Face to face assessments

Adrian_Scope

Congratulations on the PIP tribunal as well @MarkChv. Best of luck at your appointment today.

Joanne_Alumni

Thanks @MarkChv!

poppy123456

Good news that you won. However, after reading that letter it doesn't mean that a claimant doesn't have to attend a face to face assessment. It means that HMCTS accepted your reasons for failing to attend the assessment and your ESA will now continue.

It also points out that attending face to face assessments is an essential part of the process and it's your responsibility to make sure arrangements are made in the future if you need to attend future assessments, if you don't then your benefits will lose your benefits, which does state this in the CPAG link i provided above.

MarkChv

@poppy123456 the Tribunal agreed that an assessment was indeed needed but that there wasn't the power in law that the DWP thought that there was to order claimants to provide their info or go to third parties. I agreed that assessments were needed to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse but that assessment could be done by my GP or a doctor who is a civil servant, eg from the MoD.

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Joanne_Alumni

Hi @MarkChv,

I do agree with @poppy123456 I am afraid. The letter does not state that you can ask for your GP to do the assessment. It just states that you need to make arrangements to attend when requested again. 
My reading of the letter is that the failure to attend was set aside because the DWP could not provide a copy of a letter asking you to go to the assessment. This letter is what explains your legal obligations and without this they could not argue that you were legally obliged to attend.
If they do send a letter next time, you will have been advised of your legal obligations and if you don't go then you risk losing your benefits!

MarkChv

Oh their contractor asked me to attend, but as they shouldn't have had my details as per the ammended declaration / authority I signed the appointment was ruled as not legal. I'll ask for a statement of reasons and that should show what I mean if HMCTS will provide it.

poppy123456

You're totally misunderstanding what the letter says, i'm afraid. It says the decision was set aside because DWP didn't provide a letter to state the assessment appointment was given.

You must attend any future assessments that are given because if you don't then you'll be found fit for work for failing to attend. Your GP will not do face to face assessments these are done only by health assessment providers.

You really should only ask for the statement of reasons and record of proceedings if you're not happy with the decision because these are only written on request. It takes time to write these and could also take months to receive them too.

MarkChv

Poppy I know what my case was and what was argued and the Tribunal so I'm not misunderstanding it at all. The DWP not notifying me by letter wasn't even one of my grounds for appeal as they had informed me. What the DWP hasn't informed me or the Tribunal of was the 'chapter and verse' reference of the law that they were claiming that they could use to send me to a third party contractor or force me to give my info over. This is also how I won my PIP Tribunal last week (plus one more issue that was specific to ATOS.

poppy123456

I won't argue with you anymore but as clearly stated on the letter you posted above, any future assessments you will need to attend and if you don't you could be found fit for work. I really don't want other forum members reading this and think they don't have to attend work capability assessments, when they certainly do.

I will leave it at that now and won't make any further comments on this thread.