Bad Form(s)

Hello Dear Readers! 

Don't you just love paperwork? 

I expect the majority, if asked that question would reply with a very definite and heartfelt 'no', possibly prefaced with some slightly more colourful language.  

Sadly it is something that seems inescapable in this busy modern world in which we live. It sometimes feels that there's a form for everything, that even the most mundane of tasks needs a signature, a ream of personal information, and a tick in a box to choose to receive/not to receive news of our latest offers.  

Sadly this seems especially true for yours truly just now. 

The Waiting Game 

There are, you see, exciting times afoot at Seated Perspective Towers. This is due to the fact that our long awaited house purchase does seem to finally be coming to a conclusion.  

It has been a process that at times seems to have taken an inordinately long time to get to where we are now. It was the end of May that our offer for the new house was accepted and, although the rather frightening health issues that have affected my wonderful wife, Tina, in the intervening period probably put us on the back foot for a week or two (see...), the rather staccato progress has, at times, been a little frustrating. 

However, that lovely paperwork has started to once again arrive on a more regular basis, with boundary searches, area searches and a veritable glot of other things apparently requiring sufficient work to warrant hefty fees, falling through the letterbox almost daily within the  last week. Rather excitingly the last of these letters mentioned the word 'completion'. No date was provided but the word was there... I checked... Twice. 

via GIPHY

Pipped To The Post

Now, I know this is all positive, and complaining over a few forms, a need to prove you are who you say you are, and a few signatures, might seem a touch churlish when we'll be getting fancy new digs at the end of it but, well, as with so many things in life it's not just that. 

There has, to add to the administrative fun and games, been another set of forms that have appeared in our lives and these are ones that I'm finding rather daunting.  

In fact the paperwork in question has spent the last few days skulking on the arm of the sofa, shooting me the odd accusatory glance while I summon up the courage to take it on. As you can tell it's not a job I'm looking forward to. 

So what are these forms? You might ask. What could possibly have put such a cool, collected customer (Why thank you, very kind of you to say.) into such a flap. Well it's something I've known was coming for quite some time, something that could mean reasonably large changes to our cosy little life and which has arrived with an amazingly bad sense of timing. It is, in fact my application for PIP. 

For those of you that are unaware PIP stands for Personal Independence Payment. It is a monetary award designed to help with the associated extra expenses caused by living with a long term disability. It was introduced in 2012 by the incumbent Conservative government, and in particular that nice chap I absolutely certainly don't posses a voodoo doll of, Mr Ian Duncan Smith MP, to replace the existing Disability Living Allowance. 

Of course, the new benefit means more than just a change in name. PIP assessments are designed to be more stringent, ensuring that recipients actually meet the requirements to receive it. Claimants will also then be required to attend periodic re-assessments to check that they are still eligible. All of this is designed to ensure that benefits are being paid to those that need them and that people who have recovered from temporary conditions or who have seen an improvement to their disability can be weeded out and the money used for those with the most need. 

A Small Miscalculation

All seems quite positive doesn't it. Well, not quite. As seems to be the way with the particular party in power at the moment, a lot of the assessment work for PIP has been outsourced, a decision that appears to have led to a lot of delays and which may account for my assessment being some four years later. There also seems to have been a, um, miscalculation, when it comes to expenditure with the forecast 20% cuts somehow turning into a rise in expenditure of £1billion in 2015-16.  The Public Accounts Committee have called the roll out 'a fiasco'. 

More worryingly though, there have been reports of the assessment process being too stringent, of individuals being stripped of benefits they sorely needed. Horror stories have hit the press of just such cases, mainly at the inception of PIP, and both SCOPE and The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain have been extremely critical of the criteria used, the former claiming the process was too focused on cutting welfare budgets whilst the latter indicated their research showed that a staggering third of people assessed had relapsed or deteriorated, directly due to the face-to-face assessment. 

Situation Normal...

I think, for my part, the disquieting thing was to receive a letter, shortly after the initial phone interview stating that the medical information they had for me was not sufficiently up to date. My condition (Spina Bifida, see...) will not improve. I've had no trips to Lourdes, and there hasn't been a huge enough leap forward scientifically to change that diagnosis.

Why then I'm being asked to provide more up to date Doctors information before my assessment I don't know. It does not exactly fill me with confidence that the people I'll be talking to will have much in the way of knowledge regarding my disability. 

A drop in money at this moment in time would be less than ideal, with increased expenditure and decreased income already hitting us. A loss of my Motability eligibility though, well that would be disastrous on a titanic scale and mean some real lifestyle changes, possibly even involving giving up work. 

Still, no decisions have been made yet so let us live in hope while the sun doth shine. 

Until next time!