PIP... Filling in the forms

[Colin_1705]

When filling in the form to apply for PIP you have got to make sure that you say what you are unable to do, or hat degree of help you need to perform even simple tasks.

They usually have scale of ability, you really need to think how difficult some everyday household or personal care tasks are for you to perform.

Read the list of things which they look at

[bowlingbun]

I asked DWP to arrange a Visiting Officer as I couldn't hand writ the form. He was very good and helped me remember things that I might have forgotten. Highly recommend this for anyone.

[Susan_17071234]

I asked DWP to arrange a Visiting Officer as I couldn't hand writ the form. He was very good and helped me remember things that I might have forgotten. Highly recommend this for anyone.

My husband didn't ask for one, the DWP told him that he would need one. After trying all of the other agencies first he had no alternative but to accept the DWP's suggestion.
Many times I have said that you could not even make up what the DWP expect of you.
He was told to report to the local Jobcentre in town to see the Visiting Officer. After a mammoth journey, then trying to find somewhere to park, we approached the building in question.
A huge security guard told us that it was on the 1st floor and they had no lift - 'you will find the stairs at the other end of the building', A walk of approx. 50 yards later past desks and filing cabinets we found the stairs. 10 mins later we reached the 1st floor only to find that the office we needed was at the far end of the building - in fact directly above the entrance doors that we had come through.

So after the 100 yard marathon and two flights of stairs we sat down.

He was useless, asked no questions other than what was on the form - took all of 20mins to complete.

We then had to repeat the 100 yard walk and two lots of stairs to get out.

When I posted the PIP2 off for my husband, I had a look at what had been written on it - hardly anything - yes/no and a few lines of rubbish.

So there must be good and bad Visiting Officers and our luck was to get one of the bad ones.

[bowlingbun]

The role of the visiting officer was purely to fill in the form for me, NOT to assess my son, he wasn't even here. Having given all the information to this chap, he took it away and sent it to the assessment dept. They gave me a quick call to clarify one or two things, and the benefit was granted, highest care and mobility.

[Susan_17071234]

The role of the visiting officer was purely to fill in the form for me, NOT to assess my son, he wasn't even here. Having given all the information to this chap, he took it away and sent it to the assessment dept. They gave me a quick call to clarify one or two things, and the benefit was granted, highest care and mobility.

Yes I agree. I don't know how long they were with you, but my experience was that he just ticked the boxes, put a line or two of what we said. He never asked any questions or tried to clarify what we were saying. He then handed the form back to us and off we went.

It was only later when I was posting it off did I look at what he had written. It was meaningless to me and gave no information that would explain the box that was ticked. He even told us not to bother with any evidence as "you can only send in what you have if, anything".

I am definitely certain that it makes a huge difference as to what you put on the form and how you say it. Otherwise the ATOS woman would have had more to go on.

As an example the section for getting around just said "can walk some distance, not sure how far"

[rosemary]

This form can take ages to fill in, so best to keep a photocopy for yourself in case the original goes astray.

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