My experience as a MS Sufferer

[Nigel]

I am very new to MS forums so I am not sure how things work.

 

Having been diagnosed in 2011 I am very dissatisfied with my dealings with the NHS, DWP and the electric wheelchair provider (Milbrook-What a shower! How do they continue to operate???)

 

I was rejected for PIP in 2015 and was persuaded to resubmit my application by my MS Nurse and with the help of Citizens Advice but was only accepted for the standard mobility benefit which amounted to some £22.00 a week (so not much!). I did appeal to the hapless DWP against this judgement but again was rejected.

I then went to a Tribunal in Ashford in November last year after a 15 month wait won my appeal and was awarded the standard living needs benefit and enhanced for the mobility benefit backdated to February 2018.

 

Is it just me who has been treated like shit by these hapless Government bodies or is it something that other people have experienced? 

 

Nigel Warnett

[Stumbler]

Hi @Nigel and welcome.

 

For a Forum virgin, you seem to have taken to it like a duck to water. Well done.

 

And well done for your perseverance with your PIP claim. That must have been a nice (post-) Christmas present.

 

Yes, the whole process is designed to dissuade you from making a claim and expecting a fair award. From the moment that the mammoth application form hits your doormat, you are put off. The rigid timescales and the hoops they expect you to leap through, it's all there to turn you away.

 

The Benefits and work website (www.benefitsandwork.co.uk) publishes tales of woe and the statistics of how many cases they lose at Tribunal.

 

You've done the right thing in relating your tale here. It's important to get these things off your chest in a safe place. It almost absolves you of your frustration and avoids you creating an atmosphere at home.

 

[Nick]

Hi Nigel,

 

Well done indeed for being able to fight your corner, no mean feat!  I recall my own bewilderment at having to face the unfamiliar territory of unfriendly authority and the struggle that ensued. A lot of us here have experienced all of that.  The most annoying thing is that there are plenty of people who are simply unable to take up the challenge.  So as Stumbler says, it's brilliant that you can relate what happened to yourself, other people will doubtless find that useful. 

 

Nick

[Happymama]

Well done Nigel for keeping going.  If they'd just employ medical professionals at PIP appointments, say Occupational therapist, there'd be less of this going on.  Over 60% of appeals are upheld so it's worth keeping at it, and good on you for going to further arbitration at Tribunal (our thanks go to the Romans for this - fancy that, a 2040 (ish) year old process!).  

 

You're an inspiration for the rest of us!