Got my assessment appointment

Hello there,

I have just recieved my assessment appointment for my dla to pip. They have given me a centre that is nearly 40 miles away. I had a look at atos website and they have two centres much nearer than that. It's at 9am, which means busy traffic so it could easily a 2 hour journey, its about 1 hr 20 when its not busy in the car and probably well over 2 hours with public transport.

This is really too much for health to get up so early, travel that far and undergo an assessment. Is there any liklihood to ask them to have the assessment at a nearer centre? Or even better still a home assessment?

Thank you so much,
H

You should contact them immediately and get it changed.

We are seeing an increased number of appointments being made at assessment centres further away than the nearest one to claimants and it could be a tactic they are using to judge people fit to work if they can travel these distances.
If you are too unwell to travel at all you should request a home visit although they usually require a doctors letter to back up the request.

I phoned them and they have give me one less than a third of the distance away, thanks

well done! I'm in the same boat - a center miles away and at 9AM, next Thursday 3 Dec.
Did you manage to get the 9AM time changed too? How did you ask them? Did you stress the difficulty with illness? I need to make my phonecall to atos soon to change my appt, am worried they will disagree or not listen. Any advice from your experience appreciated. Glad it worked out for you