PIP and advanced mathematics

I have just picked up a PIP entitlement notice dated 4 August 2015.  I quote:

‘You can’t cook a simple meal…......This gives you a score of 2
You either need an aid or appliance to manage your medication….........This gives you a score of 1
You need to be prompted by another person to engage with other people…......This gives you a score of 2
You need prompting or assistance from another person to make simple budgeting decisions…..This gives you a score of 4

This means your total score for Daily Living activities is 9 points

I’ve decided that you’re not entitled to either rate of the Daily Living component of Personal Independence Payment’

The claimant is not in a hospital or a care home which in any case would only affect payability not entitlement.

Possibly because of the apparent facility to free-type entitlement notices this error has crept in.  On ringing the PIP Helpline, I was informed that they had seen this kind of error before.  The format of the notice is really quite a mess with information being inserted seemingly at random and not following any logical structure.

Funny you should say that. I had a tribunal decision notice that stated the appellant scored 10 points under the mobility descriptors and therefore did not qualify as this was under the threshold. This is probably more likely at tribunals, where it’s all free text (as far as I’m aware).

Is it like Snakes and Ladders where you have to roll an exact number (8 or 12) to win?

Don’t worry; they can’t manage simple budgeting so there’s no chance they’ll pick up on this.

All in the interests of the public purse… I’m getting flash backs to “Hot Fuzz”.

Exactly.  This could easily have been overlooked and the claimant underpaid for years or forever.  It also impacts upon his ESA entitlement.  I am now anticipating problems with his severe disability premium because ‘he does not have an award of Daily Living component’.