PIP Assessment
What is a PIP Assessment?
The PIP assessment is an opportunity for you to explain how your condition affects you.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will use the evidence from the assessment to help them decide if you qualify for an award of PIP.
Your assessment will be carried out by a health professional. If the DWP decide you require an assessment, you will be invited to undergo an assessment from a third-party health assessment provider. Your assessment may be at a local DWP Assessment Centre or could be conducted via phone or via video-link.
Once the assessment has been completed, the assessor will compile their report and send it to the DWP. You will then receive a decision letter within 8-10 weeks, sometimes it can be a little sooner.
The assessment – how your condition(s) affects you?
Many people struggle to explain their difficulties. However, explaining how your conditions affect you will significantly improve your chances of being awarded PIP.
It will be advantageous to your claim if you are able to explain about how your condition affects you, even if you have previously included this within your questionnaire: “How your disability affects you?”
Try to focus on the things that you cannot do or have difficulty in doing, eg: eating and drinking, needing help with taking your medication, walking without help, socialising with other people or remembering to attend appointments.
As you are questioned on each activity, refer to your answers on your completed questionnaire.
How your condition affects you from day-to-day?
Do your best to explain what a bad day is like for you:
- “On a bad day, I can’t walk, as the pain in my leg is so severe”
- “On a bad day, I’m so depressed I can’t leave my bed anything”
- “On a bad day, my pain is so bad that I cannot get into or out of the bath without the help of someone
Explain to the assessor how your conditions affect you, providing as much details as possible.
Assessor’s observations
The assessor will consider the information you submitted within your PIP questionnaire. However the assessor may also draw opinions in observing how you answer the questions in your assessment.
During the assessment you will be asked questions on how you manage to undertake tasks such as preparing and cooking food, getting washed and dressed, and how you move around outside the home. You will also be asked whether you use aids or not.
Avoid the need to respond too quickly, remember the assessor will be looking at your questionnaire, more often than not simply repeating the same questions you have already answered. Use your completed questionnaire as a reference tool.
Measure your responses
Always take time to reflect a little before answering the assessor’s questions. Try to break your answers down and try to explain to the assessor the steps you need to take to complete each activity. If carrying out a task leaves you physically exhausted, causes you pain or causes you to become distressed, explain this to the assessor.
Explaining in detail how your disability affects you is crucial in supporting your claim for PIP. Try to avoid answering the assessor’s questions too quickly.
The assessor will be making notes of your mental state during the assessment. It is normal for the assessor to record whether you sounded depressed or happy, whether you sounded in pain or sounded tense in the assessment?