Recording your PIP assessment

twonker

cristobal said:

@poppy123456....sorry but I still disagree  and I struggling to understand why you believe  that a dictaphone that records onto a cassette tape would not be allowed. 

Let's move on.....

Maybe because the tape that you will be using is a non standard one and cannot be played back on an ordinary recorder. Dictaphone tapes are specialised miniature ones not normally used in an ordinary day setting. Best stick to CDs 

Icon_Missing

"hence why PIP assessors are independent" They damn well are not independent! They work for and take their instructions from the DWP, they are sub-contracted companies! Oh and Atos were banned from working in many States in the USA for it's fraudulent practices, they should have been the last company the DWP (Don't Wanna Payout) hired

CockneyRebel

Even if you do record an assessment it is of little use other than to remind you what went on. To be admissible as evidence the recording would need to be professionally transcribed, and it is hard enough trying to get relevant evidence read. CM's and tribunals will not take the time to read through the transcript of an hours assessment

twonker

Icon_Missing said:

"hence why PIP assessors are independent" They damn well are not independent! They work for and take their instructions from the DWP, they are sub-contracted companies! Oh and Atos were banned from working in many States in the USA for it's fraudulent practices, they should have been the last company the DWP (Don't Wanna Payout) hired

Yes they are contracted by the DWP to carry out an independent assessment as to your claim for the benefit. No doubt you would be jumping up and down if the DWP were to carry out these assessments! They used to via inhouse doctors, then people complained that they weren't independent! As for your GP they too aren't independent either. Who would you suggest should carry out these assessments.

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!

twonker

CockneyRebel said:

Even if you do record an assessment it is of little use other than to remind you what went on. To be admissible as evidence the recording would need to be professionally transcribed, and it is hard enough trying to get relevant evidence read. CM's and tribunals will not take the time to read through the transcript of an hours assessment

Totally correct. The cost of having that transcription done would be beyond their household budget.

cristobal

CockneyRebel said:

Even if you do record an assessment it is of little use other than to remind you what went on. To be admissible as evidence the recording would need to be professionally transcribed, and it is hard enough trying to get relevant evidence read. CM's and tribunals will not take the time to read through the transcript of an hours assessmen

In my case I found recording extremely useful. Here’s why:-

My assessment was appalling. I’m trying to avoid the ‘honest Joe the claimant vs nasty assessor’ debate again but the report that the assessor produced was so riddled with ‘errors’ that it bore no relation to the interview that had taken place. One example - the mobility box was so bad that if you take out everything that was wrong, misunderstood or a lie, there was nothing left. A blank box!

I complained to the assessment provider who fobbed me off but eventually they listened to the recording. The original report was re-written, based on the original interview. It was so bad that only three of the original points scores remained the same, and these were where we agreed on 0. Everything else was increased.If I had needed a transcript I would have done it myself, although I acknowledge that this does take some time.

I accept that every case is different but, in my experience, I can only say that I would have been refused PIP if I hadn’t recorded the interview. Definitely. 

As I suggested to @poppy123456 it’s obvious that there is disagreement on this. My advice remains the same and it’s for the OP to decide whether to take it or not…

poppy123456

@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.

cristobal

@ilovecats - sorry to harp on here but I'm getting confused now. Can you point me to where in the guidance it mentions about being "freely played back"?? 

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?

cristobal

@ilovecats - thanks. I'm still sticking to my original opinion but thanks to giving everyone yours....

cristobal

In case anyone is interested you can get a cassette recorder on Ebay for about £15 each. (other sites are available)

Be careful if you go for a dual recorder because some of them will only record one tape at a time...

twonker

cristobal said:

In case anyone is interested you can get a cassette recorder on Ebay for about £15 each. (other sites are available)

Be careful if you go for a dual recorder because some of them will only record one tape at a time...

http://www.neal.co.uk/Products/9221p-portable-interview-recorder/

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!

twonker

cristobal said:

@ilovecats - sorry to harp on here but I'm getting confused now. Can you point me to where in the guidance it mentions about being "freely played back"?? 

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?

It is simply common sense. For a start you would have difficulty in finding new miniature tapes with all of the seals intact.

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

wildlife

This is so sad. If assessments were done honestly and correctly there would be need to even think about recording them. 

Antonia_Alumni

Hi all,

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.

Icon_Missing

cristobal said:

In case anyone is interested you can get a cassette recorder on Ebay for about £15 each. (other sites are available)

Be careful if you go for a dual recorder because some of them will only record one tape at a time...

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?

Icon_Missing

 wildlife said:

This is so sad. If assessments were done honestly and correctly there would be need to even think about recording them. /politics/disability-benefit-assessors-trouser

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

cristobal

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...

Icon_Missing

"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

cristobal

@Icon_Missing..... I've every confidence that 99.9% of assessments are done properly. 

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!)

Antonia_Alumni

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