Pip assessment report

mick192

Good afternoon everyone
Thank you for accepting me on this forum

My partner had her pip assessment over the phone before christmas
Today we recieved the report
After years of being her carer all i can say is this is the first time we have seen the failings and lies within this report
She suffers with severe mental health problems 
And some mobility issues but her mental health is the debilitating side of it 
And worsened during lockdown
The assessor basically made out that my partner suffers with no complications when talking to people yet in her comment below says exactly what my partner stated on the call 
That I deal with all officials and professionals because she is greatly distressed and can only manage to speak to her mum 
That is the first of many contradictions 
I can safely say this assessor concentrated more on her mobility side in which that isnt so debilitating 
My partner lays in bed day in day out she only eats when I'm practically begging her she is so under weight yet the assessor said no signs of eating disorder yet how can she tell that over the phone
The last assessor who did a face to face commented on how under weight and pale and frail she looked
I'm shocked 
Her mood as gone down hill since I told her the possible outcome 
And I'm heartbroken that she's basically been made out to be fine fit healthy and happy person 
I have to encourage her to eat take her pills get a wash and also help her wash 
She has made several suicide attempts 
But apparently the assessor says she not at risk of hurting her self because of her children 
It's hard work to juggle caring and been a full time dad 
But now knowing that pip is making out our lives are normal and happy going to the biggest insult 
and I'm stuck and how to fix this for my partner 

I'm sorry if I rambled on 
I'm just so hurt by the report when this assessor wasn't in front of her and made comments in the reports to questions she never asked on the phone 

janer1967

Hu and welcome 

Lots of people have this problem 

The assessor give their opinion on the condition from what they are told 

If the decision is to not give award you are satisfied with then put in a MR to appeal 

Dint get hung up on lies just concentrate on how your wife is affected against each of the descriptors giving real examples 

There are lots posts and advice on here to help you 

red2021

I cant see how a phone assesment can do anything positive..
Totaly wrong this practice in this present climate..

happyfella

Speak to your doctor and ask them to put in a letter of support

Cress

Sorry it didnt go as you hoped, but all is not lost yet!
You have the MR and tribunal options and there is plenty of great advice to be had here.
I've applied for PIP for my son and myself and was successful.
My own claim was based on mental health, I had a phone assessment with a very straight talking, no nonsense yourkshire lady and was awarded.
But as has been said many times, we only hear about the bad experiences.
Dont give up, get help and advice.
Good luck

poppy123456

HI and welcome,

The telephone assessments have given possitive feedback and are going really well. The majority of people are awarded successfully with no problems at all.

Have you added up the recommendations in the report? Look for the dots next to the descriptors and use the PIP descriptors online to see what score, if any is recommended.

Once the decision's been made if you're not happy then it's the MR as the first step. Recent real world examples of what happened the last time she attempted that activity will also help. Adding who was with her, where she was and a detailed explanation of exactly what happened.

The report is the HCP's opinion based on all the information giving. May i ask if this was a review of an existing PIP claim? If so did you fill the form out with as much relevant information as possible?

woodbine

@happyfella a GP letter isn't much use as they don't know how your condition affects you only what condition you have and PIP isn't awarded on that basis.

@red2021 many people have found phone assessments to work in their favour, you can't expect HCP's to put themselves at risk doing face 2 face meetings.

happyfella

I have experienced both in person and over the phone assessment. I had an assessment last year in person and was shocked to be honest. I suffer from physical problems and i also have PTSD and suffer from depression. At my assessment they asked me to do stuff but i could not do it as it caused me so much pain. They then asked about my depression and said to me if i was that depressed why have i not tried killing myself. I came out of the appointment in tears. My wife wanted to go in there and well, i wont say what she wanted to do.

I got the report through and was shocked. There were loads of lies on there saying i had done things they had asked which i had not, and it also said that they had witnessed me walking normally from my car down the road to my appointment. For starters, the car was parked right next to the entrance, and the assessor was twenty mins late and appologized to the receptionist and told them she was stuck in traffic.

On the report she also contradicted herself lots of times and it did not make sense. To cut a long story short it was like the report was for someone else. My doctor went mad and so did my other medical experts. Because of the lies i received no points. I was told to complain and appeal. I did a madondary request and did not get any extra points. There were two investigations that took place after complaints took place and one was an indpendent one. The two investigations appologized to me and said i was let down. Basically the assessor lied to the investigations and they made it clear in the report that they felt the assessor had lied to them.

I was told to appeal but i did not have the energy. I was told if i appealed then i would win but i could not go through with it. Then in August last year my doctor and other medical help kept on saying you need to either appeal or put a new claim in. I kept on saying no because i could not cope. In the end my doctor arranged for someone to fill the forms in as they said it would be quicker to put a new claim in.

I was worried because i could not go through that again. I then had a phone assessment out of the blue. They phoned me up without warning and i spoke to a nice lady over the phone, she was really helpful. She went through everything and then i thanked her for being so nice and understanding. She said she was shocked what i went through before and said she does hear about this type of behaviour a lot, but she assured me most of the assessors are decent people. She actually told me over the phone that you will receive an award but she said i cannot say which one. I did not even aks her about the award but she wanted to make clear that i would receive something.

The phone assessment gave me back the confidence in the system. If you do have the energy which i did not have then appeal. Or, go to somewhere where they will do it for you. If you can, get a letter from your doctor to support your claim. This is not something i thought of, but i was told over the phone that my doctor sent a strong worded letter to them with all the evidence

Tori_Scope

Welcome to the community @mick192

This must be an extremely difficult situation for you all. There's absolutely no need to apologise, you haven't rambled on at all. We're all here to listen and help where we can. 

Along with the advice and further questions our other members have asked, I just wanted to check-in to see how you and your partner were doing. Is your partner receiving any support for her mental health at the moment? I was sorry to read that she's attempted suicide multiple times- is that something that your GP (or another doctor or mental health professional) is aware of? 

It also sounds as though you have a lot on your plate in caring for her as well as the children. Do you think you could benefit from some further support? 

mick192

Thank you all for taking the time out to reply

I'm requesting our family liaison officer to do a written letter
The gp are in no rush to help with treatment for my partner so I don't think they will be much help in asking for a report 
They have failed to do her monthly injections since march this doesn't help her health side but we have to respect that out gp doesn't have the time due to the current pandemic 
I can ring the practice up and see if they could get our gp to call back in the 4 week time frame of a mr 

She has had successful face to face assessments since being poorly in 2008 was her first one 
Luckily back then her mental health crisis team took her to that first one
We assumed at worst she would lose the mobility side
But she as always been on high rate or enhanced care low or standard rate mobility 
But it looks like its 8 points for care 
6 for mobility 
She is severely underweight and wears childrens clothing she is 34 and is in age 10 to 11 clothing
But the assessor in this report said she had no weight issues and no eating disorder yet how can she clearly tell this over the phone 
The last assessor from the 2018 face to face expressed the frail and severely underweight 
In most comments

This was a review 
It was extended till april 2021 but it was due to run out oct 2020 
She also stated my partner spoke well and calmly 
But in another comment said she semt withdrawn 
My partner was a mess I only ever see her in that state when we have to leave the house and we are physically outside 
So she avoids all her appointments because she cant cope leaving the house 

poppy123456

I know it's very upsetting to read what is written but try not to concentrate too much on that because this isn't going to get her a PIP award.

The best person that knows how she's affected is herself and you as you are her partner so my advice is to concentrate on those real world examples as mentioned above.

I'm assuming she was previously claiming DLA because you mention successful face to face assessments since 2008 but PIP was only introduced in April 2013.

mick192

Tori_Scope said:

Welcome to the community @mick192

This must be an extremely difficult situation for you all. There's absolutely no need to apologise, you haven't rambled on at all. We're all here to listen and help where we can. 

Along with the advice and further questions our other members have asked, I just wanted to check-in to see how you and your partner were doing. Is your partner receiving any support for her mental health at the moment? I was sorry to read that she's attempted suicide multiple times- is that something that your GP (or another doctor or mental health professional) is aware of? 

It also sounds as though you have a lot on your plate in caring for her as well as the children. Do you think you could benefit from some further support? 

Thank you it's amazing to know people are here to help 

She is not doing so good 
I think this as knocked her down due to the fact this report makes out she's fine when we know that's not correct
She has had many people involved due to physocsis 
Over the last 12 years 
At the moment it's basically a family liaison officer 
Who referred her to a CBT and mental health support over the phone 
Due to the pandemic 
She has been under many mental health services the ptsd is holding alot of the strugglings that is her biggest struggle at the moment due to the time of the year 
So CBT is hopefully going to help her into how to control this or at least help her cope a little better
Her gp as been amazing since she was first diagnosed 
She is on many types of medications

From what I can see the decision maker goes with the assessor report even thought the report is highly contradictory 

poppy123456

They mostly go with the report but it has been known for them to go against it.

mick192

poppy123456 said:

I know it's very upsetting to read what is written but try not to concentrate too much on that because this isn't going to get her a PIP award.

The best person that knows how she's affected is herself and you as you are her partner so my advice is to concentrate on those real world examples as mentioned above.

I'm assuming she was previously claiming DLA because you mention successful face to face assessments since 2008 but PIP was only introduced in April 2013.

Yes that's correct she was first awarded in 2008 for dla 
She then had to go onto pip in 2018 
What's upsetting is this was done over the phone and it's like was in front of her 
Yet the assessors who have actually done face to face can see her struggles and her disabilitys 
It's hard not to be upset 
But it wont get us any where 
But its heartbreaking for mentally and physically I'll people to have to go through this along with their disabilities 

wilko

Having had two face to face assessments both awards where justified and what was expected. I put in for a change of circumstances in September 2020 had confirmation that my pack had been received by DWP. Yesterday I had my phone assessment I am receiving high mobility and basic daily living my daily living needs have changed and as my review was due this April I phoned DWP for advice and was sent a new claim pack but I was warned my award could be upgraded or down graded. So I shall wait for a week then request a copy of my assessment report. As poppy123456 stated the phone assessments are going well and I was impressed how the questions where put and the compassion shown, I hope that by her tone she know about my conditions and was able to tease out the truth over our telephone conversation.

Girl_No1

@Wilko Like you, I had a telephone assessment.  The lady I spoke with seemed friendly and realistic in her approach/questioning.  However, some sections of the report, like so many others have said, appeared to have been written about someone who is not me. 

I've seen people on here refer to "copy&paste" or "ticking boxes" and I'm pretty much convinced it's a case of if the assessor doesn't cover the topic, the lowest level is automatically assumed/ticked.  As an example, there was absolutely no discussion whatsoever about my ability to walk, what distance or timeframes.  This translated in the report to "You stated you can walk for 30 minutes unaided."  I'm guessing that's the "gold standard" of mobility and, as such, was assigned to me because I do not have any physical mobility difficulties and this was not under discussion/consideration. 

Whilst me "stating" I could walk for 30min unaided was an outright falsehood, I took the advice of those on this forum and for my MR focused on only the areas that were discussed and pertinent to my claim.  It's easier said than done, obviously, but it really makes sense to focus on the areas that really matter to your claim, not your sense of "fairness" or "accuracy". 

The reviewing Decision Maker called yesterday (Thursday), out of the blue as it appears they do, and again he seemed friendly, particularly understanding and knowledgable about the queried areas.  It was a very brief (8mins) call and very focused solely on the issues I'd raised.  He was very (voluntarily) informative about how the process works and the timescales - he'd send a letter today (Friday) confirming the outcome of the Review.  

Now it's the wait for the brown envelope (or, even, a bank transaction if I'm successful in the MR!) ..... 

mick192

poppy123456 said:

They mostly go with the report but it has been known for them to go against it.

Hi everyone 
I wanted to just update everyone
I rang to request a mr with the advice from our family liaison officer
We have 28 days to send in all my partners evidence and obvisouly the points we disagree on

He mentioned  to ignore the new decision which arrived today as her claim is now on hold 

Which made me wonder what that meant
Am I right in thinking my partner won't receive any payments at all now till this is either won or lost

As I say she has never had to be put in this position but after speaking with our liaison officer a lot of claimants are in our position 
But he original award wasn't due to run out till april due to the pandemic it was extended

janer1967

Hi @mick192

The decision what you got today is what she will be paid going forward unless she gets a different award from the mr 

Even tho original award was extended to April this will now be overridden by the new award 

Her letter should explain when payments should be made and amounts 

poppy123456

The advice to ignore the new decision isn't exactly correct because it's still a new decision. The new decision supersedes the previous decision. There may also be a small overpayment as this does sometimes happen when you have a lower award, it just depends on when exactly the decision was made on the most recent claim.

Good luck with the MR. If that's not successful then it's Tribunal.

mick192

janer1967 said:

Hi @mick192

The decision what you got today is what she will be paid going forward unless she gets a different award from the mr 

Even tho original award was extended to April this will now be overridden by the new award 

Her letter should explain when payments should be made and amounts 

Hiya and thank you for replying so quickly 

The man on the phone said to ignore that decision letter we got today 
And it's on hold till we get a new decision 
This is what confused me as I was under the impression payments would carry on 


Her new awards Is standard care

Her previous award was enhanced care standard mobility 

poppy123456

The decision can't be ignored because it's a new decision. I don't understand why you were advised to do that.

mick192

poppy123456 said:

The advice to ignore the new decision isn't exactly correct because it's still a new decision. The new decision supersedes the previous decision. There may also be a small overpayment as this does sometimes happen when you have a lower award, it just depends on when exactly the decision was made on the most recent claim.

Good luck with the MR. If that's not successful then it's Tribunal.

Thank you 

I just hope she gets the outcome she deserves 
I'd feel so hurt if she would have to face the tribunal I don't think she could mentally cope 
Thats my fear 

cupcake88

Hi there and welcome to the community. Just so I’m on the right path your wife’s award has gone from the high award for both to just standard for one is that right ? I’m sorry it’s not what you was hoping for . 

I suffer with mental illnesses  only no physical I personally preferred the over the phone accessment.  

The crisis team also helped me with my form they provided me with all my care plans which were really good as unlike what you get from your gp they explained how my illness affects my life which was handy to send off I would send any thing like that off with your MR . Wishing you best of luck let us know how you get on .