PIP

[sammason]

This post took ages to complete because my disabled hands made it hard to put in the clickable links. Now thanks to my live-in IT support, here goes...

Here in Britain we cips are invited to claim the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Comments

[mrs_ralph]

I strongly suggest you contact Citizens Advice for help filling out the forms when they come. They will give you your approximate score. Also do not fall for any little tricks like things on the floor, elevators out of order, demands for physical performance, etc. I had the lady try to pull me out of my wheelchair by my fingertips! Do not volunteer information no matter how innocent you thing it is it can damage your final score if you say something like 'well, I can't use the stove but I still manage to nuke my lunch'. Also take someone with you when they interview you, it's very important that someone is there to remind you how laid up you actually are so you don't gloss things over and to back you up if you feel there has been misconduct or a mistake on your forms. Any problems go back to CA and let them help. They had handled a number of these cases across the country and know exactly what to do and how to fill out the forms correctly.
I hope your leg gets better soon. I was very sorry to hear you have been at the hospital and needed a walking boot etc.

[sammason]

Thank you for this. One of my links in this blog post is about CAB.

I'll tackle the PIP form as I did the DLA form: truthfully but going for the jugular. Telling how things are on my worst days. I'm the only person I know who got DLA without having to appeal against a rejection.

But I don't assume that I'll succeed easily with PIP. As it happens a friend (one of the few who visited me in hospital, so he's seen some of the unglam rality) works at CAB. I'll ask him to direct me to the right person there.