Pips said I failed their assessment now they say they never made the decision

elli

Had the assessment on 4 june, then on 6 got a txt saying that PIPs got copy of assessment and would be in touch within 6 weeks, then few weeks later ESA wrote to me saying they were reducing my benefit. When I contacted them, they told me that PIPS contacted them on 10th and told them I wasnt getting anything for my physical disability, which had gotten allot worse since my last assessment, so much so I was now diagnosed with an auto immune disease which can kill you.

I spoke to PIPS saying hadnt recieved their decision letter, they said they sent it on 10 june,  several times they said they said they sent out a copy, once they said the chap who made the decision was very busy and was delayed in sending but had sent a copy that morning.
I then rang last week really annoyed saying its nearly 2 months and I still havnt got the letter, they then said there was a mistake and they had never made a decision, when I recorded ALL the calls, where they clearly told me they had made the decision.

Ive spent last 2 months working on mandatory reconsideration as I did recieve copy of report which was filled with mistakes, I recorded this also.

I want to sue them, Im on benefits.

Is it possible to sue

as I find it sickening that they abuse sick people like this

Its crazy that last assessment 2 years ago Id had a few knee operations and I had collapsed discs, Id suffered pain for 40 years but doctors said it was nothing, first they said it was in my head, then they said it was old age. then last year I found out, I got psoriasis at 5, and 1 in 3 people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis within ten years of developing psoriasis , all the symptoms I was suffering, even miscariages...

The doctors NEVER suggested this, they didnt even tell me psoriasis was an auto immune disease, never sent me to a dermatologist.,

It was only cos last year I woke up with swollen hands and feet, and couldnt bend my fingers, that suddenly my doctor said it was prob psoraitic arthritis

I got officially diagnosed in December and told PIPS I had a change in circomstances, and were before they had awarded me £300 a month for my PTSD from a23 yr DV relationship and my physical disabilities, now they said I wasnt getting anything for my physical disabilites, despite I know my PIPS form showed worse conditions, and even though the assessor got alot wrong, it was clear I was disabled.

Any suggestions and help greatly appreciated.

I just want finally to sue PIPS for doing this to people

the fact I recorded everything means

they can be banged to rights

Many thanks

laurapeach

Good morning, I'm sorry to hear you've been messed around for your PIP.

Unfortunately the DWP don't really look at what your diagnosis is for PIP, it's all about how it affects you and your ability to do day to day things. 

Did you inform them that you were recording all of the phone calls and your assessment? The people you speak to are just call handlers in a call centre so your best bet would be to ask to speak to a case manager about any has happened.

I very much doubt you'd be able to sue them, but there are other people far more knowledgeable than me so I will tag them here.

@mikehughescq @poppy123456

poppy123456

Thanks for the tag laurapeach,

Hi and welcome,

Sue them for what? because you were awarded PIP? It's unlikely that you will be successful if you do sue them because there's really nothing to sue them for.

Reporting changes is always risky and there's always a chance you could lose everything you already have. As laura has mentioned, PIP isn't about a diagnosis, it's how those conditions affect your ability to carry out daily activity based on the PIP descriptors.

As you recorded the call then i'm assuming you did get permission to do this before the assessment?

My opinion is you'll be much better off concentrating on the MR then Tribunal than you will doing anything else. When writing the letter for the MR you should concentrate on where and why you think you should have scored those points and the add a couple of real life examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you.

cupcake88

Hello I’m sorry to here this not sure you could sue them . I was bit confused my your post ? Are you currently receiving pip ? 

Oh I didn’t know pip contact your other benefits they didn’t Even ask me if I was on any income oh way they did ask and I explained because of my partners income I can’t get any thing , 

I’m sorry you have had a hard time. 

poppy123456

@cupcake88 claiming a disability benefit like PIP daily living when you're claiming the old income related benefits such as Income Related ESA then it may entitle someone to extra ESA with the severe disability premium if they live alone. If PIP stops then this disability premium also stops.

cupcake88

Thanks poppy I understand the thread now lol thank you xx

poppy123456

You're welcome

elli

Hi guys thanks for all your responses.
Seems you dont understand me, Ive got really bad dyslexia

Ill try to make this simple

Im on ESA and get a standard allowance from them; I dont get the extra bit for living alone I live with my son

I am on PIPS,I am still recieving some PIPS

2 months ago PIPs told me they made their decision after recieving ATOS assessment

They said they decided I wasnt getting anything for physical disability,

and that I needed to write a mandatory reconsideration

but had to have the letter they sent first

I told them I havnt recieved it

They told me about 5 times they sent the letter out

kept on telling me to ring in to let them know if I got the letter

then a few days ago when I called them last

they suddenly said they never made the decision

and all my notes from phone calls had been deleted

You DONT have to tell someone they are being recorded

I know this from the police

the law has changed

Companies have to tell us they are recording them

but individuals do not have to tell people they are being recording

Not sure why so many of you were just focused on me recording the conversation

I just asked about suing them

cos for last 2 months they have lied to me

teling me they made a decision

and now they say they havnt

Clearly you dont think I have a valid reason to sue for harrassment and stress

Cheers

Noone needs to respond to this anymore

I wont bother asking any of you for advise

Thanks

poppy123456

I'm sorry you're not happy with the replies that were given. I don't see anything here that you can sue them for.

What award did you previously have for PIP and what award do you have now?

Sorry but i have no idea what standard allowance is for ESA. There's no such award, it's either assessment rate, WRAG or Support Group.

To be able to use the recording as evidence you will need to have it professionally transcribed.

Lou67

Hi Elli I’m so sorry your feeling so stressed I don’t blame you with everything your going through, I think it’s disgusting the way you were treated by DWP  I really hope you stay around for a chat and a bit of support as we all need it at such a stressful time, take care?

bubster20

hi Elli,  recording the call.......Yes, as an individual you can indeed record phone calls for personal purposes without informing them BUT if you are going to share the contents of that recording (E.g with a lawyer, or anyone else for that matter), the law states you must get consent from the other party involved in the call (ie. DWP) before doing so.  This is under GDPR (laws which replaced data protection in 2018).  So if you were going ahead with a legal case then you would have to obtain consent from DWP to share any details from the calls.  Can I genuinely ask what your basis for any legal action would be?  

On the being given wrong info front.....I understand that being given wrong information is frustrating and sometimes upsetting but at the end of the day the simple fact is unfortunately mistakes do happen.  It’s not personal and it’s understandably caused you stress but they haven’t intentionally “lied”,  it’s human error, no more or less. It could be something as simple as a name mix up, a NI number mistyped, wrong docs paired with your case etc.....none of these ideal but it happens!! We have all made mistakes in our work at sometime or other and DWP/PIP employees aren’t immune from this!  They are indeed human ?.  

Your ESA being affected - if your ESA has gone down solely due to your PIP rate being reduced then you must have income related ESA and be in receipt of additional premiums.  Cont based ESA on its own is not affected by PIP rates.  What I would question tho is if there hasn’t been a decision made by PIP (as you’ve said they now advise) then income related ESA would have no reason to be reduced so there is clearly a mix up somewhere.  I would take a stab at you’re ESA being income related and a decision has indeed been made by PIP and shared with DWP.  Have you checked your address info is correct with PIP?  It could be the simple reason for not receiving the decision in the mail.  I would suggest a further call to PIP to clarify the exact situation and re-request your decision letter as I suspect is applicable.

Finally,  I have read hundreds of posts in the forums in the last month or so since I joined and there is a wealth of knowledge and information available.  I only just plucked up the courage to post for the first time the other day so I appreciate it can be daunting. However, you asked for an opinion....with the greatest of respect, you have to understand that not everyone will agree with yours, that’s the beauty of an opinion!  However, it is just that and doesn’t have to sway you from what you wish to do.  All the experts (there are many amazing ones but off the top of my head @poppy123456, @mikehughescq)
and the other members (like me!) on here can do is give their opinion as requested.  Because it doesn’t line up with your personal views doesn’t make this a nasty or unhelpful place ?.  

PS. Sorry this is a long reply, I’ve never been known for my brevity ?