r/DWPhelp

So I just attended my in-person tribunal hearing for my severe anxiety, and it went horribly. My dad, who I was going to rely on to do most of the speaking, wasn’t allowed to speak — only at the end if he wanted to add something. Everytime he tried to speak up for me, the judge would interrupt. (Is this normal ? I was under the impression I could have my dad speak on my behalf.) One of the panel members wasn’t the nicest either. So my hopes really aren’t high. I was told I should hear the outcome within a week or so.

Anyway,
I was awarded only standard daily living back in 2024. I know I qualify for both enhanced. I highly doubt I will be awarded this after today. Standard mobility at most.

If I send in evidence that my condition has since gotten worse, if i don’t get awarded enhanced on both, will they take this into consideration and potentially change my award ? Or will I have to close my PIP claim ? And can I just close it without my condition getting better (as I was under the impression that’s the only reason) ? My next review is 2027, and I’m confident i’ll be awarded more if I had an entirely new claim as I have a ton of evidence now about my conditions (which was the biggest issue about the original claim. I basically messed it up badly). Any advice would be appreciated! Spent the last hour crying my eyes out, now trying to look at the future positively!! 🥲

Hi

This is my first time attempting to claim any benefits. I have struggled with OCD since I was little, but only became aware of it as I got older. It impacts every aspect of my daily life, to the point where I rather sit still and do nothing, which is also made worse by my innatentive ADHD which I have just been diagnosed with.

The OCD makes my every action, whether that would be cleaning, cooking, showering, lifting into a compulsion, which basically means whenever, wherever I have an intrusive thought my mind believes e.g., "its what you want to happen", "it will come true" on premises that if I do not repeat whatever I was doing, your thought will come true and I will be responsible for it. It is difficult to resist when thoughts are related to my family, so I repeat my actions, in neverending attempt of prevent something awful from happening.

I often have compulsions in public and received weird looks from people. I have also had cars honking at me, which is so emberrasing. For me, intrusive thoughts also manifest as vocal tics, which I never knew was a thing until recently. This makes me involuntary say intrusive thoughts.

While contamination OCD has gotten better after multiple therapy sessions I still have difficult time cleaning or handling things if they are not clean. In regards to ADHD symptoms, from what I've seen people say, I'm not sure its considered an actual disorder, but I disagree. When I campare how I am when I'm on and off medication, its day and night. If I don't take my medication, every task feels heavy, despite if it will benefit me or not, I had put on hold so many things.

I work once a week, but 2 years ago I nearly lost my job due to being late everyday and taking too many sick days off mostly because of having insomnia and sleep deprivation. Thanfully I still have my job, after taking 0 sick days at the cost of my sleep and mental health.

Sorry for the long post. I wanted to ask if anyone who has OCD and/or ADHD, have you been able to claim any benefits. How was the process like, what evidence did you use to support your claim?

i sent my work capability assessment off earlier this year and still heard nothing back i wrote a message to my work coach and they said “my health journey is still ongoing and they can’t provide and timescales keep your fit notes up to date to keep this going” how long do you think it will take and is it a bad sign i haven’t heard back yet?

Hey all

I've got a text today and double checked my journal as well, for some reason I've had another video appointment booked for next month a week after one that was already booked with my original work coach, this new one is also with somebody entirely different and instead of it being for 15 mins, this new random appointment is for 20mins.

Anybody possibly know what this might be about? Is there some new thing being introduced that they are going to want to try? Are they going to try something to get me sanctioned?

It just seems rather odd considering my work coach never mentioned or even indicated that something like this would be done, everything went fine and nothing wrong with my progress, didn't mention anything about an appointment springing up with someone else a week after our next one and there has been nothing on my journal added in the way of any extra information, so I'm a little confused and cautious about it.

Hey everyone

I received a copy of my assessors report today and so far so good based on the responses in the report I should be entitled to enhanced daily living and standard rate mobility.

My question is how likely are the DWP to go against the assessors recommendations as I have heard sometimes they dont abide by the recommendations... or am I fairly certain to finally get my award in a few weeks time

Hi there.

So I have a long list of health conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic dizziness, depression and... Well I'll leave it there for now, but I have a health assesment coming up soon, and feeling really nervous about it as I'm sure most of us feel. Thing is, I just spoke with my citizens advice advisor, and they said if I can cook for myself, even just once once or twice a month, that's an automatic 0.

Is that really true? The vast majority of the time, I order out, eat precanned food like tuna or sometimes even just go without due to feeling really unwell, but occasionally I will cook something because ordering out all the time is financially unsustainable. Not a meal. Rather, a few pieces of meat in the oven which lasts me a few days. I would say once a week. Sometimes not at all depending on how I'm doing.

So I guess my question is, is that true? If i cook even once or twice a month, it's an automatic 0 points? I dont chop anything. I dont peel anything. There's no potatoes or rice. Literally just a piece of chicken or pork thrown in the oven while I sit, with some spinach and that's it, with the remaining pieces put in the fridge for the next few days.

Thanks.

Morning all,

Just a very quick one. I missed an appointment back in March and was sanctioned late April, roughly to the amount of £393, which is almost, if not all of my Standard Allowance. This left me £140 short on rent, and no expendable funds for the month. Once my appointment had been rebooked and accepted my commitments, I called for a hardship advance. I gave them all the information required, including food situation, bathroom supplies, short on rent amongst other things. I've just had a call from the Case Manager who offered £139.50.

Is that not an incredibly low figure despite me being sanctioned £393, and the lady on the phone noting down that I was £140 short on rent alone - let alone being unable to buy food, bathroom products, etc? That's barely even 40%, I was under the impression the minimum you can request is 60%. I accepted it as I have no choice and need to pay my rent which is almost two weeks late for the remainder, but I'm in no better position now than I was before I called.

Thanks

What to do if backpay itself is over capital upper limits. Im worried about losing lcwra award and losing more money from UC loss than I recieve in PIP. Absurd after fighting to win these claims for so long for one to wipe out the other.

Say capital stays the same for the full 12 months , Pip spending and income remaining the same. Outcome loss of lcwra award permanently plus loss of entire UC for while . Yet It's pretty self evident that with starting balance of 0 your capital would have never gotten anywhere near crossing an upper limit of capital and result in any risk of loss of UC if there was no arrears.

I.e loss of UC Is entirely manufactured by the delay itself

Yet I can imagine if my savings dropped anywhere near close to what the backpay amount will be there could be claims of deprivation regardless if was only buying things I genuinely wanted or not. So what are you supposed to do ?

Why is it fair you can be penalised upto many thousands of pounds and lose access to disability protections in terms of lcwra status for delays in the system?

I was awarded 6 points for daily living and 4 points for mobility in my assessment which obviously meant that I didn’t get anything. I thought from my reporting that based on the difficulties that they accepted I had I could have been scored higher points.

I submitted a mandatory reconsideration. Following the advice on here I did it paper based not over the phone. I had a lot of help from my family with this. I had a phone call from the decision maker which came out of the blue.

I got a message saying I had been awarded PIP. I don’t know what points yet but it looks like standard daily living from the amount.

The last time I applied for PIP I was unsuccessful and I was too upset to challenge it even though there were errors in the report. It is worth doing a mandatory reconsideration.

had my assessment yesterday after waiting 30 weeks!
it went okay just nervous as i got really emotional throughout it all as i put my claim in for mental health , i hope that hasn’t changed any decisions me getting anxious and crying.
just fingers crossed now i hear back soon

Hiya, I'm looking for some advice.

I sent my forms in September or last year and had my assessment a few weeks ago. The woman who did my assessment was rude, unfeeling and dismissive. I called up today and I scored 0 on mobility and 6 on daily living and honestly I'm fucking fuming. I'm going to a second opinion but what do I need to do to strengthen my case?

I have 4 slipped disc in my back

Neck nerve damage suspected

ADHD/Autism suspected

Chronic migraine disorder with aura

Germ OCD

PTSD

Thank you in advance

how? If I got awarded back in 2022 for Mh and I told them nothing had changed everything was still the same how can they take it off me

Can you still call the automated line and find out next payment? I've tried a tonne of options and none lead to it.

I've spent the last 3 months constantly checking this subreddit. Getting myself worked up and anxious worrying and worrying more about if my assessment went well and all the other common worries. I claim pip for Autism, ADHD, MADD and PTSD. I just wanted to share my timeline and information incase anybody is or was at a similar stage to me and is worried about it.

I made the first phone call sometime around mid February I was eligible to fill in my forms online so I did that in stages with help over the course of a week. I live in Liverpool so the assessment provider was Maximus. They contacted me around the beginning of April and my assessment was 28th April.

After my assessment it was about 8 working days which worked out to about 2 weeks after my assessment the DWP told me they had received my report.

Yesterday 21st May I rang to get assessors notes as the anxiety building up to my decision was killing me.

Well 15 mins ago I just had the text to say I'd been awarded pip. I don't own any photo id at the moment so can't check proof of benefits but it has took so much weight off my shoulders.

17th February - Form submitted online

Approx April 1st - Contacted with assessment date

28th April - Assessment

22nd May - Award Text

Approx 13 weeks from application to award for me personally.

Hi all, I am looking to get some help and would highly appreciate if anyone who has already been through the LCWRA Reassessment process could provide some guidance or information about it.

Following a call with the UC Helpline they provided me the following information relating to my LCWRA claim through a journal message.

" Regarding your LCWRA review, you are currently in receipt of the LCWRA element and we have looked through your claim's history and can see the initial decision maker has noted a review is to take place during October of 2026 "

I suffer with OCD, PTSD, Anxiety & Depression all of which cause daily impact and impairment for me to function on daily living and inability to work due to multiple factors of personal events of which details remain private of course..

I am currently already in receipt of enhanced PIP which is awarded until 2028 but due to my severe mental health conditions I am overly worried about this already despite the review being several months away.

What should I do? I dont have any new evidence apart from what was initially submitted for my initial UC50 Form.

Since October when my initial LCWRA was awarded to me only actually getting money from January 2026 my conditions have not got any better if anything have had worsening..

Im so worried because I cant afford to lose the LCWRA as I rely on this whilst I am trying to sort my self out with help and support I feel so lost with why the review is so quick upcoming..

Any help or support is massively appreciated 👏 🙏

*Thanks to everyone who replied but I should have said there was a lot of bad feeling from that office when I won my tribunal and when I put my confirm your claim details in a while back there was a section at the bottom for any back payments, and that should have been enough for them to realise that there was nothing to see here. People must have little to do when it’s clear that the money over £6k includes a very recent back payment*

I’ve been asked to provide bank statements as part of a benefits review after a sizeable backdated LCWRA payment a month or so ago. I’ve £7k in my account of which £3k of it is the recent back payment. Surely they know that as they paid me???

I’m fully willing to provide balances, incoming payments and anything genuinely relevant to UC entitlement, but I’m uncomfortable with unrelated personal spending being looked through when it has nothing to do with the review.

I’ve got nothing to hide, but I also don’t really see why somebody needs to know whether I bought £200 worth of groceries for my parents from M&S, collectibles from America or spent money on eBay months ago just to verify a backdated payment and current balances.

My understanding is that they are entitled to information reasonably necessary to verify entitlement, not a full fishing expedition into unrelated private spending habits.

I’ve already had extensions to the appointment and honestly have been putting this off because I’m quite a shy and private person, and the idea of strangers going through unrelated spending makes me uncomfortable.

Has anyone dealt with this before?

Did they let you blank names of places I’ve bought stuff at while still leaving dates, amounts and balances visible, or did they insist on fully unedited statements?

Just trying to understand where the line usually sits in practice.

Thanks.

Had assessment 1st May
Got we have received the details of assessment a couple days later.

Have seen that a lot of people with similar timelines have got there text or a phone call asking about bank details and I hav had nothing so I’m starting to think that it’s not good.

Hi everyone,

It’s just been decided that I have LCWRA but I’m confused which rate I’ll be on.

I’ve been signed off since last June but googled and found out that people who are awarded LCWRA used to receive an extra £423.27 per month, but it changed from 6 April 2026, and the monthly payment for new claimants will reduce to £217.26.

Which will I get, considering I’ve been submitting fit notes for nearly a year? It took forever to get an appointment with the Health assessment team…

Also, does anyone know if I’ll be given back payments for the period I’ve been signed off for, or is that not how it works?

Thanks so much in advance!