PIP Appointment 14 months later and it is too far away

Redleaf

PIP appointment arrived this morning - having waited a mere14 months since applying! The “assessment Centre” is outside of Londonin Essex (I am in Central London),the appointment for 8am. The local cab office have told me to allow 1½ – 2 hours to get there at a cost of £100 there and back. I rang the“assessment Centre” direct and from the horses mouth they confirmed it willtake 1 ½ - 2 hours (only late at night with no traffic would it be less). Calculatingthat as it takes me at least 2 or more hours to even get up washed and dressedeach day I would have to be up at 4am to attend and pay £100 for the privilege –(it is way too much to afford up front on top of which Atos has also arrangedfor an ESA assessment 2 weeks later whichwill be another £40 to find “up front”). There are plenty of other closer centresthat would be much easier to get to for the PIP assessment and they had 11 months to book it (I applied to the DWPfor PIP 14 months ago and they didn’t pass it to Atos until 11 months ago). I have to now contact Atos and ask them torearrange but I need to calm my temper first before I speak to them. :mad:

Is it possible that this appointment be made “null and void”so that is does not count as my safety net of “allowed to re-arrange onceonly” . The Centre they booked is listed on their own website as “East England”and not in the London list and isoutside there own remit of 90 mins (although Goole maps lists it as a 1 hour Journey– it is incorrect unless the journey is late at night/early hours).


Any advice would be greatly appreciated - What rules and regulationscan I throw at them? I want to be prepared before I pick up the phone.

poppy12345

There's no rules or regulations to throw at them to be honest. They do this a lot and send people appointments that are too far for them to travel. They do it to test them to see if they turn up or not. Just ring and ask for an appointment closer to home and tell them there's no way you could possibly travel that far.

rogerblack

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2014-07-15/205786/

PIP assessment providers must ensure that claimants do not have to travel for more than 90 minutes by public transport (single journey) for a consultation. This limit is an absolute maximum and we expect that only a small minority of claimants will have to make a journey approaching this duration. In the exceptional circumstance where a claimant is unable to make a journey within 90 minutes via public transport the assessment provider will offer either a home visit or the ability to use a taxi.

We are encouraging assessment providers to identify consultation venues that are as local and convenient as possible.

Payment of claimant expenses including taxi fares is the responsibility of the PIP assessment provider, the Department does not meet these costs.

Redleaf

Thank you Roger - that is very interesting and the link really helpful :beer: