Is this normal for a home assessment?

DAP

Hello I had my PIP home assessment yesterday as I've been on DL A for 26 years. I'm really worried as the lady asked me a question about my health, I answered then further on in the assessment asked me the same question but worded differently. She did this about 5 times. She also asked me how far I could walk without pain when I explained I'm constantly in pain she tried to trip me up asking me again further on in the assessment. Towards the end she asked me to do some movements when I said I couldn't she looked slightly annoyed. Then when the Assessment was finished asked me how I thought it went. Is this normal for a home assessment?

poppy123456

Hi and welcome,

I'm one of the community champions here on scope and i'm here to help, support and advise others.

Yes, it's perfectly normal for any face to face assessment. They are trying to a picture of exactly how your conditions affect you and they can't do this unless they ask the questions. DLA is completely different to PIP and has different criteria.

All you can do is wait a week and then ring DWP to request a copy of the assessment report to be sent to you. Once you receive this you'll be able to compare the dots next to the descriptors with the PIP descriptors online to see what score may have been recommended. They usually go with the report. If you're not happy once a decision's been made then you'll have 1 month from that date to request the Mandatory Reconsideration.

Your DLA will continue until a decision's been made on the PIP. Until then i'm afraid there's nothing more you can do. There's no timescales for decisions but hopefully you won't be waiting too long but expect backlogs to be longer than usual because of the Christmas and New year closing days.

chiarieds

Hi @DAP - Welcome to the community. Do let us know how you get on when you get the copy of your PIP assessment report, & then say if you have any further questions.

DAP

Yes I will. I'm doubtful that ill get it as she wasn't really interested in my disabilities more about trying to say what I could do. Ill be interested in seeing the report though.

poppy123456

That's because PIP isn't about your disabilities or a diagnosis, it's how those conditions affect your ability to carry out daily activity based on the PIP descriptors. They need to ask you those questions to get a picture of how your affected.

pollyanna1052

I`m surprised the assessor asked you how you thought it went......as if your reply would have any bearing on their report?

DAP

I was surprised also. I found the whole assessment really stressful, but at least it's been done now. 

Chloe_Scope

Welcome to the community @DAP, great to have you here. I'm sorry you found the assessment stressful. I hope you can find some time to relax and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!