PiP Capita Assessment

Drsuew

Hi there 
this is my first post . I recently received a copy of my assessment report carried out by Capita as part of a change of circumstances . 

When I received the report it felt like it was about another person as some of it was a copy and paste job. There were lots of assumptions, extrapolations and inaccuracies which clearly showed a lack of understanding of my condition and some standardised terminology which was not relevant . 

I was very cheesed off with it and rang DWP to speak to a decision maker as I was clearly going to ask for an MR , but conversation  with a human being to clarify the report might avoid it . I asked to speak to case manage and said I was unhappy with the HP report . They said someone would ring me and  waited two weeks , no one did, so I phoned them this week and was put through to a case manager Who spent an hour going through the report and the areas I was unhappy with . It was good to get it off my chest regardless of the final outcome . Don’t know if anyone else has done this and avoided a MR and what was the outcome . 

On another note, the report made quite a big thing about me driving an unadapted manual car many months ago , and used it specifically to reduce mobility points , on the basis that driving a car is akin to walking and shows manual dexterity and full cognisance .i pointed out that with that logic and as a principle undermines the motability scheme on the basis that not all cars are adapted and manual . 

Merry Christmas 

poppy12345

Not sure what your question is here but when requesting the MR i'd always advise you to put this in writing rather than ring to request it. This way they can't say that you never requested it.

I totally understand the anger and stress the report causes when there's not accurate information in it but pointing out these inaccurancies will not get you a PIP award because they really won't be interested in any of those. What they will want to know is where and why you think you should have scored those points.

A couple of recent real world examples and a detailed explaination of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you, adding who was with you and where you were when it happened, will be the best thing you can do.

If the MR decision doesn't change then of course it will be Tribunal.

Alice_Holt

OP - have you had the decision letter?
 What PIP award were you receiving before this assessment?
 What was the change in circumstance that prompted you to notify the DWP.  Did you check the PIP points system to confirm that these changes should result in an amended award?

An assessment will very commonly cite the ability to drive a car as a reason to discount other evidence / the claimant's PIP form. 
The counter to this type of argument is to look at the specifics of the claimant's situation - do they only drive on rare good days / after taking pain medication / has the assessor cited an historic (not current) example / etc.  The key being reliability and the claimants ability (or not) to perform a PIP descriptor at will and at any point during the day. 
These points are best  backed up by reference to the evidence/ other comments in the assessment report / PIP form or additional evidence.   

calcotti

Drsuew said:..Don’t know if anyone else has done this and avoided a MR and what was the outcome . 

They will not look at it again unless you request an MR. If they are looking at it again that means they have taken your calls as a verbal request for an MR,

Spoonie_Turtle

I read it as them getting to speak to someone before the decision was made, as the post only mentioned the report and not a decision.  If so, I have seen one account of some doing that before and they got an appropriate decision, but obviously it helped that the DM in that case was willing to listen to reason and assess the facts of the case rather than just going by the report.

If the outcome is favourable for you Drsuew then I think you may have identified another option to just waiting for the decision (when the decision takes long enough for the claimant to receive a copy of the report, of course)