Fabricated pip assessment by capita

kerry31

Hi I am currently in the middle of a very large complaint against the Disability Assessor who carried out my home assessment. I have had a useless response from capita that basically ignored my 13 page complaint and I am now having my complaint looked at by the Independent Case Examiner, they have acknowledged that I do have grounds and have highlighted 21 points where the DA has either fully or partially fabricated my report. The whole process has had such a detrimental effect on my health. I have had to go to appeal to receive the benefits that I am legally entitled to. I am still disgusted that the DA’s report is still what the DWP are basing their scoring on. I asked for a different assessor to carry out an assessment but this was refused and I was informed that a paper based assessment was being carried out by capita. Once again the original report was used as part of this assessment. This whole process needs to change it led me to the brink or ending my life and nothing should do that. If anyone else has been through this process and can offer any advice I would be grateful.

vivienne1

I've just posted about making a complaint about my assessor, how do you do that?

poppy123456

vivienne1 said:

I've just posted about making a complaint about my assessor, how do you do that?

I answered your question here on your thread https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/61790/unhappy-with-my-assessor-advice#latest

cristobal

@kerry31 - I've posted elsewhere about making a complaint, which you might like to look at.

I had a similar experience to you - Capita looked at my complaint, then a "final look" and that was it unless I wanted to take it to the ICE.

The result of the complaint - until they decided to listen to the recording that I had made - was a couple of long letters that they thought "may help you to understand our procedures" and the assessor being asked about it by her line manager and "couldn't remember." Anything contentious - such as the assessor failing to get consent to examine me - was ignored.

Can you substantiate any of your complaints, if the assessor denies them?

(@poppy123456 - sorry...just seen your post..I didn't realise that this had been asked on another post)

kerry31

Hi, all you need to do is write directly to capita with your complaint. I ensured that I bullet-pointed  every issue individually and stated what the assessor said and what actually happened. All capita did was keep saying I needed to do a mandatory reconsideration and totally ignored the actual real issues that was against the DA. I have two people who were with me during the assessment who are prepared to state the truth of what happened, also some of the comments that were made by the DA I am able to prove that she has fabricated due to statements made regarding my children. 2 of my children are disabled and she had stated things that they do which they are incapable of doing. She was unaware of my children’s needs.

riget

Has anyone contacted the police to see if it's a criminal act?

kerry31

I haven’t as yet as not sure how this will all work out.  If ICE can’t resolve this then I wiill go to the next stage and I will also seek advice as to if this is a criminal act. 
I have been looking at the level of complaints of this nature that the DWP receive and it’s ridiculous the number of complaints all around the same issue of DA’s fabricating reports, why do these people think that it’s ok to mess up people’s lives like this and why is nobody stepping in and resolving it.

cristobal

@kerry31 - No-one at Capita is interested in complaints - they know that people will bang their head against a brick wall for a bit and then go away once they realise that there is nothing they can do. I found their investigation so poor that it was actually worse than my initial complaint!!

In my case I made it clear that I didn’t want anyone to be sacked but all that I was looking for was to have some appropriate corrections to the report so that it was accurate. However the assessor was so poor - in terms of interview technique, listening skills, accurately recording information etc - that I genuinely thought that they might want to give her some feedback.

I also suggested that they might use the recording of my assessment in their training programme as it was a good example of “how not to do an interview.”

My MP made sympathetic noises but essentially the problem is that anyone at a more senior level who could actually do something about it is busy dealing with something else.

Please let us all know how this is resolved by ICE…I'd find your reply very interesting

kerry31

@cristobal I will certainly let you know, I did the same as you and stated that I wasn’t trying to get the DA sacked or disciplined, I suggested re training may be required. Unfortunately as you said capita was a complete waste of time and in my eyes failed to respond to anything directed at the DA. I am now at a point where I will not let this drop and will keep on perusing the issue. I’m sure no one will listen but I’ll have a good go at it as this needs to stop. The distress it has caused me has had horrendous consequences on my mental health, luckily I have a great support network that keeps me going. If I didn’t I don’t think I would be here to write this.

cristobal

@kerry31 - you must do what you think best.....

Personally, looking back, I should have abandoned my complaint earlier than I did as all I did was cause myself a lot of stress.

It is true though that to have a process that, effectively, you can't complain against is very unfair.

[Deleted User]

I'm interested in this, I'm going to be making a complaint when I finally have my decision, judging from my report which is full of lies and contradictions, my award will be lowered from enhanced for both to daily, he's take 8 points out of each (I had 18 in each) and removed anything that indicates that I have mental health problems, he's gone against the previous assessors report, a psychiatrist report, a letter which my previous GP did for the first claim which they have access to, and what both me and my Son told him. This in turn has made me very angry and has had a big impact on both my mental and physical health, it's not about the money, it's about some person who doesn't know his bum from his elbow claiming I don't have MH problems anymore, all he had to do is read the evidence.

Please keep us updated, I'm going to follow this thread and see how you get on with your complaint, I hope something good comes out of it.

kerry31

@WF2k I will keep you updated, my Mental health was also dismissed by the DA and the DWP. They really are destroying lives and something needs to be done, I’m sure there are many many people all going through the same thing and I just hope more people stand up and tell their story, people need to be heard and not silenced. I hope you get somewhere with your complaint.

cristobal

ilovecats said:

It’s not a criminal act. It is their opinion of what you said / did against yours. 

Very true...you can't be wrong about what your opinion is! 

poppy123456

riget said:

Has anyone contacted the police to see if it's a criminal act?

It's not a criminal act and the police wouldn't be interested.

crazyjan

(I'm crazyjan's husband) Surely falsifying information on a government document is fraud? Also, consider defamation of character. Dishonest reporting on a government document (particularly intentional) is a criminal offence(I'm a civil servant, 33 years). Try doing this on a tax return!!  The police might not be interested but a solicitor would be if you could afford one. Not surprisingly, legal aid isn't available for welfare benefits complaints. 

riget

crazyjan said:

(I'm crazyjan's husband) Surely falsifying information on a government document is fraud? Also, consider defamation of character. Dishonest reporting on a government document (particularly intentional) is a criminal offence(I'm a civil servant, 33 years). Try doing this on a tax return!!  The police might not be interested but a solicitor would be if you could afford one. Not surprisingly, legal aid isn't available for welfare benefits complaints. 

You don't work for the dwp then.

poppy123456

It's your word against theirs and proving it, is a completely different thing. It's not fraud, it's their opinion.

kerry31

It’s not their opinion when they state that I said something which I didn’t and also when they put complete lies down, this person is not educated to the same standard in which my GP and various consultants I have, all of whom gave statements of how my conditions effect me. So why does someone who meets you for 20 mins get to say what they want about me which is made up and insinuates that I am a lier and benefit cheat, when she didn’t even carry out a full assessment yet lied stating she did. If it isn’t an offence it should be... I wish I could afford a solicitor because I would most definitely move forward with this. This woman broke me and what right did she have to do that.

crazyjan

Many dishonest statements can be proved. I don't really want to argue the point here, but for example, my wife wife is deaf. Assessor reported no hearing impairment. My wife has lost the use of her right arm (xray and medical evidence given). Assessor reported no physical restriction to right arm. I could go on...…….   If dishonest reporting can be evidentially verified then it is fraud. Plain and simple. Nothing to do with opinions.

crazyjan

Riget - no. I definitely don't work for the DWP. I'm retired now anyway.

kerry31

@crazyjan sounds very similar to what’s happened to myself and I fully agree it is fraud, if we completed any of their forms falsely we would be prosecuted.