PIP, CAPITA, Frustration. Any Advice?

[neword]

Quick History,

Wife has had DLA Mobility high rate for over 10 years (Osteoporosis, IBS, + other ailments)

2 Years ago we needed to replace our own car so used DLAMob to get one via Motability.

 

I have been on JSA for a long time and had been on WPS and was on PWPS.

My personal advisor (or whatever they are called now) kept on going on and on about me applying for DLA Care practically everytime we meet.

I kept saying we had looked into it but did not want to run the risk of losing the DLAMob we already had.

My advisor seemed like she turned "hard" when I told her we would not be putting in for it and I found she was looking for any excuse to make it difficult for me to meet the JSA requirements concerning looking for work etc.....

 

In the end we decided that we should try for DLACare (Now PIP) because of the extra pressure that was being put on me vis the advisor.

 

So on 18th December 2013 we contacted DWP to ask for the PIP papers. We were not aware or told at the time that just by asking for the papers we were in fact making a claim for PIP.

 

Anyway 31st December is when the PIP papers showed up and as it was New Year and the Doctors were closed we did not look at the papers until about 5th January 2014. Having looked at the questions it was our opinion that we would not get the entitlement for the PIP Care so we choose to leave it.

 

End of January 2014 we get a letter saying that my wife's Life DLAMob was now cancelled because we had not proceeded with the PIP claim.

Of course I get on the phone to DWP and ask them why and it turns out it's because simply by asking for the papers and not returning them within a set period (one month) it is automatically taken that you no longer need the DLAMob that we had. Anyway I said that that's unfair because we were not aware we would lose the DLAMob just by asking for the PIP papers and after some further discussions we were told to get the papers in quick and that the DLAMob would be reinstated.

So by February 3rd they had the PIP papers and we were in contact with Motability over the situation as well and they said it was all good.

 

Fast forward 3.5 months and we receive a letter form Motability saying they were coming to take the car we had due to the DLAMob not being paid since February 18th. We of course contacted the Mota people and ask why they have not been receiving payments as they had been reinstated and they said they had no idea or that they had had any information from DWP(DLA) concerning this.

So getting on phone to DLA(PIP)(DWP) concerning this they told us it had not been reinstated and that they had no information concerning my calls to them on the matter.

Now I log all my calls concerning matters like this and was able to tell them the exact time, day and person I spoke to which made them a little uneasy and they suggested I contacted the PIP dept directly even gave me the phone number.

 

So onto PIP and it was much the same run around as with the other DWP dept's and basically I got nowhere other than they would put in a "urgent" request for a reassessment of the situation. (their idea regarding "URGENT" means anything up to 5 weeks apparently). They also arranged for a call back which should have taken 5 working days but ended up taking 8 and that probably only happened after I contacted them again after 7 working days had past.

Net result was they would look into it. (still looking I think)

 

Anyway we had a bit of family bad luck in that my wife's mother died about 2 weeks ago and the motability people were kind enough to change the deadline for the car going back so we could use for another 17 days to get through the Funeral etc. It goes back on Monday 14th July.

 

This Friday (11th July 2014) I decided to chase up what was happening with the PIP claim. We had had a Home assessment done by Capita several weeks ago.

 

Called DWP(PIP) and they told us that they had had the electronic part of the information concerning the assessment from Capita but not the hard-copy information.

I call Capita and they told me that the Electronic part had been sent on the 4th June and the hard-copy would have been sent within 10 working days of the elec forms being sent. We worked it out that the DWP(PIP) would have had both parts by 25th June at the absolute latest.

So back to DWP(PIP) and they confirmed they had had the electronic form part but had not received the hard-copy part (implying it was lost in the post). They suggested that I should get Captia to reissue the hard-copy again.

So back to Capita and they said they would send the DWP(PIP) the hard-copy again but also told me that they cannot see how the DWP(PIP) had not received the hard-copy as they send all their important information via courier and in batches so could not see how the DWP(PIP) had not received the forms.

 

Back to DWP(PIP) and I told them that Capita said that they cannot see how they had NOT got the hard-copy forms to which the DWP(PIP) person said that they are now going to find out just what has happened.

 

Net result of this "lost in the post" is that the claim is now going to take around 5 more weeks and not be completed as it should of by now.

 

So I am now totally frustrated by the fact that it looks like the DWP(PIP) are in fact giving out either false information or are in fact telling blatant lies just to get claimants so totally fed up with the situation that they will in fact give-up.

 

We have already come to turns with the fact the car is going back to motability and will in fact give them praise for having been very professional and thoughtful throughout this whole situation.

 

Also praise to Capita as it does appear they are getting to grips with their part in this PIP claim procedure.

 

As for the DWP(PIP) ____________________

 

Just thought I would post this so that people could have some idea as to what the DWP(PIP) could be doing to make things worse for claimants.

 

Good Luck to anyone claiming PIP.

[actonjon]

your personal advisor should be sacked she/he should have told you this if u ask for pip papers the the claim is live good luck hope it all works out i am waiting on atos to send report back to the dwp it can take months

[squirrelly Whirley]

...So I am now totally frustrated by the fact that it looks like the DWP(PIP) are in fact giving out either false information or are in fact telling blatant lies just to get claimants so totally fed up with the situation that they will in fact give-up...

 

I made a fresh claim for PIP made last September, that somehow got lost in the post, twice!. I have put this claim temporarily onto the back-burner, since I'm now gathering medical evidence to support an appeal against a decision to stop ESA because I've been found 'fit for work'.

 

Between the complicated experience of claiming PIP and ESA, I've been forced to jump repeatedly through more firey-hoops than a circus clown. The complexity and frustration at the seeming incompetence seems to grow and grow. It's easy to see how this might push claimants to simply give up. I'm almost cynical enough to think this to be the intended result of a DWP plan.

 

I'm glad to read that you're more organised than the DWP seem to be. I'd also be considering raising a complaint against your advisor for the intimidatory practices used that have got you into this situation. I'd also get your MP writing letters on your behalf (that's what they're there for after all). It seems the people at the DWP ignore other politicians as being too minor, but jump when a MP's letterhead crosses a DWP manager's desk.

 

Best of British to you, and I hope you get a swift resolution to this problem

[neword]

Well hello all,

 

Update time:

 

I am about two weeks late with this update as I have been busy with my self employment.

 

As I stated before in my OP DWP had somehow managed to lose the hardcopy assessment that Capita sent to them.

This resulted in me having to get capita to resend the information.

When I checked they had done as they said they would and the DWP acknowledged that they were now in procession

of all the information. I was then told it would be 5 weeks before the decision was made. So I made a note in my

calendar exactly 5 weeks on.

 

Current status :

I phoned the DWP about the PIP claim 2 days AFTER the 5 weeks were up.

Guess what? No decision had been made and it was now going to take another 3 weeks.

So on Wednesday (10/09/14) the 3 weeks will be up and I will give them a call.

 

Will update this thread then with whatever I find out.

Not that I hold any Hope of there being a decision given the past performance of the DWP.

 

Is there anyway I can nudge them along a bit as this claim is now dragging on far longer than it should do.

[neword]

Another update:

 

I phoned them again after the three extra weeks were up and guess what...

 

Nothing had happened at all.. no decision had happened or taken place. Told to ring back

in another weeks time, they also said they would "push it" as it was now outside there

quoted time frame for decisions being made...

 

So waited another week

 

Not starting a new post to continue this

 

Waited another week past the 5-8 week decision time and guess what....

 

Yep No decision had been made as of Wednesday 17th September. Now 1 week past

the time it should take to get a decision.... OH well...

 

Going to wait another week it seems.

 

FINAL UPDATE:

 

We appear to have had a decision and have got the PIP Mobility component at highest rate.

 

How did we find this out....

 

A Phone Call...NOPE

A Letter Through the Post.....NOPE

An Email...........NOPE

 

Wife doing her Internet Banking and telling me we got more money

than we should have.......Yep you guessed it... PIP Payment

 

We sort of didn't click to what the extra money was from until we saw PIP

written at end of line........

 

Now all we can hope for is that they backdate the claim to when they cancelled the

payments for the car in February.

 

Just hope that they did not mistakenly make this payment.

 

neword