Light hearted thread - what is the most ridiculous thing written about you in dwp decision paperwork

apple85

I think we’ve all on here had some eye rolling outright fibs written about us when reading the assessors face2face/decision makers report. And when I say lies I’m talking about the ones that are so bad they make you laugh in exasperation (well it may take a yr or 2 to get to that point)

I thought it Could be an interesting idea to us to share some of these elaborate pieces of fiction - perhaps another way to show newbies they are not alone in this whole twisted merry go round

justlooking88

Not sure how this would be helpful. It would just descend into everyone ranting about their bad reports 

poppy123456

justlooking88 said:

Not sure how this would be helpful. It would just descend into everyone ranting about their bad reports 

I would agree with that. People come here for advice and i'm not sure how a thread like this is really going to help them.

apple85

Perhaps helpful is the wrong word

every one of my last few assessment paperwork has had a huge chunk of fiction in it - I’ve found reading others excerpts of some of the lies written about them oddly calming - that I’m not alone and haven’t gone mad.

and honestly something you have to laugh to stop the crying

apple85

I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend anyone or be insensitive.

i have no tact, I’m sorry

can admin delete this thread please - I’ll try and use more common sense in what to post in the future

poppy123456

Admin have finished for today and will return again tomorrow. Community Champions like myself are unable to delete threads or comments.

You can edit your own comment but you can only do this within the first hour of posting/commenting. After this it can no longer be changed.

mikehughescq

On the one hand I do think there’s a risk of encouraging the generally wrong impression that HCPs “lie”. On the other hand it’s only right to occasionally acknowledge that sometimes the pressure gets to HCPs. 

I’ve had 

- a female assessed by a HCP who insists all, the way through the report, that they were a male and adapted their name to make them sound male. 

- a wholly blind (NPL) person given a Snellen reading of 6/15.

- a morbidly obese person described as “of average build”

- a guy who turned up in a “**** the DWP” t-shirt described as “well-presented”.

FionaMay

My son let the assessor in.  Son is over 6', bearded and built like a brick wall.  In the report he had turned into a daughter!

apple85

Hmm

i know the healthcare professionals are under major pressure from their supervisors (there’s been rumours for years of them been given quotas on success/fails). Yes there are some hcp who are just not very nice but there’s a lot who are put between a rock and a hard place.

so can I replace ‘lie’ with “major grasping of straws’ ? (Mixed with not always the best medical knowledge on disabilities and conditions)

I have not heard of one person at a f2f who hasn’t been described as well presented - sloppy dressing is an urban myth at these assessments 

catt_t

Hi, hope you don't mind me jumping in, but I think this thread could help people, in the sense that you know it's not just you that this can happen to, because I really thought I was the only one when it happened to me a few years ago! My report stated I enjoyed chatting with my Mom (yes spelt that way) and visited her on a regular basis. Not only had we not spoken for years due to... ahem.. not seeing eye to eye, but she lived 250 miles away!
Bit far to go for a cuppa!!

mikehughescq

apple85 said:

so can I replace ‘lie’ with “major grasping of straws’ ? (Mixed with not always the best medical knowledge on disabilities and conditions)

Indeed, you can’t legally prove a lie and what generally gets described as such is simply factual inaccuracy often brought about by the lack of knowledge on the part of claimants. If you don’t know what your target is then it’s no wonder it gets missed so often and HCPs get to draw inferences which turn out to be wrong.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @apple85. I'm happy to delete the thread if you still want me to, but please don't feel like you did anything wrong. As long as the thread remains in the spirit it was intended I don't see anything wrong with it.

People come here not only for advice but to share experiences and receive emotional support. I think it's definitely helpful to be able to have a laugh at these things and to realise you're not alone and not to take it personally.

The first time I saw a wildly inaccurate report always sticks in my mind. I attended my sister-in-law's assessment, but despite introducing myself (and sporting a substantial beard at the time!), the report referred to me as the claimant's wife.

Lou67

Morning, yes I totally agree it’s a good thread, my report stated I arrived on my own, when in reality my daughter in law, picked me up and sat with me through the whole assessment, thats just one of the untrue things that was stated 🤷‍♀️

crazyjan

Brilliant thread! My report called me 'he', I'm definitely female, and also stated I was not anxious and smiled throughout the assessment. Absolute rubbish! I was in tears and chewing my knuckles.  It helps to know I'm not the only one who has been upset by these sort of 'errors'. Yet, is it an error or a lie when I was 'observed to be wearing two hearing aids' ? My hair is long and loose, there is no way my aids could have been observed. Many may say the HCP was lying ………...

Si_Obhan

My reports have always been good but I did a lot of research before applying and supplied written evidence for pretty much everything I wrote on the form. I know that’s not possible for everyone though.

The only thing that was wrong with my PIP review was that the assessor scored me 0 on needing supervision to eat (dysphagia/esophagal dysmotility diagnosed and prescribed soft food diet (I have those Wiltshire farm foods jelly mould stuff when I’m in hospital...bork). The reason being that there was a Graze box on my coffee table. From what I remember they weren’t even mine.

Also I have put on a lot of lbs since going from a wheelchair to a powerchair and taking steroids. Still finding the right amount of calories for me... but I would probably describe myself as fat. It was noted that I don’t have problems with swallowing because I am of an average build. The funny part is average build, they were being very kind there. Also, I think they’re forgetting that things like cake can be made soft, and if not then I also like ice cream 😆 Maybe shouldn’t joke about that but seeing as I have gastroparesis I was enjoying what I could before it had to stop. I don’t think weight has anything to do with ability to swallow when you don’t use your large leg muscles... I have had to lower my calorie intake to less than 600 calories per day to lose 1lb a week. I just found the average build bit funny as I was clearly on the larger side. 

woodbine

I have had 2 face2face assessments one for ESA one for PIP, both were accurate,factual and honest and both lead to what was in my mind the correct conclusion. Was I lucky or maybe this is how it is for the majority of claimants?

woodbine

[Quote of subsequently removed post removed by moderator]

Don't get me wrong just because the system has worked for me doesn't mean I think it's perfect, it's far from that, for far too many people, however the majority of those who take to the internet usually do so because they think the system has let them down, if more people did so when it worked we would get a far more balance view. One point I would make is that too many people take not enough time completing the paper-work,gathering evidence and researching more into how they should go about the application process.

apple85

I got to agree with mike - many of us have had crappy f2f assessments but there are several other threads to vent on. 

This is perhaps not the best thread for those who have only just had got their report back or just been through the mill with appeal.

basically if you feel upset about what you’re typing here it’s not really light hearted anymore.

there are several things I could share here but quite a few I still feel sore about so they don’t belong here.

the one that made me laugh was when in a semi recent report it was put that my disabilities and mental health couldn’t be that bad as I went to uni - that made me chuckle as apart from the obvious, I was last at uni 20 years ago and had to drop out due to disability and mental health reasons (which is what I told the assessor) - to me it was funny thinking about how they reached that conclusion 

@Adrian_Scope - if the thread is taken the right way I have no problems it staying up, I was just worried I offended the 1st few posters and perhaps the scope community as a whole.
the only thing I may ask if in the thread title - ‘lie’ could be replaced with something a bit lighter such as ‘fib’ or ‘lost in translation’ or something else - one poster made a good point about my language used earlier

Denise11

apple85

I think that you made a good suggestion because it's good to find a common ground between the community.  We are adults and we have a choice to aired things that we find funny, laughter is a great medicine especially at the present time, it is something that makes us tick.  People choose what they read so if they don't want to join in, they don't have to!
Denise11 

gillian72

I don't know if this one counts , but I still find it funny 😜 I was trying to sort my Benifits that were stopped, I told them where blahh lived an his mum was called in, I got letter saying you told us he didn't live with u but u came down made a statement saying he lives with u but he is older then you so u can't be his mum so claim is he lives with u an has now be added as living with u lol lol I never went down there

mikehughescq

Back in the days of Supplementary Benefit I once had an argument with my local JCP about my date of birth. They swore that their date for me must be correct because the computer was never wrong and I must have told them that date!