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Transcript:
After making a claim for PIP, most people are sent a form ‘How your disability affects you’. When the DWP gets your form, we send it with your supporting evidence to health professionals, who carry out assessments on behalf of the DWP. They decide what kind of assessment is best for you.
The assessment is to make sure you get the right level of PIP to help you lead a full and independent life.
Disabilities and health conditions affect people in different ways and at different stages, so the assessment considers how you perform activities on typical days, good days and bad days.
At an assessment, the health professional will look at how much support or what kind of support you need to do daily activities. This could include the aids and appliances you use or if you need a helper or an assistance dog.
There are different kinds of assessments. If you are invited to a face-to-face assessment, it will usually be at the nearest assessment centre to where you live. The invitation letter will tell you where that is and how to get there.
During the assessment, the health professional will write a report for the PIP decision maker. The health professional will look at how you carry out the daily living and mobility activities. It is not a medical examination.
The health professional will ask you some questions and may ask you to perform some movements.
The assessment usually lasts about one hour.
You can bring someone with you like a carer or a friend. You can also ask for an interpreter to be present if you need one.
For a telephone assessment, the health professional will complete the assessment over the telephone. You will get an appointment letter to tell you when the health professional will contact you.
Video assessments take place using a video link. It is a video call like ‘facetime’ or ‘WhatsApp’. You will get an appointment letter to tell you what time the health professional will contact you, what equipment you need, and how to access the video link.
There are also paper based reviews. We can sometimes make a decision on your claim without you attending an assessment, if there is enough information on your form and supporting evidence.
If we invite you to have an assessment though, it is important you attend the appointment or accept the call, or we may not be able to award you PIP.
At the assessment, there are two kinds of activities the health professionals will look at. There are the daily living activities, which are eating, drinking or preparing food, washing, bathing and using the toilet. Dressing and undressing. Reading and communicating. Managing your medicines or treatments. Making decisions about money and socialising and being around other people.
They will also look at mobility activities, which are working out a route and following it, physically moving around, and leaving your home.
Each activity has an ability level called ‘descriptors’ to describe how you perform that activity. Each descriptor has a score. Your score reflects your ability to perform that activity safely, repeatedly, to an acceptable standard and in a reasonable time.
You may score no points for some activities, because you can do them without difficulty and you may score the maximum points in other activities because you need a lot of help or assistance.
This example shows the descriptors and the scores for preparing food. If you can prepare and cook a simple meal unaided, you will score no points. If you need to use an aid or appliance to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal, you will score 2 points.
If you cannot cook a simple meal using a conventional cooker but you are able to do so using a microwave, you will score 2 points. If you need prompting to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal, you will score 2 points. If you need supervision or assistance to either prepare or cook a simple meal, you will score 4 points.
If you cannot prepare or cook food, you will score 8 points, which is the maximum for this activity.
You only get one score for each activity. The DWP decision maker adds up the scores for the daily living activities and mobility activities separately. The total score for each part decides if you can get PIP and if so, how much you can get.
To find out more about PIP, go to the Personal Independence Payment website at gov.uk/pip.
You can also get help and advice from organisations such as Citizens Advice or your local support organisations.
There is a special process for people nearing the end of life. To find out more, go to gov.uk/benefits-end-of-life.
This video is a guide only.