Unusual PIP problem, legal advice would be helpful

Diary

I would put it in an envelope with a brief letter to capita simply stating facts keeping a copy by recorded delivery. I would then write to the private doctor,simply stating facts, by recorded delivery keeping a copy saying what you've done with the bill enclosing capitas address details.

tomtontom

If you need the services of this consultant in future I would be very careful how far you push this. Good consultants do not need difficult clients, and if his evidence gets you the right award then £120 is a bargain.

pmlindyloo

tomtontom wrote: »

If you need the services of this consultant in future I would be very careful how far you push this. Good consultants do not need difficult clients, and if his evidence gets you the right award then £120 is a bargain.

I have to agree with this.

However, I would still go to CAB and ask them to help you write a letter to Capita and copy to the DWP and the consultant.

You might get some reimbursement.

CAB should give you the correct addresses for the complaint to Capita and the address to copy to the DWP.

Before you do this I suggest that you check what form was sent to the consultant. Plus , if you have a copy of the original ESA form you would see what information was given as regards who they could contact as regards your wife's condition e.g did it say the name of the consultant/was it made clear this was a private consultant?

Armed with this information then you could query why the form was necessary/ did they adhere to the regs about who they should be contacting etc etc.

Let us know how you get on.

dippy3103

tomtontom wrote: »

If you need the services of this consultant in future I would be very careful how far you push this. Good consultants do not need difficult clients, and if his evidence gets you the right award then £120 is a bargain.

I'd tend to agree..pay it & invoice capita

pmlindyloo

My understanding from the OP's post is that the forms were never sent to Capita as the consultant required payment first?

Did I read that correctly?

CameronLove

pmlindyloo wrote: »

My understanding from the OP's post is that the forms were never sent to Capita as the consultant required payment first?

Did I read that correctly?

Correct..... they are demanding we pay £120 to release an "extensive report" we never personally asked for (or knowledge off) to be sent back to Capita (not us!) that apparently Capita requested, but no longer want as they have closed the file and now passed it to DWP.
Apparently the whole point of Capita requesting a report is so they can decide if you require a Face-To-Face interview or whether report is strong enough to file a claim to the DWP without the need for an interview..... but as they made my wife have a face-to-face interview anyway, it makes the whole need for this report redundant.
And when we asked the Secretary WHEN the consultant received this request for a report, she demanded to know why we would need that information, and when we explained we just wanted to know exactly when she received it as to why Capita thought it necessary as the face to face interview had already occurred, she point blank refused to tell us when it arrived with the consultant.

Have emailed the consultants secretary asking exactly what was requested (type of form), who requested it (it just says on the invoice Capita but no further details) and what contact details were given for contacting the 3rd party or for returning the form.
I also explained that DWP said she should not be asked to pay any fee whatsoever regarding the DWP/Capita requesting further details and that any fee related to obtaining this report should be to the company they named on the invoice as requesting it (Capita). Also gave her Capita's phone number for their useless customer service, and also DWP's phone number. Because if it is form DP1500 then only DWP are meant to be able to issue and pay for that form (as the supervisor at DWP said and confirmed in the PIP guidelines a poster above provided).
I also pointed out that although my wife filled out a PIP claim form on which she gave consent to the DWP to contact the consultant regarding further information, that she never gave consent to paying for this information request and that according to PIP guidelines and the DWP in a verbal conversation, she is not eligible to have to pay for any fee's that occur from any request they make.

Thanks to everyone regarding the advice. Especially the PIP guidelines someone above made available.

I think from reading between the lines of this whole tale...... Capita are only allowed to get a GP Factual Report and they have probably sent it to the consultant by mistake. They are only allowed to pay £30-odd for this report (which they later claim back from the DWP), but as the Secretary is requesting £120 for it, she is refusing to send it back without payment, and Capita clearly decided not to pay as they aren't allowed to pay over and above the set fee, so have decided to proceed with a face-to-face interview instead. That happened and now they have closed the file and sent it to the DWP to review.
But because the report is sitting there waiting to be paid the consultants secretary thinks they have some right to be paid for a service that was requested by a 3rd Party that they never actually provided, and has now decided that as the bill hasn't been paid for a good 3 or 4 weeks that WE are now going to be made to pay it. But it wasn't us that requested it, it isn't us that is liable for any charges like this, and as they never actually provided a service by withholding the report I am not even sure if ANYONE is liable to pay it.
It seems odd to me that you can demand money from someone for something the person neither asked for or agreed to pay for, and that has not even been done!

Cheeky_Monkey

Whilst I agree with you that you shouldn't have to pay the £120 for the report, I also agree with tomtontom that you would be unwise to pee off the consultant who can help your wife with her illness.

At the end of the day, are you prepared to let your principals potentially affect the treatment your wife receives?

Personally, I would pay it, albeit under protest, because as tomtontom says, private consultants can afford to more or less pick and choose their patients.

GlasweJen

seconded, the report did get written even if it was never released to anyone. If your claim is unsucessful the report might help with any appeal so to keep yourself on the consultants books I'd pay for the report and ask for it to be sent to the home. Ask the secretary if she has a copy of the request for the report and send that off along with the receipt to capita and see if they will reimburse.

CameronLove

Update:

The email I sent to the secretary got forwarded directly to the Consultant himself who wrote an email back explaining that he was ever so sorry, that the secretary is only a month into the new job and was doing what she thought was right.
He explained that I should ignore the letter we received from his secretary as it was a mistake to send it to me (she didn't know) and that he would personally make sure he charges Capita for any fee's regarding the report.
He said that we should not feel at all concerned regarding future treatment as he is more than happy to continue it and especially as all our previous private bills have been paid, and that this hiccup was their fault and not ours so it is in no way a bad reflection.
He also explained that the reason the secretary was demanding payment FIRST rather than invoicing them after the report, is because he has written at least 50 of these reports in the past year for Capita and used to invoice them after sending it, and out of 50-odd reports, he has only ever been paid for 2 of them. So he said that rather than waste his own time writing out reports, never to get paid, he now demands they pay either all of the fee, or some form of deposit so that his half-hour of time writing them up is not constantly wasted by Capita. He also said that a lot of other private consultants he talks with are also now starting to demand up-front fee's for the very same PIP reports because Capita have such a terrible reputation of requesting these forms and then never paying for them, or disputing the information was of no use to them so that they can escape paying the fee.

So thank you to everyone that gave advice and feedback. It really helped to point out the guidelines to them so that they were aware it was not us liable and it seems like it was a very productive result. It really helps to have a community that is willing to give honest advice and support.

[Deleted User]

It sounds like an impossible system, with capita, who requested the report then saying the file is closed and they can't confirm anything.