August 2019 – Important PIP Case for People with Mental Health Issues

The claimant was a man in his forties whose mental health problems affected his ability to engage with other people. His claim for personal independence payment was refused and he appealed with a central issue being the points he was awarded under activity 9 - engaging with people face to face. The First-tier Tribunal awarded 2 points on the basis that the claimant needed prompting (descriptor 9b) rather than social support (descriptor 9c).

The claimant appealed to the Upper Tribunal who remitted the case back to the First-tier Tribunal with directions as follows:

 

What is envisaged as social support is emotional or moral support and perhaps also physical support and other interventions which could include everything in the definition of prompting provided it can only be accepted by the claimant if given by a qualified person

 

Qualified people are those who are trained or experienced in assisting people to engage in social situations and

 

The qualified person needs to be present or available to provide the support

 

The Secretary of State then appealed challenging the directions and arguing that social support requires something more substantial than prompting, eventually appealing to the Supreme Court.

 

Giving the lead judgment, Lady Black clarified the nature of the support provided might not differ between 9b and 9c. What brings the claimant into 9c rather than 9b is that, to be able to engage with others, he or she needs that support to come from someone trained or experienced in assisting people to engage in social situations. The support will only be effective if delivered by someone who is trained or experienced.

 

Lady Black recognised that inevitably there will be cases in which it is not immediately evident whether descriptor 9c applies

 

It is only after scrutinising the facts particularly carefully that the decision maker will be able to reach a determination. Although the provision is concerned with the help the claimant needs, rather than with the help which he or she is actually getting in practice, it seems likely that, in many family/friends cases, someone will already be carrying out the supportive role in face to face engagements. Where this is so, the assessment/decision making process will be assisted by looking at the elements of the support that they actually provide, how they have come to know what to do, whether or not the sort of help that they provide could be provided by any well-meaning friend or family member, and what additional help (if any) is required.

 

Lady Black also acknowledged that the need for support has to be a continuing one, not one that has been addressed or otherwise ceased.

 

On a separate note, the Minister for Disabled People acknowledged that PIP claims are taking an average of 14 weeks to process.

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