PIP Home assessment

laguna

Hello all,,,I had PIP home assessment this morning. I arranged with my mental health support Advocate to be there with me to help myself feel less anxious and such. The lady turned up at 9am spit on time came in showed her my id as requested. Then proceeded to ask a few questions about main issues which as i did on my application form answered them as honest as i could. Then suddenly the lady asked could she use toilet,,downstairs toilet as i live downstairs so i lucky to have one which even though as 3 steps to go down to,,it saves me having to go up the stairs for anything as i do all my cleaning needs in my own room. therefore minimize all risks as i have a lot of physical,,multi degenerative discs in spine and neck,,nerve and muscle conditions also COPD and other conditions too. Anyway as the lady came back from using toilet she said to myself and my mental health advocate that sorry hope we dont mind but she now feeling well and we have to cut short the assessment,,(she was only in my home no longer than 30,,)and if her manager does not mind then she wud fone me later on in morning to finalize any other questions by fone. She then went, she did not phone her boss to ok anything on cutting short appointment before or anything. But then she did fone back about 40 min after she left my home. I am confused as my application would have clearly stated that i would have had someone present with me in assessment,,,due to some of my issues,,and clearly stated that i am not good on phone talking as very short of breath,,frustration and such. Yet she put me in a position which i felt i had to answer fone because if i did not answer after her telling me she was foning then she may have completed thrown out my application due to not answering it in first place and also that i knew that as she may have questions that only i may have the answer for anyway so felt completly put under duress with what had happened due to feeling compelled to do something which even my advocate knows himself that i am not very good on fones at all. I still had all my paperwork in front of me from earlier when she foned anyway she did fone gone i answered aome more questions then all done. My advocate had to go after my assessment has he had other appointments and meetings to attend so told her that he may not be available later anyway. sorry for this long winded post but i was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and whether this is normal practise for PIP assessors or? Thanks 

Yadnad

If you want my opinion I would have suggested that they make another appointment for a fresh assessment in your home.

Many people get flustered when answering questions on the phone. In fact I refuse to disclose both my mobile number and landline to the DWP as well as HMRC. If they need to contact me they can do it via letter.
In fact I have known people to say or agree to anything if they think that doing so would finish the conversation quicker.

laguna

That is what i would have thought,,but my advocate did not seem to mind what was happening so even though i thought it was strange if my advocate did not seem surprized then i just assumed at time that it does happen..the strange part was that even though she still had the time to the physical examination before she went the length of time that her phone call was to myself cud have been done in that short length of time to myself in my home with my advocate there anyway,,we were on fone less that 10min,,yes ur rite i am like that i say whatever it takes sometime s just to get off phone quicker and then think bout it after. thank you for ur comment and i feel your opinion is right too,,

kalen

Did she ask you any security questions before proceeding with the phone call ?

laguna

Yes the lady asked myself to give my full address. Then proceeded with the questions. 

mikehughescq

You had the option to say no to the call and ask for a further visit. It’s done now though. 

laguna

That it is for sure. Well its out of my hands for now so has the saying goes, its Just a waiting game now on their response to my home assessment report.