Complaints about PIP assessments up 6,000 per cent in three years
Gerald
Member Posts: 214 Pioneering
The number of complaints to the government about the PIP assessment process has surged by more than 6,000 per cent in three years, prompting fresh concerns that the system is “flawed” and harming disabled people.
This marks a surge of 570 per cent in two years and 6,463 per cent in three years. The overall number of PIP claims has risen by 67 per cent since 2016.
Thousands of disabled people refused PIP claimants challenge the decision each year with 73% winning their appeals at an independent tribunal.
Ian Lavery, the Labour MP who obtained the figures through a parliamentary question, said the current benefits system was “driving people into destitution”.
He said that in the year to March 2019, his office helped constituents win back a total of £275,011 in PIP claims and appeals, and that even the local authorities welfare support team were passing cases to his caseworkers.
A DWP spokesperson said: “We want the PIP assessment process to work well for everyone and have made significant improvements, including testing the video recording of assessments. This year complaints represented less than 1 per cent of all PIP assessments.”
Ken Butler DR UK’s Welfare Rights and Policy Adviser said –
“The downplaying of the huge rise in PIP medical assessment complaints is appalling.
The poor and inaccurate standards of PIP and ESA assessments have been continually criticised from their introduction. No less than 84% of social security appeals relate to PIP and ESA.
Eve if a complaint is not made directly to Atos or Capita, every challenge to a PIP decision is in effect a complaint against that individual PIP medical assessment. And this is the link for the last bit https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2019/may/complaints-about-pip-assessments-6000-cent-three-years
Replies
@Gerald it's pretty crap really, there shouldn't be so many tribunals, they should be listening to people at the MR stage.
I need to try and stop feeling angry.. silly assessor trying to say I don't have mental health problems...
https://testandcalc.com/Richard/resources/Teaching_Resource_Mental_Status_Examination.pdf
It's not entirely carried out by questioning but instead by watching. The assessor will try to justify their opinion by listening to what you say and how you look. Looking clean and tidy would not indicate a mental health problem etc
It's pretty degrading in all fairness, I'm sorry it affected you like that
The thing is, I didn't look clean and tidy at my assessment, I hadn't showered for 2 - 3 weeks, my Son usually prompts me to shower and even then I don't always do it because I'm too tired, sore, don't feel like it etc. sometimes he literally has to nag me to shower or my Mum will ask what that smell is.. which is pretty embarrassing. I was also in my pj's and yet he claimed I was kempt, in appropriate clothing etc. So yeah I don't think it matters either way.
Thanks for explaining @ilovecats
Obviously your daughter looking clean and tidy was down to you and as long as you can get the assessor to accept that then it would not go against her.
If on the other hand you go into an assessment looking clean and tidy and no one with you and you not highlighting that to get into that condition required input from another then it would go against you. At the end of the day it is down to the assessor believing your statement.
I gave up after that with making any reference to mental health in following re-assessments believing that I would not be believed no matter what.
Maybe however they thought I was playing them?