Coronavirus phone assessments - opinions and results so far

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

apple85

Hi

i haven’t seen a dedicated on people’s experiences on the new phone assessments for esa/pip/uc which seems to me is going to be the new norm for a good while yet.

what I’m getting from social media is that it’s mad an already bad process even worse. I think the majority of people who have had dwp assessments have had at least one ridiculous lie/statements on their decision paperwork previously but that may of stepped up with these phone assessments - it sounds like an easier way of the dwp to fail more of us

i haven’t had one yet - in theory I have my next esa reassessment in November (although the common sense reaction should of been to extend all the disabled/medical condition awards by a year) - considering the massive increase of uc applicants and the lack of jobs in general - it was next to impossible to get even unpaid work experience before Coronavirus if you were disabled - there’s next to no point trying with a few million new million fully abled uc claimants to compete with. My instincts are personally telling me to sit tight for the next 2-3 years and if mental health allows to learn a new skill - I doubt the dwp would be on the same page though.

I digress- though who have had a phone assessments what are your experiences and award results? Has anyone had an successful award renewal?

i read that the assessors won’t let you add a second phone line for a family/friend support. Can you use the speaker phone function? (I use that all the time as I don’t like the feel of the phone near my ear - gives me ear/head pain)

can you refuse a phone assessment in general and request a face-to-face? - I think I speak for many with autism when I say using the phone and?or speaking to a stranger is very exhausting and distressing

Lastly I know that phone recording is prohibited but from recent experiences of bring recording equipment to face to face assessments is even though the lies on the results paperwork remain (and get more ridiculous every time) the dwp seem to find I much harder to dock the same points they would of before. Recording a phone assessment in secret seems to be a common sense move esp when tribunal seems much more likely under phone assessments compared to face to face.

over the years disabled claimants have shared the tips and tricks of getting through a face to face assessment stacked against the claimant. We need to do the same now


thoughts and experiences below

poppy123456

HI,

My thoughts are "it's that social media thing again" yes, you only ever read the bed stories. Naturally, if someone's had the decision they're happy with then they have no questions to ask, so we don't hear their stories. I've read stories where people have been awarded through a phone assessment and been refused too.

There's no face to face assessments at the moment and i have no idea how long they will continue to be suspended. If you refuse the phone assessment then your benefits are likely to be refused. Yes, you can put the phone on "speaker" during the assessment.

I totally understand what you mean about the Autism and phones though. My daughter has ASD and she's never spoken to anyone but myself and her sister on the phone. If she had to do a phone assessment then it simply wouldn't happen. She does claim PIP (student) thankfully, i'm her appointee so if a phone assessment did happen then i would speak on her behalf.

Just my thoughts, others may add theirs too.