Hello everybody.
My name is melissa and i am a Carer / Former carer for an close friend who suffers with Schizophrenia , depression , panic attacks , Anxiety , Dyslexia , ADHD , a Disabled right Hand (fully Clawed) , Went to a special needs school for children with severe learning disabilities , suffered physical abuse by parents , Is very unwell overall, along with self medicating he takes risperidome for his mental health. the hand is beyond help.
He was formally awarded pip over 5 years ago full award Paper based with no need for an assessment at home ect because of how serious his condition is.
I have allways looked after him and i became his fulltime carer for 3 years. Eventually i had my own ill health to deal with in the form of Early Renal Kidney failure and im am going onto dialysis soon.
So. everything was going great my friend ws being looked after by myself and we sorted his flat out and cleaned him up and looked after him for 3 years…
Then along came his renewal… We was expecting another award, However they refused a paper based and insisted that we attend a assessment at atos.
We got into a bit of a kerfuffle about it as we had no time to prepare, and so we asked for an extension which they gave us, to get doctors paperwork reports and to do our paperwork ect.
However the doctors couldn’t get us in for 6 weeks and so we extended again. In the meantime my friend broke his ankle. we never got to the doctors for his appointment as he was mobile at the time and on crutches that he could hardly use because of his disabled hand and so we again arranged another doctors appointment rang atos for a further extension, Which they granted. Again the doctors appointment was for 4 weeks away and the assessment a little under.
So we Arranged an emergency doctors appointment. We explained our situation and the doctor told us they could not provide the paperwork in time for the assessment and gave us a sick note advising us to contact atos and ask for a further extension. Which atos refused . even though we had a sick note they stated he must attend or loose his benefits… So now we had a date with no paperwork…
The date came and i couldn’t attend as i had hospital because of my kidneys and a serious water infection and so my friend under pressure decides to take it on himself to attend the appointment ALOAN i freaked out and took him to the bus stop and told him to ring me when he gets off the bus and i would guide him to the assessment center.
Which he didnt do,instead he got lost and found himself asking shops where to go,
they didnt know but sent him to a local job center where fortunately somebody from the job center then walked him to the atos assessment. Where he eventually arrived 20 minutes late…
So he sat the assessment and again got lost finding his way back to the bus station and again did the same thing going into shops asking directions. So eventually the decision came through, No surprise 0 points accross the board. With a statement from the assessor stating that my friend has no problems in anyway and that my friend says he fine , no damages clawed hand and passed a power grip test. no dyslexia , no schizophrenia and mental health and that he told her he was perfectly fine and no longer suffers with any illness other than takes drugs And made it to the assessment on time on his own with no trouble getting there…
Well i went mental…How dare they actually LIE like that. I mean its one thing to speculate by themselves but no they cant do that so better still state that the client says that hes fine…Who goes to an assesment and says that , nobody does no matter how ill. So we appeal, Still with no paperwork…And surprise surprise another denial of award and 0 points…
So we are going to tribunal…We now have all the paperwork proving every aspect of illness with records dating back from the special needs school in 1988 stating his dyslexia ect and emotional problems, also 100% proof of a clawed hand a schizophrenia with over 12 years of mental health records ect…
basically we have them by the short and curliest, But My friend is now in a worse state than before and is close to hospital intervention for his mental health. Its difficult to get hold of him and i am left to do his paperwork for him. which im about to send to the tribunal My concern is what if my friend does not go.
Will the paperwork be enough, and what if they insist he go but he dont go or we cant get him to go or cant find him on the day…
im a little worried . will they make a decision without him based on the exceptional evidence and paperwork, or will they simply reject his claim. i hope they will see that atos simply brushed him under the carpet as they usually do and that the paperwork and evidence will again give him back his pip…
Also will the tribunal actually read all the paper work and evidence as i have made quite alot of statements and theres quite alot of evidence to go through along with statements ect… Will every page actually be read and taken into consideration or will they just be interested in the evidence alone…
Any advice is greatly appreciated…gosh my hands hurt now…lol