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Had assessment today
Marcia54
Member Posts: 8 Connected
Had my assessment today omg!!!! The assessor drove me mad repeating same questions over & over. 😫 Took all relevant documents with me but when i asked her if she wanted to see them i got a big fat noooo back?
Replies
Why are these assessors allowed to brow beat people into giving up and just saying 'if you say so'?
That type of questioning was outlawed by the government in 1984 when they also banned interviewers assaulting the person being questioned.
OK yes it applied to the police and most other government departments but seemingly not the DWP.
Bring back Reagan of the Flying Squad and give him a job as a PIP assessor!
I think they actually ask the questions in the order they appear on the assessor's software, hence the repetition. The reason I say this is I had my PIP assessment last Thursdays, and I could see her screen. The questions seemed repetitive to me too. So my answers were equally repetitive. 😊
I started every answer with 'As I stated on my PIP form....' and 'As I said a few minutes ago'. She really was being instructed to ask the same ruddy question repeatedly so I made sure the Descision Maker know *I* know what's what.
The three that I have had the misfortune to come by for my PIP award were in my opinion complete amateurs.
There is one thing in an interview that is the most powerful tool you can have for both the interviewer as well as the interviewee and that is silence.
Human nature is such that when someone imposes silence either after a question is asked or an answer has been given, the opposite party has an unbreakable need to fill that silence.
I used it in all three of my assessments and the assessors didn't really know what to do or say simply because they were reading from a script. they had to move on to the next question. I honestly think that they had no idea what was happening.
Another trick is to never give the investigator anything that they could latch onto to form part of another question.
As an example:
Do you have a dog - yes, what type of dog - one with 4 legs, what is it's colour - black, do you take it for a walk - no, who walks the dog - not me.
All that has been gathered from that is that I have a black dog who has 4 legs and I don't walk it.
As I have said the assessors are no more trained in interviewing techniques than my goldfish is.
giving no answer, a stupid answer or being rude isn’t helpful. If you give evasive answers how can they make an award?
To be fair i wish i would have done this.
I was very polite. honest and explained everything properly. She was rude, arrogant and made up a pack of lies on the report to award me zero points that i was lucky enough to be able to prove were lies at the MR stage. I wish i would have just acting thick and answered like that. Least i would have been happy when i got a copy of my report that made no sense as at least there was a reason for it lol
If someone is rude and arrogant how would you expect the claimant to be in return?
If you go into the assessment expecting to see a report that is far from the truth then it doesn't matter what you say or how you say it.
I found all three of mine comical in a way, all they did was ask questions that were prompted by some computer software - where is the professionalism in that? At the least I expected to be interviewed by someone that had experience in obtaining information out of people.
I work on the basis that if someone is arrogant or rude with me then
don't expect me to be friendly and accommodating. Play right with me and treat me with respect and that is what you would get back from me.
I keep saying this - are these assessors supposed to be able to interview someone and no matter what they are faced with should be able to extract the relevant information needed?
I fear not. Well from my own experience they aren't
Clearly if you don’t engage you can’t expect any helpful outcome.
Firstly because my DLA was changing to PIP. At the time I considered that it would be a simple transfer over given that in 2011 I was re-awarded DLA at the high rate for both components and the application was backed up with good relevant evidence. How wrong was I. It came back with 0 points. I asked for a MR and based on the DLA evidence that I had sent in as well as reports from the spinal unit + a 3 page report from my GP I was given a revised decision of Enhanced Care & Mobility.
The second time I applied 2 years later, the same thing happened again 0 points to Enhanced both via a MR.
The third time that I applied 2 years later the same thing happened - 0 points but this time the MR came back saying no change.
In all of that not one assessment was carried out in accordance of their guidance and not one report was actually fair, complete or truthful.
I applied throughout on the basis of that I knew what I was entitled to which had been evidenced by the changes at MR stage.
Engaging?
As I have said earlier it all depends how someone treats me.
Overall there is my mental illness which really hit home with me throughout these assessments. Evidence of the effects of PTSD & Depression and how they impact on my life were completely dismissed by the assessors. In fact one assessor came up with 14 or so different reasons why I was not suffering from mental health issues.
I have said what I expected to happen and I also expected the DWP to re-examine my evidence which they did twice and in doing so dramatically increased my award. The third time I had had enough. The thought of 2 yearly assessments for the rest of my life (70 now) gave me the reason to stop the claim.