PIP assessment Recording face-to-face consultation

PIP assessment: Recording a face-to-face consultation

As we know, Atos has changed its name to IAS (Independent Assessment Services). As we also know, you can put lipstick on a pig.

They have a new website, which, for PIP purposes, resides at www.mypipassessment.co.uk.

Their guidelines for recording a PIP assessment face-to-face consultation have changed and are a cause for concern. I present the Atos (old) and IAS (new) versions taken from the FAQ page

Atos

If you wish to record the consultation, please let us know as soon as possible, as we may not be able to accept requests made on the day of your consultation

IAS

Try to give us 24 hours’ notice - this lets us confirm that the Healthcare Professional in question has given their consent for you to record them.

COMMENT: This is a major departure, implying that consent to record must be given by the Healthcare Professional. It is a violation of the right to record (granted by DWP) and is illegal.

Atos

Your recording equipment must be able to produce two identical copies of the recording at the end of the consultation, either in audio cassette or CD format

IAS

You will need to use your own recording equipment. To protect all parties, DWP restricts approved devices to those that produce two identical recordings simultaneously. Please note that this does not include laptops, tablets, smartphones or MP3 players.

COMMENT: Another major departure. In the first case, you can use a twin-deck ‘ghetto-blaster’, record on deck 1 and THEN sync to deck 2. Simple (if you have the equipment). In the second case, the audio cassette equipment to do this is not readily available (if it exists at all), the cd equipment is prohibitively expensive (over £1,000 last time I looked). The statement is probably illegal.

I have emailed DWP and IAS (at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) expressing my concerns and asking for clarification. I will post the replies here.

Reference: visit www.mypipassessment.co.uk/your-assessmen...ur-pip-consultation/ Notes and recording your assessment

beckfordburger

On the first point, I was not suggesting that claimants have the right to REQUIRE that their assessments are recorded, but should have right to record the assessment on their own equipment if they so desire. Has B&W taken any steps towards petitioning for this?

On the second point, the equipment requirement has indeed changed. Where previously a recording could be made on deck 1 of a twin cassette recorder and then synced to deck 2, a second device is now required. The fact that they may be relatively cheap (to you) is irrelevant. It is extra expense for a benefits claimant for equipment which may never be used again. And why would IAS bring in the change anyway? It certainly does not make anything easier for the claimant.

A third point. On the old Atos website, there was the following wording:

‘The Health Professional will make a record of your discussion during the consultation, which you will be able to view’.

The wording of this implies that the claimant would be able to see the ongoing input to the PIPAT screen, and therefore check that what was being input (between each SAVE and NEXT/FINISH) was an accurate reflection of the conclusions of each stage (especially each activity) of the discussion. This has disappeared from the new website.