PIP Home Assessment - Page 3 — Scope | Disability forum
Please read our updated community house rules and community guidelines.

PIP Home Assessment

Options
13

Comments

  • pip
    pip Community member Posts: 72 Courageous
    Options
    chasnbons: good for you with the PIP award.
    i requested a home assessment for PIP but was told by the advice centre who phoned them up that they only do it for people who were completely housebound which is bit unfair, I get out but not often and then with difficulty (mental health problems), the advice centre person is taking get me to the assessment and helping me with it, I didn't think I could get there and attend it, and not on my own.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    @pip The advice center told you wrong!  Stick to your guns, get a GP letter saying you can't travel and maybe get your MP involved (that's what I did)  If you go to the assessment center you WILL lose points.  This is a ploy for them to prove that you can do more than you say you can.  I know it seems a lot of messing about but it will be worth it.  Capita or whoever is dealing with your case, will have to pass it back to DWP if you tell them you can't get to an assessment center and DWP will ask for confirmation from your GP in the form of a letter stating that you are unable to attend an assessment center, It takes a while but they should then approve the request as if the don't they are breaking their own rules and codes of practice by not making special arrangements for someone who would is unable to attend, either physically or mentally.  Good luck :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Debbie_Alumni
    Debbie_Alumni Community member Posts: 932 Pioneering
    Options
    Wow @chasnbons! You've made my day! 

    My heart sank when you told us about the ESA and what would appear to be the repeated ordeal of organising another home visit which your GP has already asked for but now needs to send another letter in. I would expect that the ESA assessment will be quite straight forward and the correct decision made at the outset. If not, you have our support to help you through it.

    I then carried on reading and was absolutely blown away by the PIP decision you received in the post yesterday. After everything you've been through to get here, all the trauma, distress and battling. This is absolutely the right decision. It's awful that the process has been so traumatic but you've done all the right things and you kept going. Despite all of the hurdles and hoops you've had to jump through, you kept at it and you kept fighting. Not only did you keep fighting but you inspired other community members to do the same and to not give up. You shared with us the rawness of the ordeal and yet you still managed to find the strength to support and encourage others when it was incredibly traumatic for you. 

    Your kind words brought a tear to my eye today, I really appreciate what you wrote, more than you'll ever know. Thank you so much.
    Thank you also to everyone who has joined in the discussion and supported each other. This community is so unique and it's such a pleasure to be a part of it.

    Have a lovely day all

    *Group Hug*

    Debbie




    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    @DebbieVoakes I got up this morning thinking it was all a cruel dream and then saw the letter on the kitchen table and knew it was true :)  I still can't quite believe it if I'm honest!

    It's been a very long and difficult road but I consider myself half way along it now with just the ESA  'street' to conquer, but my advice to anyone in the same or a similar situation is carry on, no matter how hard it gets!  I was lucky to have Steve doing most of it on my behalf, and I'm sure others will have a family member or friend who will help them (Don't forget your GP and MP, they are there to help you!)

    Talking of GP's Steve discovered that mine filled a 113 form in and sent it to DWP so he rang the surgery and we are getting a copy of it tonight (for free) so that we can see what he said to them, will let you know what's what when we've read it.  

    As for my 'kind words', they were nothing less than you deserve, you really have played such a big part in all this for me and just saying thank you really doesn't seem enough.

    You mentioned the rawness, that's a really good word for it, and at times I've been glad that swear words get removed from here as there have been some choice ones, I can tell you!  But really my main reason for logging everything on here was in the hope that it might in some small way help someone else in their down moments.  It is always a comfort if you know you are not alone (which is another thing you did for me) and if people can hear/read a true account of how someone is being treated then maybe it will prepare them for 'battle'.  Plus if gives an insight as to how these people are allowed to treat claimants.

    I wish people the best of luck with their own claims, and again no matter how disheartened you might feel at times, make sure you carry on.  If you don't then THEY will have won and you won't get the help you so rightly deserve!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pip
    pip Community member Posts: 72 Courageous
    Options
    @chasnbons, thankyou, the assessment people said I had to be 100% housebound to have a home visit, I'm housebound but not completely,
    the advice centre secured an assessment in my home town and she will take me
    to it, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get there and attend. they've written to say the location is back to another town, so I will ask her to take this up with them again, I can't arrange things like this myself, not completely, I do have some fair days, but I'm often too poorly.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    100% housebound my rear end, they are lying to you (something they seem to do very often I was told at one point that you had to be terminally ill to get one!) Get you GP to send a letter stating you can't go to a center and get you MP involved.  It's despicable the things (blatant lies) they try to get away with!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pip
    pip Community member Posts: 72 Courageous
    Options
    chasnbons the advice centre person is coming with me to the pip assessment at a local office. 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    @pip If you're 'happy' to go along with the 'local' assessment center assessment then all well and good, but I feel you are playing into their hands by doing so.  You've already asked for a home assessment and were told 'no' due to their lies, and bowed down to them.  

    By attending the assessment center you have proved to them that you didn't need the home visit in the first place (that IS they way they will take it, trust me on this) and everything else will no doubt be now classed as 'suspect' by them. Also bear in mind that the assessor WILL be watching you both before and after the assessment, even before you enter the building and also when you leave, looking for anything that they can use against your claim.

    I REALLY hope that things go your way, but I fear you will now have an even bigger uphill battle to get/keep the benefits you so rightly deserve.  You have to bear in mind at all times that these people on the whole (yes there are a few honest ones - but not many) are there to trip you up at every opportunity and their ultimate goal is to get people off benefits.

    Really sorry if this sounds harsh, but harsh or not, it IS the way they work, good luck and let us know how you get on.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    @pip I just had a quick look on disabledgo.com and I wondered who exactly the 'advice center' or 'assessment people' you mention is/are?

    If they are these people https://www.chdauk.co.uk/ then you should be aware that they are also Maximus, one of the companies which do the actual assessments, they are like Atos and Capita.  This is taken from a post about the state of assessments and the lies they tell
    • ATOS are no longer doing ESA assessments, lost contract last year
      • Read the article. ATOS still has 2 contracts to do PIP assessments

      • Maximus AKA the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments AKA The Health Assessment Advisory Service have taken over the contract, though ATOS still gets paid to provide the LiMA software for ESA WCA's ('medicals'). Maximus are just as bad.

        ATOS are still assessing people in the majority of the UK for PIP - and every PIP assessment report I've seen is also full of untruths.

        The problems come from two directions: first, the covert targets that the Health Care Professionals work to, and second, the flawed software. LiMA automatically fills in a report based on the answers to a few questions. The PIPAT software was roundly denounced by a software expert here http://voxpoliticalonline.com/...
        None of these assessments deal with the real complexities of a person with long term sickness and/or disabilities.


    If they are the same people who are going to accompany you then maybe you should think about getting either a family member or friend to escort you instead, as taking someone with you as an escort, who is from/also works for, the company who are going to assess you has to be a really bad idea, as they will no doubt also be watching your every move on the journey, ready to report back to the assessor.

    The lengths the Government will go to, to try and get genuine people off benefits is mind boggling, wrong and if it isn't already, then it should be illegal or at the very least claimants should be freely told that they are all one and the same company, without having to trawl the internet to find out for themselves.

    All the money wasted in allowing these practices to continue is disgusting!


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pip
    pip Community member Posts: 72 Courageous
    Options
    chasnbons thankyou, the advice centre is an independent charity, and she Is taking me there and will sit in at the assessment. Otherwise I doubt I'd make it. what sort of things do they ask? glad you got the award.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    Glad it's someone independent :) They can ask about anything you put on the form you filled in, plus it seems anything else they like no matter how irrelevant! The husband of Steve's friend at work was asked how they managed to keep their house so clean and it was commented that he had lots of nice jewellery on! What the latter has to do with someones fitness for work is questionable to say the least, and the assessor was told so, in no uncertain terms by his wife!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Matilda
    Matilda Community member Posts: 2,593 Disability Gamechanger
    Options
    And if they fail to trip people up, then they'll just make it up.  My assessor stated in her report that she 'observed' me to take my handbag off over my head and put it on the floor from where she 'observed' me to pick it up at the end of the consultation. Whereas the reality was that I never at any point before, during or after the consultation took my bag off.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pip
    pip Community member Posts: 72 Courageous
    edited November 2016
    Options
    I'm glad the welfare advice person will be there with me from what you tell me.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Matilda
    Matilda Community member Posts: 2,593 Disability Gamechanger
    Options
    The comment by the assessor about the claimant's jewellery intended to imply that they were spending benefits on luxuries and so didn't need the money.

    I deliberately only wore a watch to my assessment and I recommend all claimants to do the same. Don't give those trying to force you off benefits any excuse.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    @Matilda Yes I (and they) knew that, but the point of the assessment is to determine whether or not you qualify for the benefit NOT for them to decide what you spend it on.  Although as it happens, the jewellery has all been bought as presents by family and friends so has even LESS to do with the assessor. They make enough assumptions about a claimant which ARE directly linked to benefits already, without them commenting on things that have nothing to do with it.

    The trouble is they are allowed and even condoned in some cases to do and say whatever they like, as if they are some kind of Gods, the Government are aware of this and refuse to do anything about it.  The be all and all of it is, as long as the Benefits bill is cut drastically then it doesn't matter how this happens or how many people are hurt in the process.

    Ok on this occasion I consider myself to be very lucky in getting PIP, but the reality is, seeing as I have been allowed it, some other poor sod will have the nightmare appeal scenario to go through, to try and get them off it.  Or maybe they will take my ESA away to compensate for it, only time will tell I suppose.

    I've made a small step along this (ESA) road by getting a home assessment approved, but there's still a hell of a long way to go.

    The laughable thing is, that although I have to go through this horror again to keep ESA, I have received a form today telling me that I might be able to get the Sever Disability Premium part of ESA.  All I have to do is fill in the form they have sent and according to what I have read, as long as I live alone (ie no dependents living with me) and nobody gets Carers allowance for me, then I should qualify for it!  I won't hold my breath here either, but what does seem strange is that with one hand they want to take it away and with the other they want to give me more!

    I will keep you updated as and when I hear something.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Matilda
    Matilda Community member Posts: 2,593 Disability Gamechanger
    Options
    It sounds like you have a good chance of keeping ESA, chasbon.

    It appears that tribunals know how incompetent and corrupt the assessment companies and government are, and that is why so many decisions are overturned on appeal.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chasnbons
    chasnbons Community member Posts: 60 Courageous
    Options
    @Matilda I hope you're right about keeping it.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pip
    pip Community member Posts: 72 Courageous
    edited November 2016
    Options
    I do go out to the surgery for example, but not by myself, I take taxis each time, so I'll have to say I couldn't get there on my own (I've agoraphobia etc) or the welfare advice person will for me. it's a worry!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fedupfemale
    fedupfemale Community member Posts: 28 Connected
    Options

    I was refused a home visit on the grounds that in my pip2 form my carer mentioned I get angry and aggressive. They then wanted me to attend a f2f at a assessment centre. This all dates back to the beginning of September. Now I am fighting for a reconsideration for not attending my medical. I thought the medical was cancelled as I had involved my MP and from the letter she sent me that's how I took it. I have had my DLA stopped.In one letter I was told to ask  them to look at it again but in another letter my Mp got from the compliants team it told me to ask for a MR which I have done. Today I missed a phone call from PIP and rang my Mp to see if she could find out what they wanted but so far she hasn't been back intouch. I suffer from Agrophobia,panic attacks,depression,OCD list is endless. I haven't been out the house in years and I am now at breaking point because I too feel like the goal posts keep getting moved.

    Do they ring you to tell you that you haven't been successful and they want to hear you break even further? I think its a very very cruel way of doing things

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pip
    pip Community member Posts: 72 Courageous
    Options
    I 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Brightness

Categories