Hi Mike,
I am currently working with a young man who is awaiting an autism assessment (in my opinion he is clearly has an autism spectrum disorder)
When is the best time for him to claim PIP? Does he need to wait for a diagnosis? His health and wellbeing are clearly affecting his day to day living.
Kas
Hello Kas,
The law says that you can have PIP if you have problems because of your physical or mental condition
So the DWP always wants to see a named, diagnosed, condition before they award PIP
But the word condition can just mean state, for example, in a sentence like my bike is in poor condition.
So physical or mental condition can be read as state-of-health, rather than diagnosed illness.
And thus, regardless of whether it is a named condition, you qualify for PIP if you have difficulties caused by your state-of-health.
Even so, it would be really helpful to have health-professional’s letters saying even though x has not been formally diagnosed, current indications suggest that…
And because you are a worker with a lot of experience of ASD, you can offer a professional opinion.
You could write something along the lines of:
“I have worked with people with ASD for x years
I have x training/knowledge/experience
In our interactions x has shown the following traits (from DSM)
I strongly believe that his difficulties are the result of ASD”
Perhaps, this will need to go to a tribunal; unless you can show a very high level of difficulty/points
But even if they turn you down, it puts a marker in the system and once you have got a diagnosis you can get the earlier claim revised.