Acting as an appointee

I am an appointee for my adult son who has severe mental and physical health conditions. Despite this, his PIP awards have only ever been for 3 years. Which means after 2 years there are more review forms to complete. And on every occasion HAAS has made appointments for a telephone assessment. Is this normal where there is an appointee? I just wondered what is the experience of other appointees? In the appointment letter there is a section "the person who acts on your behalf" which says "the person acting for you must attend the appointment. You must both attend the appointment unless you are unable to take part because of your disability, illness or health condition". Does this mean my son can be excused from the assessment? He is extremely anxious and becoming more distressed as the appointment draws near. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi Dawn Sear

Yes Appointees often are asked to participate in phone assessments. The Appointee has to be present for the assessment.
The HAAS assessor will often try and speak to the disabled claimant though I think that this is inappropriate as the DWP have previously declared the disabled person as not having the mental capacity to look after their Benefits. The Appointee is within their rights to refuse access to the disabled person in spite of a request by the HAAS assessor.

David