Question about PIP review

born_again

MR_t0 said:

Finally heard back from this. I attached all the paperwork from the previous tribunal etc but now they have given her a telephone assessment. We've never had one of these over the telephone before. Anyone know anything about how they work?

Just the same as face to face, except you can't see them.
Make sure phone is charged up & on speaker if more than one of you there. Ours was over a hour.
It does feel weird. 

They do not go through the questions in order, which threw me out, as I had all the paperwork in front of me. Someone did post the order in another thread. 
In the end I found it easier, as prompting Mrs to answer came across better than someone sat it the room, as assessor can be taking it that because she was looking at them they were interacting with them. As was in previous assessment. 

peteuk

born_again said:

MR_t0 said:

Finally heard back from this. I attached all the paperwork from the previous tribunal etc but now they have given her a telephone assessment. We've never had one of these over the telephone before. Anyone know anything about how they work?

Just the same as face to face, except you can't see them.
Make sure phone is charged up & on speaker if more than one of you there. Ours was over a hour.
It does feel weird. 

They do not go through the questions in order, which threw me out, as I had all the paperwork in front of me. Someone did post the order in another thread. 
In the end I found it easier, as prompting Mrs to answer came across better than someone sat it the room, as assessor can be taking it that because she was looking at them they were interacting with them. As was in previous assessment. 

The format I was taught was check the conditions, social circumstances, mobility and daily living activities. 

born_again

Thanks @peteuk

Thought it was you 😍

MR_t0

Spoonie_Turtle said:

MR_t0 said:

Finally heard back from this. I attached all the paperwork from the previous tribunal etc but now they have given her a telephone assessment. We've never had one of these over the telephone before. Anyone know anything about how they work?

Has she had a face-to-face assessment before?  It's similar to that, they ask about your history, your daily life, how you manage (or don't) the different PIP activities and what effect doing things has on her.

Yes she's had face to face and they scored her zero points across the board hence we had to appeal and go to the tribunal back in 2020. My wife's condition is a serious mental health condition (not just some slight anxiety etc, but a serious disorder) but when she was last assessed face to face they sent a physiotherapist to assess her. This is the concern again, if the telephone assessor is someone who has no idea about mental health they will score her zero points again.

MR_t0

She's had the telephone assessment. I recorded the call and the whole thing was very brief around 15 mins which was surprising given how many notes I had prepared for my wife, though we had put "no change" for all the categories on the paperwork sent off over a year ago now. I am still unaware if they know about the previous tribunal win or not as the points she was given at tribunal for certain things were not mentioned at all. They did not ask any questions regarding certain categories like budgeting or medication, for example and they did not go into a lot of the other stuff I had made notes for. The questions seemed to be very brief and tailored around 3 or 4 specific categories whereas I had expected them to run through the entire form section by section.

I was thinking that if they decide to end her PIP again we did not get the chance to cover all the areas where her needs are highest as they were not mentioned. Is it normal for an assessment for a review to be this brief? The one she's had in the past which was face to face was much more thorough and went on for almost an hour. 

Muttleythefrog

MR_t0 said:

She's had the telephone assessment. I recorded the call and the whole thing was very brief around 15 mins which was surprising given how many notes I had prepared for my wife, though we had put "no change" for all the categories on the paperwork sent off over a year ago now. I am still unaware if they know about the previous tribunal win or not as the points she was given at tribunal for certain things were not mentioned at all. They did not ask any questions regarding certain categories like budgeting or medication, for example and they did not go into a lot of the other stuff I had made notes for. The questions seemed to be very brief and tailored around 3 or 4 specific categories whereas I had expected them to run through the entire form section by section.

I was thinking that if they decide to end her PIP again we did not get the chance to cover all the areas where her needs are highest as they were not mentioned. Is it normal for an assessment for a review to be this brief? The one she's had in the past which was face to face was much more thorough and went on for almost an hour. 

It is hard to tell... I hope more was written in the form than No Change as that can often cause problems if the disablements are not restated and if the award was from tribunal there are extra risks I'd say. They may have felt no need to indulge if no change reported but generally speaking longer assessments tend to output better results.

My advice.. call DWP PIP line tomorrow early and ask for copy of the report.. they should have it by then from the assessment company unless it is held up by audit.

poppy12345

MR_t0 said:

She's had the telephone assessment. I recorded the call and the whole thing was very brief around 15 mins which was surprising given how many notes I had prepared for my wife, though we had put "no change" for all the categories on the paperwork sent off over a year ago now. I am still unaware if they know about the previous tribunal win or not as the points she was given at tribunal for certain things were not mentioned at all. They did not ask any questions regarding certain categories like budgeting or medication, for example and they did not go into a lot of the other stuff I had made notes for. The questions seemed to be very brief and tailored around 3 or 4 specific categories whereas I had expected them to run through the entire form section by section.

I was thinking that if they decide to end her PIP again we did not get the chance to cover all the areas where her needs are highest as they were not mentioned. Is it normal for an assessment for a review to be this brief? The one she's had in the past which was face to face was much more thorough and went on for almost an hour. 

Right back at the start of the thread you were advised to fill out the form as if it’s a new claim, so I really hope that you didn’t just write no change without giving further information. Even more so as the current award was from a Tribunal. 

Your chance to tell them everything is in the form you fill in so yes you did have a chance to tell them everything. 

It’s would be impossible to predict how the assessment went or what the decision is likely to be. 

peteuk

MR_t0 said:

She's had the telephone assessment. I recorded the call and the whole thing was very brief around 15 mins which was surprising given how many notes I had prepared for my wife, though we had put "no change" for all the categories on the paperwork sent off over a year ago now. I am still unaware if they know about the previous tribunal win or not as the points she was given at tribunal for certain things were not mentioned at all. They did not ask any questions regarding certain categories like budgeting or medication, for example and they did not go into a lot of the other stuff I had made notes for. The questions seemed to be very brief and tailored around 3 or 4 specific categories whereas I had expected them to run through the entire form section by section.

I was thinking that if they decide to end her PIP again we did not get the chance to cover all the areas where her needs are highest as they were not mentioned. Is it normal for an assessment for a review to be this brief? The one she's had in the past which was face to face was much more thorough and went on for almost an hour. 

The telephone assessment is the same as the face to face assesment but without the physical exam (for obvious reasons). But this will be based on your answers.  So if you put no change then there would be little to question.  

If you answer no problem then their would be question should be on the lines of “you've stated no difficulty in dressing, is that still the same”. 

Equally when I was trained as a PIP assessor I was advised to ignore tribunal letter as this can influence the assessment (this may have changed since then) 

Did you have permission to record the assessment, if not you may not be able to us it as evidence in a tribunal.