Hi ,

I've noticed many people saying how Lovelly the compliance officer was ,me included , I recorded my interview they were harassing me and on one phone call she said that it was about how I had been claiming severe disablement allowance and I should not have had it because I live with my carer ,

But when I went it was really about was I with my carer as in a relationship (it's my cousin 2nd cousin and not to mention he's 20 years younger than me !!) ,

She was very polite and very understanding about how I was disgusted about them even thinking that we would be together , at the beginning of the interview when I asked if it was about me claiming SDA and she said "we will get to that bit now" ,

Only after her asking loads of questions about me and my carer she finished up and I told her everything , she could see it was the truth ,

So at the end she said thats all done and got up so I said what about the SDA and she said "oh dont worry about that all that's sorted" ????

When I showed my cousin the recording which the officer I seen said that my cousin was asked the same questions ,

But my cousin was outraged he said he wasn't asked about that they asked him if he had been working 100 miles away and said sorry it must be the wrong person and kept asking strange questions like "do you wash your cousin in the bath?" And then "so how many hours do you work"??

So both interviews were really about if me and him were a couple , it's shocking to see the lengths they go to , If they had just been honest and said in the 1st place instead of wasting government money

By asking my cousin in first and lieing saying they have records he's working (which they said sorry our mistake) ,

And then have me go in they had even stopped my money until I went in , my money still doesn't go in like normal

Take today for instance my money was due in yesterday yet I'm waiting after 2 phone calls to them for them to ring me to do a faster paymemt , when i rang them it says on there screens it says "clerical error" !

So don't be fooled by them being nice with you its just a ploy cos they think your cheating the system , like you have stated you are innocent so you have nothing to worry about you just have to answer questions they fill out the form and that's it

Hi All again ,

It's bad enough I've had my pip stopped now to add insult to injury I've had a compliance officer first of all sent my carer a letter saying she had to attend an interview with them but they would like to see them at home (they live with me) ,

When there grandmother died suddenly during surgery she had her perants down from the north for them all to support each other ,

So my Carer rang and tried making an appointment which they said they HAVE to see them the following day ,

The compliance officer was on the door after the phone call saying she hadn't heard anything from the officer , when she knocked again I got annoyed so I went and told her straight to have some decency and leave them grieve in peace ,

As I was talking to her she had her head over my shoulder looking in the house so I slammed the door shut ,

Anyway they said to her when she went to the appointment that it was because she worked for a day ! But asked what kind of things did she help me with , etc which I thought was weird ,

Well after they stopped her income support until they had a year worth of bank statements as soon as they were handed in they reinstated it the same day ,

Then 3 weeks later I get the same letter saying they were going to visit me at my home in 3 weeks , that was last week but I had an emergency doctors appointment so I text them to let them know ,

Then she rang me and was so rude ! ,

She said "im not travelling to your house again it's too far you will have to come to the job center , you should have rang me and told me you had a doctor's appointment and not leave me drive all the way up there"

I told her "your letter said 9-3pm so you should have given me a specific time , I thought I'd be back and able to see you after all you have been threatening me with stopping what little money I have , I've already lost my pip"

She didn't even know it had been stopped so with some further asking I finally got it out of her what it was about , she said

"Well you were Recieving severe disability premium and you should not have been Recieving it if your carer lives with you , so you will have to pay all that back"

I told her I didn't know that and why would I know and that I signed a letter to say I'd be happy for my carer to claim carers allowance and therfore they should have stopped my disability premium as I've never hidden it from them that my carer lives with me ,

She said she would have to dig up the forms I signed etc but I need to interview you first ,

She wants me to travel 24 miles to see her at the jobcenter

I can't see why she can't just "dig up" the forms first

There's no way I can make it Friday 9am

What can I say to her ?

I apologise for this being so long

Thank you

You should fill in a form for your wife to claim esa , they are putting you through the same thing for her stamp to be paid ,

Is there anyway you could talk to your doctor yourself or your wife and ask the Dr if he could he write a quick note saying your wife should have a home visit ,

If you do start claiming esa have it backdated as to me your wife should be entitled to it , it's not easy but your having a stressful time with everything there doing at the moment , so you might as well try to get what your wife deserves

Hi all

Thank you all for your advice , my teeth started deteriorating when I was drinking litres of Pepsi every day , that's why I stopped ,

My last dentist (the one that started work she gave me a porcelain tooth) she said make sure you come to all appointments so I can rectify them ,

But with my dentist at the moment not doing anything they will continue to weaken ,

I've said in the past that I'd just rather have the rest taken out and have false teeth but the dentist just laughs it off ,

I'm going to change my dentist to the place I live now

Thank you All so much

Hi All ,

I've been with my dentist years and yet my teeth are in a complete mess , just as work was starting being done on my teeth my dentist left the dental surgery and now I've got a dentist who just sees me asks what is the problem and just fills any tooth ,

My back tooth needed extracting really badly and she said she had referred me to some place to have it taken out , as it was to complex for her to do , she said 3 months wait ,

It's been 10 months and my tooth is just horrendous ,well my whole set of teeth are ,

No matter what I do I've cut sugary drinks out etc but my teeth continue to deteriorate ,

I have to wait weeks for an appointment my front tooth where she filled it out where it snapped off , it fell off again and I've had to have ny front tooth in half for the last 6 weeks until I had an appointment

That appointment is on Friday this week , I wish I could tell her straight and ask her to please repair my teeth ,

Im nearly 40 and I've always wanted a nice smile I think it would help with the fact I don't go out

Any advice much appreciated

Hi all

I cannot sleep I'm so worried about everything I feel sick to my stomach ,

My car has been a lifeline , in the last 2 years I've been able to get to important hospital appointments ,

My health is at its worst , I'm waiting to see what diagnosis will be about my chest Xray , I have been having severe pain on my left side of my chest

If it wasnt for me driving to the hospital I would not have gone ,

Living far out I'd never be able to travel by public transport ,

I told the truth at my assessment , I've just printed off the evidence and my own notes for the DM for the mandatory reconsideration ,

When they had a 2nd nurse look at it the reasons being was "administrative error" ? So they had my assessment re-worked on and all she did was say about my driving ,

I printed out the official DVLA website stats on driving with each medical problem and they should be able to see that they can't use that against me ,

I'm a 40 year old woman I think the days of me spinning about are well behind me , truth be told I hate driving but it benefits my welfare

But then again it is the DWP so they will do whatever they want

This is for my evidence for the mandatory reconsideration,

When I spoke to the DM after they stopped my pip I explained to him that I only drive with my carer etc and he said "so you don't drive independently" he then said he would look at that himself ,

I just wanted to know what are the restrictions to driving while claiming pip ?

Anyone know ?

Hi all again

I've just received the assessor report and she has lied and said I attended the assessment alone !!,

And not just that , that I drove there absolutely fine (rubbish) ,

The DWP DM did say to me that 2 nurses looked over it ("healthcare proffessials" and the 2nd one kept putting on each descriptor ,

"social and occupational history notes that she drives 3-4 times a week so therefore unlikely to ..................."

She even put after the assessors report "ignore the top part" and goes on to say about me driving on EVERY single descriptor ,

It's not fair , what can I do ? , as In put on paper for my mandatory reconsideration ? ,

I ONLY drive to appointments and ONLY with my carer and ONLY if I'm not so anxious , even if I don't feel it and my carer says they sense it's not a good idea then I don't drive ! ,

Can anyone help please

And thank you for your time x

I know this might not be much but I have found that ringing again and talking to someone else you get a different response , some do understand and try everything they can to help ,

This has been my experience as I got so annoyed at being told so many different things by each person I spoke to but then I'd manage to talk to talk to someone who WAS helpful ,

Are you ringing the job center itself I'd suggest ringing the DWP main number because I have found them to be more helpful than the local jobcentre and are open until 6.30pm

I think this is the number I really hope you get someone who WILL help you hun x

0345 850 3322

Thank you everyone soo much for your help I don't think I would coped without it ,

Mrpopperspenguins i must have rang the surgery the other day and the person who spoke to me , most probally was rushing and didn't have time to tell me I could pay for my medical records ,All she told me when I asked "can you ask my doctor to write a letter please for the DWP and she said "we stopped doing all that"

But when i seen what you put i rang up and said I'd like a printout of my medical records and how much is it (I said how much is it because I didn't want them to throw me off , so I said it like I KNEW they did it) ,

She said the woman who does it is not in till the morning and there are different prices for the type of information you want ,

Nystagmate you have given me some hope that I might, just might get hold of some medical documents THANK YOU and everyone else who has helped

How convienant for the DWP that getting our OWN medical evidence is so HARD , the DM must have been laughing at me when I said I'd get a letter from my GP

Since they has happened to me I can't believe how many doors are blocked by the DWP to you , actually getting awarded ,

I seen the nurse who did my assessment at the local hospital yesterday I was amazed she even remembered me , I could feel someone staring and turned and it was her she hung her head ,

I can honestly say if she had passed me again I WOULD have approached her , the anger I felt I just wanted to scream out "do you know how many lives are affected Because of people like you who choose to do a few assessments for capita for some extra money ,how do you sleep at night !!

Who do I ask for a printout of my medical records ?

Thanks mrpopperspenguins

You are right the DR I seen today said "ask reception I know we don't do them anymore"

Is there anything I can do to get medical evidence ?

Thanks

Hi ,

I could cry right now I can't believe ALL the things happening to me at the moment ,

ESA letter that quick this morning telling me they will be taking £350 a month and I'll now get £88 ,

I'm down as aggraphobia , OCD , asthma , found out recently I carry the cancer gene my mother has , digestive problems (at the moment my food isn't digesting I won't go into detail it's disgusting) ,

I also had a pain in my left side and the Dr said it's part of my muscle disorder andI have to go for a blood test today to see if my liver and pancreas and kidneys are functioning properly ,

I spend the whole weekend rolling right to left in bed the whole time ,

I've been on PIP for a long time I did have a medical 2 years ago but they wanted to do a review ,

I don't know why but I find it weird how my carer was called in for a "interview" one of them "we are calling to see if you arequire getting the right benefit"

They wanted to see him at home but his our grandmother passed away so he went into the job center they wanted 6 months of bank statements and he thought it was about him doing a work trial and getting paid ,

Which they DID ask about and then they chucked in the question "do you have to help the person your claiming carers for wash and get dressed" and what he does in the days etc

I was horrified as he was because Who asks that question about someone there related to !!

They stopped his income support until they Recieved a full 6 months bank statements when he provided them they reinstated it ,

Now I have had the SAME letter which they sent out 2 weeks ago saying they will be visiting me in my home on 8.11.2016

Why I've had it I do not know and then the DWP taking 4 months for me to have a decision which I had on Friday ,

And I'm starting to panic now because I have a gp appointment today and I'm worried now they won't give me one especially as I'm seeing a different doctor ,

Are they required to give a letter ?

How else am o going to give the DWP facts

Also I was going to ask I had a Work related interview 3 weeks ago and I was having a REALLY bad day he told me that because of everything going on and how much stress going to the job center is he said he would do my interview over the phone every 6 months ,

I was going to ring him asking if he would write a letter to say about me ?

Do you think there's any hope ?

Sorry to be a pain but wondered if you could help about one thing ,

I recently had a Work focused interview at the job center after a year of not going and rebooking I went and he seen me at one of my bad days , He said "look you won't have to come down here again I'll just give you a phone call and we can do it over the phone in 6 months I was barely in there for 10 mins ,

Do you think if I ask him would he write a letter for me to send in as more evidence , because the nurse I saw said I was absolutely fine ?

Or do you think it would be wrong to ask him as he does work for the DWP

He told me that the last letter they had was dated 2013 ,

And he said "if you can get a letter from your GP that would be brilliant remember you want it shown on your worst days , you can send that into us with a covering letter"

And after the phone call I had a text through saying "We've received your request to look at our recent Personal Independence Payment decision again. You don't need to contact us as we're looking at this now. Thank you."

I had my assessment in June and had my decision Friday just gone and I was amazed that the decision maker had rung me so quick because the lady I spoke to on the phone said sometime next week I'd have the phone call

I was lucky I managed to use "call recorder" an app on my phone it automatically records any phone call who isn't in my contacts ,

I wrote down everything like one part when he said

"I do read the reports that come back and in an ideal world we would want a healthcare professional who is urm urm you know trained in a specific area to deal with claimants who have particular issues"

He also told me that my assessment actually did go to another medical assessor following my assessment for "Re-work" because we didn't feel that the justifications were robust enough to give a fair decision for each category , so the decision would have been based on what we calm re-work on the report"

God knows what all that meant

When I told him I was late for my assessment PROVES I can't do a journey to an unfamiliar place I even had to ring up the assessor and say I'll be late

He replied "ahh right one of the reasons for the decision was that you can drive"

I said "ONLY with my carer and ONLY to appointments as I can't go public transport and ONLY if I feel up to it , I dont go spinning about like a 19 year old I'm 42 !"

he said "so you don't drive independently and only if your mood feels up to it"

He then said I'm looking at the info here a second , right as I said the award was given on the basis I drive and your saying you cant"

I cut him off and said "listen if I could drive whenever I wouldn't have teeth in a poor state of repair which is something that knocks my confidence if I drove places I'd certainly would have gone to the dentists"

He said "right I can get that one looked at again for you"

Hi All

I Just wanted to share the information I wished I knew when I had my PIP medical assessment , I would not have scored the 0 points they gave me ,

I spoke to a decision maker for 34 minutes and he tied himself in knots because I questioned everything ,

Luckily I had just finished writing what to say to him before he called

for those of you who have an assessment coming up ,

You won't pass it unless YOU get information from your GP,

this was something I didn't know , because I had this before I remember seeing my doctors report

And also them asking us to tick a box to give permission for them to contact our GP,s ,

When I said that to the decision maker he said that they only do it for a "just incase" it's up to the claimant to get the information from their GP (shame they didn't say that on the form we have to full in before our assessment) !! ,

It all boils down to the assessor whether you get awarded or not ,

Also he told me that ALL mandatory reconsiderations usually don't make a difference unless you have more proof of your condition ,

Any letter's you send in explaining how atos and capita have lied etc they don't use !,

Also if you unhappy with the way your assessment went you have to complain to atos or capita yourself ,

I told him it was a shame that they didn't video it and he told me that is exactly what they are doing at the moment , they're trying to get them up and running ,

I asked why wasn't I seen by a mental health person instead of a nurse ,

he tried telling me that it's down to atos or capita to do that ,

And that you could be seen by a doctor , nurse , mental health

and I cut him off and said "capita has 80% nurses non qualified and some qualified , and 20% mental health and NO doctors , and he cleared his throat and said "urm urm yes that is right" ,

So my advice to those going for an assessment to get a doctor letter to take with you and hand it to the assessor ,but I would also recommend that u do a few copies of it incase they get "lost" ,

(i would also record it via mobile and keep the mobile out of sight because we tend to forget a lot so it's useful for your own record of what happened) ,

Regardless of what u say or do at the assessment , if you don't get awarded and a decision maker has to look at it ,

It's your word against the assessors and the decision maker I spoke to said they always go with what the assessor says

if you can take more than 1 person with you all the better I'd also ask one of them to try and record yourselves walking into the assessment and note the time on a mobile , the more evidence you have the more we can show that atos and capita do NOT have our interest at heart ,

I thought the lady I seen was lovely she even gave me some advice after reading what she wrote I'm now even more wary of trusting anyone ,

I hope it helps some people who dont know what i have written ,so they don't go through the same ordeal I did well AM still going through