PIP help please

Mytimeisnear

Hello!

Nice to meet you 🙂 I am new to the forum 🙆‍♂️ I found it through google! Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place moderators I wasn't 100% sure.

I recently (September) applied for PIP having attempted to apply before but withdrawing both times due to genuine fear I would have to attend somewhere in person (I literally spend 95% of my time in my house) and only applied this time as I could do everything online or over the phone. When I did my assessment I felt like everything had gone okay despite me having issues with my memory. Following the assessment I asked for a recorded copy which I received and also asked for a copy of the decision report which I eventually got when I saw the decision report they had scored me 0 on everything and when I read why there were discrepancies things had been manipulated and so on also there were leading questions which I complained about I contacted DWP to state that I had raised a complaint about the assessment as I didn't believe it was accurate at all and shouldn't be relied on. Subsequently I got my decision letter which was a decline and that was even worse not only did it copy and paste a lot of the decision report it stated things such as 'During the assessment we could tell you weren't anxious and you had no issues with memory as you remembered everything' they also stated 'you can drive which requires a lot of the things you claim to lack' I never told them I could drive and I haven't driven since 2018 when I had a crash. I subsequently asked for a mandatory reconsideration. I forgot to mention the day before the decision letter was sent I contacted them with further evidence which I was told would be taken into account and it wasn't referenced at all on the letter it's quite compelling evidence in terms of MRI / MEG brain scans / brain wave analysis / neurocognative assesment / neurologist overview which showed brain damage and the start of what's a neurodegenerative disease but what we don't know as it requires further testing, on my neurocognative assesment my executive function was scored as extremely low which would correspond with a lot of the issues I was having.

Anyway yeasterday my assessment complaint came back where they essentially agreed with everything I had complained about - we agree that this wasn't of the standard we expect, there were leading questions, things were missed out we want to offer you £140 compensation (I declined) as I intend to take the complaint to the ICE as I think it's extremely poor way to treat people. Also they offered me another assessment which I declined as the first basically made me feel so much worse in my mental health, they made me feel like how I felt wasn't valid at all and the impact it had wasn't bad when in fact to me it is, and they said don't worry it's fine we'll find another way to look at it again, baring in mind DWP said they didn't request another assessment for the mandatory reconsideration.

So now I feel super depressed I wish I had never gone for PIP, I said before if I went for PIP and they legitimately took everything I said and decided I wasn't eligible for it I would have accepted it, but the fact they lied about what I said and I don't feel I've been fairly and impartially assessed now means I feel like I have to take action in terms of complaints and battle against DWP (not for the PIP) but actually for them to acknowledge that the process wasn't fair when I said i wanted to raise a complaint with DWP as well they said well pass it on to a case manager who will then decide if we log your complaint I said you're a Government organisation serving the public and in many cases dealing with vulnerable individuals provided it's a legitimate complaint I'm not really sure how you can refuse? provided it's not vexatious or malicious and it's genuine?

Has anyone ever had a similar situation in terms of capita and DWP working together on a mandatory reconsideration without further assessment despite the initial one being acknowledged as not accurate and below standard. Also I asked for the assessors qualifications and Capita stated she was a nurse - I'm a huge advocate of the NHS and I have a lot of love for doctors and nurses especially as when I was small with Brain cancer and meningitis they would play with me as i was too young to have friends around and they were super kind despite me being a bit of a nightmare so this isn't a criticism of nurses but how can someone who deals with mostly physical impairments on a daily basis fairly and accurately assess issues with mental health and brain disorders? even the experts who did the scan aren't sure 100% what's going on.

Secondly can DWP refuse to acknowledge a legitimate complaint and if they do can I just go to the ICE and say I'm logging a legitimate complaint but DWP are refusing to accept it - I have a lot of evidence, recorded phone calls etc.

Thanks for any help - apologies the post is so long 😣

jojowato

March 2023 I applied 1st time had my assessment with capita on my report basically turned everything around I said , took it to mr and tribunal still declined , this year I reapplied and had my assessment with Maximus this was November 14th I’ve had the dreaded text saying they haven’t made a decision yet but will write to me got that 2 day ago

Mytimeisnear

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/951348#Comment_951348

did you complain about your report though the initial one? They’ve acknowledged mine wasn’t done to the standard they expect in terms of information missing questioning not in line with PIPAG they’ve also technically lied on the complaint response by stating I quoted no motivation to how depression effects me when in fact i spoke for like 7/8 minutes about active suicidal feelings but yeah just wondered if someone who’d complained and had assessment acknowledged as being wrong how their journey ended up, good luck on your assessment result thanks for replying to my post

jojowato

no I didn’t complain as I didn’t know I could it’s all new to me I’ve only ever claimed ctc/uc for my children as before I fell ill I was healthy and worked full time also carer to my grandad and aunty (both passed during covid) so applying for pip and esa was all a shock to me I didn’t have a clue the Jobcenter helped me with my esa very nice people in my local job centre , yeah Maximus assessor actually said one of my conditions chiari malformation has come up a lot in her assessments with people my age born between 1980-1989 and asked if I was delivered by the metal forceps which I replied yes she said it seems to be common condition for people that age and where delivered by forceps as they stopped using the metal 1s in 1990 , I don’t know if this was a catch me out to see if I could hold a conversation or she was just been nice . Thank you for your reply and I hope u get somewhere with yours x

Mytimeisnear

ahhhhh okay! Fingers crossed for you hope you have a nice weekend :)

jojowato

@Mytimeisnear

got awarded pip SDL rate x