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PIP and DS1500
Letting off steam. Just calmed down…............
PIP2 completed March.
Clients cancer got worse.
Posted DS1500 to DWP may 8th : Instant passport to PIP? Thats what i thought
2nd July : no decision yet. Called PIP helpline : They said “We posted DS1500 to Atos, and we cant make a decision until Atos confirm that the client is terminal and then report back to us”
Confirm? CONFIRM!! (Sorry, rage welling again)
Surely a DS1500 IS the confirmation?
Still no award made. I asked DWP to apply the law and award PIP. was told “it doesnt work like that : we need a report back from Atos”
I give up.
Complaint. MP. Again.
On Monday Iain Duncan Smith assured parliament (several times) that fast track for terminally ill claimants down to ten days and below -
here’s link to rightsnet story on House of Commons debate on DWP performance -
and hansard -
Good gracious. One may be led to the conclusion that this blighter is somewhat mendacious. Were that not impossible in a Right Honourable gentleman. After all, it means he’s honourable….and always right….
Im just furious that they have put in place a system to confirm that a client is terminally ill on receipt of a DS1500.
Do they think i just forged it??
Just to let you know, I had a DWP Medical Servcies Doctor ring the client’s consultant oncologist after her GP issued a DS1500. Very positive report from the oncologist and DS1500 claim rejected by DWP. Had to pursue it as a normal claim.
I had a similar experience to Lunts above in the early days of PIP - May 2013 I think, as I was in one of the early intro areas. DS1500 from GP posted to DWP, passed to Atos, rejected following call to the Consultant, normal claim pursued.
Anecdotally, the applicability of DS1500s can be a contentious subject as one HCP can agree one is appropriate and another can refuse it. It’s not wrong to query them if it’s done sensitively and without undue pressure on HCPs. It was a bit annoying at the time, though, as I hadn’t been told this was how special rules cases were being dealt with - i.e. every piece of medical evidence goes through Atos.
So we should be careful not to say “DS1500 means guaranteed maximum benefit”.
I had a similar experience to Lunts above in the early days of PIP - May 2013 I think, as I was in one of the early intro areas. DS1500 from GP posted to DWP, passed to Atos, rejected following call to the Consultant, normal claim pursued.”.
I had a similar experience with a DS1500 PIP claim which had been issued by a MacMillan Nurse. After a month of waiting, calls, complaints, MP involved, etc., Atos rang claimant to say that it had queried the DS1500 and it had been withdrawn, claim was back to normal rules. In that case it did at least result in the face to face assessment that he had been waiting 8 months for being arranged for the next week (not that any decision has subsequently been made on the claim).
Its funny but in the recent released PIP stats I remember it saying that decisions have been made on 100% of DS1500 cases. Now I know that numbers can be rounded up but this thread suggests it is not uncommon for DS1500 claims to be overruled and therefore it is likely that a number of claims that were once special rules ones have actually not been decided.
I can’t believe that the DWP would manipulate statistics like this to make itself look better.. after all, it’s not like IDS and his department have a history of this sort of thing, is it?
To be fair, DLA DS1500 cases were occasionally questioned too, although by DWP internal medical advisers. This is not something that is brand new but is a change in terms of going externally for the back up.
The DS1500 is a statement of one medical professional that death is likely within 6 months and another medical professional may disagree. I regularly see cases where the oncology professionals say a DS1500 is not yet appropriate (ie treatment will prolong life or is aimed at cure/remission) but the GP issues a DS1500. I get the feeling that the oncology professionals are right more often than the GP when I run across the situation and frankly they are definitely better at completing DS1500s that explain why they are concluding that death is to be expected within that time so those DS1500s are not often questioned.
The internal processes and contracts seem to mean the DWP do have to consult ATOS/Capita on getting a DS1500 but I have to say that in my experience this is cursory and doesn’t extend the process much - I had an award decided within 3 hours of sending a fax of a copy of a DS1500 that had gone missing despite the DWP taking time to consult ATOS.
The problem seems to arise when a claimant has put in for PIP under the normal rules, then a DS1500 is issued. This generates a NEW new claim dealt with different decision makers in different offices, let alone ATOS having a dabble !
I did have a client who failed his ESA WCA. I started the appeal process and discovered a ds1500 was issued about 8 months ago. I called the DWP to inform them of this with regard to automatic support group to be told “we know he has a ds1500, but as it was issued over 6 months ago we arent treating it as valid”
So therefore the guy has made a miraculous recovery and is now fully fit for work then?
According to the DWP : yes
I had no idea they “ran out” these pesky DS1500s
NB : Tribunal overturned decision immediately. No DWP presenting officer apparently.
Funny that!