Positive Telephone Assessment Experience

izziiha

Hi! I just wanted to share my experience re. the telephone assessment for a new claim which I had this morning.
Although I don't know the outcome I just wanted to share how it was for anyone who is nervous to undertake their own calls! Please note that different assessors  may be different, this is just how mine went personally.

So firstly I found out about my appointment 7 days in advance via text and they also called me the working day before to remind me about it and let me know my assessors name. 
She called me 10 minutes late, but nothing that dramatic and it felt quite relaxed. It was VERY clear she had read through my documents (and I had sent relatively a lot!). It was also super great as she was an experienced eating disorder practitioner and I have an ED diagnosis/issues. She was very understanding and, luckily for me, well informed with the nature of my mental health issues.

During the call I was expecting, as I heard from the forums, 'trick' questions or repetitive ones. And I didn't really feel like that happened. Instead we went through the pip criteria one by one and she only wanted to focus on answering each specific section one at a time. And once she'd gone over it once then it wasn't revisited. 

After I answered questions she read out what she was typing, as long as that wasn't a 'trick', I got a clear impression of what was going into the report. (I guess we will see about that when I find out!)

Overall my call lasted about an hour.

Questions that were asked:

• About me, my medication, my employment history and when I last worked, my schooling
• She then addressed my three diagnosis and we talk about that for a bit, my treatments and how it touches on my life.
• We then went into every section of the pip criteria one by one individually and she asked me about them in regards to each illness separately then as a whole. Occasionally she'd use a situational example like "if you were left in the middle of town would you be able to get home" to help me answer but there weren't that many of those. 

And that was it really! Happy to answer any questions x 

Cher_Alumni

@izziiha I am so pleased your PIP assessment went smoothly.  I understand how anxiety-provoking the thought of it is and you sharing your story will help many of our members who are worried.  

Thank you and please let us know how you get on going forwards  Have a lovely rest of the day.  

janer1967

Hi @izziiha and welcome to the community great to have you join us and thanks so much for sharing your experience with us it will really help other members going through this 

Hope you get a positive outcome

Chloe_Alumni

Thank you for sharing this @izziiha! 

rosieposey

I wanted to second this experience and reassure anyone reading this that there are compassionate assessors out there. My assessment yesterday lasted about an hour as well and we went through the form in more general terms than I had written down, almost to double check the information I had written. She took a lot of notes and showed great understanding of mental health struggles particularly. I was not interrupted at any point and I could add points I had missed out on at the very end. We even discussed her workload as an assessor and how stressful it is to work in a position where most people expect the worst from you. After reading horror stories on here I was definitely more than pleasantly surprised.

Adrian_Scope

rosieposey said:

I wanted to second this experience and reassure anyone reading this that there are compassionate assessors out there. My assessment yesterday lasted about an hour as well and we went through the form in more general terms than I had written down, almost to double check the information I had written. She took a lot of notes and showed great understanding of mental health struggles particularly. I was not interrupted at any point and I could add points I had missed out on at the very end. We even discussed her workload as an assessor and how stressful it is to work in a position where most people expect the worst from you. After reading horror stories on here I was definitely more than pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for sharing this @rosieposey, I'm pleased your assessment went so well and that she had a good understanding of mental health.

izziiha

Does anyone know how long after the assesment I should hear from PIP (not for results but to hear they have received it). It's been over a week, so wondering if I should check with them to see if they have it? @Adrian_Scope

poppy123456

If you mean the assessment report then there's no timescales. Once it's written and completed then it's returned. Some are returned the same day, some are within a couple of days, others are a lot longer, if the report is sent for audit. I've had assessment reports returned the same day and 1 that took almot 6 weeks to be returned.

If you put a mobile number down on the form they usual text you once it's received back.

izziiha

Hi! Just wanted to share that I called up as hadn't heard about my report/and needed to report a change of address and they told me over the phone that I had been awarded enhanced daily living and no mobility (which is, honestly, more than I thought I'd be getting!) I am honestly over the moon. The process was so easy and from what the lady said she was writing down in the report I knew that, hopefully, I'd be awarded something.

Keep your chin up guys

ernie2009

well done izziiha you did good. enjoy your day plus award.

janer1967

Great news thanks for sharing 

Tori_Scope

That's fantastic @izziiha Thank you for sharing!