ATOS error

Hi

I attended my PIP assessment on Friday which lasted 1.5 hours (was also told by assessor he was unsure why had been invited as shouldn't have because I had a paper application?). Received another invite this morning for an assessment next week, so contacted DWP - they said likely an admin error, but only one assessment is ever required. I then contacted ASOS who told me the appointment had been cancelled and I did not attend, which is not true and told them the Centre would have record of my Photo ID which they took details of - was then cut off after being on hold. Called back immediately and got through to another advisor who was quite rude - he said the same thing but then came back with an addition which was that they didn't fully upload the report and I had to go to another assessment and had no choice. Rang DWP again explaining what had happened and ATOS had made an error, saying surely they should take responsibility/be accountable and why couldn't they just try again to upload the report. DWP say nothing they can do. I really can't face another assessment due to the stress it causes and the effects for a couple of days following and not sure why I should as I did as I was asked? Problem is if I don't go again and the report is not fully completed would that then affect the decision that may be made?

Any advice or thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Kat

Hi and Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

What a shambles!

If you do not attend the second face2face I would expect one of two things to happen -

Either your claim will be in limbo as the assessment provider will not return your file to DWP until they can make a recommendation

OR

ATOS will return your file to DWP with the comment that you have not attended the appointment. The most likely response to that is DWP closing your claim. Of course, you could argue against that but it would take time and energy that could be in short supply!

There are several things you can try -

Contact ATOS again and ask what extra information they would need in order to make a paper bases recommendation. We have seen members be successful with this but it is not foolproof.

Ask your MP to become involved and ask ATOS what they are playing at!

Contacting your MP

MPs cannot interfere with the actual decision but can often help with the actual claim process.

May I suggest that you bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future? This will allow you to return with further questions or comments, at any stage of your claim, without having to start a new topic each time. It helps us enormously when everything relating to the same claim is kept in one topic - and I hope you will find it useful too

Hi

Thank you for your reply. I had a call back from a DWP case worker - unfortunately she was unable to help as had not experienced this situation before and unable to contact ATOS directly, so would need to escalate to a DWP Quality Manager.
ATOS have refused a paper based application and are contradicting in responses each time I call as to why I have to attend another assessment.
As ATOS Healthcare are a trading name of ATOS IT services, it's almost laughable that they could only partially upload a file, if that's the case - surely they would have a back up copy and can just upload again..
I did contact my MP initially when I made my claim 2 years ago after having waited for 6 months with no response and my claim was granted in 3 weeks from that time, so I may well go back to him if necessary.

Thanks again
Kat

Hi Gordon

Thank you. My Mum went to the assessment centre I attended last week. The receptionist remembered us having attended and called Head Office but they wouldn't listen to her. She apparently was frustrated and very sympathetic so urged us to make a formal complaint. DWP case worker called back and said the Quality Manager spoke to ATOS who stated that claimant cancelled appointment due to having no companion available. I again stated this was untrue and she said there was nothing further they could do.

So the Saga continues

Kat