Pip assesment

taniamcgrath

Pip assesment 
my daughter had her assesment yesterday at home although our gp and mp had sent letters regarding my daughters current anxiety levels and autism with chronic tics and the fact she’s been off school with anxiety  they showed no understanding at all I feel as if he was interrogating Chloe and made her answer when she didn’t want to . Chloe is due to have two foot operations where it will be a 3 yr recovery but he didn’t ask about her mobility just trying to get her to spell and do maths ! I’m so angry as Chloe burst into tears when he left he made ya feel like criminals and didn’t introduce himself just said he was a nurse . But what I hated most was that when I let him in he went straight into the lounge and walked straight up to Chloe and started talking to her!! Just saying he’s a nurse with NO ID! 
I’m bedude myself as with no car I cannot physically get Chloe to her specialist apt’s numerous ones or even have her operation. !!!

im distraught can anyone advise what happens next ? As he just left us in a whirlwind ??
tania and Chloe 

Antonia_Alumni

Welcome to the community @taniamcgrath thank you for sharing this with us. I am very sorry to hear this. How are you both doing today? Some of our members may be able to answer your questions soon.

poppy123456

Hi,

Are you your daughters appointee? If you are then you would have been able to answer all the questions on her behalf, with the exemption of the spelling and maths questions.

If you're not happy with the way the assessor was during the assessment then you can put in a complaint to the health assessment providers. Details how to do this will be on their website.

wildlife

@taniamcgrath That sounds like a horrible ordeal for you and your daughter. As the above poster has advised the first thing you can do is make a complaint to the assessment provider by writing to the name and address on your face to face appointment letter making it clear it's an official complaint. It does need to be in writing, not sure about emails. Explain in detail as you have done here what happened and include the attitude of the assessor. They are supposed to give their name, profession and you can ask for their registration number. I know one lady who did this and the assessor had to go off somewhere to find it. So they do know how they're supposed to introduce themselves otherwise he/she in that case would not have left the room. You can also ring DWP for a copy of the PA4 assessment report. Ignore what the assessor's tell you about not having it till after the decision. That's not true. When you get the report if you're not happy you can then start to prepare a Mandatory Reconsideration. I forgot to say that is if you're the appointee for phone calls, mail etc you can do this. 
       The reason the bad assessors don't want to give their name is to minimize the risk of a complaint being made. You could also ring the assessment provider to ask for the name of your assessor. Don't take no for an answer you have a right to have that information. You can check on the NMC register online to see if he's registered and get the number of his registration. So a lot can be started to get ahead of any decisions made from the assessment. Let us know how you get on. 

CockneyRebel

You should not allow anyone into your home without first seeing their ID

taniamcgrath

Thankyou for your help wildlife do I need to request the report after a certain time ? I’m so angry as just looked in the pip website and it states people with autism and anxiety should not be forced to have a face to face but even with a doctors letter and mps letter about my daughters heightened state of anxiety they still cane and intimidated her . I am my daughters appointee as she cannot communicate well . What if pip won’t give me the assessors name ? I’m so angry I didn’t come in here and get  your advice beforehand . Didn’t realise it was all to trick us out if money she deserves. ! Tania

CockneyRebel

You can request the report after about a wek, the assessors name should be on the report

BenefitsTrainingCo

taniamcgrath,
You may have the assessor's report by now? You can complain to ATOS or Capita, they both have complaints systems. 
https://www.mypipassessment.co.uk/feedback/
http://www.capita-pip.co.uk/en/complaints.html

Complaining about the assessment is separate to challenging the benefit decision. I think you should complain because the assessor's behaviour wasn't acceptable (anyone coming into your home should identify themselves), and it was stressful for your daughter. Anything which could make someone's health worse (especially here where your daughter suffers from anxiety) is a potential breach of the assessment provider's duty of care. In addition, not asking about your daughter's mobility means the assessment may not be fit for purpose as the assessor didn't gather any evidence about that component of PIP.

You could also contact your MP about the poor assessment as we need MPs to know just how bad they are.

If the PIP decision isn't the right one for your daughter's situation then you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration and appeal if necessary. There will probably be too many wrong things in the report to list them all and it's not necessary to do so. But where the assessor gives no points for something they didn't even ask about, you should say so.

I hope though that the PIP decision won't be too bad - you never know in these situations. Even if the PIP award is right though, I would still complain because this behaviour isn't acceptable and they put your daughter under unnecessary pressure which was harmful to her health.

Will

taniamcgrath

Thanks benefits training I have made a complaint to athos about him I’ve also involved our mp but he won’t get involved in a complaint only will help with an appeal ! When he even write a letter to them about my daughters anxiety ! Thanks for your help though will keep you posted ! Tania 

twonker

taniamcgrath said:

Thankyou for your help wildlife do I need to request the report after a certain time ? I’m so angry as just looked in the pip website and it states people with autism and anxiety should not be forced to have a face to face but even with a doctors letter and mps letter about my daughters heightened state of anxiety they still cane and intimidated her . I am my daughters appointee as she cannot communicate well . What if pip won’t give me the assessors name ? I’m so angry I didn’t come in here and get  your advice beforehand . Didn’t realise it was all to trick us out if money she deserves. ! Tania

With no disrespect intended towards your daughter, but if the DWP did not force claimants to have a face to face assessment if they were claiming for anxiety and depression then it would be an open goal for some dubious claimants.
I agree assessors should be more considerate and where an appointee is present then all/most of the questions should have been directed at them and not the claimant.

The unfortunate bit is that unless you have evidence of what was said or what happened it will be your word against that of the assessor's who will deny everything.