Pip assessment

serenaly · 21 February 2017 at 5:49PM

Well I received my face to face assessment appointment which was very conveniently 35 miles away from my house!!
I suffer from PTSD, severe anxiety and depression and do not own a car or drive, there is no way that I could make a journey of that length on public transport or cab with a stranger. However I phoned the number and they were very good and arranged a new appointment that was around the corner from me. Which begs the question why on earth would you try and send people 36 miles away for their appointment?

rockingbilly · 21 February 2017 at 6:03PM

serenaly wrote: »

Well I received my face to face assessment appointment which was very conveniently 35 miles away from my house!!
I suffer from PTSD, severe anxiety and depression and do not own a car or drive, there is no way that I could make a journey of that length on public transport or cab with a stranger. However I phoned the number and they were very good and arranged a new appointment that was around the corner from me. Which begs the question why on earth would you try and send people 36 miles away for their appointment?

I went for a DLA assessment and not having anyone to go with me who could drive, I did what they said. They included a map and full instructions on how to get there independently. Two bus journeys totalling 1hr 20mins and then a 800 metre (1/2 mile) walk from the nearest bus stop to the assessing centre.
I was asked at the assessment how I had got here so told them in accordance with the map and instructions they sent me with the appointment letter - BAD decision

They used that against me saying that I could use public transport and could walk at least 1/2 mile!
What the **** did they expect me to do, not show up?

poppy12345 · 21 February 2017 at 6:33PM

serenaly wrote: »

Well I received my face to face assessment appointment which was very conveniently 35 miles away from my house!!
I suffer from PTSD, severe anxiety and depression and do not own a car or drive, there is no way that I could make a journey of that length on public transport or cab with a stranger. However I phoned the number and they were very good and arranged a new appointment that was around the corner from me. Which begs the question why on earth would you try and send people 36 miles away for their appointment?

First appointments are computer generated and do tend to send people further away than they need to. You can change this appointment but only once, good thing you've done that. Good luck.

serenaly · 21 February 2017 at 6:36PM

Ahh well that makes sense Poppy12345, thanks, I did wonder and they wanted me there at 9.15!

poppy12345 · 21 February 2017 at 6:40PM

serenaly wrote: »

Ahh well that makes sense Poppy12345, thanks, I did wonder and they wanted me there at 9.15!

Yes that's mostly what they send out. They did it to me last year at my review for PIP. Wanted me to travel 60 miles...no thanks. A quick call later all sorted appointment changed.

easy · 22 February 2017 at 7:57PM

rockingbilly wrote: »

I went for a DLA assessment and not having anyone to go with me who could drive, I did what they said. They included a map and full instructions on how to get there independently. Two bus journeys totalling 1hr 20mins and then a 800 metre (1/2 mile) walk from the nearest bus stop to the assessing centre.
I was asked at the assessment how I had got here so told them in accordance with the map and instructions they sent me with the appointment letter - BAD decision

They used that against me saying that I could use public transport and could walk at least 1/2 mile!
What the **** did they expect me to do, not show up?

yes but ... quite clearly you could use public transport and walk 1/2 a mile. They didn't "Use it against you", you proved that you were capable of doing it. Given that the exact purpose of the assessment is to find out if you are capable of such things, you gave them evidence.

Presumably they assumed that anyone not able to comply with the instructions to get to the assessment centre would ring to change the appointment (and explain that their disability made it impractical/impossible to get to that venue).

rockingbilly · 23 February 2017 at 12:04PM

easy wrote: »

yes but ... quite clearly you could use public transport and walk 1/2 a mile. They didn't "Use it against you", you proved that you were capable of doing it. Given that the exact purpose of the assessment is to find out if you are capable of such things, you gave them evidence.

Presumably they assumed that anyone not able to comply with the instructions to get to the assessment centre would ring to change the appointment (and explain that their disability made it impractical/impossible to get to that venue).

Well it was pretty obvious that I could do it, but no consideration was given by them for the state that I was in afterwards! They also didn't know that the return journey was impossible I had to get a taxi, pay for it myself instead of using the two buses. It took days afterwards to get back to some level of normality with regards to the pain and mental torture.

Tommo1980 · 23 February 2017 at 7:46PM

Unfortunately for you the assessor likely lacked psychic powers. Only you know the full extent of your condition and how it affects you day to day.

It was up to you to plan/explain accordingly.

rockingbilly · 23 February 2017 at 9:34PM

Tommo1980 wrote: »

Unfortunately for you the assessor likely lacked psychic powers. Only you know the full extent of your condition and how it affects you day to day.

It was up to you to plan/explain accordingly.

I did surprisingly enough, all of that information was described in detail on the claim form backed up with good medical evidence.
It was a bit late in the day to send them a report after I had arrived back home as to how the journey had affected me.

Besides which if the assessor had been any part good it would have been apparent to all considering how I looked. But my answer was recorded and the assessor just moved on to another subject - social & work history without seeking any further information or questioning.

Tommo1980 · 24 February 2017 at 8:46AM

So you should have either rebooked your assessment at a centre closer to you, arranged with the provider to take a taxi or have a home assessment.

It was not a conspiracy to test you, it is just the way the process works. We are all just faceless numbers in the system. There is nothing personal about it, despite our inherently paranoid natures telling us otherwise.

Tom

rockingbilly · 24 February 2017 at 11:11AM

Tommo1980 wrote: »

So you should have either rebooked your assessment at a centre closer to you, arranged with the provider to take a taxi or have a home assessment.

It was not a conspiracy to test you, it is just the way the process works. We are all just faceless numbers in the system. There is nothing personal about it, despite our inherently paranoid natures telling us otherwise.

Tom

The simple answer is that I didn't know that the centre could be changed - there is nothing advising you of that on either the ATOS website or in the notes/letters etc received from the assessor/DWP.
Maybe there should be information of that nature available.

To me all of this seems to be about playing a game. If I did that, if I did this - how would it be interpreted by the assessor/DWP.
As for a home assessment, that is available only to those that have their GP visit them at home as they cannot get to the surgery - I don't fit that category.

Pip assessment

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