independence payments after an assessor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,348,474,8414,2499,16,15,12340],"class_list":{"0":"post-232835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-disability-benefits","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-labour","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-welfare"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114785428931980825","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}