Anybody know how to deal with a PIP assessor caught lying and falsifying

[ethan]

an assessment report?
I was supporting a friend on his PIP review and the assessor ignored evidence sent six weeks before his assessment and refused to accept further medical evidence on the day of his assessment. The assessor then went on to falsify statements my friend had said with regard to his disabilities and used evidence some fifteen years out of date, long before his conditions worsened to try to discredit his claim.

 

[PiKe]

Tell me about it, I think they're just unfairly scoring everyone right now and they know the ones that need it will contest it.

 

[ethan]

What she didn't know was the evidence sent six weeks before was initially sent to the DWP who logged it prior to sending it on to the assessor. She then claimed in her report my friend says he has no problems doing "this that and the other", whilst the evidence that was sent prior shows that he does have problems and that he says he has problems.

 

[adolf hamster]

gotta love when civil servants get given an axe to grind.

there is the appeals process which afaik goes externally to the pip assessor so presumably they'll take onboard the more recent evidence and overturn the assessment.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Sadly probably only thing you can do is
Ask for a mandatory reconsideration
Which will probably be turned down
Then appeal which will probably win
But will wait approximately
18 months for your appeal
You're not even allowed to record the assessment unless you can immediately
Give them a copy at the end of the interview
And who has got the facility to make 2 identical recordings at the same time
See no way to prove the assessor
Did whatever unfortunately

 

[ethan]

gotta love when civil servants get given an axe to grind.

there is the appeals process which afaik goes externally to the pip assessor so presumably they'll take onboard the more recent evidence and overturn the assessment.

I didn't mention it but a decision as not yet been made so I'm sending the evidence to him/her so they can see what went on. Hopefully the right decision will be reached. A Mandatory Reconsideration will only kick into to play if my mate doesn't agree with the decision by the DM.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Was it a first assessment?
Or had previous?
If had previous ones then obviously the paperwork from those decisions may prove useful to find inconsistencies
But those ATOS assessors
Aren't fondly known as don't give A TOSS
For nothing

 

[Eurofighter]

He can appeal.

 

[sanaxe1]

You can appeal which will go to a tribunal.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

gotta love when civil servants get given an axe to grind.

The assessors are private (contracted in from private businesses) - they aren't DWP/Civil Service.

 

[rebel rebel]

Their default setting is no points. So you have to do a mandatory reconsideration, which will come back the same, as all they're doing is reading the original report again. You then appeal, that's turned down and then finally 12 to 18 months later you get to go to a tribunal, where at last you get to speak to a qualified health professional.

It's an absolute cluster****. And the government promised to make it easier.

Edit: Oh BTW the DWP has the worse record for discrimination against it's own disabled employees in the country.
Try and get your head around that. Source

 

[mmj_uk]

They don't make it easy but you should be able to appeal whatever decision is made and provide any relevant information then, if you still aren't happy then like sanaxe1 says take it to tribunal. I remember talking to someone about it she didn't get enough points but after appeal she did. I think they're doing it intentionally hoping that people won't appeal because they've made it so drawn out.

 

[Dave85]

I have this regularly for my mrs and at each occasion it gets overturned to maximum points for both at mandatory reconsidering if you put the work in. Each time I send about a 25 page report contesting every bit of evidence along with a contested legal letter from fightback. Visit fightback4justice and get some proper help. Sent you a trust email if I can be of any help as been dealing with this for years.

 

[ethan]

I have this regularly for my mrs and at each occasion it gets overturned to maximum points for both at mandatory reconsidering if you put the work in. Each time I send about a 25 page report contesting every bit of evidence along with a contested legal letter from fightback. Visit fightback4justice and get some proper help. Sent you a trust email if I can be of any help as been dealing with this for years.

Much obliged.

 

[Avalon]

This sounds all too familiar. The way PIP seems to work is they give you x years, write to you 6 months early under the pretence of delays etc. and then interview/reduce/remove your entitlement 4-5 months early because delays don’t happen when they have the opportunity to reduce payments. Your assessor will be polite and friendly, but is present to gather information to support a pre-determined narrative. My personal favourite is ignoring recent submitted medical evidence from specialists because someone passed GCSE’s two decades earlier, so of course they can’t suffer from cognitive impairment. Funny enough they didn’t have an issue till over a decade later. The reports are usually amusing to read, between the blatant copy and paste job, you’ll usually find multiple examples of sheer stupidity, gross misrepresentation and contradictory reasoning used in different sections.

You appeal/do mandatory reconsideration and they make minor - if any - concessions, but pull up short of a meaningful change. You then go full bore and request a tribunal, waste time submitting paperwork again, by which time the Motability vehicle is taken away. 3-7 days after that happens (and you’ve likely had to replace it at significant cost), you get a letter - if you’re lucky from DWP but more often than not the TS - stating that they have conducted an audit that is not part of the appeals process and have decided that they would prefer not to continue so will reinstate your entitlement for 3 years, as Motability supported your appeal you have to pay back the monthly rentals on the car or wait 6 months, at which point you are too close to the minimum contract period.... the same saga plays out again in 2.5 years.

 

[G J]

I dont understand how people have to fight tooth and nail to get anywhere with this but everyone seems to know someone whos playing the system yet it never seems to get reported or anything happens to them.

 

[AhhBisto]

HI @ethan

I had to go through this as a carer for my partner and now appointee.

It's literally making sure to complain, complain and get other people to complain. They hate it when you start becoming an expense. They will offer you £30 here and there when they are made aware of mistakes.

You've got to keep pressure on them.

It took 9 months for my partner someone who has a life limiting disease that with a life expectancy of around 10 years max, not considering the years she would be completely unable to control her body or mind.

The assessor completely ignored the medical evidence they made me aware they had, even reading a letter from her specialist. You cant falsify a genetic test from the leading genetics team in the UK and the assessor tried to say "she was only recently diagnosed" as an excuse to her **** poor report.

The report was flagged from the very same day due to inaccuracies in her statement, she then failed to complete the new report anywhere in a reasonable timescale and then when she did she made further mistakes. It was so bad the DWP didnt bother with appeal process they went straight to paper based off only medical evidence and awarded enhanced on both categories.

Capita and the like are scum of the earth.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

You can appeal which will go to a tribunal.

This. I was on DLA for over 20 years, my condition is now worse than 20 years ago and I'm now registered blind and deafblind. Despite that, my new PIP award is half of what my DLA was. My assessor actually scored me 0 in most categories but the DWP contested some of her work so that I did get some points. The tribunal bit is to contest some more of the scoring elements using the help of the RNIB. I have a caseworker from there who have taken me on.

 

[ethan]

HI @ethan

I had to go through this as a carer for my partner and now appointee.

It's literally making sure to complain, complain and get other people to complain. They hate it when you start becoming an expense. They will offer you £30 here and there when they are made aware of mistakes.

You've got to keep pressure on them.

It took 9 months for my partner someone who has a life limiting disease that with a life expectancy of around 10 years max, not considering the years she would be completely unable to control her body or mind.

The assessor completely ignored the medical evidence they made me aware they had, even reading a letter from her specialist. You cant falsify a genetic test from the leading genetics team in the UK and the assessor tried to say "she was only recently diagnosed" as an excuse to her **** poor report.

The report was flagged from the very same day due to inaccuracies in her statement, she then failed to complete the new report anywhere in a reasonable timescale and then when she did she made further mistakes. It was so bad the DWP didnt bother with appeal process they went straight to paper based off only medical evidence and awarded enhanced on both categories.

Capita and the like are scum of the earth.

I'd never seen an assessment report as bad as this. They ignored three separate neurological conditions and based their report on his ability to stand despite the fact he is bed-ridden for the most part of his waking week. When offered evidence on the day of assessment she refused stating she'd "got a ton of evidence already and that she would have to leave it in the car where it wouldn't be safe". On reviewing her report she relied on evidence a decade out of date. He had a Face to Face at home and her assessment report begins-"he attended alone". WTF. He didn't attend anything. She attended his home. The language used is an attempt to pull the wool over a Decision Makers eyes by implying he casually wandered into an assessment center.

In at least six of the daily living activities my mate would score points on she put the claimant reports no issues with these activities, despite the DWP having had evidence he did have problems-some six weeks before she conducted her assessment. I have reminded the DWP of this fact.

I've submitted all my mates medical evidence today indicating the assessment isn't fit for purpose based on it. I have also heard they've suspended Face to Face assessments so I would assume they would do a paper based one given the fact his award is due to expire in May. Presumably you can't do a paper based assessment without evidence so hopefully somebody somewhere will see common sense and go by the evidence submitted? It's specifically stated in the guidelines they have to consider all the evidence.

He can't appeal or request a Mandatory Reconsideration because the decision hasn't been made yet and I contacted the DWP who have put any decision on hold until they get the evidence. So fingers crossed.

 

[Yrkoon]

contact his doctor and have them write to the the idiots, with all the medical evidence, it helps if he/she has been seeing the same doctor for years, they wont have a leg to stand on so to speak.

they are utter pricks