Our lovely client Amanda* is in her fifties and has global learning delays that date back to the 1970’s. She has never been formally diagnosed due to her huge fear of medical professionals and hasn’t seen a GP in over 20 years.

The DWP assessed that Amanda was capable of looking after herself back in September as she told them this was the case, although what Amanda says is not always strictly the case. After this assesment, the DWP refused her PIP claim and also took away her DLA (Disability Living Allowance). Amanda is unable to work due to her circumstances so this brought a huge amount of stress and worry onto our shoulders – we knew we needed to fight this!

After being passed through to 3 different departments at West Sussex Adult Social Services, we put our foot down and demanded some assistance. We asked for an assessment to be performed on Amanda to show that she is unable to care for herself. A wonderful case worker arranged a meeting with Amanda and Emily (our Managing Director who has assisted Amanda for many years) and her report concluded that Amanda cannot care for herself as we already knew.

Along with Medical Records dating from 1979 to date, we submitted this information to the DWP and awaited a reponse to our appeal.

We finally got the fantastic news that a reconsideration had been made and Amanda was entitled to her PIP after all! This was a huge relief to Amanda and her companion who assists her – there was comfort knowing she will get the funds she needs to assist with her care needs and day to day expenses.

Sophie worked extremely hard from September to ensure that we had enough evidence to submit to the DWP and this card that came in from Amanda this morning really did solidify that it was all worthwhile.

For more information on what PIP is and who is entitled to this, please follow the link to the government website here: https://www.gov.uk/pip

(*) We have changed the name of our client to protect her identity. Her name is not Amanda.