Transferring From Dla To Pip

[iloveglee]

Does anyone on here know if there is anyone who would come to the house to help with the completion of the PIP application form. A friend of mine has asked me to help her fill in her son's PIP form. He has fragile X, so has severe learning disability. He does have many capabilities, but I believe he only has these because he is living with his Mother, I believe he would struggle alone. As I don't live with him, it's not especially easy for me to properly determine what his capabilities actually are. Some of them are easy to determine, others are less so.

I am therefore struggling with this form myself, it's enormous and the amount of information required is vast. I don't want to minimise his condition because he does have severe learning disabilities, but at the same time don't want to make him seem worse than he is either. My friend is 83, has had a stroke a few years ago which left her with her eyesight affected, so she simply is not able to do this herself. She has no-one else.

I know that you can get help with benefit claims as my parents had someone come around years ago and helped them get benefits they didn't even know they were entitled to. I have no idea though how this all came about, or where this woman came from.

I have tried, with no success to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau. My friend is quite bad on her legs so would not be able to get there herself. I feel quite bad for them, he has been receiving DLA ever since becoming an adult, and his condition is lifelong and is abilities will never improve. Getting evidence from health professionals is a nightmare, he is physically very fit, hardly ever goes to the GP and does not have any other support.

Any help or advice that anyone can offer would be very welcome. If you have gone through this process all the better. I thought you could do this online but apparently not. You have to physically write all this down on an enormous form.

I have looked on the Fragile X websites, some of which are not relevant as they are American. They do have quite a comprehensive document with advice, but I am a great believer in asking people, of their own experiences which can help inform mine. Thanks in advance.

[albaqwerty]

Contact your local council.
Ours have ''Advice Works'' which offer all types of assistance.

[woofgang]

Why don't you want to make him seem worse than he is? General advice that social services used to give about completing this kind of form is to complete it describing worst circumstance on worst day.

[albaqwerty]

Woofie, I think that a lot of people are not au fait with these forms and part of a problem is some writing down exactly how they are feeling/coping at that moment of answering the question.
Mr Alba wanted to do just that until I told him to answer all questions as if it was his worst day.

[iloveglee]

I think I perhaps didn't make myself too clear when I said about not making him worse than he is. As I said his Mother doesn't like to dwell on his disability any more than she has to. I have tried to ask her to try and remove herself from the scenario, and think about it would be for him if she were not there.

This is really why I think someone who is objective, like a person who does this professionally would be a better person to assist rather than a friend. I don't want to get it wrong, and then have him refused it. As it is, I think he'll not cope too well with an assessment, and I have included this in information that needs to go on the form. He gets anxious if put in stressful situations that he has no ability to rationalise

I'll contact the local authority and see what they can offer. Thanks for the advice.

[TonyV]

Yes you can request a home appointment you just need to explain reasons why you cannot travel. Contact the number on the letter, might be Capita but you need to speak to someone at DWP.

[woofgang]

I think that the problem with getting an objective outsider to do the form (and I have been the objective outsider) is that the applicant (and maybe the carer) is less likely to feel they can trust the person to talk about how they really feel, how much they really struggle and how bad things really are, especially if its someone who does not like to dwell on their disability or if the carer does not like to dwell on/think about the issues. If he has learning difficulties, does he have a key worker or any kind of daycare or other support?

[bednobs]

has she got a copy of the DLA form that was filled in for him?

[scorpiojo]

You could ask for help here

https://www.fragilex.org.uk

[iloveglee]

The answer to the keyworker, daycare support etc is no. He does actually work, doing a fairly menial job but has had his hours cut. He would love to work, and certainly can cope with menial jobs that he has been shown how to do, but there is nothing locally and he is not able to make journeys on buses alone.

They have no help or support at all. I have encouraged my friend on more than one occasion to contact Social Services regarding just being in the system, because if she were to die suddenly he would be seriously struggling. She appears to be quite resistant to this. I can't quite get to the bottom of this other than the usual idea of social services, interfering etc.

They had a very good friend who was his supporter, advocate and general person who would step in under those circumstances. Sadly this person has died and they don't have anyone else. She does have a daughter who, sadly, is completely incompetent, unreliable and untrustworthy. She would definitely not bring her in on this.

As far as the paperwork from the DLA application is concerned. I don't know. Given that he applied when he became an adult, and he's 50 now, I think maybe not. Surely though, this information should be logged somewhere from the DLA system.

The GP is no use to help, they probably know more about Fragile X than he does. He doesn't know my friend's son because he's consulted him once in the last 30 years!!

I take the point about the 'objective' person and see how this could actually make things worse, from the point of view of making things seem better than they are.

He used to have input from Mencap, the last time she contacted them for help on another matter, they took the details and said they would call back. No one ever did, and in the end we helped her out with this problem which was to do with his employer.

[bednobs]

just because someone forgot to call her back once, doesn't mean they cant help now, so I would advise calling again. There is no way he's been getting dla for 30+ years without a re-assessment (plus the benefit has been in place for less time than that)

[woofgang]

what bedknobs said but also, your friend is 83 and has had a stroke....what about the help and support that she needs?

[paddywak]

Have you tried the CAB. When I had my first stroke I'd got a pile of paper work 6in thick to fill in and not a clue were to start.They sent around a lass who did nothing but fill forms in for people and she sorted it all out in no time at all.Also.as has already been stated, the first thing she told me was fill every form in as if it was the worst day of you life.

[THECORBYLOON]

TONY, a domiciliary visit (DV) can be requested if there are issues with travelling to the assessment (not issues with completing the claim)and there is medical evidence to support those issues.

[iloveglee]

I absolutely take the point about my friend needing help and support. She is like a lot of people of her age, very resistant to anyone coming into the house, it's almost as though it's a stigma that you can't cope.

She is an extremely independent person, and it has taken her a great deal to even ask me for the help. She doesn't like having to ask for help at all. For all that, they do seem to manage reasonably well considering. This form though does seem to have totally outwitted her and I am not surprised.

As far as his previous benefits are concerned, he has always, as far as I can see, claimed some kind of non means tested disability benefit, although I have no idea what they were called in the past. I don't know if he has been re-assessed in the past, after all he does not have the kind of disability that could possibly ever improve. Having said all that, several years ago my friend could have stormed through a form of this kind without any help needed. Things are different now of course.

I'll keep trying with the Citizens Advice Bureau. Although she'd struggle to get there under her own steam, I could take her if it came to it. She can manage bus journeys as long as there isn't too far to walk once off the bus.

I have found some information from Mencap online that might be helpful, it's not fully up to date but it does give a general idea. I have sent a message to the FragileX website, but have not had a reply as yet. I am grateful for the help on here.

[iloveglee]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have received documents to download from both Mencap and FragileX.org both of which are going to be extremely useful. I think we have been looking at this the wrong way up, and we need to consider very much more how difficult his life would be without his Mother.

We are now looking at these questions in the context of his Mother no longer being around (which is difficult obviously), and it then becomes apparent how much he depends on her in very many subtle ways, and how restricted his life would be if she were not there.

Also, we were not taking into account properly how much help they receive from friends and neighbours, without this being any kind of big issue nevertheless it is there.

I am slowly beginning to get to grips with it, complicated though it is.

[Mamyalynne]

It's a minefield isn't it? but well done for seeking advice and sticking with it - they are lucky to have you on their side.

[iloveglee]

It certainly is a minefield. Thank goodness I have access to and am able to manage the internet. There is a great deal of very useful information out there if you spend some time searching for it.

I did find a useful 'test' tool where you answer the questions without actually relating them to a particular person. From the answers I was able to give, i don't think there's any chance at all he wouldn't get it, at least at the basic level. I think some of the answers would lead to an award at the higher level.

Looking at the rates of disability living allowance which he gets currently, it looks as though he should get more on pip. They do go into a great deal of detail but from his point of view this is a good thing.

I'm appeciative of all of your willingness to respond and help to lead me in the direction i should be looking. The internet can be like the wild west and at the very least reliable information, relating to the UK, rather than the USA which forms a large proportion of what can be found, should be what is sought and paid attention to.

[woofgang]

you are welcome, if you need more help then shout :)

[Eve]

Could he have had a lifetime award before? I heard that some of these are being reviewed and people are being re-assessed, it happened to someone I know.

This is helpful, takes you through all the questions. I don't believe they retain information on file to refer to, I think everything has to be with the form itself, so best to assume they don't have anything on record.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/help-with-your-claim/fill-in-form/

[THECORBYLOON]

You should make sure you make a photocopy of the claim form, mind and take out the staples. You can cut the pages if you need to but make sure you put them back in the right order.