A few questions about PIP assessment, please help

Hi everyone,

I received notification this morning that my PIP assessment will take place on 22nd September. I'm extremely nervous about it and I want to prepare to the best of my ability, so I have a few outstanding questions. I'd be very grateful for any advice you can give me.

I will hopefully not be alone for the assessment: my boyfriend has promised to accompany me.

First, some relevant information for question 1 (Questions are below.)

My assessment is to take place at a private physio clinic 30 minutes' drive away. I have my Motability car, so I can get to it. However, I've had a look at the clinic on Google streetview and there is not very much parking available.

There are about 5 on-street parking spaces outside the clinic. I phoned the clinic earlier today and asked how likely it is that there will be one of those spaces free at the given time and date, and they said it is quite possible all the parking spaces will be full.

They advised that I should come early so I can spend time looking for parking, and that I might have better luck finding a parking spot on the high street. The high street is the next street along, joined to the street with the physio clinic by a T-junction.


My questions:

1. This is to do with the parking situation described above. If the only spaces available on the day are on the high street, will it count against me that I could walk to the clinic from the high street? It's not that much further, but I think it is far enough that (if they ask where I parked - likely, I'd think) they will take note and hold it against me. (Also, of course, for health reasons I would genuinely prefer to be able to park right outside.) Should I phone ATOS and request a re-arrangement of my assessment to somewhere that has better parking facilities?


2. I have heard that if you give slightly different answers in the assessment to what you said on the forms, it will count against your claim. Is this true?


3. I have heard they may ask me to sit on the floor and/or pick up something like a 50p from the floor. I know I cannot do these things, and I know they will cause me extreme distress and pain. If these tests come up I am planning to say that I can't do them, but I am worried they will not trust me, that they will say that I am obstructing the assessment, and that they will fail me. Should I worry? How can I convince them that no, really, I can't do these things and trying is going to cause me harm?

Thanks for any help or support you can give me. I don't like to admit it, but I'm kind of scared about all this.

Afterthought: if anything else occurs to you that I should know in preparation for this, please do add it if you have a spare moment.

Gordon,

Thanks for your answers. To elaborate / think further:

1. I am the only driver in the house. My boyfriend is the one whom I want with me in the assessment, but he doesn't drive. The only other drivers I know will be at work, and I don't feel I know them well enough to ask them to take a day/morning off to drive me to and fro and sit around waiting during an appointment of unknown length I'll have to think more on this.

2. Thank you. It's not so much that my answers will need to be different but that I tried to be very specific in my claim form (times, percentages, etc). I'm not sure I'm going to be able to give the exact same information all the time off the top of my head and when under the anxiety I'm expecting to experience during this. I may not realise I've given slightly different information; information which, to my mind, is the same, but perhaps not quite said in the exact details I stated on the form.

3. Thank you. In that case I will state that it will cause me a lot of pain (in XYZ joints), and attempting it will also cause me severe distress. For example, I know that just the idea of trying to sit on the floor brings me close to tears. So hopefully this sort of explanation will be good enough for them.

---

Earlier today I read your thread about people posting new topics a lot, so I don't want to do that. I do, however, have some fresh concerns.

I've been reading more threads on this forum. I've also read on another forum. In both places I see a lot of people giving examples that sound like the assessors will ask leading questions and base their judgement on that. For example, it aws mentioned somewhere on here that they may ask whether you can use the internet, and that this then indicates to them that you can maintain relationships. To me, this is ridiculous. A relationship on Facebook is not anywhere near the same as a relationship in which one is able to (e.g.) go out for coffee with a friend, and where one might see them, feel part of a 'group' and feel connected, and feel independently capable like a 'normal' person to see people, even if only for a short while. Facebook does not compare.

So it seems to me that a lot of the time the questions the assessors ask are attempts to catch us out. How on earth is this fair? How does one not get caught out? (I'm not saying I want to cheat - I don't - or anything like that.) It seems like the only possible solution is to try to answer every question very carefully, preferably without starting with the word 'yes' so they can't cut you off there. That sounds exhausting and nigh impossible - when most of us are already in some combination of pain, tiredness, and high anxiety.

Also... I've read a fair few threads from people with arthritis. That's what I have, in all joints except hips which have both been replaced. EVERY thread I've read from arthritic people says they were awarded normal rate mobility. I... I lost my Motability car before for a couple of months. It was the worst time of my life. I can't. I need that car. I just... how... is there any chance for people with arthritis to get enhanced rate? Am I just getting unlucky in always finding the stories of people who get normal? How on earth are people with arthritis usually judged to only need normal rate?

I just phoned ATOS up asking if they would approve taxis (and reimburse for them) to and from my appointment. I seem to have ended up with being given a new appointment at a place much closer to me. The plus to this is that they have approved taxis and the journey will be much shorter.

I asked whether this place had stairs, and the person on the phone said he didn't believe so. However, having looked it up on Google I've realised I know that building. It might not have stairs (I can't recall correctly) but it is full of long corridors. I don't know which part of the building the PIP assessments take place in, but if I have to walk through lots of long corridors then this is a) going to be very difficult for me, and b) not going to look good for my claim, I would think?

I also suspect this building will offer more opportunity for me to be watched as I enter/leave the building. The previous appointment site was a small, street-facing shop, so not much chance of their surveilling me. (Which I just plain don't think is right!)

Also, this one is likely to be an NHS centre; the other one was a private physio practice. I've no idea if there's any pros or cons to NHS vs. private physio doing your assessment.

I did ask on the phone if this would count as my one rearrangement and I wouldn't be able to change the appointment again. He said that no, because we were bringing the appointment forward, I would be able to change the appointment again if needed. I don't understand the logic, but that's what he said.

I'm now in two minds. A more local centre and taxi cost refund is great, but I'm worried about the potential for having to walk a long distance through the building - and what that might do to both me and my claim.

Any thoughts?

(I know I'm posting a lot here. Thanks for reading and advising.)

I have one last question.

If you appeal your PIP claim, do you keep getting your old level of benefits in the meantime?

E.g. if I get a standard rate of PIP result and start an appeal, while the appeal is going through will my (old) higher rate of DLA continue, as it is doing while the PIP claim process is happening?

Thank you ever so much for all your help today, Gordon, and any others that pitch in in the meantime.