PIP at last

The letter (image of letter-heading below) from the DWP regarding my Personal Independence (PIP) claim arrived whilst I was in Barcelona.

I have been granted the "enhanced rate" for both mobility AND daily living needs. Furthermore, I have been given a rare (per benefitsandwork site) "ongoing" status - which I have now determined means I am "unlikely to get either better or worse" in the future.

However, apparently DWP can randomly decide to check whenever they wish - so it is hardly re-assuring and is certainly not giving me any sense of settled stability. So it looks as if I shall be on the anti-anxiety meds until such time as the DWP is reformed or the PIP laws are altered to be less intrusive & menacing.

Oh, I have just found a section which states that they will check me again after 22nd May 2027. To all intents & purposes knowing such still makes no difference, due to the we-can-check-on-you-at-any-time catch-all clause.

I was awarded 28 points for daily living (12 points needed to get enhanced rate) and 16 points for mobility (also 12 points needed to get enhanced rate). I disagree with some of the points given; but there is little point in arguing as it would make no material difference and would simply delay payments being made to me.

The decision-maker's conclusion reads:

I made my decision using information about your health condition or disability including details of any treatment, medication, test results and symptoms. This information is the best we have available and enough to decide how much help you need without aface to face consultation.As your needs vary, my decision is based on the help you need most days.The information shows your health condition or disability causes you great difficulty with Daily Living activities.The information shows your health condition or disability causes you great difficulty planning and following journeys and moving around.This is consistent with your medical history, the available evidence and the information you provided about how your disability affects you. (sic)

The award letter is ten pages long. After three read-throughs I think I have grasped it and that the above are the pertinent points.

In conclusion I ought to feel happy & relieved; but I feel no sense of satisfaction and still very much unsettled by it all.

ESA50 Resolution?

[Image description: my ninety-eight page pro-forma ESA50]

In relation to my previous post Ongoing Torment of DWP's ESA50-form I have today (10th April) received a letter dated (4th April) from JobCentrePlus an off-shoot of the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP). 

(Not sure why it took the Royal Mail so long to deliver a letter, but hey!)

The contents advise me that I am "entitled to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance" (ESA); but oddly enough, and quite typically for the DWP, there is no explanation as to what this is or what the ramifications are, if any. However, I note - though this is not expressed within the missive - that the decision has been made without reference to ATOS. Well, that at least saves tax-payers the cost of a fee. Hurrah for common-sense! And thanks to the kind decision-maker (DM); as that is one extra stress-factor I can now avoid.

Additionally, I "have been placed in the support group because [my] illness or disability restricts the possibility of working." Again no elucidation.

Apparently I am also going to get a '"top-up" payment'; but I am uncertain why it is needed or what it is.

I've had to go scrambling to the internet to attempt to determine whether this, all added together, is good or bad news. My understanding - and it is on very weak ground -  is that because I am in the so-called 'support group' AND am entitled to ESA based on previous payments of National Insurance (NI), I remain on ESA until such time as I ameliorate spontaneously or there is a miracle cure (none expected for at least the next fifteen years). So, I believe - shakily - that I can breathe a sigh of relief. Phew! Mind, my pulse is still racing from the panic-attack the arrival of the brown envelope and very long letter induced a few hours ago.

There is no information to enlighten me as to how the DWP reached their decision. However, I am permitted to:

" •     ask for an explanation

  •     ask for a written statement of reasons for our decision "

I think it is in my best interests that I do so, as one never knows what future changes are up the politicians' sleeves; so I really do need to know on what basis the decisions were reached. Furthermore, I can be re-assessed at the DWP's caprice. So no chance of my levels of anxiety abating.

Even now, I still feel as if I am in a skirmish with the DWP. As I previously wrote, the ongoing torment...