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PIP Re-assessment Help Please

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5 years 1 month ago #235015 by susiebun
PIP Re-assessment Help Please was created by susiebun
I have been seriously ill in the last 2 years and very lucky to be writing this. When I received my PIP and it asked if anything had changed I completed the form with reference to my most recent illness. This was nearly a year before my entitlement was due to finish.

This is a very potted précis of what occurred then:-
I was called for an assessment.
When I arrived at the 1st Assessment, after 3 telephone calls (1 an hour before I left home) from the Assessment Centre I was told that the assessment was cancelled and would I wait 2 hours to be seen. I said no as I was in no fit state to sit in the assessment centre for 2 hours.

I rebooked my Assessment Services for 3 weeks later. At start of the 2nd appointment I was asked by the HP why I hadn’t turned up for the 1st appointment and when I said I had, he didn’t believe me. Things went from bad to worse.
The HP only concentrated on my recent conditions and did not include the chronic ones I had detailed before. I took with me a break down of these chronic conditions but he refused to take them. He was a physiotherapist and didn’t understand the difference between blacking out and epileptic fits. He didn’t grasp how life threatening my illness was and how badly it’s affected my life eg I had blacked out 3 times and broken both of my ankles as a result. Or that I have lost all of my confidence and now never go out alone

Following this I received a DWP letter awarding me 6 points for Daily Living/ 4 points for Moving Around. My benefit was stopped immediately. I applied for the HP’s report and was not happy with it.

I asked for a Mandatory Reconsideration using your Guides but there was no change to the points awarded and my benefit was not restarted during that time.

I wrote to the Independent Assessment Services and complained about the treatment I had received and wrote an Appeal to the Tribunal Services.

The Independent Assessment Services accepted that the HP had ‘not addressed a number of conditions…that the report fell short of the standards required…didn’t gather all of the information required for the DWP so a further assessment is required…’

The Independent Assessment Services telephoned me & my husband took the call on my behalf as I was so upset by what was happening. For over 20 minutes the Independent Assessment Services repeatedly bullied him into making another appointment saying it had to be booked there and then, otherwise my papers would be returned to the DWP. My husband managed to hold them off until 4.30pm that day as I had to go to the Doctors. Not knowing what to do we agreed to have an appointment with a ‘Senior Health Professional’ on the 8th August.

Can you give me some advice please? It seems to me that I am being made to suffer for Atos and DWP’s failures. I am completely overwhelmed by all of this. Is what has happened normal? Is there any advice you can give me.

Many thanks for reading this.

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5 years 1 month ago #235017 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP Re-assessment Help Please
Sue

If a Decision has been made then there is no requirement for you to attend a new assessment, however, a new report may help you score where you have not previously but a bad report may be easier to overturn than a better one that still does not award the points you hoped for.

You say you have lodged an appeal with the Tribunal Service. Have you gone through the Mandatory Reconsideration process already? If you haven't then your appeal will be rejected until you do. If you have then it definitely too late for another assessment.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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