PIP telephone for HOH/deaf claiments

Hi ,
I'm changing from DLA to PIP after reaching pension age and have just received a text message on my mobile from the Independent assessment services saying I have a telephone assessment in two weeks.
I have Rheumatoid and osteoarthritis and sensoneural hearing loss and am now profoundly deaf.

I was hoping for a face to face assessment. Usually my partner/carer takes and makes my phone calls for me but as this will take some time i would like to use my text phone with text relay where they type in what the other person is saying and I type back.
I dont sign but rely on lipreading and my partner .

The DWP have my land line but no instruction to put the 18002 text code in first . Who should I contact to let them know I want to
use the text phone?

is it worth asking for a face to face as we have a centre within half an hours drive. ?

Hi Rambling Ted,

I think it would be worth asking your partner to call the DWP, explain the situation and ask about the possibility for a face to face (if that would be better for you). If they say that’s not possible then your partner can discuss the text phone option with them.

Regards
Pete