For one People First member, it has been a difficult year for more reasons than the Covid-19 pandemic as, after being reassessed this June, they had their Personal Independence Payments wrongly stopped.

PIP was a significant part of their livelihood, so losing it left them in an uncertain financial position.

PFM member: “It was worrying because I was thinking I was going to have to use my food money to pay the bills. One week I would end up with just £20. I didn’t have enough to pay rent.”

Together, we were able to go through the lengthy process of gathering letters of support from various professionals and completing the Mandatory Reconsideration form in response to the decision.

After submitting the documents, we didn’t have to wait long before hearing back that the DWP had decided not only to overturn their decision, but were now awarding our member a higher rate, and were backdating it to October 2019 (when their assessment was originally scheduled).

After months of uncertainty, our member can now rest easy knowing that the basics will be taken care of again.

PFM member: “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without People First. I wouldn’t know where to start. It would’ve been too difficult, knowing which places to go to. I would have just let it go. I would have had to move house. I would have struggled with everything. I’m so relieved!”

Brilliant!