Benefit Review visit

[rankin123]

Hello,

 

Yesterday a Performance Measurement Review Officer came to my dad's home unannounced saying they needed to complete a form with my dad who is currently in receipt of ESA. I said no letter had been sent and we were completely unaware of the visit - the Officer said they do not always send letters out before visits. The Officer seemed okay but I had to reschedule the visit as I was just about to take my dad to a hospital appointment so we have rescheduled it for another time.

 

I did a bit of research on the internet and the Officer gave me a leaflet and it seems the visit is to pretty much to check my dad is getting the right benefit payments. However, sadly, as with everything the DWP does I am suspicious of this "random" visit and wondered if anyone has had one of these visits before?

 

What actually happens during the visit? Is it really just a matter of them asking about your payments and checking your accounts? The leaflet says the meeting can take up to an hour or longer - which makes me think that is a long time just to check your documents etc. Has anyone had their benefits affected after they had this review?

 

Any information or help and advice would be much appreciated! Sorry to sound paranoid but with everything the DWP has put my dad and myself through in recent years I feel I have to be!

 

Thanks in anticipation.

[Mr.P]

Personally, I don't think it is much to worry about. Have a look at some of the "compliance interview" threads here if you'd like to see what generally happens.

 

One thing i would take this "Performance Measurement Review Officer" to task over is the unannounced visit - You were correct in instructing him to come back another day.

[estellyn]

Performance measurement review generally means they're randomly checking the work of the person who processed your claim so that they can compile error rate data. Yes your benefit can change, but only if there was a processing error or if the reviewer identifies that there may be an increased benefit entitlement (happens more than you might think).

[rankin123]

Thanks Mr.P. I had a look at what came up under 'compliance interview' - so is the benefit review basically the same thing as a compliance interview just called something different now? In the threads about compliance interviews there wasn't mention of completing a form, the officer yesterday specifically said he will complete a form with us, I asked if it was like the one I completed for my dad in order to get ESA and he said yes - that was a mighty long form, so I hope he doesn't mean literally completing that entire form! Sorry I forgot to mention this in my initial post - it just came back to me as I was reading through the threads.

[rankin123]

Thanks estellyn, I am probably being really paranoid about this but I am always cautious of DWP or anything AL related!

[Ros1609]

I had one over the phone not long ago and had to send off bank statements. In short she asked me a load of questions about my circumstances, what benefits I received etc, if I had any children etc. All totally above board and nothing has changed for me as a result