What is ATOS and the DWP doing?

PaulR
PaulR Community member Posts: 4 Listener
edited October 2017 in PIP, DLA, and AA
Can anyone help me with this? I have been getting PIP since it came in but after a 'Renewal' at disgracefully got '0' points across the board. I'm not going into details about my conditions but suffice to say I'm currently under two specialist for long-term care. The ATOS assessment was so bad that the DWP have sent it back to them to re-write and re-assess it. Has this happened to anyone else? I've had to cancel all my therapy due to having to travel up to 40 miles on public transport to get to the centre. If the DWP is admitting that my assessment was so bad why haven't they put my PIP award back in payment until ATOS re-assess me? Or is it just a ploy to give them more time to clear up their mess? I used to be a Housing Benefits assessor so I know all the tricks to get more time to assess claims

Comments

  • wildlife
    wildlife Community member Posts: 1,289 Trailblazing
    edited October 2017
    @PaulR You can probably get answers to your questions by ringing DWP and asking for a Decision Maker to call you back. They will allocate a 48 hour period at your convenience to ring you to talk about what is happening. I appreciate you know how gov. dpts. work but would recommend you make an official complaint to ATOS or IAS as they are now called and to make it clear to DWP that you've done that and tell them maybe in a letter to their complaints Dpt. what effect this has had on your ability to travel for treatment. It looks like a Decision Maker has noted that your your report is very different to your evidence so that is good as this is usually ignored in many cases. It will have been sent back for a different Assessor to look at it or, if you're lucky someone higher up. Check when you speak to DWP that this is still at the first decision stage and isn't being treated as an MR even though you haven't reached that stage.I also suggest you repost in Askabenefitadvisor as they may have different advice for you.
  • Tephy
    Tephy Community member Posts: 13 Contributor
    edited October 2017
    I was told that ATOS are now trading under several different names HASS being one of them. I had a problem and the person at DWP said that i should not have been told certain things as they ( HASS ) had no control over that. From my experience I would complain to the DWP as I feel from personal experience that ATOS are not that fussed. I have transtec patches which are a controlled drug ATOS ( HASS ) told me "we are not interested in patches " The DWP were aware of what they were and said that they needed to know I was on them and what strength .. just a rough outline of what I experienced 
  • wildlife
    wildlife Community member Posts: 1,289 Trailblazing
    @PaulR Just a thought, I would also request a copy of the report that DWP say is not up to standard if you haven't already done so. Then it can be used in any complaint or compared to your evidence or any future replacement report ATOS produce..
     
  • Matilda
    Matilda Community member Posts: 2,592 Championing
    @PaulR

    If you travel to an assessment centre by public transport the assessor is likely to assume that you have no mobility problems.  Assessment companies will refund taxi fares if you arrange this in advance.  Phone the assessment company's helpline given on their correspondence.
  • PaulR
    PaulR Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    We have called the DWP already, it was Decision Maker who told me that my assessment report was being sent back to ATOS to look at it again, I ask him who exactly is making the final decision on my Renewal Claim- ATOS or the DWP? He wouldn't answer. I have already put in an official complaint about both the ATOS assessor and the DWP Decision Maker. I ask the NEW DWP Decision Maker if my claim was now being re-assessed then why isn't my PIP back in payment until the SECOND decision is made? I also asked him about what happens if ATOS still decide to give me '0' points across the board, do I get a 'Reconsideration on a Reconsideration'? The NEW DWP Decision Maker couldn't answer and just got confused. I've contacted a benefit specialist at MIND and he said that he'd NEVER HEARD of the DWP sending a report back to ATOS to re-assess it. It just shows how bad my assessment was. I would advise anybody who lives in the East Yorkshire area not to request a home assessment. 
  • CockneyRebel
    CockneyRebel Community member Posts: 5,195 Championing
    There is an internal process where reports are selected at random and go back for "audit" by a senior assessor, bit like quality control. This may what has happened. I haven't heard it happening lately though, probably due to the ammount of assessment they have to get through
  • wildlife
    wildlife Community member Posts: 1,289 Trailblazing
    edited October 2017
    @PaulRsounds like you're on the ball. It's not just home assessment reports that are bad, there are many done in assessment centres that are not accurate accounts of what took place. I didn't get anywhere with my complaints but you can take them to a higher level once you've been through the ATOS or DWP complaints procedure. I don't know who you spoke to at MIND but it's standard practice and part of the normal procedure for a PIP claim assessment report to be sent back to ATOS to be reassessed, just not before the first Decision as yours has been. People get confused as to who makes the decision but anything to do with your Medical condition or any new evidence you send in should be seen by an assessor as DWP have no medical knowledge so they have to rely on the opinion of the assessors as to how many points to award you. At the MR a different assessor will look at the claim and report back to DWP as to whether any changes can be made. There are cases of DM's changing what the assessor has recommended but that's when evidence is easy to understand and obviously contradicts the findings at your assessment. People reporting this may also not realize that their claim was sent back to ATOS while they were waiting for the outcome of their MR.  I'm only going by my own experience and what I was told by a DM when I asked why my claim kept being returned to ATOS. I had 2 MR's so don't give up if they say your only option is to go to Appeal you can argue in your case that you didn't ask for an MR therefore you haven't had one and even if you had DWP can change your award anytime between MR and Appeal but you have to keep asking them to look at the claim again. Treat the complaints you've made as seperate to the claim itself. Hope that makes sense. 
  • PaulR
    PaulR Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Don't get me started on assessment centres. I had to visit the one in Bridlington about 4 years ago. Not only did this so-called health professional put down that I was a self employed business man when I was actually unemployed, but she also put down that I had just come back from Scotland from a 'house hunting' trip with a view to moving my fictitious business north of the border when in fact I had gone to Scotland for a weeks holiday. The DWP apologised for stopping my PIP at that time and apologised that their Decision Maker NEVER picked up on any of these GLARING MISTAKES. ATOS believed that their assessor had done no wrong and that I MUST HAVE TOLD ABOUT MY BUSINESS AND MOVE TO SCOTLAND.
  • PaulR
    PaulR Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    I'm happy to inform you all that my PIP is now back in payment. It's only taken the DWP 3 weeks to sought it out. I'm now awaiting an apology from both the DWP and ATOS but I doubt very much I'll get one. The lesson from this tale is to COMPLAIN AND COMPLAIN AGAIN.
  • Pippa_Alumni
    Pippa_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,761 Championing
    Glad to hear you've had a positive outcome, @PaulR! :)
  • CockneyRebel
    CockneyRebel Community member Posts: 5,195 Championing
    Great news, thanks for letting us know

    CR
  • Mattkimclarke
    Mattkimclarke Community member Posts: 5 Listener
    Is that true?  If you travel by public transport etc?  I HAD TOO. I donyd have family or support or anyone to help!  I had no idea I could have got a cab.  I hobbled like a snail, my husband gave me all the bus info but I had no choice I had to get my own way?  I walk in agony , with stick and like the elephant Man!   I hope she is fair this time I had a very traumatic experience first time around, I swear if I don't get enhanced mob I will loose it.  Now I'm petrified.  I can't remember the actual day clearly as my meds make me a bit  otout if it.  What happens when a person has no other option!  I feel sick with worry the assessor this time was lovely, patient and understanding but I have heard that's all an act too. God this system is so unfair!