Capita Face to face assessment,

Hi all, well I have had a letter saying I am required to attend an appointment in just under 2 weeks time for a face to face medical for my PIP claim with Capita. The problem I have is the time as it clashes with collecting our youngest from school & currently there will be no one else available as my husband can't be in two places at once as the school is the other end of the City to where we have to be for my appointment, also if I were to ask for a change of date & time would I be able to specify a date as my husband may have to go away for 10 days with work later in the month so I am currently trying to make arrangements for myself & youngest if he does need to be away as our eldest who also helps care for me is now in full time work & I know you can only change the date once. I don't currently have access to a phone as there is issues with our landline so I would probably have to email them & this also makes it harder to communicate times & dates with them.
I had a letter last week saying that I would hear from them in 6-7 months so it's come a bit out of the blue so quick, expect the unexpected hey
I am going to try to make arrangements for our son & if possible stick to the original date & time but how much time to I have before I let them know if I do need to change it.
Thanks for reading

Hagsbird wrote: Hi all, well I have had a letter saying I am required to attend an appointment in just under 2 weeks time for a face to face medical for my PIP claim with Capita. The problem I have is the time as it clashes with collecting our youngest from school & currently there will be no one else available as my husband can't be in two places at once as the school is the other end of the City to where we have to be for my appointment, also if I were to ask for a change of date & time would I be able to specify a date as my husband may have to go away for 10 days with work later in the month so I am currently trying to make arrangements for myself & youngest if he does need to be away as our eldest who also helps care for me is now in full time work & I know you can only change the date once. I don't currently have access to a phone as there is issues with our landline so I would probably have to email them & this also makes it harder to communicate times & dates with them.
I had a letter last week saying that I would hear from them in 6-7 months so it's come a bit out of the blue so quick, expect the unexpected hey
I am going to try to make arrangements for our son & if possible stick to the original date & time but how much time to I have before I let them know if I do need to change it.
Thanks for reading

Hi Hb,

You are allowed to rearrange once, but you should be aware that if you do so and fail to attend the second appointment without being able to show good cause, your PIP claim may be disqualified.

In your circumstances, it seems that the sooner that you contact Capita to try and rearrange to a mutually convenient time, the better.

It would be advisable to rearrange by e-mail, even if you are to also talk to them over the phone, as you will then have written confirmation of the rearrangement.

Contact Capita.

I don't know how flexible Capita may be, I suppose it will depend on what slots they have available.

You should be aware that how you manage the return trip to/from the Assessment Centre will be taken into account as part of the actual assessment.

You may be observed on approaching, leaving and whilst inside the centre.

Assumptions may be made by the assessor with regards to the above.

These assumptions could result in the assessor writing comments/recommendations within the PIP PA4 medical report which they compile and send to The DWP.

You can read what to expect at your PIP face to face from around Page 70 of our : PIP Claims Guide. (2nd Link down the page)

Good luck !

bro58

Just a note on this.

I had my PIP assessment cancelled by them with only an hour or so to go. The new appointment was agreed at the time of the call. When the confirmation letter arrived it warned me that this was the appointment I must attend or it would be assumed I was no longer applying for PIP, or words to that effect. Never thought about it until now but even though I did not cancel the appointment, the system is assuming that I did.

Typical!

Thank you both. Hopefully I have someone to collect our son from school this day, they will get back to me tomorrow to let me know. I'd rather just get it over & done with, its stressing me out already & I only had the letter yesterday.
My aunty recently applied for PIP for the first time, she wasn't on DLA before & sent off her form & had a letter back in two weeks saying she had to attend a face to face assessment with capita & when she got there they told her they had phoned her 30 mins before her appointment time to cancel & re-arrange for a home visit which is very wrong to do, she suffers very bad colitis & is recovering from cancer & major surgery so the stress of going there did her no good at all. She said the woman that came to her home turned up 45 minutes early & was very rude & abrupt & told her to stand on one leg which she can't do due to her surgery & told her to hurry up as she has many other people to see. She phoned to complain but was told they don't take complaints! The place they are held here is not easy to get to at all but there is a layby outside so my husband will have to stop there & go park the car in the car park opposite as there is no way I will be able to manage the road there are so many lanes & I will have to wait for him to fetch the car back. I can honestly say I feel rather demoralised already just at the thought of having to go there let alone go through this, its hard enough having major health issues to deal with without being scrutinised by some stranger.
Thanks again I am really grateful for your replies & good luck wishes, I shall let you know how things go.

Hagsbird wrote: Thank you both. Hopefully I have someone to collect our son from school this day, they will get back to me tomorrow to let me know. I'd rather just get it over & done with, its stressing me out already & I only had the letter yesterday.
My aunty recently applied for PIP for the first time, she wasn't on DLA before & sent off her form & had a letter back in two weeks saying she had to attend a face to face assessment with capita & when she got there they told her they had phoned her 30 mins before her appointment time to cancel & re-arrange for a home visit which is very wrong to do, she suffers very bad colitis & is recovering from cancer & major surgery so the stress of going there did her no good at all. She said the woman that came to her home turned up 45 minutes early & was very rude & abrupt & told her to stand on one leg which she can't do due to her surgery & told her to hurry up as she has many other people to see. She phoned to complain but was told they don't take complaints! The place they are held here is not easy to get to at all but there is a layby outside so my husband will have to stop there & go park the car in the car park opposite as there is no way I will be able to manage the road there are so many lanes & I will have to wait for him to fetch the car back. I can honestly say I feel rather demoralised already just at the thought of having to go there let alone go through this, its hard enough having major health issues to deal with without being scrutinised by some stranger.
Thanks again I am really grateful for your replies & good luck wishes, I shall let you know how things go.

Hi Hb,

Sorry to hear of the problems suffered by your Auntie !!

You certainly can complain to ATOS or Capita :

For ATOS, See : ATOS PIP Customer Charter.

Or, for Capita :

In writing :

Capita PIP
PO Box 307
Darlington
DL98 1AB

E- mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please do keep us updated.

bro58

Thank you Bro58, I will pass that on to my Auntie it has left her very upset indeed.

I will let you know how I get along too