PIP assessment at time I can't do, what can I do?

sarsyb52

hi I was due a phone assessment for my pip review yesterday at 1.30 a lady from pip called at 1 o’clock to say the assessment would be late , my carer was on her way but going to a family funeral afterwards, she did not have time to stay for another few hours , the lady turned this on me and was rude ! She asked me when the lady died and what off it was brain cancer misdiagnosed as ear infection she then told me oh that’s a quick funeral ! I explained my carers have children and I can’t do a 9 am appointment as they have children . I had a panick attack and had been up all night with anxiety 😥 I’ve been on DLA ,Pip 30 years and I’m no better , today I recieved a text to say an appointment is made for 9 am 7 January video call I don’t understand why they’ve done this but it’s going to be so much harder as I have social anxiety I can’t talk on the phone for long without breaking down what can I do

poppy123456

I'm sorry to the person on the phone was rude to you. You can put in a complaint about that to the assessment providers.

The issue with later appointments is that they may not always run on time because the people before you may have gone over with the time allowed for their assessment. When this happens it delays the time for the next person. Pretty much the same with a lot of other appointments in person and they don't always run on time.

Is there anyone else that can sit with you during that early appointment? The problem you have now is that you can only cancel one appointment. If you would prefer telephone, rather than video call you can change that.

sarsyb52

Hi , my daughters keeping my grandson off school for the morning 🤷🏻‍♀️which I didn’t want , she’s going to ring and explain that I can’t cope with talking to strangers face to face and could it be a phone call instead of video , I don’t understand why they have changed it in the first place ? Just feels a bit personal or maybe I’m overthinking things 🤦🏻‍♀️ Thank you for the advice

poppy123456

There shouldn't be a problem changing it to telephone. There's many people that can't do video assessments for one reason or another.