We have specialism in autism and, at the time of writing, have never lost an autism Personal Independence Payment (PIP) case, although we appreciate that run won't last forever.
Autistic claimants face particular difficulties in the way the DWP assesses benefits.
The Second Independent Review of the Personal Independence Payment Assessment by Paul Gray dated March 2017 should have improved the situation. For Mr Gray indicated at paragraph 49 of his report, which was required by Parliament to monitor the PIP scheme, “The Review therefore encourages the Department to develop more alternative communications channels which could support a wider range of claimants, including those with hidden impairments, to ensure they are not disadvantaged in the claims process”. Despite these recommendations the DWP has generally been relying virtually entirely on telephone assessments when determining PIP claims.
This has led to many claims being wrongly disallowed, hence contributing to us not losing an autism case so far.