PIP renewal

I have been on pip for many years and completed my renewal last January (2022) received a text tonight at 8pm to say it had been handed over to independent Assessment services and they would be in touch

I have never heard of these people ATOS used to do it so they do home visits ?

I don’t think I can face a medical assessment by health is precarious and the stress is making me so ill

Is it possible to withdraw from PIP I think I would rather spend my life eating baked beans than this ??

Dear Mossy, you can request a paper based assessment ie no phone call, face to face or home visit at all. If a friendly doctor will write a letter confirming that an assessment would cause you "overwhelming psychological distress" [OPD in their terminology] you can send this in to back your request. Or it may be that there is evidence among what you have already sent that you can refer to.
I do hope you can manage to hang on in there, we all send you as best we can strength to carry on. Feel free to post again for more support and help.
Denby

Hi mossy, bis,denby,

I went from phone assessment, to video assessment, then back to telephone assessment., then to paper review.

I had already sent in a letter from my GP stating that such assessments would cause triggers, and set me off. ie cause me more psychological distress. And exacebate my ill physical health further.

But they still took no notice so i was in a right state as you can imagine. So to cut a long story short I had a mental break down, and my GP's got involved, and, i somehow managed to phone, them up and it turned out my GP 's voice was heard.

This then meant pip would carry out a paper based review, as i was too unfit to have a telephone job, not alone a video conference !

So now i await to be judged once again by the clowns @ DWP for their decision. Will be interesting to find out what was said, written etc in the pip review assessors & DM's report.

Hopefully your GP will put his/ or herself out for you to relieve you off the stress and anxieties these assessments may cause you.

Good luck.

Thank you , I have no hope of my GP helping out at all . My renewal application was spot on with a drs letter ( she won’t do another!) and evidence from the hospital too , I had hoped it wouldn’t be passed on to ATOS. I just can’t do it again , I’m at the end of my tether with it