Alex Brooker Slams the Government For PIP Assessment Failures | The Last Leg
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ต.ค. 2021
- Alex highlights yet again how the PIP Assessment system doesn’t work, and offers some solutions in the process
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I must say the amount of restraint that Alex showed is something that I would have failed to muster.
All the restraint of the tory that he is
My dad was assessed. They were surprised when he hadn’t been assessed since 1970. They asked why… he replied exactly, legs don’t grow back. They didn’t bother with the assessment.
Mine was so bad in 2018, I came out of it and leant against a wall waiting for a taxi crying, If I hadn't had that bit of fight in Me still, I would have ended My life, I totally get how some people do end their lives afterwards
I’ve got a mate missing an arm- he is always being reassessed and jokes with the assessors about his arm growing back
So so agree with everything said here, the PIP assessment is gruelling and full of gaslighting and gross ignorance from assessors. My PIP assessor told me I used too many intellectual words to have cognitive symptoms. It was beyond disgusting
I had to fight to get mine allowed, The "Doctor" said She needed to measure muscle wastage in arms, then didn't allow Me to take jacket off, and then said "oh it doesn't matter You got a coat on" I had the assessment reviewed and won My benefits
They're full of shit. The PIP assessor tried to claim my disabled, glaucoma having sister could boil a cup of water in the microwave, meaning she could look after herself. She couldn't even see the numbers on the microwave and didn't have the cognitive ability to find the start button, never mind count in the 30 sec increments each time it was pressed.
Because of course cognition and vocabulary are intrinsicly linked.
When we took my wife in to appeal there were 3 people on a panel one declared as 'understanding disability.' In my youth I volunteered in a school for the disabled, as a PT I helped train people with disabilities, including enabling a man with no arms to do squats, I have lived with my wife as she has degenerated from incredibly able to needing full time care. With all of this I would never be arrogant enough to declare I understand disability. In fact the more exposure I get the more I realise there is no-one who truly can. We understand those we are exposed to but there are so many we won't understand.
My wife worked in finance, she has a strong vocabulary and on good days her conversation is so far above average most wouldn't keep up. On bad days she can forget the start of a sentence by the end of it. A great mind that doesn't always work.
Using "intellectual words" is a common trait among autistic people anyway. A lot of the time the reason I use a big word is BECAUSE i can't access anything else, i really don't want to use that word because people will make fun of me but it's all I got, and if I don't pick something quickly they'll just start talking over me
@@no_peace I never understand people's need to make fun or give grief for good vocabulary. I had it a lot growing up because it was a scum central area where the sun newspaper would be heavy reading.
I remember being asked by someone why I used a longer word instead of their version which was a short sentence. I answered because it was easier, which if you know the words it is.
I did win overall however. Most of those I grew up with are now dead from drug, violence, prison related depression issues. Average life expectancy there was like a 3rd world country. I got out and have done well in part because I have better linguistic skills.
Your show is so unbelievably important. Without it the voices of disabled people would probably be ignored by the politicians even more. Keep up the great work!
✊
"The way a nation judges itself is the way it looks after its most vulnerable" Yet the tories do that to us and theyre still a party let alone in power? Clearly the first part isnt true then.
I hate to say it, but in a nation that regularly allows articles and opinion-pieces to appear in its most popular newspapers about "benefit scroungers" and people gaming the system by pretending to be disabled (which does happen, don't get me wrong, but the few bad examples are used as justification to tighten the whole system until the pips (no pun intended) squeak), I think it's perfectly accurate. It's just that we judge ourselves on how we treat our most vulnerable, and we say "this is fine."
The most telling part of the pip assessment is who does them. I have minor physical and major mental illnesses. I need someone with experience of mental health issues to judge my situation. My initial assessment was by a 'doctor' who refused to tell me what kind of doctor. His most glaring comment was to insist that I'd smiled, and depressed people cannot smile. The second assessment was performed by a gynaecology nurse. Her biggest sin was verbally abusing a case worker I'd brought along to help me manage my anxiety. She was furious that my case worker spoke to agree with statements I made about my wellbeing.
The third was a physiotherapist who was working at a swimming pool. I met him there during his lunchbreak. Sweet guy, friendly. Freely admitted he had no clue how to judge my fitness and took my word on everything. It was a cake walk for me, but also not fit for purpose.
The fourth assessment was in my home. Or should have been. I demanded, as my right, a recording of the assessment as the reports from the first two assessments contained blatant lies about my answers and my cognitive abilities. The first assessor stormed out of my home refusing to be recorded. The next two appointments didn't show. None of them wanted to be recorded. I was eventually assessed from my GPs recommendation.
My final assessment, a year ago, was delayed several times to allow a specialist assessor with a recorder to become available. Her qualification was as a dental nurse and trainee mental health worker. I recorded my side of the phone call as a back up even though this specialist was trained and selected to record our conversation. The two CDs she sent to me were blank. During that assessment, she focused entirely on my physical capabilities, not my mental health. Yet in her report spoke at length about my mental health and how my intelligence and awareness showed I was neither depressed, not anxious. I am not intellectually disabled, but emotionally so. Mental illness does not mean stupid or confused. I had to fight at every assessment but one to have my condition assessed truthfully and competently. My anxiety is so severe it reaches suicidal levels.
Assessors are there to find disabled people fit for work and to kick them off benefits. This is why the opinion of you GP, therapist of psychiatrist are deemed insufficient assessment. The goal is to deny everyone possible for any reason. It's not even to save money, as the act of running the assessment programme costs more than the money saved. This is entirely for political purposes. To be seen to be being tough on benefit claimants is the goal.
Alex, I hear you. As someone who receives PIP due to health issues that are never going to get better but who has to regularly go through the whole awful assessment because they don't consider whether issues are permanent. The humiliating, stress and anxiety inducing process is degrading.
Rosie Jones, I think that you are wonderful. Abusing you whether online or not, is bullying. You are wonderful, they are cruel and trying to be significant by attacking someone who is already significant. Your humour and strength impress me beyond words.
When I did my PIP assessment it was utter bollox.
I read through it and thought they had sent me the wrong one.
I logged every mistake and sent a four page letter.
I won the appeal.
I’ve since had to go back for re-assessment, that was much better, but still crap.
It’s de-humanising, causes stress and anxiety.
Genuinely, they could hire disabled people to carry out PIP assessments. They would have more empathy, and better judgement. But they don’t, because the assessments aren’t about whether or not you are entitled to PIP, they are about assessing whether or not the government will be held liable if you die when they withhold it.
I think a big part of the problem is that the assessment isn't done by the government; they subcontract it out to private companies which has had a drastic impact on the number of rejected cases. I don't know if they're given a monetary incentive to reject cases or if the government has specifically asked them to reject as many as possible, but I don't think we're gonna see "common sense assessments" until this is restored to state run operations.
I've looked after a disabled person for about 10 years and I can say for certain that the entire PIP process is actually evil. I don't think many people know just how bad it is.
The sour look on the Tory’s face when Alex said “Shit don’t grow back”. Love it
She should have asked what about prosthetic limbs? Technology and drugs have enormous potential to make a massive difference in the lives of persons with a disability.
@@iainmccowie9665 This is very true... although that would raise the question of why the NHS doesn't receive adequate funding to provide better prosthetics, given that cost is a major barrier for many people with the sort of disabilities that would benefit from prosthetics, and the ones the NHS can afford to provide are ok, but tend not to be particularly cutting edge.
Plus, given that there were two prosthetic-users presenting the show, she'd have had to been either supremely confident in her knowledge of the subject matter or suicidally stupid to raise that with two people who would have MANY real life examples of how prosthetics are only one small part of the equation.
So basically, if she'd done what you suggested, she'd have been verbally torn to pieces on national tv, and rightly so. Not a good look for a politician.
@@peterclarke7240 Sadly it is the nature of publicly funded health bodies that there will never be enough funding to meet the demand for health services.
@@iainmccowie9665 there would be even less money available if it wasn't publicly funded with investors skimming profits off the top. After all if you want to go private in the UK there's nothing stopping you from doing so.
@@iainmccowie9665 True, but that doesn't really excuse the chronic levels of underfunding and underinvestment that the NHS, and the welfare state in general, has suffered in the last decade, which is why it's quite difficult for people low on the wealth ladder to get access to decent prosthetics (and, lets not forget, all the other things that make life easier for people with disabilities, such as PIP payments).
Again, this was a line of questioning this Tory politician, who's party doesn't have the best of track records regarding the welfare state, would really want to get into with Alex or Adam on live TV.
Imagine your biggest physical insecurities (abled or disabled, we all have things we hate about our bodies), and then imagine having to not only state them out time after time, but being judged on whether or not it's as bad as you say (abled don't have to face this humiliation). The mere thought of it shoots my anxiety through the roof.
Interesting that everyone agreed that PIP was there primarily to enable disabled people to go to work... and nobody pointed out it is called a Personal Independence Payment... and Independence ought to be the entire focus. For many living with conditions that make their lives more difficult the daily struggles are not about getting or keeping a job, they are about washing, eating and going to the bathroom, they are about leaving the relative safety of their home and staying connected to the people and places that keep them alive. A bureaucratic system driven by points and targets is simply the wrong way to sustain a good quality of life for vulnerable people. A system that is adversarial, like going to court, where a 'claimant/defendant has to prove their inabilities vs how they are perceived at a moment in time is ridiculous. Other such systems use advocates or representatives (professionals) to take your case on a more equal footing and are then independently judged. In fact appeals tribunals where a degree of independent input is involved often overturns PIP decisions. People who need PIP are almost entirely people who need medical or social care and as such they are mostly already assessed by the most appropriate professionals. For those living as independently as they can already (managing without additional medical/social care eg. learning disability, mental ill health) those who provide support and those who live with them could simply formally confirm their status. Attending a compulsory assessment, in itself, gives a false impression of how difficult a person may find it to travel/attend... simply ask how many people attending have suffered negative affects (broken sleep, increased anxiety, pain etc. and could only get there because other people assisted them. (He entered the room with a 'confident gate') rather than he threw up outside and was crying in the waiting area but his mother helped him very nicely.
I sat on the floor crying asking my mum to just take me home in the assement. after they made me wait an extra 15 mins in the waiting room so the assessor could read my notes I got so anxious I was shouting at the receptionist asking if they do this to send people insaine! Didn’t matter that they had phoned me from withheld phone numbers (yes a withheld number causes total anxiety ) the day before and even that morning to confirm my attendance! The cheeky guys then said I was fine and showed no signs of anxiety throughout. They didn’t acknowledge that I answered probably 15% of answers and my mother had to answer the rest on my behalf because my need to get home was so debilitating!
@@alancox5777 Well done for sharing... sadly your story is not uncommon. The system is simply wrong from the beginning and we all know it. If everyone wrote to their MP telling their story is just might get something happening. I doubt any of them will want to take up our case but having had their own examples from their constituents, once someone starts a debate and asks for a vote, then just maybe our voices would be heard.
Exactly, it's about independence not getting into work, it's not based on whether you work or not or your income, PIP and DLA before it were never a benefit or based on income it was admitting we having an impairment have extra costs, the Tories seem to want to lump it in with ESA and Universal Credit when it's nothing related to them. You could have a £1m a year salary and still be able to apply. The Tories are now attacking young people with mental health issues that are receiving PIP, I can only assume because they know they wouldn't vote for them anyway so it's an easy target to point and blame.
I have gone through having my DLA taken away and having to fight to get it back and then further assessments and then the horrible painful move to PIP. If I lost it I would lose my car and independence. Alex was right the assessments are awful, you spend your life focusing on what you can do and then have to persuade a group of people you can't do this and that and they watch and use every little thing to try and stop you getting it, even lying, which I've seen in my case and others.
Well put and far better than i have. Without the help i virtually housebound. Yet walking down a corridor makes me all better. Its ssoul destroying
It took 3 years to get pip reinstated for my partner with brain damage. I had to take it to tribunal in the end. My partner was degraded to the point xmas 2018 after the knockback. He took a fall and smashed his face badly. The struggle is real.
It is a disgusting assessment.
A doctor should do it.
I had to do mine over the phone because of covid, and it was one of the most humiliating experiences I have ever had, and I'm a ginger !
assessment should be done by medical professionals only, with compassion and intelligence.
I just got my PiP denial letter today. It's a real kick in the teeth to be told what you are and aren't capable of by some government employee that has probably never dealt with it personally.
Sorry you have been put through that. It's probably nothing you aren't already aware of, but Citizens Advice Bureau can help with appeals. We went that route, and although it took a long time, we won.
A good way to improve the PIP assessment system. Put an MP through it but with them having to prove they are fit to govern.
Default response will be the same as in PIP, assume they are lying to try and get something they don't deserve.
If they don't pass, they are kicked out with immediate loss of any payments and perks.
It would give them an idea of what needs to be changed.
Isnt lying in the job description?
@@pdoubleyou7801 That may make it all the more difficult to pass the assessment.
@@KermitFrogThe I was saying isn't lying part of a politician's job description.
@@pdoubleyou7801 I know, I was being ironic in a way that doesn't translate well to type.
Thank you for pointing out this blatant fail.
I reapplied for PIP in November 2020 because I’m autistic with mental health problems, my last award was only 3 years long. I was declined at the assessment because I go to uni and can play musical instruments. 0 points altogether 🙃 I’m still waiting on a tribunal date to this day. The government’s treatment of disabled people is beyond appalling.
Richest man in the world is autistic
@@firstname4865 autism isn’t one singular thing, it presents differently in everyone. I have a brother with autism and he won’t ever be able to be fully independent, he can drive and work but he doesn’t understand priorities in terms of money and is vulnerable to people trying to exploit him.
Because I went to university 3+ years ago, apparently my mental health and fatigue is under control 😤 because I passed a driving test 5.5 years ago I'm able to drive, despite having CPTSD so bad I have constant nightmares and can't handle watching most films as they have car accidents in them. I didn't seem 'significantly upset' during the assessment and 'could understand and follow questions' when in reality my husband was with me the entire time, repeating and explaining the questions for me, answering on my behalf, prompting me when I was forced into responding, and was unable to eat or leave the bed for days after.
They make up complete lies and double-down when challenged, meaning you have to tear open your wellbeing for their benefit or just roll over and give up. Those who don't have support or the confidence to believe that they deserve it.
@@XxXrainbowXputhieXxX I’m so sorry :( I can drive too although we really emphasised how I get really anxious in busy traffic etc but they conveniently left that out of my report. They said I go to uni without any support when I have a mentor and full time note taker! My mum answered all the questions for me too but they said I was fully engaging. It’s an incredibly broken system, if my appeal is successful this time I think it’ll be the last time I apply because the effect on my mental health is too much
@@XxXrainbowXputhieXxX funny how you all handle TH-cam comments just fine.
Like people don't work, but they work full time online and pushing politics.
If they worked 3 days a week it would equal their benefits, pretty sure some can handle 24 hours a week.
Its unhealthy for anyone to sit at home all day.
I cried after my pip assessment. It made me feel like I am worthless, and like they thought I was trying to con them. It was the worst experience of my life
I got sent a letter telling me that my Neurologists report wasn’t good enough to report my epileptic condition and I needed a Doctors note - my Doctor said “I’m sorry to swear, but what the fuck are they on?” That was my GP’s summary.
My Neurologist said “the stupid thing is unless you have a seizure in front of these people they don’t believe you and even then you’d probably need to die for them to pay attention”
The DVLA won’t let me even learn to drive, the job centre having had me return for nine interviews where I had been rejected because they couldn’t accommodate my disability said “I’m really sorry, but it looks like you’re going to be stuck having to claim benefits. I know it’s stupid and disgusting that this is happening but we don’t get given the authority to push on this”
At my PiP review the social worker said because I “can use a microwave my ability to feed myself must be fine”
The fact that I get Todd’s palsy after a seizure and my side goes so numb I’ve burnt my hand on an electric hob that I didn’t realise was still on, meant nothing to him
It’s ridiculous.
My partner had traumatic nerve damage to his arm meaning he could not use it. Two World leading nerve specialist said he cannot use the arm, yet pip assessment says it's not issue and he can work.
Though they did not he has a secondary issue in the good arm of carpel tunnel which will be ok with surgery. No surgeon in the country would touch him due to the injury on the other arm!!!
Me mothers disabled and has had her PIP reduced and the biggest part of that was them taking her mobility car away from her. 20 years of disability with mobility and pain only getting worse. 20 years of having a mobility car only for it to be taken away on the whim of some assessor who aint even medically trained, when me mothers doctor has been raging at them because its obvious to him and any doctor that my mother is only going downhill and needs that car more than anything. I've watched me mother cry over this, I've watched it affect her anxiety and her depression in such a severe way. They took the car off of her after 20 years of having a mobility car, and it isolated her so much. One of the reasons why they took it off her? "Because she could clearly plan and follow a journey" to get to work and back. Now how the hell does that work? PIP is Personal Independence, so why the hell are they punishing her for being able to be independent when so much of her life requires other people to help her? Me mother loves to drive because its one of the few things she can do on her own with no help and with as least pain as possible for her. It's disgusting what they've done to her. I've given her money from my student loan so she could get a new car while waiting for her 2 tribunal as the first one failed. And to hear the people on the tribunal, the dehumanisation and just the condescending nature they used, not to talk TO me mother and listen to her but to talk ABOUT her to each other, as if she wasn't also on the call. Frankly I wanted to call them all some fairly unfriendly things and do some fairly illegal things to their faces. The PIP system currently is disgusting, and watching the Tory MP there just blatantly ignore what Alex and Adam are saying boils me blood something fierce
100% agree with you. My wife who had been getting higher rate DLA (and was awarded it indefinitely) was made to apply for PIP. After getting it for 3 years at higher rate on reassessment was downgraded, for exactly the same reason as your mum. The making and planning a journey section is BS, and is assessed purely arbitrarily. On her first award she got 12 points, three years later after her condition had deteriorated and she had acquired a new condition on top, she got 0 points. How is that consistent in any way? We appealled and, fortunately, got the award reinstated but it took a lot of time and effort and I even got our local MP involved (full disclosure: a Conservative MP). My opinion is that DWP are woefully understaffed and undertrained to deal with even basic issues related to disability, the management are made up of career civil servants who just can't comprehend how people in the real world live. It requires joined up thinking and there just isn't any.
@@dazashmore8371 I'm sorry bout what you and your wife had to go through with this. It's just a relaly shitty thing to have to deal with, but hope you're both doing better now. Yeah DWP is just woefully unequipped to deal with PIP and it's obvious in that they aren't trained health professionals and they ignore medical letters and doctors all the time! The rela insult for us is that me mas worked for the DWP for the last 25 or so years. She knows the whole process is bullshit but she just wants to try to help people and get em back on their feet and working wherever possible. It's just insane. Her PIP is to keep her working so she's able to do her job and support our family. I just do not see the logic in taking that away from someone. The planning a journey section is just absolutly ridiculous and has no place on a disability assesment form if it's got nothing to do with that person's disability
@@punkboi2688 thanks mate, appreciate your reply. Hope beyond hope your mum is ok. Stay safe and strong.
Went through that 3 times before I moved out of the U.K. - an absolute nightmare.had to contest it all 3 times as well. and my disability wasn't visible by just looking at me sitting somewhere.
Those government assessments aren't fit for purpose. I went for an assessment years ago for chronic depression, anxiety and agoraphobia and some of the questions they asked me weren't even *slightly* relevant to my situation.
Can you lift your arm? Yes.
Can you pick up a pencil? Yes.
Can you bend your knee? Yes.
I award you no points. You're fit to work. Your benefits have been stopped.
"What??? I'm here for depression, love! What has bending my knee or picking up a pencil got to do with being scared to leave the fucking house???"
Also, Alex is right. They will assess everything, like how confidently you walk in to the room, whether you smile at them or not, if you shake their hand or not, if you make eye contact and how often/how long etc. They'll even do snide things like ask the same questions, 5 minutes apart, but carefully worded in different ways in order to try and trick you into giving contradictory answers so they can 'catch you out'.
Not to mention, any condition they are assessing you on, you have to MAJORLY over sell it if you want to stand any chance of 'winning'. It shouldn't be that way. You're made to feel like you're a wrongfully-accused criminal desperately trying to prove your innocence.
It's insulting and it's anxiety inducing. I always have major panic attacks for weeks leading up to one of those assessments. The whole thing is designed to stitch you up and make you dig your own grave.
I had the same experience, only the fact that I went to Mind (the charity) was used against me. I thought they would be happy people were trying to improve their mental health. However being able to go to Mind meant I was capable of working. 🤷♀️
@@Eiko286 Yeah, they can be even more petty than that! With me it was "Oh, so you can go to the shop once a week for milk can you? Then you're able to go to work!"
The fact my mum took me out (as in put me in her car) to go sit on a picnic bench (2-3m from the car) and look at ducks whilst chatting for half an hour on my birthday proves that I am able to
• socialize
• plan trips
• communicate effectively (hearing, comprehending, responding)
• walk unaided
• not have panic attacks.
All this despite the fact that she's the only person I see other than my husband, the only person I would go anywhere with alone (except for husband), and it was literally a few steps - sit - couple of steps - sit - repeat. And it was still exhausting and anxiety inducing to the max!
I had to wait a year and a half for a tribunal after having to appeal a descion made by a PIP assessor. During that time i had no income and had to rely on my family to simply survive , it was the lowest point of my life . Some of the sound medical reasoning the assessor used to deny my claim were incredible, these included phrases such as "he looks well nourished" despite losing 4 stone in around 6-8 weeks , and that my chronic illness would be cured within the next few months.
To be frank the only ones who should assess the needs of disabled people are doctors, if you have multiple doctors saying give this person PIP, and your assessor saying, Nah actually i know more than these qualified professionals then maybe your system needs to change.
Yep. Alex is bang on. I've lost about 7ft of internal organ and they always seem genuinely shocked that it hasn't magically reappeared.
Got assessed.... turned down, appealed and went to court... awarded higher care and mobility... but it took so long fighting it that 3 weeks after winning my next assessment was due! Why do we hand off assessment to a third party for profit company to do?
I had went through PIP once for a temporary condition. Luckily, I recovered, but had a tiny, brief taste of what disabled people have to go through day after day and year after year. It was dehumanising and upsetting, and I truly struggle to grasp, as Alex said, the lack of common sense that goes into it. Absolutely ridiculous, and is clearly not designed to help people with disabilities. It's just there to say "okay, prove you're disabled then!" When you're coming from a place of judgement and cynisism, the system needs to be reavaluated.
i lost my job and i am struggling to get by on basic unemployment. i have a bunch of health conditions and walking problems that should make me eligible for PIP but i tried the last time i was unemployed and because i made the mistake of telling them about my good days instead of my bad they decided i wasn't ill enough, so this time i just can't go through that shit again.
July 2020 - PIP assessment ended after an hour with paramedics called to my home due to the assessor constantly pushing me to answer questions quicker so she could get onto the next claimant, I ended up gouging a knife through my arms, they sent me another assessment within two weeks, the second assessment took 2.5 hours and the assessor was constantly bullying me to answer questions - I got zero points - I sent the DWP all three recordings of the paramedic and the two assessments and within two weeks the DWP gave me full care and mobility, the assessors are criminal but under constraints of the DWP.
I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope your mental health is a little easier today, even if all you did was get out of bed. Be safe, you are a warrior; I'm not trolling you, I do hope you are ok.
@@katjohnson3745 Thank you Kat, I was in a bad place for a while but now I have sacked the NHS trust who I put my trust in, I am doing a lot better, I went through two suicide attempts and 3 GP surgeries before I realised they were actually not good for my health at all and the constant cover ups and lying really took its toll on me, without them I still think about suicide but I am in no position to make a new plan and the self harm has stopped, thank you for asking how I am, it really means a lot to me
@@TheFacilitiesOfficer 5 months on and I hope you're still coping okay? It was really hard to read about your assessment & the self harm. You're an incredibly strong individual to come through that. X
@@caramelpuds Thank you for your kind words, Ron, I am still within the land of the living, I am doing really well at the moment, thank you very much, I hope I find you well also. 👍
My PIP assessment mentions I went to a mainstream school under the section on whether I can prepare and cook food. I’m 45 years old, my first disability was diagnosed after I left school.
I have Multiple sclerosis. I went for a pip assessment but didn't have anyone who could accompany me and ended up catching the wrong bus and being lost in an unfamiliar city for 2 hours asking strangers for directions. I arrived at my interview 1h 20 mins late, exhausted and sweaty ( i use crutches to walk since my legs are all jacked up). My interviewer stated on my denial form that i "arrived unassisted and had no problems commuting to the interview, didn't appear tired or out of breath" . it took over a year to finally have a hearing in court for my appeal which i won. I had letters and sick noted form my GP, a Neurologist, MS specialists and multiple nurses saying i was unfit for work and a liability to myself and others in a working environment. Yet these trained professionals were ignored in favour of an assessment conducted by a physiotherapist with 0 training or knowledge of my disease.
Well done, Alex, for talking about your experience. You at The Last Leg have a platform where you can highlight this kind of thing. Years ago, there were many rants about the way disabled people were treated by the govt, businesses, and the general public. Once you had seemed to give up the fight was when I stopped watching. Should you go back to previous form (and I see a video, like the above, here for proof) you will regain another viewer. I live in hope.
For anyone applying for PIP, not only do you have to live with your condition(s), you have to prove that you need help, often to some of the most uncaring and ignorant "wannabe medical professionals". The forms are long and complicated (and help with that is advisable), and the medical interviews are humiliating and dehumanising, and it's always a good idea to have someone with you, to witness the event.
For anyone who thinks that being disabled or chronically ill is a breeze, and that people can just get free money and cars for doing sod all, I am pretty sure that everyone lucky enough to get PIP would swap it for an able body/good health (and the ability to work independently) in a heartbeat. No one chooses to be disabled, no one would choose to have a difficult life, made more difficult by an ignorant and uncaring general public.
The whole system is set up on the assumption that claimants are scroungers. Assessors are paid pretty well for what they do (£35,000 is not an uncommon salary I've seen quoted on job sites), but all you need to qualify for that is two year post-qualification experience as a health professional (Nurse, paramedic, physio, OT etc), so the salary is much more than most people would be earning by that point in their career, while requiring none of the post-qualification training or expertise you'd be expected to demonstrate to make the jump to a Band 6 role.
As such, it attracts two kinds of people, in my experience as a health professional who's supported clients to go through PIP assessments- the amoral. who are in it only for the money, and the incompetent, who can't cut it anywhere else and who jumped before they were pushed.
So it's not surprising that PIP assessments are so harrowing for disabled people- you've lost before you've even got through the door, and the person who can fix that for you has absolutely no professional integrity or clinical competence to do so.
speaking from someone who gets PIP, I agree with alex. it bring depression with the actual issue
growing up in england with a disability, i relate so much to this, been through so much because of this, alex is one of my biggest inspirations
Why isn't there a "chronic" category? It would solve so many probs
They are systematically taking chronic conditions OFF the list.
A good dear friend of mine has severe complications caused by HIV (which, not that matters as there's no such thing as good or bad HIV, he caught from a blood transfusion in the infected blood scandal), he's got cancer as a result, he's also got early onset dementia caused by HIV and is constantly in and out of hospital.
His cd4 hasn't risen above 200 for many years and with the complications had technically got AIDS.
They removed HIV/AIDS as a condition worthy of support about 10 years ago and is now on Universal Credit and is expected to find work.
It's disgusting behaviour by this government!
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
Having to prove disabilities is disgusting! There are conditions that will never get better.
Not just England does this Adam. Australia does it too, have been doing it for years.
Watching this on TH-cam from America. I love you four legged guys
I think the words that the Baroness was struggling to find were;
"I feel appalled and ashamed to be a Tory and I quit!!"
The more I hear from her, the more I don't get why she is a tory.
@@Reichieru1 Yo same. I wonder if that may change one day.
I always really struggle to understand why she's still in the party - she seems one of the very few people in the conservatives (probably why they've made her a baroness rather than mp where she would actually make a tiny difference somewhere)
Then she would be lying.
I think Tories know no shame
My eyes won't grow back (had issues since birth) and work in the UK as an actress. I will say the upside of such work is they just want to know if you can turn up on time and do the job. The few times I've gone for "normal jobs" even tenp Christmas I spend half the interview explaining how I can actually cope with the duties which surprises them. Also not being able to read card machines has stopped me getting retails work during Covid. They have jacks for headsets on some cashpoints now plus larger print, but have they done the same for card machines? No! Result I lose out on a job due to not being able to do one thing.
I mean fair play to commenting such am important point on such a visual medium
My brother is downs and requires 24hour care, cannot do anything independently,is virtually nonverbal, struggles to walk without a walker.
He was assessed by phone and was deemed fit for work and was given an appointment at the local job centre to help him look for work, he had to appeal and it took 12 weeks for his case to be reassessed which reduced his benefits by about half for that period.
You have to absolutely lay it on thick during the assessment. Not lie, but describe your symptoms as if you're having the worst day with the worst pain of your life. Because the second you start saying 'on a good day I can...' they stop listening and tick the 'not disabled enough' box.
Dignity *is a Human Right!*
Not in the UK it isn't. The Tories abolished Human Rights years ago.
@@theabyssalvault4238 That's sad 😟
Exactly Alex !! That clip was heartbreaking.
I really like this show.
My PIP assessment was bullshit.
I only got it because my mom is a psychologist.
I wouldn’t be that calm in front of a Tory Politician. PIP assessments are so degrading. I felt subhuman after mine, had to appeal and won.
3 years my claim took, 3 years with no help. After 3 years, losing my home, and 3 tribunals 'won'... Turns out I'm disabled.
No representatives for the DWP even turned up, at any of the tribunals. They had no cogent argument, or any reasoning.
Still trying to get back on track / find a new home, years later. Can't even explain just how low the whole process left me.
My dad who had a stroke years ago is unable to walk. He was denied the PIP as in the PIP assessment they asked if he could move his legs, which he can. No other tests were done. Awful
I had been assessed for DLA as needing (lifetime) high rate mobility and care. When the transition to pips came along, I had to basically apply from scratch and the previous ruling meant nothing. I Was Terrified! There were so many horror stories. I rely on my Motability car Heavily for any sense of independence. It allows me to go out to work part time. And travel to appointments and the like on my own. Without my car, I would struggle to Get to the workplace. I would struggle to leave my house. Without at least my part time job, I would struggle to pay my bills and my mortgage. It was a Fully Traumatic experience. My doctor actually prescribed me Diazapam for the week of the assessment as I was in such a state. I try not to let my disability totally define wh9 I am, but it is at times like this that I genuinely feel like person who has no value. My life is worth so much less than others. It’s despicable.
He talks so much sense
im just going to say yes pip is horrible for pysically disabled people. but its even worse for mental illness. honestly its insane because it becomes a check box issue as an assessment of mental health doesent account for where you are normally but on a single situation.
People with disabilities are treated shamefully by all governments both Labour and Conservative.
I have muscular dhystrophy and I took 4 years to sort my benefits but I got them backdated as I was missing out on ESA.
People living with disabilities should be treated better by the DWP as they are accused of laziness.
I hope the authorities and government experience dusabilty just for a day and they would soon change their attitudes.
We are not second class citizens and we deserve respect just like able bodied people.
I had my PIP Assessment in mid 2019, for multiple chronic illnesses and disability. I didn’t get it first go but on my ‘Mandatory Reconsideration’, I submitted about 13/14,000 words and I think I bored them into submission because I got it. It’s come around fast though as I’m pretty sure that it’s this time next year that I have to apply again! I’m actually probably worse in many ways, than last time except for one symptom which I think was a big factor in them giving it to me last time, so I just have this feeling I may not get it. The whole system is soooooooo f’ed up!
Will be going for my 2nd assessment soon 🤷♂️
The original idea was not how to help people, it was to save money. You don’t brief the press with stories of scroungers, fakes and cheats if you want to help people.
Absolutely right. They work on the assumption that people won't appeal and just accept a decision therefore saving DWP money. It's only by challenging decisions that any real meaningful changes will happen. Unfortunately the process can be too arduous (purposely made that way), and disabled people have enough issues to cope with.
As someone who has Autism and Asperger's, and has been the victim of PIP Cuts, I find it disgusting that the governments seem to think is right to cut someone's benefit over how disabled you are when you have the required legal evidence to prove everything. I went through everything, when my DLA was changing over to PIP, I went through all the stages independently without any assistance, had to go through all the channels to get my evidence proving I was autistic with all the doctor and medical assessments that I had to obtain from my doctor's that I was registered with (had to pay £50 to get that information btw), answered all the questions on what I can do and can't do, and from a mockup you can find online, it showed I should have claimed full PIP.
So obviously when it came to it, had the real one done, got the in-home assessment compared to going to somewhere, and after a week or two back, it comes back that I wasn't receiving anything at all. Lost pretty much all of it, went through all the appeal for a second opinion, still wasn't enough. Went to an appeals board and because of how overwelming it was for me, I couldn't do it because I had months on end of dealing with PIP and I just wanted the nightmare to end. So what I did as an alternative is that I provided a letter to explain everything. Even though I never got the full amount of my PIP, I got some of it. Unfortunately I just had to deal with it because I was just tired of dealing with PIP/DWP. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy my benefit got cut but in theory, its like I'm one of those unfortunates that went through the correct routes and it still wasn't enough.
What I find disgraceful is how Government seem to think its right to get companies like CAPITA to do assessments on people when they are not qualified GPs/Doctors/Nurses. They seem to think its justified to make up lies and say things in their reports that we have said, which clearly we didn't. They mentioned things like mental health issues, I don't suffer from poor mental health issues, I may have Autism/Aspergers but I highly doubt thats an impact on Mental Health. I have always been against CAPITA because they take money away from people and treat people like scum. These are the same people that are knocking on people's doors, going to houses, that harass people over the TV License and want to come in and check if you are receiving television signals.
I think people like CAPITA, Mogg, and that Esther McVey (or whatever the hell her name is) should be hanging their heads in shame.
My legs not growing back my epilepsy is not gone away and neither is my cerebral palsy but they'll still need to reassess me every few years just to see if there's been a scientific breakthrough lol
There isn’t anything wrong with the PIP process. The ‘people’ who maintain it have had tens of thousands invested in their education and are part of the most powerful networks in the world. They do know how to do stuff. Has there been a playground bully, or domestic abuser or dictator anywhere ever that hasn’t framed the extermination of victim/s as in their best interests or something they deserve or in the interests of the public good? The DWP is doing what it’s meant to. We’re not meant to notice that what it’s for is 180 degrees south of what government says it’s for. That man in the clip taking out J R-M .... what a man!!! Sending love and a huge thank you for voicing it so well xx
I've just done a PIP renewal form and I don't know how I will end up. PIP has kept a roof over my head because I don't get Housing Benefit. The questions are fairly broad so not focussed on just physical disability. But then being psychotic you can end up naked in the street, throwing bottles at people, biting someone's ear, and then getting weeks of ECT at a hospital where you don't know where you are, never mind your employer. I've disappeared for three months and no one knows where I am, then come home to letters asking where I am. It's hard to sum up on a form.
Baroness Warsi face after Alex says "Shit don't grow back".
It's something that sorta has to be done. Got to be bunt to the MPs, and they have to sit there and listen to what has to be said.
My Doctors woulnt give me any supporting letters. I had PIP , then lost it, then fought for 4 years through the courts, then got it back. I asked my Doctor for a Test for Autism, He said, I was just trying to fake it to get money, and refused a proper test. I eventually got breast cancer, and got my PIP back. Degrading, de humanising treatment of vulnerable people.
I had a pip assessment I’m blind and was sent to see a doctor who knew nothing about my condition he was not even an eye specialist he was a foot doctor he said he didn’t believe I had a false eye and could I put it on the desk I agree with Alex it’s so degrading why is my specialists say not good enough
I would not have been that kind. I would've been arrested for the things I'd have said.
This is so true im afraid. I had mine two years ago. At the same time i had to do the same for ESA! Very stressful few months. I lost my mobility by one point, and it was because id walked down a corridor for my apt! Yet my ESA was waved through in comparison. After months of stress and anguish i couldnt face the appeal process and had to get a loan from my parents to be able to get my car. Without them i would be housebound. The assessment barely touched on my medical problems it was just so degrading and the person doing the assessment barely looked much out of college, let alone deal with a complex medical assessment.
It's even harder for people with mental health issues to get through an assessment because not only are we not believed in the first place so we've already got a strike against us but we also have to dredge up the worst most psychologically damaging stuff during the assessment and when filling in the forms. We also suffer abuse from the general public when we're out if we can't work AND are looked down on by many with physical disabilities/impairments because they don't think that mental health issues are as bad as their disabilities. I can't work because of my mental health problems and the only treatment I'm currently getting is medications that are barely effective and cause more side effects than benefits. I can't stop taking the medications because if I do I'll be considered as not being treated at all due to the fact that I've been on the waiting list for therapy for about 8 YEARS as the local therapy team was cut by 50% as a result of Tory cuts and chronic underfunding of mental health services in general. Every assessment destroys any progress I might have made since the previous one because I'm forced to relive the events that caused my illnesses to become as bad as they've become. The stress that comes from continual assessments and worrying about whether or not I (and others with mental health issues) are going to lose our disability benefits literally makes us less likely to ever get back to work or even be able to cope with our mental ill-health. Most of us would love to go back to work but we need treatment to get us there and employers who will take a chance on employing us (and, believe me, for people with mental ill-health, that's a very difficult proposition). And the longer you're out of work with mental ill-health, the less likely you are to ever find even a empathetic employer who will employ you. In some ways, having a physical or sensory disability/impairment is easier to get a job and a modicum of understanding than having a mental health problem because physically disabled people can point to their disability; people with mental health issues have nothing to point to.
I should probably get PIP for my seizures, but if I'm having a good day, I look abled
I can't even get DSA or a flat I can reliably get into because the hospital won't send on my paperwork, how am I supposed to get disability benefits?
"It's basic human instinct."
Proof positive that Count Jakob Rees-Morgue is not a human.
PIP is non means tested, you get it whether you're employed or not, so what is she talking about saying it's there to get people back into work? A lot of the people applying for it are already working. It's insane.
Reese-Mogg, a man with the demeanor and empathy of a praying mantis.
That's putting a Praying mantis down . . .
Reese-Mogg is one of the few genuine MPs
@@annother3350 Oh, he's genuine, alright. He doesn't pretend to be anything other than what he is, I'll give him that. But when what you are is someone who, if you were an actor, would very quickly get you typecast as a pantomime villain/stereotypical WW2 Nazi sympathiser, I'm not sure that's anything to be proud of.
@@annother3350 genuinely evil. yes.
@@peterclarke7240 The media has created that persona as a character assassination. He just speaks a little diferent to the average person
He's exactly right! Body parts don't grow back! I have been telling the DWP this very thing about my thyroid. Every two years, they check me again...And I have to tell them, "Nope, it's still gone!" What a moronic waste of taxpayer money.
The thing I really like about the PIP assessment is that everyone's taxes pays a company who pays its staff to not give the benefit so that loads of people have to go to court and get PIP.
I have to prove i have seizures and get comments like, well you dont look disabled. Doesnt matter that i make the hunchback of notrodame look like he is standing straight due to issues with my back. I was declined once because my Drs letter didnt specify i fell to the floor when i had a seizure. Like no mate i do the boogie woogie when i have one mate standing up
i hear the samething goes on with the australian version too.
the politician telling the cp bloke that he has the right to his own opinion, WHILE TALKING OVER HIM, AND NOT LISTENING TO HIS OPINION!!!
Alex said it perfectly.
My PIP assessment, was carried out by a physiotherapist, who admitted she had no mental health experience, they ignored all the evidence from my consultant psychiatrist, and said I didn't qualify, this was after me being in receipt of DLA for years, I actually had to go to appeals tribunal, who over ruled the decision and awarded me the PIP. The main issues is the goverment, out source the assessment process to ATOS and CAPITA, who employ unqualified idiots, I had another assessment where the girl came to my house admitted she had no medical qualifications, and had half an hour training. Luckily all my assessments my sister has been present and takes lots of notes. I get people play the system, but bloody hell if you can supply medical evidence that should be enough
I was told I used a walking stick inappropriately
I have Autism, and every five years I have to prove that I still have it and haven't gotten over it.
I’m in NZ currently having to go through the process again. Luckily I can just get a form filled by my doctor to reset me payments. But I am the only person in NZ with my disease so I get booted because I don’t come under any categories or well known umbrellas
Maaggie D - Hi, also from NZ. I have Fibromyalgia - and have to admit WINZ treated me with absolute respect.
As for the home assessment - that was just a joke - didn't seem to have the boxes to tick to me my needs!!!!
Have read UK comments about Fibro assessments - very sad stories. Hope life treats you well.
@@joanne4758 hey! Yeah I’ve been lucky with Winz. I do get booted because I don’t come under any category but it usually doesn’t take long to get it back and I get back payed for any weeks I’ve missed. My disease effects my entire body. I’m going blind, have nerve damage in my hands and feet and have to eat every 5 hours of my body starts shutting down. Never going to get better but sometimes they don’t understand that
Anyone who thinks the benefit system is easy has never been on benefits or known anyone who has. When I went for my PIP assessment, they forced me to walk to the other end of the corridor while they stood at the door just so they could watch me walk and prove that I'm "not disabled enough" to need PIP. Never mind the fact that I haven't left my house alone in a decade. They not only told me that I'm "fine" but they specifically said that I'd be alright to work as I play video games in my down time and that "shows motivation." It's a disgrace and the whole system treats you like you're subhuman.
physical disabilities are one thing, but its the ones you cant see that you have to deal with they really degrade you with, i personally deal severly with mental health, depression and anxiety, i also have ongoing issues that are going on with my back and bone density, but being put under a microscope and made to feel so low and backed into a corner is awful .
the girl who did mine treat me like something that she had trodden in to start with, wasnt til i ended up having a breakdown and laid a few things out til she changed her tune and became quite apologetic, i get people abuse the system, but its the ones who truly need help that either get ignored or treat like dirt, its very easy to judge someone with a physical disabiltiy or see whats going on, but when you cant see it ,even though me and many others might be smilling on the outside, its what we have to live with inside that nobody will ever understand.
10 years of being disabled, many degrading face to face assessments even though i had 3 incurable illnesses that were getting progressively worse then 2 years ago they deemed me fit for work even though i had developed another incurable illness that causes me to faint when upright, so she lied about my interview, said i was ok even though it was done from my bed, where ive been stuck for 4 years now. I lost my money and slme of our sons money because the change in my money somehow meant that the money my husband was earning was to high to receive my sons tax credits so we all had to live on my husbands wages until they sorted the appeal, where we got the pip backdated, but not my sons money! We were plunged into even more debt because of it and we are still trying to recover. They lie, they Make you feel embarrassed and they dont give a crap!
My next door neighbour is registered blind and was told not to be sarcastic when he was told to move a box that he could not see. He said he would move the box but someone would need to take him to it.
I had to go and have an assessment my cp is very obvious its a horrible experience
I was assessed too its an awful thing. They are strict and they are so nasty if they think you dont fit inti their criteria
I am so behind on this series
At the ABSOLUTE least all disability assessments should be recorded. The amount of lying and gaslighting done by the assessors is wild and simply recording all of them, like a police interview, would protect both parties but currently you have to get prior permission to record it making it harder to get fair treatment. Because they KNOW if they actually did this regularly they would be found to be liars and shredded by the press incredibly quickly.
I've got photosensitive epilepsy and was deemed not disabled enough 😒
I’m definitely entitled to PIP but I don’t have a diagnosis despite the fact whichever of the two things it is, it qualifies
the face of the tory when alex said shit dont grow back
I had to do a reconsideration after they scored me 0 on everything
I literally vomited on my self in the interview
Out of pure anxiety
My pip assessor side I not visual impaired because I wear cloths and not per jammers and that my glasses were good enough and that my conrea transplant wasn’t needed a few months later I’m blind in one eye then they gave it to me
I have unfortunately had dealings with the DWP over the years in the job Center and disability assessments.
It’s unbelievable!
I am dyslexic and granted overweight, but am made to feel like I am a waste of space because I at 42 and not being diagnosed with dyslexia until my mid 30’s am made to feel like something you might step in because I struggle to read and understand the forms they send!
Hell I struggle to read a bus timetables at times, which I know it shouldn’t causes me to stress eat and a cycle of shame I because I can’t read and understand, then after I eat feel even more shame I eat rubbish!
I’m not saying stop assessments, but at least stop asking the same question 15 times, 15 different ways in the same form to confuse people!
I challenge an MP, civil servants and whoever designed these forms to fill them in!
All I would ask is to simplify the language and grammar to a way that most people can understand and not a master’s degree in Latin, English and political mumbo jumbo!
I imagine the britisch process here is a result of the same reason other nations have similar processes : There are a significant amount of cheaters and dishonest “physicians”’in the system that requires a double verification by the state.
That the process seems silly for some issues like missing limbs is likely the result to one process covering all claims and some conditions can change over time so the state has an interest in verifying the current state of a condition in the general sense (which is silly for a lost limb but may lead to changes in benefits for other forms of impairment). Now if the condition needs to be reevaluated annually that’s a bit much sure. Once a decade many fine. Britain isn’t the first government to have a program that seems fine in legislative documents where the practical reality is not very good. The government should fix this.
Had an assessment in December 2020. Didn't hear anything for 10 months. Now they've decided they want to assess me again. Needless to say, some fires need to be lit under a few choice people's asses.
I do agree with reassessment but surely there could be a system to take out those with permanent conditions
Try having a hidden disability! I’ve just had my renewal letter sent through and I’m panicking!! I’m so scared I will lose my payments. I’d love to work again but having to recount just how pathetic I’ve become is actually making me make those plans that i really shouldn’t 😢
I feel the same but I've never been awarded it yet. On my 3rd attempt now
@@tomskih203 I’d love to give you some hints and tips but I can’t other than Basically keeping your fingers crossed. And make sure you ask for the assessment to be recorded. That way way when then deny your claim your can sit and listen to the appointment just to make you feel so much more like suicide when you relive the harrowing experience of describing just how pathetic you have become. I was once a proud serviceman who had progressed rather high in the ranks. I was responsible for for a lot of me and billions of pounds worth of expensive equipment. Having to relive this experience again and again and again. That shit happened it was in the past. Like Alex said. Shit don’t grow back. Well things you have seen don’t go away either. Well not until dementia kicks in but going by my great grandfather those bits stuck with him longer than his ability to remember my name.
@@alancox5777 Thanks for sharing. Doing my best to stay strong.
Ive got my telephone assessment tomarrow am dreading it
"i lost them under labour", new-labour was just tory-lite!
Ive got a brain tumour and worked through my craniotomy, radiotherapy and chemo. My health has got worse and i had to eventually go through medical retirement from 22 yrs of nursing. I had to go to a tribunal to show that my assessor was an absolute joke. Even worse my friend has DMD and has a trachy and needs 24/7 supervision, he still has to prove his disabilities. He worked every day until the trachy. Its a disgusting system