ATOS LETTER

janice_in_wonderland

Yes @Matilda

If it wasn't for following in here and a good friend coming with me to the assessment saying she's my witness as we all feel anxious about assessors lies I don't know how I'd feel so I'm very grateful 

wildlife

Hi@ janice in wonderland, If you want someone to be able to talk for you they can become your appointee. You just have to ask DWP and they arrange a home visit with you both present to check you are not able to deal with your benefit yourself and that you're both happy to do this. Your appointee can then ring on your behalf and all mail will go to them. They should also be able to answer questions in the assessment but not sure. You would have to make sure you were happy to hand over control so a trusted family member is best.  

janice_in_wonderland

@wildlife I had no idea so thank you for letting me know 

Can anyone be an appointee?
Friends or relatives?
Can they change at any time if one of them is unavailable? 

Only my my close friend & family know how unpredictable and unstable my health can be 

I learned to hide illness as a child so nobody sees what's going on inside and judge 

im an intelligent person but don't always cope both mentally and physically although I try and like most people who feel frustrated with re why should we be expected to look awful all the time?
I feel like shaving my hair again so I can conserve energy but it's one of my better points everyone says don't do it 

once again thank you 

wildlife

Yes anyone can be your appointee it's up to you and the person you choose to agree and ask the DWP. It's not possible to change the person unless you go through the process again to change which would take time and confuse DWP. They're bad enough now with straight forward things. I was my son's appointee back in 2011 and my MP's secretary had to ring the DWP as after I was officially nominated they kept sending mail to my son who can't deal with it. But the option of having an appointee is there for anyone. As I said you need to be sure you want to hand over control to someone else. It's really for people who can't deal with their own affairs like dementia sufferers or people with LD. But any medical condition applies you just have to show you're not able to do it yourself. Good Luck..

janice_in_wonderland

Ok once thank you @wildlife and to everyone else on here as such valuable advice and guidance are shared