Recording Medical Assessment -

I requested to record my assessment and had a lot of problems with this. It turned out ATOS don't match you with an assessor who is willing to be recorded when they make the appointment. They check a couple of days before, or sometimes on the day and then cancel the appointment. I had 5 cancellations with the stress of the build up each time. I turned up to one appointment, started to plug in the recorders and the assessor refused to be recorded so I refused to go ahead (this wasn't held against me). In the end I got my MP involved but it shouldn't come to that. You tell them in advance, provide the equipment you're told to provide and they still might cancel purely on that basis. I think it's worth calling them the week before just to make sure and ask them to email if possible so you have something in writing that the assessor has actually agreed to the recording, not just that they are aware that you have requested it.

Hi R,

Thanks for your input - what a nightmare you had!

You were 'lucky' in that the refusal to continue with the assessment because it could not be recorded was not counted against you. Even for ESA, DWP do not count lack of recording as good reason for not continuing with the assessment