PIP ASSESSMENTS

maryeliza54
I meet assessors when I accompany clients and yes, one of the reasons for my presence is to ensure that my clients are treated with dignity and respect, but also to advocate on behalf of clients as necessary. I am aware that my very presence affects the nature of the interaction between assessor and assessed.

I wonder how much auditing there is of individual assessor performance?

It's just that sort of question that I hope to get asked in the HoC, so that at the very least there is some sort of tracking of assessors performance. There is indeed something very, very wrong with the system, but I'm trying to be realistic in what I can achieve, so I hope that in tackling this one element there is a chance of real changes being made. I'm not hopeful, but have to try.

I totally agree about the darn form Hooty . I consider myself capable and educated but wonder how much older folk or those not good with forms cope?

It wasn’t until I wrote everything down that I realised how much has to be changed for me to function in my own house and how much Grampy does for me that we now take for granted .

I understand how distressing it would be for your husband to see it in black and white.

ga how do you meet PIP assessors? Is it when you are accompanying a client at assessment? Your presence could affect their behaviour surely? The appeal figures show that something is very very very wrong with the system . Are you hoping to find out more about what happens with an assessor when an appeal is successful? I wonder how much auditing there is of individual assessor performance?

The form you have to fill in is horrendous too. My husband has secondary progressive MS and he is very disabled in a wheelchair, he cannot do much at all now for himself. I have to hoist him, dress him, wash him, change him and feed him. On a good day he can use a computer mouse for a while to play patience on the laptop, but drives me potty constantly dropping it. He cannot hold a pen so has no chance of filling in the form, nor can he type. I had to fill in the form for him and try and phrase things he can’t do in a way that wouldn’t upset him too much as he hates admitting he can’t do anything. It took me days to fill it in and it was very stressful. The assessment was stressful too, especially waiting for it to happen especially having heard other people’s experiences. The chap who came was pleasant enough as it happens, but hardly had any eye contact with my husband and was tap tap tapping away on his laptop constantly.

minxie how is this person getting away with lying to get benefits, my son has had awful difficulty getting pip even with all his medical evidence, and still he had to get even more detailed evidence
Something is very wrong if people can lie and get pip
Are you sure she is lying? it could be an unseen disability, mental health etc, has she told you you she is lying?

Tillybelle I'm very fortunate that the first time I went to an Appeals Tribunal for a client we had the services of a CAB specialist adviser. I noted how he approached the case and have subsequently used his methods with a great deal of success.

The 'system' of assessment is undeniably broken, but I would like to point out that PIP assessors, in my experience, have mostly been very pleasant people who are simply doing a job. Now and again though there is a 'rogue one' who is either very bad at the job, very poorly trained - or simply lies on the assessment forms, for reasons unknown. In any case there doesn't seem to be any way of addressing the mismatch between what assessors note down and the contradictory facts that come out during successful appeals; it is this that I would like MP's to address.

grannyactivist. Well done you! Not the first time I have heard a claim turned completely on its head, I'm afraid.

grannyactivist. Good for you! There is an independent body which will advise and help you with claims. I will try and find its name.

paddyann. My disabled Parking blue badge makes it clear it is for the disabled person, not the car. So long as the car is being used for the benefit of the disabled person it does not matter who drives or which vehicle they use. I believe it is an international badge - it was usable in Europe previously anyway.

I can't answer the the last post unfortunately, but hope the following may help someone.
If called for an interview ask for the interview to be sound recorded. This is your right, and may be valuable as interviewers record your answers to their questions in their own words.
It is worth considering, a friend of mine always does this. It is as we know becoming difficult to pass these assessments but at least the answers you give mean your own answers may be heard on the recording. Not sure if you have to request this when filling in the forms before the interview.

I believe that once the Scottish government take over the PIP payments then there will only be one assessment for anyone with a longterm condition .Now I'm not sure of the date of the changeover but it cant come soon enough for the poor folk who get so stressed about repeated assessments .Like many on here my daughter had to end up at the tribunal before she was allowed a reduced benefit...she got her blue badge which was the whole point though .Sadly she may have to give up driving as her condition has worsened ,at the moment she has maybe two days a month where she manages to drive the 15 miles to the nearest town with her girls .She'll be due for a reassessment next October .I dont know what the rules are for others using the badge while she's in the car ,would her son be able to drive her once he gets his licence next year or does it have to be an experienced driver ?

Tillybelle I have just agreed to write a case study, regarding a recent PIP assessment/Tribunal I attended with a client, to be given to my MP and I am hopeful it will lead to a question being asked in the House of Commons.

One of my particular bugbears is the need for repeated assessments of people who have a learning disability that is never going to 'improve' or 'get better'. Also, indicative of something rotten in the system, an assessor recently awarded someone zero points and yet during an Appeal Tribunal, looking at the exact same criteria, judges went on to award my client twenty six points.

My friend has RA which is well controlled. She can walk well and even climbed the Parthenon. She receives DLA ....she may be my friend but the system is so wrong. On the other hand, my other poor, dear friend who can hardly walk, has a heart condition, RA, etc etc. was refused DLA. It's the luck of the draw, I think, which assessor you get on the day.

My DD has just had her reassessment for PIP and they downgraded her 2 points in each area so it meant they could reduce her parents. The biggest blow was that her Motability car had to go back because the Mandatory Reassessment period is longer than the time Motability let her keep the car. The assessor told her that she was obviously better because she had moved from her house with all its adaptions to another house without them. The reason she moved was that she had a mortgage which the Government have now changed the interest payments for a loan so she was unable to keep her house. As a disabled person with a limited income, she found that she was just sliding further into debt and she really couldn't face owing more money on her house. She is not allowed to get new adaptions in her part owned/part rented house for a year but as this house has a toilet upstairs and another downstairs, she is not confined to the upstairs all the time unlike the last one.
Her condition means she dislocates various joints including hips, shoulders, wrists and fingers, has eyes that stick to the eyelids overnight so she sometimes takes ages to even be able to open them, has POTs which means she is often too sick to stand up because of the giddiness and numerous other problems including anxiety but with no evidence at all, they have deemed she is better than the last time they saw her because she has been discharged from the hospital. Erm, that might be because there is no more treatment to be had! The system stinks.

paddyann. You voice my distress concerning this government's lack of caring. Indeed I think it is callous. There are many examples, such as the hoops that job-seekers have to go through which are so difficult for anybody, let alone if a person is not particularly good at dealing with forms as they have to fill in several a week every week. But this situation with PIP is probably is the most obviously cruel. They are using bullying tactics. It is almost like something from a psychology experiment to induce depression by causing helplessness and hopelessness. I think this government has become so right-wing it actually frightens me. As you said, it is not even saving the country money but actually costing more. It is not just Mrs May. Take Sajid Javid and how he dealt with Windrush for one example. How much more nasty and cruel will they become?
Dianeatdarcie. Thank you so much for alerting me about this episode which I missed - I shall catch up I hope on player. Like you, I agree - it sounds as if the Beeb has done very well to bring this out in the open.

I wonder if enough of us were to write to the appropriate Minister (I know Matt Hancock is Health and Social Care)- via your own MP I believe is the protocol - and ask them to watch this, maybe a penny might drop? I wrote to my MP concerning the working conditions of Midwives and it was sent to the appropriate Minister who responded. If many of us write it will have an impact.

I can only speak as I find and my much dreaded PIP assessment last October was carried out sensitively and kindly by an ex paramedic.

I was surprised to find that the building she was in was almost inaccessible and in fact they had to do my interview in the break room because all the assessment rooms were on the 2nd and 3rd floors and there was no lift.

I had to enter the building from the back down a perilous path which had a 20ft drop on side with no railings, ring a bell and then try and get my scooter in the sharp right doorway as the reception was too far from the door for me to walk.

Both the reception and the assessor freely admitted it was a terrible building for that type of work, but I drove past last week and its still in use.

I do know someone who is lying at the moment to get benefits, by cold blooded lying about her ailments It makes my blood boil
Throughout my partners cancer treatment, he never claimed a penny and he worked through most of it even though he suffered.
If she gets the benefits I will report her without hesitation as should anyone else who knows if cheating going on

Grannyannie how do you know this person was lying? the tests and medicals even with Drs and Consultants reports are so stringent,i cant see how anyone could get away with lying about their health and condition

I have a life limiting degenerative condition and have had 2 Pip assessments and tbh I haven't had a problem with either. I was offered a home visit for the most recent one which I declined because I have dogs that make a lot of fuss or they'd like to of visitors and I just thought it would be easier all round if I went to them. I'm happy with the way I was treated although not so happy that I have to go through it again every two years, I'm only going to get worse. The way I see it is I want the money so I have to show I still need it, even though common sense should tell them I do.

I was penalised because I turned up to my PIP interview, apparently wasn't nervous [of course I was! I felt sick, sweaty, shaking] and gave eye contact, at one point I smiled [nerves]! Letters from my GP were ignored although she could have been approached at any time for more details and evidence of my medical history.

But I have a mental health problem for which there is no cure, just constant management and monitoring, and it greatly affects the quality of my life. I often struggle to function. Socially isolated, with social anxiety, a chronic sleep problem, hormone imbalance, very little support and unable to lead a 'normal' life...I would not wish this struggle on anyone.

Mental health issues are not understood by these interviewers, mine didn't have a clue and sufferers are a target for the government [as a support worker told me]. The questions asked do not take into account the inability to function with a mental health problem and the impact on lives...more concentrated on physical abilities and disabilities.

I could not face an appeal, as it had already made me unwell, incredibly sleep deprived, exhausted and the thought of weeks and months of worrying would have tipped me over and made me so ill. I couldn't afford to do that as life is a precarious balance most of the time and it takes a lot of effort to keep on an even keel.

Luckily for me I had recently been left a sum of money after my mother passed away so I live off that now. But I feel so much for genuine people who have been chucked away by the cruel system as I was who aren't so lucky. It is so wrong and needs to be looked into...although too late for so many people who have suffered already.

I think that some life limited conditions, which aren't going to improve such as Duchenne Muscular dystrophy which my son suffered from, should qualify immediately for benefits including blue badges without having to answer all the questions and fill in copious forms.

Do you think they actually care .It just a job for them . Your just another number to them . The more people they stop there benefits , the more money they get off the government . They don't think of the impact this on people's lifes . I hope they can sleep at night because I can't careing for my husband and wondering if we can pay the bills .

A friend of mine had her benefit stopped despite suffering from severe epilepsy and many other conditions, some as the result of a brain tumour some years ago. Her husband is her carer and consequently can only work part-time. As a result they lost their car which was provided by motability. For a while they were dependent on friends to transport them everywhere until they managed to replace it. Eventually the benefit was reinstated on appeal so all that stress was for nothing! As others have said, it must cost more to reject so many people then manage the appeals which are so often successful, than simply paying the benefit in the first place - especially in cases like my friend who had the benefit already and whose condition had not improved.

I wish the BBC had made the point that so many applicants for PIP miss.... PIP is a payment towards the HELP that is needed to be able to manage an illness/disability satisfactorily, it's not a payment for the illnesses that are suffered.
I have 4 conditions that I am thankful to be able to manage myself but, someone with just 1 of my conditions may well qualify for help via PIP.
There is confusion over the 'tests' the medical professionals carry out at an assessment - there is no reason for these tests as abilities can vary so much on a day to day basis.
Well done to the BBC but must try harder!

I watched this too and was not shocked by what I saw but was truly saddened as I read reports of this awfulness daily. I have two questions, please. Is the supposedly 'unbiased' BBC the correct place to air this and do we think the civil servants are so devoid of compassion in reality as depicted there?