Hi,

I have just received my PIP award letter from DWP and have been awarded Standard Care no mobility.

On the short report it says that I attended the Face to face assessment alone.

The fact is that my Wife who is my carer came with me and carried my medication into the room, placed them on the assessors desk, checked with me that I am alright then waited outside for me.

She did not stay in the room as she gets upset very easily and also angry and frustrated when in that type of environment.

To avoid this we agreed that as soon as I am with the assessor I would be safe and the assessor could get my wife if I needed her before the end.

Is it right for the assessor to say I attended alone?

Surely the circumstances above say different and getting to and from the assessment is part of the process.

Nic

If the report is factually inaccurate then I would certainly raise the issue, yes.

At the very least I would have expected it to refer to how you got to the interrogation, and by what means.

Hi ,

Thanks for the reply.

It is my intention to ask for Mandatory Reconsideration and also to get the full copy of the Face to Face assessment.

As I understand I have 30 days to tell the DWP this , is this just a phone call or by letter ?

Also, I will need the full report to challenge the decision ,

will I be asked why I want the MR when I call them

and will I be allowed time to submit the reasons for the MR knowing that I will be waiting for the full report ?

There are a few points on the decision makers report that comes with the award that I feel are not correct and in this report there is nothing about my need to have my Wife(carer) with me when doing various activities in the house to keep me safe, the report does say that I need an aid for some activities.

If the full assessors report does not say that my wife attended to help me is it worth complaining to Atos or should I send a complaint now with the Decision Makers statement of attending alone.

Nic

Definitely start your complaint to Atrocious NOW!!

And please copy in your local MP, they're the ones with claret on their hands, this is their doing, they can carry the can,

Click on this link and follow the links to start your complaint.

If you call them, then ensure you get the callers details, if posible, record the call, but always follow it up with a hard copy, you need a paper trail of evidence.

They're very economical with the truth over the phone.

They'll already know why you want this info you can always SAR the DWP, which is free....

Definitely start your complaint to Atrocious NOW!!

 

And please copy in your local MP, they're the ones with claret on their hands, this is their doing, they can carry the can,

 

Click on this link and follow the links to start your complaint.

 

If you call them, then ensure you get the callers details, if posible, record the call, but always follow it up with a hard copy, you need a paper trail of evidence.

 

They're very economical with the truth over the phone.

 

They'll already know why you want this info you can always SAR the DWP, which is free....

No link there BB

Be aware that a recent FOI request showed that the DWP have a target of 80% of upholding the decision at Mandatory Decision stage. Yet at tribunals two thirds of claimants win their appeal.

"It is my intention to ask for Mandatory Reconsideration and also to get the full copy of the Face to Face assessment.

As I understand I have 30 days to tell the DWP this , is this just a phone call or by letter ?"

nicurro you do not have 30 days, you have 30 days from the date of the letter which is usually sent out via very slow snail mail so it arrives around 10 days from the date of the letter!

Would someone be kind enough to answer the following from earlier post.

Also, I will need the full report to challenge the decision , will I be asked why I want the MR when I call them and will I be allowed time to submit the reasons for the MR knowing that I will be waiting for the full report ?

There are a few points on the decision makers report that comes with the award that I feel are not correct and in this report there is nothing about my need to have my Wife(carer) with me when doing various activities in the house to keep me safe, the report does say that I need an aid for some activities.

If the full assessors report does not say that my wife attended to help me is it worth complaining to Atos or should I send a complaint now with the Decision Makers statement of attending alone.

Nic

Link ??

Link ??

What do you mean please?

HB

Hi,

If I ring DWP to ask for the Reconsideration to compile the reasons I will need to wait for the report from the face to face assessment is delivered to me. At the moment I only have what the decision maker has written on the award letter, will I be given a longer period to go through the report and list my reasons for the reconsideration.

I have said earlier that the report on the award letter says I attended the assessment alone which is not the case, this and what the decision maker has written makes me believe that the facts have not been documented correctly on the assessors report from the Face to face.

Also, should all of the things that my wife(carer) does for me to keep me safe be documented on the face to face report as the decision maker has not mentioned it nor does it appear on any of the sections that I have been given points for.

Apologies if I am confusing you with the way I explain things.

Nic

Sorry, there was a mention of a link on Bazooka boos reply but no link was there.

With regard to the mandatory reconsideration, I would just put what you feel you should have been awarded and point out any mistakes you already know. It's actually not usually worth putting too much effort into this as 87% of mandatory reconsiderations currently uphold the original result. Ask for the full report and use it to do the appeal once you get to that point.

There is an address on the ATOS website to complain to them when you have all the information you need.

You're wasting your time complaining. I did. Got a big standard reply of "we know what we're doing".

Apologies apologies, I always post up my responses and forget to add the link!!!!

Here is the link I was referring to, sorry!

http://www.atoshealthcare.com/pip/feedback_pip

You're wasting your time complaining. I did. Got a big standard reply of "we know what we're doing".

Err, NO you're not.

You MUST complain, then escalate it, it took me three years, two tibunals, and Independent case examiners involvement to get the correct result.

If you don't complain, or accept their token response, then nothing will change.

I'm currently going to the Independent Case Examiner for the second time after ATOS haven't responded adequately to complaints - last time it was taking over 2 years to finally get the assessment done, this time it was ignoring all the information about my restrictions and expecting me to travel over 40 miles to an assessment, failing to turn up for the next one and then producing a report that could have been about anyone and it so severley understated my difficulties that I simply could not let it stand even though I still got enhanced rate for both components. They said people often misremember what was said at an assessment, but apparently didn't notice that they eventually did the report 'on the papers', so I do actually know exactly what was said.

Hello all,

I have now registered my request for MR , I also asked to be given time to go through the report when it arrives with me. The advisor said thar I have 28 days to submit further evidence or details of why the claim may be incorrect. I then asked how long will the report take to arrive at my house to which he said upto 2 weeks. As this would not give me much time to go through the report to meet the 28 days I asked again if the 28 days should be extended to take into consideration the time it takes to arrive , He just said you have 28 days from today.

Is this the usual approach ?

I also asked if they could take no further action until I had time to go through the report, again 28 days.

No pressure then..

Any advice?

Nic

Talkin BS IMO.

[Removed] on the end of the phone, but when you read verbatim what they said, they will always deny it.

You really should think about recording your calls for future.

Make sure you keep a note of who it was you spoke to, then add their name to the complaint, keep your local MP up to speed too.

Mark the MR letter with the date you received it on.

Do you mean when I receive the MR decision letter record the date I received it or when I receive the report from the DWP?

Is 28 days the maximum?

Nic

When you receive the letter from them then mark the date you received it, you are usually given four weeks from the date on the letter in which to respond.

If there are mitigating circumstances, ie, they received your request for MR, and failed to send it until three weeks after you requested it, then that would be mitigating circumstances, and they should allow you to appeal out of time.

BUT, you're not at that stage yet.

It pretty much makes no odds what you say in your MR, they'll almost always uphold the first decision, which forces you to take it to appeal.

All of the above needs to be complained about to your local MP as this is costing US, the taxpayer, millions of pounds every year for a system which isn't fit for purpose.

Hi,

I have now received my report from the face to face assessment and have seen a common theme from the daily living questions.

No mention of the help my wife gives me on a daily basis

just an answer saying that if I used this that & the other I should be able to do the task and so have been put down with the low points for each part.

The assessor has also put that I walked 50 meters to the room from the carpark but no mention of having to stop after distances of around 15 meters to steady myself and continue with my wife assisting me.

On the section relating to this I was marked as being able to walk between 50 meters & 200 meters on a repeated basis which is not the case.

Any advice on how to progress with this and how to respond to the parts I disagree with would be appreciated.

I have also contacted my MP about this who has asked for my permission to question the decision also.

Nic

OK good, you can appeal any decision on your PIP claim.

First you need the DWP to look at their decision again, called a Mandatory reconsideration, then when they refuse to change the decision, you can start the appeals process, and got to tribunal.

Almost all of the decisions that go to tribunal are overturned, although it's a lethargic tedious process, it's worth it in the end.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/appeals/apply-to-tribunal/

Hello again,

I have just been reading the Assessment Provider report that has been sent to me by the DWP to enable me to write my reasons , the report has a page count of 30 but there is no page 4.

The printed report individual page count goes from page 3 of 30 to page 5 of 30 and no page 4 of 30.

Can anyone advise what I should do as it now appears to be an incomplete report.

Thanks

Nic

Was this a SAR?

Hi,

No this is a copy of the face to face assessment report that I requested when asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration. I asked for all the evidence used in making the decision on my PIP claim.

Nic

OK, well if they've failed to send you everything in the MR then that in its self is cause for complaint.

IMO I'd hit them with a SAR, they have 40 calender days in which to send you EVERYTHING, use this form and send it to the address stated, it's free.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-request-for-personal-information