Pips telephone assessments

MarkM88

@brianwoods assessors don’t have access to your medical records anyway. 

brianwoods

I was asked if I am able to manage my own medication.
I answered that my partner puts my medical in to one of those day by day pill boxes and ensures that I take properly as I have overdosed on a number of occasions where I have forgotten I have taken them.
The pa4 stated that "I" have no problem managing my own medication. 
Slightly contradictory like how the rest of the pa4 reads.
In fact it makes it look like I am perfectly well and good ??
Understandably I have little or no faith in the current claim process.

brianwoods

I've just read an interesting article ,apparently there are that many people who have raised a complaint about the way the telephone interviews are being carried out that a select Committee has been raised to look in to atos/capita/independent assessment services/ maximus way of carrying out these assessments.
The last time this happened the words "malpractice" serious shortcomings came in to it and the DWP had to do a complete review of things.
I'm surprised  that they keep using the same company though ??

onebigvoice

poppy123456 said:

The AP does not need to be medically trained in any specific conditions because PIP isn't awarded based on any diagnosis.

I just wondered what it was based on then, if the assessor does not show the justification in their reports?  To me its an opinion then?  Purely my opinion.

poppy123456

The AP is there to assess you and to gather more evidence to support your claim. They then write the report which is their opinion based on everything you sent and what you said during the assessment.

brianwoods

So somebody who has no access to your medical records and is not specifically trained in mental health issues is writing a report based on an opinion.
Which will then dictate whether or not you are entitled to a pips benefit.
Something is very clearly wrong with this process and needs to be revised as soon as possible.

brianwoods

By the way apparently it costs £400 to do a home assessment and £200 for an office assessment.
The DWP must be saving an enormous amount of money by doing telephone interviews and enabling them to say no to a lot more people.
Go team DWP the .gov office that likes to say no 
And a massive thanks to the chancellor 👏👏👏

brianwoods

What's the point of telling the assessor how your illness affects your life if the assessor ignores everything your saying to them and writes down what is essentially misleading information which then allows the DWP to make an incorrect judgement.
Again truly awesome .gov 

brianwoods

@Username_removed unfortunately no elephant in this room although I do have a cat if that counts.
If as you say the majority of claims go through with no issues why is there such a large amount of complaints being raised about how these interviews are being done and why is there a government select committee investigating again .

brianwoods

@Username_removed The part about the chancellor was a bit of misdirection on my part his function is to raise money through taxation etc and quite correctly plays no part in the process ,it was refreshing to read something that had been written minus .gov jargon and abbreviations like HV etc
Maybe an algorithm would work ?
Take away the human element altogether and just write a computer program instead.
And no I did not need to google the word "algorithm" I used to write software so I'm well aware of what the word means
And yes that was me being sarcastic also.

chiarieds

The question then would be, 'if the current process isn't fair, what would you change it to?'

AndrewHall

My point here is if your PIP2 form is insufficient, you have a second bite of the cherry in stating your case at MR.

brianwoods

@Username_removed I will compliment you on your skill with word's, 
Were you by any chance on your college or university debating team ??
If so I would have enjoyed going up against you 🤝

brianwoods

@AndrewHall
I believe the current success rate for pips "mandatory reconsideration's" according to .Gov figures is under 20%
So it looks like I might be going to Tribunal with backing from my law centre.

brianwoods

@chiarieds.
My apology I got focused on  @Username_removed recent posts.
In answer to your question "not" going to a completely digital platform might be a start.

brianwoods

@Username_removed Ah that would explain your depth of knowledge on the subject.
I was  until recently  a union representative and accompanied people at industrial tribunal's, disciplinary meetings etc 
Protecting people's rights can be quite challenging at times.
I wasn't expecting you to comment on my recent posts I was just stating an "opinion".

AndrewHall

brianwoods said:

@Username_removed Ah that would explain your depth of knowledge on the subject.
I was  until recently  a union representative and accompanied people at industrial tribunal's, disciplinary meetings etc 
Protecting people's rights can be quite challenging at times.
I wasn't expecting you to comment on my recent posts I was just stating an "opinion".

From my little experience of life, I found that injustice are mostly committed by people charged to do otherwise. 

AndrewHall

brianwoods said:

@Username_removed Ah that would explain your depth of knowledge on the subject.
I was  until recently  a union representative and accompanied people at industrial tribunal's, disciplinary meetings etc 
Protecting people's rights can be quite challenging at times.
I wasn't expecting you to comment on my recent posts I was just stating an "opinion".

I  would like to add this;

 @Username_removed is an experienced benefits practitioner of over 30yrs experience. He has sat on countless meetings with the Tribunal Managers and Judges.  You need to look at his comments as a constructive ways to improve your appeals. It is counter productive to argue with him. Someone once told me he always seek advice from an adviser who he suspected to be biased towards DWP and he wins always because the advice he receives made him to be aware of the weaknesses in his appeals and corrected them before going to the Tribunal. 
No is perfect or else there is no point in challenging decisions.  I read the one of the top highly rated Upper Tribunal Judges commited a basic error of law due to his oversight of simple fact. The error was such that even the first year University law student shouldn't have made.   The Judge felt so embarrassed so as to set aside his own decision. 

brianwoods

I have just received a phone call from the Greater Manchester Law Centre who will be  representing myself in a possible Tribunal to uphold my pips Claim.
"Possible" because when I rang the DWP on 20th Jan to ask a question about medical evidence was told that the Mandatory reconsideration I had asked for approx 7 weeks ago it hadn't been looked at yet and that I might as well send any evidence anyway ?? 

You never know in the unlikely possibility that  my pips Claim is upheld by the mandatory reconsideration I won't have to go to as far as the  tribunal ?
" forever an optimist"
Thank you to everybody who commented and gave me some really good advice 👏 👏👏👏

brianwoods

And a special thank you to 
@Username_removed.
I never ignore good advice and have taken it on board 🤝