Atos Appointment Cancellation

calcotti

poppet17 wrote: »

It was DWP themselves, I spoke to a senior member of staff who said that they have been trying to get the government to extend pip for people who are waiting for assessments but they are refusing and have said that once the end date comes along it must stop until a decision has been made. I am hoping my MP can intervene but not holding out much hope.

Which takes me back to the concerns raised in post #2. The stopping of PIP can fundamentally collapse a household economy. Loss of Severe Disability Premium, loss of Carer’s Allowance/carer Premium/carer element, loss of Motability vehicle are all possible consequences.

WhenIam64

In post #2 Calcotti indicated how to complain to ATOS. You've used that and it then refers the complaint back to the DWP. You've may not have contacted the correct part of the DWP process.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

You'll have to go through the DWP process (ATOS works for them) if you want a change or some rectification of the issue. The person you spoke to at the DWP who indicated they can't do anything should have given you the link to the process. You should follow it to show that you had a concern and not an inconvenience.

If you don't follow through, they will assume it is no more than an inconvenience.

poppet17

I have followed through from the start and keep hitting a wall - there is not a day when I have not been on the telephone to some one. Again this morning I have spoken to a gentleman in London at the Parliamentary office who was speechless at the way this has been handled. He is now getting on to them himself - I feel at this stage I have done everything I possibly can and gone as high as I can. Once this fight for myself is finally over I will be carrying on for all the other people who must also be having the same problems and lobbying the government to try and put an end to this circus - its a joke.

WhenIam64

I'd like to direct you in a different direction. Almost every industry or organisation has a "complaints" process with some form of quasi-legal / independent review of the issue at hand to decide why something has gone wrong, who has contributed to the issue and what can be done about it.

There is a difference between the generic advice to "complain" with the specific instruction to follow the complaints process. Almost everyone does the first but never the second which is why things don't change.

Have you completed enough of the process to be able to escalate the issue to an Independent Case Examiner? If not, read the process and follow it clearly, without anger and be determined not to be moved off it. The processes are there for a reason. And the most often reply people get is "you did not follow the complaints process, so we were unable to help"

poppet17

I have an update. This morning a few hours after calling the parlaiment office of my local MP I recieved a phone call from ATOS assessments complaint office to inform me thay had recieved a call from the DWP with reference to my complaint about the cancellation - miraculously there has been a cancellation for tomorrow at my local centre. So as it stands I will be having my assessment tomorrow (assuming they don't cancel again). If they think this is the last they have heard from me they are sorely mistaken, I will continue to fight for the right of people to have an assessment done in a reasonable time frame - especially for those who are being re-assessed when their claim is due to end, there is absolutely no need for these kinds of delays no matter where you are in the country. There are no excuses - if there is sickness then call in a back up or make sure there are appointments available to replace the cancellation, stop blaming the delays on the size of the centre in your area, lack of staff etc: Send out forms in a reasonable time frame for areas where there are long waiting times so people are not in fear of having everything taken away from them unnecessarily - I could go on. They have made me feel like I am not worthy of walking on this earth and that I have nothing to offer just because I am older and have a disability - wrong! I will fight for this kind of disgraceful discrimination to end.

poppet17

I wanted to up date you on what as been happening. I eventually got my assessment and waited just a couple of weeks for the results.  The assessor lied on the report, made assumptions based on nothing I had said, decided to make a ruling herself on my mobility even though she walked in front of me and saw me walk 2 metres - the consequences of this report was that I was awarded my standard care as before but, my mobility was reduced from high rate to standard indefinitely with a review in 2030 from 29th February 2020.  Here goes another fight with the DWP - I put in a madatory reconsideration and sent in further reports from my Dr - they made me wait until July 4th 2020 to make the decison that I was indeed entitled to high rate mobility and it was reinstated.  All of this could have been avoided had they read my paperwork properly - instead they used up valuable time and resources just to make me wait in the hope that I would accept their 1st decision.  I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones that did not have to go to appeal (which I understand from others can take another 12 months).  The Coronavirus did not help the process, however, as I said had the the paperwork been read correctly, the appointment been done in a timely manner and the report been accurate it could have been sorted within the original 6 week time frame they say it will take.  I will say this to anyone who is having problems - no matter how stressed or tired you are of the whole situation keep fighting.  I will now be going back to my menber of parlaiment with a complete breakdown of what has happened to me and hope that something will be done to rectify what is happening within the whole process - although I doubt it very much.

calcotti

Well done for persevering. Glad you now have an award that you consider appropriate - the long award period is good news too.