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Recording your PIP assessment
Catastrophe
Member Posts: 21 Courageous
I think that if you have to go for an Assessment, to tell the Assessor that you wish to record the Assessment on your Mobile as your evidence if you are not satisfied with the outcome. I was told my Assessor was a Paramedic but so have a lot of other Claimants. This being allegedly the case, I cannot understand why any Paramedic would be working as a Claims Assessor. Most Assessors have not one medical qualification and Decision Makers are only interpreting Acts or Statutes but only a Judge of the High Bench can really make Decisions supported by appropriate medical support form a General Practitioner or Hospital Consultant. These Clerks paid from the public purse must also be monitored to ensure that PIP claimants get the funds they are entitled to. If it comes to a dispute, you cannot rely on just hearsay. However, a video or voice recording might just be all the evidence you need. They must be held accountable for their Decisions which effect your life. It appears that many Claimants after completing Renewals have either lost their entitlement completely or have had their PIP reduced to the standard rate. If these public servants are on notice that everything is being recorded for your own peace of mind, it might make them sit up and take notice of your psychiatric and physical disabilities rather than just deliberately ticking the wrong box in order to reduce payments from the public coffers whilst these Decision Makers and Assessors do not seem to have any problem at all taking their salaries from the public purse. If your Assessor says they are a Nurse or Paramedic or in fact any title that implies they are medical qualified, this needs to be checked out with the appropriate organisation such as The Royal College of Nursing. Privilege and fancy titles can sometimes hide a multitude of sins. Good luck everyone.
This discussion has been closed.
Replies
Welcome to the community, the rules around recording your assessment are very strict and you cannot record it on your phone.
Your recording equipment must be able to produce two identical copies of the recording at the end of the consultation, either in audio cassette or CD format. You will need to give one copy of the recording to the Health Professional undertaking your consultation, at the end of the consultation.
So although I understand your frustration, we must point out that it isnt as simple as recording on a mobile device. Also covertly recording isnt a good idea as if you are found out, they can halt the assessment and I don't believe that the recording would be admissible.
Senior online community officer
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547146/pip-assessment-guide.pdf
CR
im future I will only be asking for home assessments and in my own house I can record whatever I want. We have cctv anyway so my partner can keep an eye on me whilst she’s at work.
My GP is a little annoyed with me too and said I should have asked for a home assessment and in future that what I will do.
Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I'm due to have my assessment on April 1st, no really! I've asked for it to be recorded only to be told that the onus is on me to record and provide the equipment to do so. Surely Atos - yes it's those [removed by moderator] - should me made to provide the recording equipment if they want it done in certain formats? Who uses cassettes nowadays?
Although I've not done this myself, I'd advise just getting a couple of cheap dictaphones off Ebay.
As with any recording make sure that you are familiar with the equipment before you go, and that the batteries are fully charged etc.
Take spare batteries and tapes.
Do a soundcheck before you start - get everyone present to introduce themselves and then play it back to make sure that you've got the sound levels correct etc.
Good luck!
I had a great result going direct to Amber Rudd (I suggest as many people as possible go direct to her to show the level of contempt they have at the various disability denial factories) so I've gone back to her office. I want a home recording carried out, Atos have stated what format they will accept they can provide the equipment, I don't see why I should lose out financially because of it. I didn't ask for the assessment so it's up to the assessors to bring what is needed.
I'm toying with asking an interested local newspaper report if he would like to sit in
However, when I say 'dictaphone' I mean one of the hand-held devices that people in the long distant past used to record notes etc. The one I had recorded onto a cassette tape and would have thought would fully comply with the DWP guidelines. I certainly can't find any mention of them not being allowed although you are correct - laptops and mobile phones are specifically excluded.
Also, for clarity, you do not need 'permission' to record an assessment. Capita's guidelines are that you 'notify' them in advance, and comply with their conditions - i.e. you are telling them that you are recording the assessment and not seeking permission.
I fully agree that it's not a good idea to carry out a recording without telling them first - in any event I would have thought it was quite difficult to do covertly.
the claimant must be able to provide a complete and accurate copy of the audio recording to the HP at the end of the consultation. For this reason, certain devices that are capable of editing, real-time streaming or video recording the session are not approved. Non-approved devices include (but are not limited to) PCs, tablets, smart phones, MP3 players, smart watches, and devices that are not capable of providing a verifiable media copy that can be easily checked during the assessment. Acceptable formats for such recordings are restricted to CD and audio cassette only
Let's move on.....
Likewise the DWP would not be happy with a GP certifying someone for PIP, they could well be biased in favour of the claimant/patient, hence why PIP assessors are independent.
In fact, and unless you live with your GP, how are they to assess how you would fit the PIP descriptors? They would only know if you told them which then is no more than, my patient has informed me....
You could tell the GP anything, the truth or a complete lie.
As for what happened in the USA has absolutely nothing to do what they do in the UK. Our laws and regulations are totally different. You could say that all murderers in the UK should be on death row as in the States!
To end on a positive note - what equipment do you suggest is suitable?/ There seems to be an ever increasing list of what's not allowed. What is allowed?
Be careful if you go for a dual recorder because some of them will only record one tape at a time...
That is the type of dual CD recorder used to record interviews/assessments.
As for messing about with two tape recorders it may go against you if you show both physical and mental competence when setting up the machines on the assessor's desk!
Then you would have to think if it would be reasonable for the assessing company to have similar machines to listen to one of the tapes. Full size tapes are pretty standard, CD's more so.
However if you really want to demonstrate your ability as a 'sound engineer' to the assessor get yourself a couple of these machines!!!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANTIQUE-SOUND-SCRIBER-RECORD-ENGRAVER-RECORDER-RECORDING-DISCS/283425194910?hash=item41fd75439e:g:stMAAOSwMoZcgKgD
It is important to remember that words read online don’t always convey tone or context and so may be misinterpreted, therefore it is important to consider language and audience. Thank you.
Sorry but I still say THEY are doing the assessments so the onus should be on Atos etc to provide the recording equiptment. Why isn't Scope demanding they do this?
Having to deal with companies that have been banned in parts of America for their lies regarding disabled people then assessments will never be done honestly, also paying extra for carrying out more than 4 assessments a day https://www.mirror.co.uk/news-50-12535091 encourages them to rattle through as many assessments-denials as possible
I’m very disappointed at the tone of some of the posts on here, and the wave of negativity that i appear to have generated.
I do not claim to be a sound engineer but as I mentioned do have experience of making sound recordings and also tape recording interviews when i last worked. I recorded my own PIP assessment, and using this combined experience I was trying to offer some positive advice about what, in my opinion, was a good way to proceed.
In short, I was trying to help.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but unfortunately they all seem to reasons why you shouldn’t tape record interviews. I am giving reasons why I think it’s a good idea - it prevented me being stitched up and it might do the same for others, and it is useful to have a record of what was said. I have produced a transcript - in my experience there’s no need to get someone else to do it.
@poppy123456 - you commented….
”@ilovecats thank you for confirming that. This is what i thought. I just didn't want others reading this thread and thinking that they could use dictaphones.”
This is out of order and I’m very surprised at you. It smacks of “I was right all along” and is dismissive of the advice I was offering. Like a lot of people I value Ilovecats input but he/she certainly is not the final arbiter of what’s allowed and what’s not. I've rung Capita three times and got different advice every time - no-one knows..
Finally don’t forget that your post saying that you have to ring and ask ‘permission’ is completely wrong, and hasn't yet been corrected...
"Everyone is entitled to their opinion but unfortunately they all seem to reasons why you shouldn’t tape record interviews"
Oh but you should tape these devious swine's, the onus will be on whoever is assessed to prove the benefit denial assessors have lied, if you say they did then it's your word against theirs, if you've recorded it then you have proof, a good example is here https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/where-respect-grandad-brain-tumour-13160844
The reason I recorded mine was just,as another poster has said, so that I had a record of what went on.The fact that i ended up with a recording of a stitch-up was just fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it!)
We are now closing this thread.
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