PIP assessments

hjsrj2024

Morning everyone. Just looking for a bit of advice as I'm not particularly clued up on these matters and I can't find info online..

I have had my PIP assessment rescheduled 4 times now. Firstly, they gave me an initial app and I said it may be difficult to attend due to time and location because of the school run but I said I would still attempt to attend but the guy on the phone insisted that he would rebook it for a telephone consultation. On the day of the assessment, I had a phonecall to tell me that it is being rescheduled due to assessor sickness so it was rebooked again. On the day of this assessment, I sat by the phone for over an hour but the time came and went with no call. I rang them and they confirmed the assessor is still off sick, it was not my fault (ie missed call or no signal etc) and that no telephone call had been attempted therefore the assessment was being rescheduled again. They decided to give me an assessment for this morning at 8am. I went through security etc then she asked me if anyone else was present and I said that my son was home as its 8am on a Monday morning during half term. She asked me if I was in "a safe, private space" to which I confirmed. She then put me on hold for over 10 minutes and came back and told me she can't do the assessment due to my child being in the house.. Is this correct? She told me to ring the advice line for more information, but the woman there seemed to not know either however they just kept reiterating its about "health and safety". Anyone heard of this before? TIA x

durhamjaide2001

Hi and welcome to the community unfortunately I'm not clever enough to help with PIP but what I can do is welcome you into this forum.

I would recommend to start off in the coffee lounge for some light hearted conversation and then move onto the games den for some fun

Morgan_Scope

Good morning @hjsrj2024

How frustrating to have had so many assessments rescheduled! Have you been given a time or date for another one?

In general, PIP assessments are supposed to be conducted in a safe environment, and it seems they may have interpreted the presence of your child as a potential issue, either regarding your ability to speak freely or whether the discussions were appropriate for a child. Assessors often have strict guidelines about conducting assessments, which may include concerns about privacy and confidentiality. They might have felt that having a child present could compromise that. However, it’s worth questioning whether this is common practice, especially for telephone assessments. I have attended PIP assessments where young children were present, and this issue wasn’t raised before.

hjsrj2024

Thanks for you reply. I am assuming that's what they were getting at, yes. However, I had told them I was in a separate room and the woman on the advice line was a bit flustered when I asked her whether the assessor should have continued if I was in a different room regardless of whether he was in the house. I got the feeling she wanted to say that the assessment should have still taken place but wasn't able to so had just gone with 'I don't know' to be on the safe side. I'd obviously asked why no-one had stated previously that children were unable to be present within the same building prior but again, 'I don't know'..

I haven't been given any new date for yet another assessment, only to ring them back next week to see where I'm at. All quite stressful really 😫