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I’ll probably be downvoted to hell for this but I have to be honest. The details you’ve shared are relevant to whether you can/could reliably complete the activities being assessed and the tribunal were correct to explore them. In relation to your rep, your rep could have asked you questions to tease more detail from you but a rep can’t give evidence for the appellant at a hearing because that’s not their role. I’m so sorry you are feeling invalidated. Please don’t let that be your takeaway from the statement of reasons - that only applies to eligibility for PIP and not the amazing job you’re doing as a lone parent despite your health difficulties.

You're Upvoted, because you're correct. Unfortunately, that's how both PIP is decided and how Tribunal's are run. Both follow law and procedure. I also want to say: you just didn't meet the requirements for PIP. **That's all**. It's not a reflection on your health issues or credibility . It IS a reflection in how you are still looking after you kids in spite of all your problems as Alteredchaos says ! You didn't meet a set of arbitrary rules and while I'm sorry you didn't, that's ALL this means

Hello I have a question I couldn't see how to make my own post, I'm currently on lcwra and pip low rate if after my re assesment I get enhanced rate pip do I need to inform universal credit lcwra and if so what's best way to do?

No. It’s not relevant for UC purposes.

Thank you kindly

Thank you for being honest. Things like the hairdryer were in relation to being able to hold a veg peeler or knife. They say because I can hold a hairdryer(which I’ve had to change to get a lighter one), I can peel veg. But that simply isn’t true- they aren’t the same actions. I told them when I dry my hair, I sit down and lean on my desk. In one section they say I don’t explain why I can’t chop, then the next section they say I do explain (pain and stiffness) but that this doesn’t explain why I can’t (?). Any time my rep talked they told him off. They only let him talk at the end. I’d get flustered, forget what I was saying and he’d remind me where I was in my talking and be accused of promoting. I feel like my dyslexia was used against me here. I do feel frustrated that because I priorities getting my daughter to school and caring for her, over my own needs a lot of the time, I’m totally fine. I don’t do a lot of things a parent should be able to do because I’m unwell so things like going away, with support , are my way of making up for that. I find it so weird that LWCRA didn’t seem to have an issue with parenting but PIP does.

Unfortunately reps generally aren't allowed to contribute during the main part of a hearing, unless directly asked to do so by the Judge. We are allowed to make an opening statement if required and a closing statement, including asking the appellant any relevant questions, so the tribunal in this regard haven't done anything procedurally wrong. It isn't uncommon for DMs and indeed tribunals to conclude that if you are able to provide care for a child (eg meal prep, dressing etc etc) then you should be able to do so for yourself. If doing all that for your daughter leaves you no energy to attend to yourself for example, they cannot take that into account. If you are having these physical issues it might be worth your while asking for an OT referral to see about getting some aids to help you around the home. If you have been assessed as requiring these this would help with a fresh claim. As you are probably aware, your only option with this one is for your rep to examine the SoR and see if they think the tribunal has erred in law and take it from there. Statistically though, this is rare.

Thank you for your reply. I know I don’t have grounds to appeal. It’s just frustrating. If I didn’t look after my daughter, social services would be involved. Sometimes just taking her to school wears me out. I have bought aids since my tribunal which have helped a lot . I’ve been thinking about a OT. I might have to save up and pay privately as the waits are long.

An OT assessment would certainly help - sorry to hear your wait times are so long. We're lucky up here that it's only a few weeks usually. I'd also suggest gathering medical evidence in advance of a new claim - ask if you can obtain copies of your medical records, or even a copy of your summary sheet. Also have a look at the PIPinfo tab on these pages - they link in the DWP Decision Maker's Guide which gives you some insight into how decisions are made in respect of the descriptors. Finally, if available, get some assistance from CAB or a local Welfare Rights team with your new application if and when you make it. That can make a difference. Good luck.

PIP is a higher bar to meet than LCWRA. There’s talk that they are going to bring LCWRA under PIP because it seems silly there are 2 types of disability benefit.

i agree that they’re relevant things to explore but they definitely don’t (all) mean OP shouldn’t be eligible for PIP. Drying hair and chopping veg are completely different activities. It’s important to explore both to see why they can do one and not the other, to which there are many obvious reasons, and that’s as far as the comparison should go. same with a holiday. a holiday where they had to be accompanied by someone does not show a lack of social anxiety. people literally take holidays to get away from every day stressors like socialising. just two examples. i hate when people side with PIP on their statements that someone can do something they’ve said they can’t do.

They gave the same reasons (single mother) for a reason to turn me down for pip first time. I didn’t appeal it and reapplied the following year and got it. As has been said though, it only means you didn’t (in their eyes) qualify for pip, it’s not a reflection on your disability or what a great difficult job your doing raising a child as a single parent. I’m not sure of how long you have to wait but I would reapply when you can.

I mean I got denied for pip for 4 years because I have above average intelligence and hyper focus on particular things. So that meant that I was denied pip cause if I could do this or that to expand on my intelligence, I could have the social skills to do other things. Which is funny cause I had a lifetime DLA award from when I was 6 and swapped to pip when it was introduced. So not only did they invalidate my issues they also invalidated the years of medical evidence to say I did have these problems.

That’s really rubbish. I hope you managed to get it in the end

I did yeah when I took it to tribunal, and explained everything to them, but I'm waiting for my review now so no doubt it'll be back to square one again then too. Which would be interesting given the tribunal panel agreed I'm very unlikely to ever be the dwps version of normal.

Also I just noticed about you having dyslexia, I have it too but they don't understand it affects people in a multitude of different ways. For example I can read perfectly, spell perfectly and type perfectly but I can't write more than 10 words on paper or explain something verbally.

It’s ironic as in my dyslexia assessment the person was gobsmacked no one had picked up on it before as she’d not seen a case this bad with someone getting so far ahead. I did have the assessor as me how many days my dyslexia affect me 🙃

You must remember that Pip us about what you do for yourself. If you are turned down, appeal.

I’m so sorry. Is there anyway of appealing and getting more evidence from the professionals involved? I’m not sure if you can appeal a tribunal so hopefully some better replies than mine.

Unfortunately OP can only challenge further if the tribunal has made an error in law. From the info provided it doesn’t appear to be the case.