Assessemnt secuirty information

I had a PIP telephone assessment this morning. I have a neurological condition that causes impacts on my speech and cognitive recall. The phone call came in half an hour late and by that point, anxiety had further added to the problems. I was stuttering through the security questions and made errors like giving my age rather than the year of birth. The assessor halted the call and then phoned back later to say that he couldn't proceed as I hadn't answered the questions well enough. My partner was there and tried to give information but we were told this is not allowable for the security questions. We had already told IAS my partner would need to be on speakerphone due to the issues with my speech. IAS had said that was okay and didn't tell us that he couldn't answer the security questions.

We were given a choice of just scheduling another appointment or seeking appointee-ship for my partner with the DWP. I know I might have the same problem again so we sought the appointee -ship. When we phoned IAS back the appointee-ship did not show on their system and they insisted we would have to take another appointment anyway. I have just written to the PIP office to ask what happens if the appointee -ship is not showing and I can't do the interview at the next appointment. Will my claim be rejected? This is a renewal.

I would like to write to IAS for clarity too. Do you have an address for them?

I am quite stressed by the situation and I am worried that I am not doing everything I should. Do you have any advice, please?

Thank you, Gordon. It was all very rushed because we felt under tremendous pressure from IAS. The assessor told us that we could either 1) phone the dwp and make my partner my appointee in which case he could give the security answers on my behalf at a future assessment. or 2) Have another assessment without making him an appointee and if I wasn't able to give the answers then my forms would be passed back to the DWP saying I had not participated. This would mean I would lose my PIP award. We felt between a rock and a hard place.

IAS made another appointment for 30th October and said this is the latest date they can re-assess. We have now read up more on the appointee and neither of us wants this option but feels it is the only way I have any chance of being awarded PIP.

I simply don't know what to do next. Some days my speech is fine and I would be okay. Other days it will be like today. My key problem today was my speech was unclear and instead of giving the correct year of birth I gave my age instead. This is due to a cognitive re-call problem which is worse under stress.

If I can't pass the security questions will I be refused PIP? This seems incredibly unfair as it is my illness which is preventing me from answering the questions.

We did write to the address we had for PIP this afternoon asking what would happen in the scenario that my partner is not my appointee by the next assessment date of 30th October. I have read the link that you gave me, thank you. It is very clear to me that IAS are trying to force me down a route that is not appropriate for me or my partner.

I did actually have all the correct information in front of me on paper as I know how bad my speech can become. Even with that, I failed to articulate it clearly and my mind fixated on recalling my age rather than my year of birth.

I will update this post when I hear back from the DWP. I suppose my big worry is that I fail the questions again and I am refused PIP on the basis that I did not complete the interview. Will I have any recourse in those circumstances? I cannot be the only person with speech problems applying for PIP. Do you know what has happened to other people in these circumstances?

I really appreciate the support of having your help in this anxious time.

Dear Mr and Mrs Prudent, firstly my sympathies they have been so beastly to you. Please diarise the resultant stress etc feelings and anything like after effects, extra meds you had to take, as you might possibly want this in future.
Secondly, you seem like a prime candidate for a paper based assessment. Would either your GP or Neurologist write to explain to IAS how your speech and memory are affected and that therefore neither a phone or face to face assessment is appropriate for you, therefore could they please do a paper based assessment? If the doctor feels able to write that a phone or spoken assessment would cause you overwhelming psychological distress [this is a DWP 'magic phrase=OPD] because of your problems, so the very, very much better.
Good wishes, Denby