News

After seeing the assessors report, which did not resemble the conversation i had at all, im not surprised he was denied. 

During the ATOS assault. I mean assessment, which I later found out was a carried by paramedic who I'm not sure had ever heard of ADHD or Autism, or dyspraxia let alone knew the first thing about it, I was asked some very bizarre questions, which translated into a report made up of a colourful mixture of lies, statement I didn't make, the total opposite of what i said and my favourite a futuristic unmanned bus service! 

The report said that my son played video games, therefore, had no problems with fine motor skills, had good hand eye co ordination and was able to focus and pay attention. 

I would later argue on appeal that these things could only begin to be true, if I told you he was very good at the games, which I did not. 

And also, that hyper focusing on a video game from 6am til 6pm having not washed, dressed, eaten, drunk taken medication or gone to the toilet was a very typical behaviour for someone with adhd, and was not an indication of issues with inattention and focus, and in fact was a perfect example of the issues he struggles he faces and not proof he doesnt strggle at all. Which anyone who knew anything about ADHD and autism would know. 

It also stated that he had no real issues due to the fact he attended a mainstream school-its very rare for a child with adhd to be eligible or need to go to a special needs school, and passed his GCSEs-he has adhd and autism, he's not stupid-

 He also neglected to mention the asd provision at the mainstream school and the send support in place-

I was asked,  Could he travel alone on a bus? I Answered no. And gave the reasons why.  Agsin, he chose to focus on one reason i gave-One of the reasons was due to the amount of people on a bus. His next question was, if there was no one on the bus, could he travel on the bus alone?  I firstly asked, well why is he getting on an empty bus? He said hypothetically, if there was no other people on the bus, could he travel on it. I said, well no, because if there's no one on the bus then theres no one to drive it. He didn't like that.  

Then he asked of there was no one but they'd river, and if I had to write directions down for him to follow cpuld he do it, at which point i said, if i write instructions tobwhete to get on and off and which bus tobget etc,  then essentially he is not doing it on his own/without support is he?  The final report said 

'He could use an automated bus if his mum had written directions for him' I'm not even sure what part of his disability he was assessing here, or what it proves or disproves, because as far as I'm aware, there are no automated buses.  This is just an example of how ridiculous the assessments can be, and how being a 'healthcare professional' does not qualify you to do them. 

Nb. This original denial led to me being forced off legacy benefits and into Universal credit which has left me hundreds if pounds worse off, and cause a whole load of problems which I'm sure are better described in another post. 

MR upheld the 0ppint descision.  Went to tribunal. Before appeal received a phone call saying he was awarded a total of 24 points 14 daily living and 10 mobility and that would end my appeal. Both myself and my daughter have assessments with serco in a few weeks, I'll come back with how they went...pip and a UC wca...

The lady I spoke to was a nurse and very to the point, she would not let my daughter speak for me when I got flustered and upset (apparently this didn't happen). My brain kept going blank which happens with my fibro and various other disabilities I have. The assessment took 1hr and 48 minutes, we did record it on phone again.  I was very frank with the assessor and told her about the horrendous experience I had the first and 2nd time I had put a claim for PIP in.  She was very structured and clearly told me she was using multiple reports from WCA and the 2 previous PIP assessments.  At the end she told me she would be typing it up and sending straight through to DWP.  Also at end my daughter asked her if she was allowed to speak now, especially has she had told her off when she thought she was, but I clearly told her she was speaking to me because I was flustered. She did let her and did ask me if I could clarify it was true, which I did.

Anyway, 45 minutes after it had finished I got a text from DWP to say they had received it and it would take 6 to 8 weeks to process.  I had the Assessment on the Monday and had a text on that Friday to say they had made a decision but do not ring up as they would not tell me anything.  But I waited until 9am and rang, because after ringing before I know as you go through the various hoops to get to speak to someone they tell you when your next payment is and for how much, which they don't tell you.  After waiting they dud this and I heard that I was getting more than I did before, which was only standard living.  To be honest I missed the full amount as I was shocked what I heard. I carried on until I got to speak to someone because I wanted a copy of the report anyway, but I also asked what they had given me, and he gladly told me.  They had given me standard living but also enhanced mobility, which I knew I needed.  But what they didn't tell me was that the Assessor had requested that the enhanced mobility part had been backdated to the day they requested the review and I found this out at 3am in the morning when I couldn't sleep and had a bank notification, quite honestly I did a silent scream.

The report came and she end actually put down word for word what I had said even the points about previous assessments.  There were points that she had given me where I thought she should have given me more, but after all the time I had waited I didn't have the energy to challenge and due to my massive mobility issues and the mobility award I was happy.

One think to note, when I was speaking to someone from IAS, when it was cancelled, they clearly told me it was in their best interest to get these done as soon as possible has they don't get paid until they do, and they had only had my information for 6 weeks and they text me when they received it.  So DWP  hang on to them for a long time before they decide if you need an assessment or not.  Unfortunately I have the award until 2027 but will request another review in 2026 so have about a year stress free in that regard.

At one interrogation I was asked to pick up a pound coin and then asked to jump up onto a bed. 

I surrender from degenerative arthritis in my lower back which causes me lots of pain, I refused to comply with this request and when the assessor asked me why I told her that it was very painful. 

 The people doing the assessments know nothing about the medical conditions that people have yet they lord over people as if they did, I was lucky as at my last assessment the person  asking me actually knew and worked with the consultant that deals with me on a regular basis.

I think that the job of assessing people for wca and pip should be left to the NHS consultants who deal with people every day as they are the ones who can give an honest answer to a person's ability to work  , this would also bring much needed money into the NHS .

I am now on ADP for an indefinite period of time, the Scottish Social Security seem to be more helpful with people who are ill.

No matter what Government is in power  they always see the sick and infirm as target's and anything they can do to cut the financial help we get they will do.

Perhaps they should be targeting the millionaires who are avoiding paying tax.

Sick people also have votes which can be used to oust a Government as the Tory party found out, when we were able to work we all contributed to the system thinking that if anything were to happen to us we would be looked after by the state, but it's more like pay your dues and do one, we as a country seem to do our worst to our sick and elderly but see red if another country does the same thing. 

It's a true saying that Life doesn't matter only money does.

My Experience of Maxifarce ESA WCA's is not good at all  Several of their assessors lied in their reports, And even used the fact that i had attended the face to face interrogation against me, Audio recording didn't stop them lying in their reports, I was eventually Successful in getting SG award following a  home audio recorded  visit WCA,

Capita (PIP) tried it on by arranging a F2F Assessment at a location that would have taken me over 1hr to travel to using public transport, which they changed twice to a nearer venue. But it was still 40+ mins, and was a long walk from the nearest bus stop, ( i was claiming for mobility )  as they had stopped home visits i had a telephone  assessment (recorded) And got a  nil award,

I was so distressed by the whole process I was put under the care of the crisis team. In the end my MP intervened and my review was decided on paper. PIP reviews should not result in extreme distress.

Recording is not automatic, per the Haas-Serco website you must pre book it.

I always got through on the phone within a few minutes.

They offered me a face-to-face assessment, fairly local. 

I was able to change my assessment to a telephone assessment.  The date was bought forward due to this, which I happily agreed to. 

Both assessors were fine.

Assessments were accurate up to a point.  But I believe that due to assessors doing so many assessments, it can get confusing, & this doesn’t always work to our advantage.