Hi, my name is Idiosyncraticb! Weird PIP experience.

Idiosyncraticb
Online Community Member Posts: 26 Connected
Hi guys, I haven’t used forums in years so please be gentle!
I put in a claim for PIP back in September and I had my assessment which ultimately lead to a report where I scored all zeros. I have since told both Capita and PIP that even a healthy person may sometimes struggle with some tasks and score a few points so getting zeros across the board, you may as-well spit in my face.
As is usual, I requested the report which didn’t arrive until the 5th of January. I rang to chase it’s whereabouts and was told on that call that a decision had also been made and sent on the 16th December, the day after I’d requested my report, but it didn’t arrive with me until my birthday in January. The report was fundamentally flawed and I made a lot of phone calls which lead to one advisor giving me an email address to send in extra evidence due to having had the decision partly read over the phone prior to receiving the letter and for being completely flabbergasted by what I was hearing, and also because Royal Mail was undergoing strike action so my decision letter had been delayed substantially at that point.
I went on to highlight in yellow all the mistakes and contradictions on the report and decision letter and put notes where possible with a brief reason why it’s wrong, the report was almost completely yellow. I followed up with a detailed email that I attached photos of the edited report to and thoughts from my thought diary that reference this process amongst other things.
I had at this point also requested the mandatory reconsideration because I feared I would run out of time when waiting for the letters to arrive.
Due to my mental health and being unable to help it I obsessively emailed both capita and pip random things about myself in desperation and this too included snippets of the law, legislation and guidelines that I had screenshot from their own website and which I highlighted in yellow using the font thing on my phone showing where they had breached them and in doing so discriminated against me for my mental health.
I found out from my mental health worker at my last appointment that someone from Capita had rang her to express concern about me because of the emails I’d been sending and she told them that she fully supported my claim but would give no further information over the phone and that they would need to send an official form to her.
I’ve recently discovered that PIP only pay for GP evidence, and that Capita are responsible for paying anyone else, so that would suggest that they are so greedy they can’t even be bothered to pay what is it? £33.50? to contact more relevant people in an official capacity in order to obtain more insight into my condition.
I probably forgot to mention that they didn’t send her a form when building the report, they thought they could form a decision using a form sent back by a GP that I hadn’t even specifically named on my more info form, and it basically had nothing on it, I swear it’s practically blank just listing my actual conditions and medication dose and that’s it, I assume because the GP doesn’t care enough to put in any extra work because on getting my records there is a hell of a lot more information on there.
I’d like to note that both the report and decision letter really fixated on my mental health medication dosage, calling it ‘only first line medication’ and saying it was very low dose and I’d been on it a very long time considering it wasn’t very effective for me. Bearing in mind I’d told her I’ve been on various anti depressants and anti psychotics over the last decade at least, and none work long term or have had undesirable side effects. If they had contacted my mental health worker they would have known that I am undergoing a reassessment (which I had told the assessor and she said we’d just stick with what’s on the form) and was advised not to change the medication until after that was completed. Also I said I’d been on it a year because I can’t gauge things like that, but on checking it I’ve been on it for about 6 months not a year and it’s about average for allowing increases to be regulated by your body.
This is getting long, and it’s the short version, I’m so sorry!
So anyway, because my decision was in MR neither PiP nor Capita would send out a form to my mental health worker and I’ve found it impossible to convince my mental health worker to give the information any other way. So I’m piggy in the middle. I don’t know what the mental health service rules are but I’d imagine as a department, they’d want paying for this extra service.
Since registering a mandatory reconsideration I have received all of my GP records due to a SAR and because the file is too big even zipped to send myself via email, I forwarded the original email with the link to download to both Capita and PIP giving them express permission to access it using my d.o.b. Because I have nothing to hide, and another reason for this is that it would be detrimental to me right now to sift through all of that history. The curiosity has since killed this cat though and I have since been experiencing severe low moods and haven’t been eating either.
I’ve since gone back to open the link because I originally couldn’t figure out where I’d saved the download to on my phone but it’s saying it’s been locked because of too much access to it. I’ve since queried with both Capita and PIP and neither one has admitted to looking at the files.
So anyway, I got a call the other day asking if I’d sent in all my evidence and if so they could pass it to a case manager that day. I asked for a rundown and they hadn’t even loaded a supporting letter sent from my neighbourhood coach onto the system and subsequently hadn’t loaded any other info after 6th January onto it either, which included a mood diary amongst other things. I got upset and started crying about the whole situation and I told the woman that they were only going to shaft me anyway so why wait until 28th February for them to do it and just told her to go ahead with it because I can put in my appeal sooner when the inevitable happens.
A couple of days later (yesterday) I decided to ring again to try to find out who had accessed my GP records, the guy on the phone at Capita was one of those smug ones with a faint hint of laughter behind his speech which screams at you that he is judging you and finds your situation hilarious. I told him that I worked for a different department of Capita years ago and know first hand how corrupt they are, because it was during a mental break and I was vulnerable and a line manager convinced me I had no option but to quit, making me feel like I wasn’t doing my job well enough so I would step down, which on reflection was actually because they knew they could not sack me directly because of my mental health condition and looking back I know I did a great job because I actually gave a damn about the people I spoke to on the phone. I was actually picked to be on a documentary by channel 4 called Neighbourhood Force about frontline council workers. Granted I only appeared a couple of times for a few seconds, but still… if I were rubbish at my job… so he chuckled at what I’d said as though I’d been making it up. He evaded my original question and brought my attention to something that stated I was going to have another assessment and I was like, what? He told me I’d have to ring PIP to find out any other information.
I rang PIP and asked to speak to a case manager, which was acted on and I was put through to someone that was A case manager but not MY case manager. He said that my report had been sent back to Capita for a rework and that they (Capita) would be in touch to book another assessment, and then he said something that surprised me… a decision had been made on my MR, 2 days ago. So now I’m confused because how can both happen simultaneously? He couldn’t access the MR decision apparently, or perhaps didn’t want to deal with fallout of it on the phone? I don’t know.
I probably should note that on receiving my report I did lodge a complaint with both Capita and PIP and the date for a response is already looming so I don’t know what’s happening!
**This is a slight interval because my brain did a fart and I can’t even remember what point I was going to type next**
okay so a woman from Capita (she reiterated she is simply a service advisor) called to book another assessment which is 1pm on 3rd February.
okay so a woman from Capita (she reiterated she is simply a service advisor) called to book another assessment which is 1pm on 3rd February.
I’ve also over over over prepared part of what I intend to tell them on that assessment and I will over over prepare the rest between now and then because in the moment during the assessment I just ramble, ramble, ramble. The last assessor, am I allowed to name and shame? noted that I kept over sharing and that I had to be prompted back to the conversation at numerous points but then said that my responses were timely etc etc. What I really think happened was that there was no prompting back to the conversation, it really didn’t feel like there was, she just let me ramble in the hopes she could use something from what I’d said to do the report, because I remember often spacing out and saying that I’d forgotten the question and she would just say “Oh it’s okay, you’ve answered it”. Had I? In hindsight I should have pushed for her to repeat the question.
She said that my speech was fast paced but then said that my tone and pace were all normal in another sentence further on.
She mentioned the fact I’d been distracted by my cat on a couple of occasions, maybe to give the appearance of a personalised report with what was largely copied and pasted? I mean, who doesn’t stop a moment to give their cat fuss when they jump up and start rubbing their faces on the phone? I have a mental health condition, I’m not a monster.
I was referred to as he/him quite a lot.
Oh I could go on forever. She was rubbish, that’s it.
One last note, when the lovely sounding lady rang me from Capita to book another appointment, I mentioned as I had done a billion times before that I could not see the assessor on her camera, it seemed broken. The woman then said something I don’t think she was supposed to, but it went something along the lines of having had many arguments with line managers about assessors not switching their cameras on, personal safety etc etc. So it’s a bit like that tv show Derren Brown did where he got a studio audience to put on masks and in doing so it depersonalised the experience, and enabled this audience to make increasingly terrible choices about a guy who’s day they thought they were controlling right up until a supposed kidnapping took place and that was made to look like it wasn’t part of the show.
So when people put on a mask they become this void where responsibility usually lies and so do not feel bad about what they are doing to the individual in question, no matter how awful. I don’t think it’s much different hiding behind a ‘broken camera’. Perhaps it helps them sleep at night?
So when people put on a mask they become this void where responsibility usually lies and so do not feel bad about what they are doing to the individual in question, no matter how awful. I don’t think it’s much different hiding behind a ‘broken camera’. Perhaps it helps them sleep at night?
Did I do it again? Off.On.One I’m so sorry.
So, my question, has anyone ever had a report sent back with an already made MR decision?
Also, hello and thank you for getting this far!
I feel like I’ve left things out but I will try to stop myself!
0
Comments
-
How do I delete this post?0
-
I think possibly you have put too much information in your post. People could possibly find it hard to respond to specific things. Possibly make a new post and try and keep it short and simple and hopefully you will get some advice. There is good people on here who im sure would like to help.
I have found it quite stressful and overwhelming trying to deal with my own PIP claim so i totally sympathise.
Good luck buddy0 -
Hi @dan1 I think you’re probably right, I just find it almost impossible not to give great detail because I fear misunderstandings, and this is due to never being correctly quoted by health professionals over the years and my ex who used to twist my words and use them against me over an 11 year span.I really wasn’t expecting too much from posting because I appreciate that I talk too much, I was thinking maybe the odd hello of acknowledgment here or there, but it’s okay.Thanks for your reply. Take Care.0
-
To be honest, i did read some of it but not all of it because i found it very difficult to follow. It is difficult to respond to such a long post.I did read that a decision had been made on the MR but then you received a letter for another assessment so i have no idea as to the reason why this has happened. My advice it to ring PIP to ask them and they will be able to tell you what's happening.0
-
Hi @poppy123456 , I am sorry about that.I spoke to a case manager on the phone who told me that my report had been sent back to be reworked and to expect a call from Capita to book another assessment and it was on the same call that he told me a decision had been made and an MR notice sent 2 days prior to this call.I’ve rang so many times during this whole process already and I’m still at a loss, so I don’t really think another call will help.Thank you for your reply, and again I’m sorry for the long post!0
-
Good morning @ldiosyncraticb welcome to our great group.
Yes your Thread is veryyyy long but i am hoping you felt better by getting all your frustration out in the open.
I wish luck with your pip and l hope you get some good news in the post this week.0 -
Hello @Idiosyncraticb - Great username, one of my fave words! How are you doing?
I'm sorry you didn't initially get many responses, however please know that we see you and hear your frustration around this. You don't have to apologise about the length of your post either; we all communicate in our own way.
It isn't a situation I've personally come across before and I hope you have a positive resolution some time soon. To get free 'in-person' support from a Welfare representative, you can visit Advice Local to find an organisation nearby. I'd highly recommend this, if it is you need/decide to pursue a mandatory reconsideration. However, that decision is ultimately out of our control right now, so the best thing to focus on is your own wellbeing.
You mentioned that you had been experiencing severe low moods and hadn’t been eating either. Is this getting any better? And if not, is it something you feel comfortable speaking with your GP or mental health support worker about?
Just to let you know, I've moved your thread to our PIP, DLA and AA category to help others who might have more wisdom see it and offer their thoughts.
Take care and please let us know how you get on.0 -
@SueHeath thank you
for your reply, it does help a little to get it off my chest because the only support I have are my 13 year old daughter and 2 sons who are 19 (ASD) & 21 and I try to limit how much pressure I lay
on them, so I do have a lot building up inside. Thank you for the luck! As a person who feels genuinely cursed, I do appreciate it 😊
@Cher_Scope, thank you for replying, sadly my appetite still hasn’t returned and I know it won’t be helping with my low mood, but I can’t manage to get anything past my lips. I feel really let down by my GP after their lacklustre attempt of filling out a report for me, I don’t know if I can trust them again with anything. Looking at my GP records, it’s very rare that I am quoted correctly or taken seriously and that’s a little disheartening.I feel like I’ve nagged my mental health worker too much trying to get her to send something in of her own accord because nobody will send her a form to fill out. She failed to get in touch with me after leaving a ‘last ditch’ message to call me back. In my naivety I thought she was being reluctant to do it any other way because she wanted to protect me from any misinformation going forward, but the reality is that it’s more likely because her contacting them herself means that the department doesn’t get paid so she’s not allowed to. Not that they would say that out loud.Anyway, I’m rambling more. I don’t know why I’m like this.Thanks for taking the time anyway, much appreciated 😊0 -
I think people need to understand, that the DWP and their agents are capable of almost anything, even things which defy logic.0
-
@rebel11 thank you for taking the time to reply.I’ve personally yet to come across anyone in a position of authority that has proven to me that any of them can be trusted. But then I’ve never met another person in general in reality that has proven it either. It’s been a lifetime of the same over and over right back to at least the age of 5 (first panic attack and full memory) I have serious trust issues now and as I’ve said before, it’s because I’m cursed!I will still keep hoping though 😊0
-
I'll be honest, I couldn't read all that I'm afraid. I fully appreciate the constant misunderstandings. I rarely seem to be understood myself, but trying to add more and more information just adds to the confusion. It's better to just lay out a few main points and let people ask you to clarify anything they haven't understood. Even then, some people will still misunderstand, but we just have to try and accept that and deal with it when it happens.
I did just want to highlight the point about healthy people being able to score points though. PIP is about how you are affected for more than half the time. So healthy people struggling with something even once a week wouldn't score them any points. It's not uncommon for people to score 0 points across the board when living seemingly very restricted lives. I did myself initially, and then at MR, and have seen it many times on here and other sources as well.0 -
@OverlyAnxious, thank you for your reply, I do appreciate it.Sadly I have been unable to abbreviate what I say, for the most part, for at least all of my adult life and I will often try to but end up rereading over and over what I’ve put and adding things to ‘clarify’ what I’m saying.It’s a symptom of my mental health condition and I couldn’t change it instantly even if I wanted to. I imagine once I actually manage to get the right therapy, I will have the opportunity to work on the way I communicate with others because as aware as I am that there is something inherently wrong with how I communicate, I can’t stop myself. In fact, the only time I don’t over explain or ramble about things that aren’t really relevant, is when I’m feeling suicidal.Anyway, appreciate your input. Take care 😊0
-
I can hear how you feel your mental health has an impact on the way you communicate at the moment @Idiosyncraticb.
This sounds really difficult. Hopefully, you will receive the therapy you need and deserve soon. In the meantime, bullet pointing things I want to say often helps me.
Do you think this is something you might find helpful too? There are also many other resources available on the internet if you Google something such as 'how to communicate succinctly'.
I hope you receive the support you need and deserve soon. Please don't hesitate to let us know if there's anything we can do to support you0 -
Hi @L_Volunteer, thank you for your reply.
I imagine that bullet points would be helpful and is something that over time I could adjust to.
I became completely socially isolated, shutting the world out about 3/4 years ago and I only really speak to my
neighbourhood coach on occasion, workmen who carry out repairs, and medical people for appointments etc. The only other people I speak to are my children who live with me (13,19,21) and I feel that they tolerate how I interact because that’s what they’re used to.When workmen have to come in to do repairs my anxiety kicks into overdrive and I can’t shut up, it’s actually embarrassing and makes me even more anxious and I do tend to cry when I catch myself being a bit much.So I’ve not had much opportunity to try and implement a way to communicate better with others having nobody else to talk to regularly over the last few years.Again thank you for your reply, I do really appreciate it 😊1 -
I can really hear how this has affected you @Idiosyncraticb and your social interaction, more specifically
Glad to hear there are things you think might be helpful though!
I think the fact you can recognise it is really key and also that you are wanting to change it. I believe in you, you'll get there with time, support, and opportunities to try0
Categories
- All Categories
- 14.4K Start here and say hello!
- 6.9K Coffee lounge
- 76 Games den
- 1.6K People power
- 113 Community noticeboard
- 22.3K Talk about life
- 5.1K Everyday life
- 87 Current affairs
- 2.3K Families and carers
- 839 Education and skills
- 1.8K Work
- 461 Money and bills
- 3.4K Housing and independent living
- 926 Transport and travel
- 669 Relationships
- 67 Sex and intimacy
- 1.4K Mental health and wellbeing
- 2.3K Talk about your impairment
- 850 Rare, invisible, and undiagnosed conditions
- 897 Neurological impairments and pain
- 2K Cerebral Palsy Network
- 1.2K Autism and neurodiversity
- 36.4K Talk about your benefits
- 5.7K Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- 18.7K PIP, DLA, ADP and AA
- 6.9K Universal Credit (UC)
- 5.2K Benefits and income