Hi! New member, PIP phone assessment, re: urinary incontinence

mayra

Hi,

I had a PIP assessment over the phone for a new application which is my first application. The assessor asked me lots of irrelevant questions and seemed to be keen to create reasons to deny me the benefits. I felt that her tone was sarcastic at times. She made me feel bad for applying for a benefit. I have changed my job because of this condition, now work at home although I tried to accept work outside home on two occasions to try and see whether I can manage it. My income has gone down and my expenses up because of this condition which started a year ago and worsened since. I made the application two months ago. After hearing a lot of stories about how dishonest the assessors can be, I wondered if I can get a copy of her report to check if she recorded our conversation accurately. Has anyone tried to do this? and what was the outcome? If she has lied in the report I will appeal anyway but I am trying to avoid the delay this would cause. Thank you for any responses. 

poppy123456

The assessor can't refuse you PIP because they don't make decisions. Only a decision maker can make a decision. The assessor makes recommendations only. Many people think the questions asked are irrelevant but they will be more relevant than you think they are. 

Please also be aware that the assessment process isn't there for them to write what you said word for word. It's for them to gather more evidence to support your claim. They then write the report which is their opinion based on what you said in the form, any additional evidence you sent and what you said during the assessment. 

Once the report is returned to DWP you can ring PIP to request a copy. Please note that it's a recommendation only. Whilst they mostly go with the report, it has been known for them to go against it. 

Whether it's possible to score enough of points needed for an award will totally depend on exactly how your conditions affect you. It's not awarded based on any diagnosis. 

Jimm_Scope

Hey @mayra, welcome to our community. I'm sorry you had a really bad experience with your assessment. What Poppy says about the assessment is true, but there can be bad assessors as well as good assessors. You can get the report once it is submitted to see what it recommends. If you feel it has misinterpreted things and the decision is not what you feel correct then there is the appeals process! 

You can read more about the appeals process here:  Appealing a DWP decision | Disability charity Scope UK

Please do let us know if you have any other questions or are unsure about anything

mayra

Thank you Poppy123456 and Jimm_Scope for your replies. I will contact them and ask for a copy of the recommendations. 

chiarieds

Hi @ mayra - & welcome to the community. Just to add to what poppy has said, the assessors are not dishonest, nor can you prove that they had any intent to lie. They consider what you've said, & then write their opinion in their report, which is just a recommendation. A decision maker will look at this report, your initial claim form & any evidence you'd sent. That's not to say that the assessor's tone was good, nor should you have been made to feel bad for applying.

Because of all these things it's not always a good idea to ask for a copy of an assessor's report, rather wait for your decision letter. If needed, it's this decision letter that you need to respond to, not the assessor's report. It's a bit premature at this stage to consider you might need to appeal, at the moment you just need to wait for your decision letter before you could do a Mandatory Reconsideration if indeed needed, where another decision maker would look at everything again.

As poppy rightly says, PIP isn't about any diagnosis rather how your disability affects certain aspects of daily living &/mobility.

mayra

Just wanted to ask a question to people who have more knowledge of this system. Do the assessors have access to DWP computing system? For example, can they see if you previously applied for any other benefits, people who are registered at your address, your communications with them? 

poppy123456

They will know if you’ve previously applied for that benefit and been refused or you already have an award in place.

They wont know if you claim any other benefits unless you told them. They certainly won’t have access to any information of anyone you may live with, unless you tell them. 

mayra

Thank you Poppy123456