PIP home assessment - worried about how I will explain to assessor
lottie57
Online Community Member Posts: 3 Listener
i have a home visit with an. Assesser this week I have arthritis basically everywhere Sometimes I need help to get out of bed and to stand up. Some days I am still in pain but can manage by myself. I find it hard enough to explain to my family at times how bad the pain can be as they can’t see it , my worry is how do I get it across to this person who doesn’t know me
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lottie57 said:i have a home visit with an. Assesser this week I have arthritis basically everywhere Sometimes I need help to get out of bed and to stand up. Some days I am still in pain but can manage by myself. I find it hard enough to explain to my family at times how bad the pain can be as they can’t see it , my worry is how do I get it across to this person who doesn’t know me
Hello @lottie57 ? The best thing to do both with the application form and in the assessment is to describe what your worst days are like, and be very clear about what you CANNOT do. Don't 'put a brave face on it' or struggle to do something that you cannot do on your worst days. Good luck!1 -
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Why oh why do people continually advise others that the correct way to fill out a PIP form and/or deal with a face to face assessment is to describe their worst day?Gaina said:
Hello @lottie57 ? The best thing to do both with the application form and in the assessment is to describe what your worst days are like, and be very clear about what you CANNOT do. Don't 'put a brave face on it' or struggle to do something that you cannot do on your worst days. Good luck!
Do that and what you are saying is that every day of your life is like the worst day. i have yet to meet any disabled person that would agree that that is possible. There are good, better and bad days. Keep it truthful and above all, believable.
Again the same goes with saying that you cannot do anything. The assessor and the DWP will see straight through that.
In the end those that have gone down that road, they are leaving themselves wide open to be prosecuted for benefit fraud at some time in the future..
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I would strongly recommend you have at one or more people present as with my assessment and others I know of have had their words twisted/wrongly interpreted by assess officer. I was told to state how bad I was at my worst, as I have more bad days than good. I hope you get an understanding assessor. Please if you get your money stopped or reduced fight, too many have given up and surely there is some help out there for us!
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Yadnad said:
Why oh why do people continually advise others that the correct way to fill out a PIP form and/or deal with a face to face assessment is to describe their worst day?Gaina said:
Hello @lottie57 ? The best thing to do both with the application form and in the assessment is to describe what your worst days are like, and be very clear about what you CANNOT do. Don't 'put a brave face on it' or struggle to do something that you cannot do on your worst days. Good luck!
Do that and what you are saying is that every day of your life is like the worst day. i have yet to meet any disabled person that would agree that that is possible. There are good, better and bad days. Keep it truthful and above all, believable.
Again the same goes with saying that you cannot do anything. The assessor and the DWP will see straight through that.
In the end those that have gone down that road, they are leaving themselves wide open to be prosecuted for benefit fraud at some time in the future..
The reason people are advised to describe a bad day makes sense; when you see the assessors 'score card', it shows that points are awarded for the Descriptor the claimant meets more than 50% of the time. I'm NOT for one second suggest anyone says anything untrue - if they ask how much of the time you are unable to complete the activity and you feel it's less than 50% of the time*, then say so - but be realistic about what you can't do and how often you're unable to do it.*I was asked how many days out of a 7 day period I was affected.1 -
Totally agree with those advise that people give to tell them everyday is your worst day, is actually the worst advise anyone can possibly give! Makes me so angry.
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Nopoppy123456 said:Totally agree with those advise that people give to tell them everyday is your worst day, is actually the worst advise anyone can possibly give! Makes me so angry.
I think the whole system is a **** shoot (I mean the actual game, I'm not swearing! ?) and if an assesor is going to write an error filled report then they will.
I do understand why people might focus on the negative, though because this current application process is so crude, you could quite easily end up with far less assistance than you actually need.1 -
I'd make sure you have someone with you and record it. I'd also ask what their professional expertise is. The upper tribunal have dismissed the 50% of the time thing in favour of the context of a normal life. Significant pain is in the regulations as is the time it takes to do something and any rest you need to take between activities.
Honestly, my experience has been the more written evidence you have ( medical or letter from GP family etc stating how your disability effects you,,the better your chances are).2 -
@clarabelle The upper tribunal dismissed the 50% thing! Do you have a link? What does context of a normal life mean?
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just a thought, why dont you start writing things down? i.e; things you want to remember, diary of a week, things you need to tell the assess officer
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That actually depends on the assessor and how they want the assessment to be carried out. I have said this before, some will eagerly engage with the claimant whilst others will expect a yes/no answer only and if trying to say anything more will be dismissed generally by the assessor moving swiftly onto the next question.sue1965 said:just a thought, why dont you start writing things down? i.e; things you want to remember, diary of a week, things you need to tell the assess officer
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I just take my mother along with me and let her do all the talking, as I am not very good at explaining things myself!
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Who is being assessed you or your mother?Issarian1993 said:I just take my mother along with me and let her do all the talking, as I am not very good at explaining things myself!
If it is you, then the assessor will expect you to answer the questions. It doesn't matter how difficult you find it. I was advised for my first PIP assessment by the receptionist at the assessing centre that there was no need for my wife to go with me as she was not being assessed - hence I had to leave her in reception waiting until it had finished.
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I have Asperger's Syndrome and a really good relationship with my mother, so much so that she has permission to act and make decisions on my behalf
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I have Asperger's Syndrome and a really good relationship with my mother, so much so that she has permission to act and make decisions on my behalfYadnad said:
Who is being assessed you or your mother?Issarian1993 said:I just take my mother along with me and let her do all the talking, as I am not very good at explaining things myself!
If it is you, then the assessor will expect you to answer the questions. It doesn't matter how difficult you find it. I was advised for my first PIP assessment by the receptionist at the assessing centre that there was no need for my wife to go with me as she was not being assessed - hence I had to leave her in reception waiting until it had finished.
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I had the same worries, but i had all my medication on display, any hospital letters and just be honest and be yourself.1
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Not exactly true. If a claimant has an appointee then during an assessment the appointee can speak on behalf of the claimant throughout all the assessment. The only thing the claimant will have to answer are there questions at the end...for EG if they're asked to spell a word and add 2 numbers together.Yadnad said:
Who is being assessed you or your mother?
If it is you, then the assessor will expect you to answer the questions. It doesn't matter how difficult you find it. I was advised for my first PIP assessment by the receptionist at the assessing centre that there was no need for my wife to go with me as she was not being assessed - hence I had to leave her in reception waiting until it had finished.
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There was no mention of an appointee in the post that I replied to. That information came to light in the OP's following post.poppy123456 said:
Not exactly true. If a claimant has an appointee then during an assessment the appointee can speak on behalf of the claimant throughout all the assessment. The only thing the claimant will have to answer are there questions at the end...for EG if they're asked to spell a word and add 2 numbers together.Yadnad said:
Who is being assessed you or your mother?
If it is you, then the assessor will expect you to answer the questions. It doesn't matter how difficult you find it. I was advised for my first PIP assessment by the receptionist at the assessing centre that there was no need for my wife to go with me as she was not being assessed - hence I had to leave her in reception waiting until it had finished.
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Just had a look at that guidance and to be honest there are too many should's, may's and could's. Given that it does seem that any involvement with a companion is entirely down to the assessor. The assessed person or the companion appear not to have any rights in insisting that what a companion says and when a companion should say it should be allowed. In one of my own assessments (the first one incidentally) I asked the receptionist if it was OK for my wife to come in with me. I was told that there was no reason for her to go with me, hence she stayed in the reception area. This then happened for the 2nd and 3rd assessment as I took it to be what was allowed. I was not told that she had every right to go with me.Username_removed said:Doesn’t need to be an appointee. Anyone can attend a face to face. HCP will always want to talk to the claimant but the assessment providers guidance deals with this in detail.
Given that the assessor controls the assessment and dictates how it should proceed it would take someone with a will of steel to tell the assessor that it is the claimants assessment and not the assessors and as such the companion must be allowed to comment where they thought it appropriate.
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