PIP Interview

I sent my PIP review forms back 11 months ago. In them I stated that I am housebound and also that it would be impossible for me to cope with a phone assessment that lasted more than 30 minutes. Two months later, I sent a letter from my GP confirming these facts, although I do not know if the letter was ever added to my file by the DWP. In retrospect, I should have phoned and checked.

Now I have just received a letter from Capita saying that I will have a phone assessment in just over a week’s time. The leaflet states that this will last an hour or possibly longer. I know of people who have had 2 hour phone interviews. I think I’m going to send a copy of the letter from my GP to Capita now just to cover myself as I will never manage a 1 hour phone interview. Is there anything else I can do? I am very concerned that my case will be terminated if I do not manage to complete the interview.

Thank you for your reply. Capita did eventually offer me a paper based assessment when I explained my situation to them and referred them to the letter from my GP which was in my file.

As I mentioned above my GP wrote me a short statement saying that it would be “impossible” for me to cope with a phone interview lasting longer than 30 minutes. As a result of this, I was allowed to have a paper based assessment which was a relief.

However, when I received the assessor’s report, I was shocked to discover that the assessor had referred to this letter over and over again to prove that I CAN do certain things. She has twisted the evidence round to argue that I am able to cope with a phone call lasting 30 minutes and therefore I have excellent concentration and should be able to cope with various other activities.

I would never normally talk on the phone for this long as it would totally exhaust me and I’m beginning to wish I’d never sent in this letter - or at least I wish my GP had worded it differently. Is the assessor really allowed to twist my evidence like this? It seems really unfair, when many claimants cope with a 90 minute interview and don’t have that held against them.