TRANSFER FROM IB TO ESA AND PIP CLAIM

Hi Gordon,

Thank you very much for your reply...

Please may I ask you I'm not quite sure what you mean here:
'don't be afraid to talk about the fall-out that will result from your attending appointment.

and here: We have had problems with the PIP assessors accepting late evidence, they are required to do this under section 2.3.10. of the PIP Assessment guide.

Sorry it's probably me being a bit slow...

Also I feel a bit uncomfortable saying that I am having a better day even though today I am. I suppose it's because I don't want to minimise or do myself out of getting the benefit. For example my first ever assessment I failed, I was very naive and knew nothing about the system and made better of my problems/illlness, was also embarassed to say how bad things were
and I thought the assessment was about getting you help LOL.

So that past experience has highlighted the need to talk about your worst days and how bad things are so for me having gone through this it makes me feel very nervous and weary for me to say I'm having a better day etc. Hypothetically saying that if tomorrow I am having a better day is it best to say so as if I don't it could go against me because they say well she looks perfectly fine for example? Is that what you're saying?

Hope you know what I mean...

thanks

AC

angelcake wrote:
So that past experience has highlighted the need to talk about your worst days and how bad things are so for me

AC

Please be aware of the danger of talking about only your worst days, as if every day were the same, as this lays you open to the charge of fraud. If your condition is variable then you must make DWP aware of this variability.

Hi there,
Sorry long post stressed out!! Just thought I’d post my recent experiences with assessments and ask for your advice and viewpoint if I may.

Recently I had my first PIP assessment and the whole experience was surprisingly ok, in fact a stark contrast from the last IB assessment I had which was intimidating to say the least...

The lady who took the PIP assessment was very understanding, sympathetic and enabled me to fully express how my condition affects me, she put me at ease, gave me time to mention anything that hadn’t been covered, even reassured me at the end that she thought I’d be fine as all the info I gave matched and was in line with my condition.

The room was hired out at another surgery nothing to do with ATOS, so less intimidating in itself. I was very anxious and influenced by my last IB assessment and she reassured me that it was nothing like that and she said ‘um yeah they are different those’. I had to get my friend to come with me to the assessment but she wasn’t bothered how I got there or who with and said it didn’t matter.

Fast forward today – ESA assessment – so you’d expect that it should be a similar kind of treatment, um yeah...no. It should be the same but it’s not by any means...even taking out the factor that each assessor will be different...

Luckily I had braced myself I was very anxious anyway and it had upset me for days before... My friend had agreed to accompany me and drive but unfortunately she had an accident that prevented her from driving, so today I rang asked ATOS about a taxi but they said too short notice and it would be up to the assessor whether I could claim.

In the end there was no time to wait for a taxi and I had to drive but I explained to the assessor , in fact I was in tears at the beginning of the assessment as it was too much to cope with. She said that we’d get to that later but when she asked me how I’d got there etc. I don’t think she even recorded anything about the circumstances.

I had written lot of additional info, she admitted she was struggling with amount of evidence to get through it and medical letters. I strongly feel very unhappy and anxious that I was not able to express fully how my condition affects me and I made it clear several times, she more or less said well they have got all your info and med letters. However, my understanding is that the assessment report holds more weight is this true?? If I had not of provided all my evidence going from your brilliant guide and excellent advice from the forum I don’t think I would have a leg to stand on.

I tried on occasions to discuss things that hadn’t been covered and she rushed me onto the next thing. I felt the questions that were selected were designed to trip me up and felt like treated like a potential fraud. She was very nice about it she explained her pressures, limitations especially with lots of info on my file but still I am very anxious that the assessment info does not fully reflect and accurate to what I am claiming.

There was a problem with how often I have problems, my condition is variable, fluctuating and unpredictable so very hard for me to describe in my info but I said that in a 6 mth period I was affected 3mths. The assessor was reluctant to accept this and kept asking me how many weeks, I cannot describe my condition like this and she wrote unable to say. I said that I was unhappy with this. I stated what I had wrote on 4 or more day also I have problems but this is not every week, I think I may have said half the week by mistake at times as I was thinking of half the 6mth period, I asked her to correct it and she said she would later but I’m not confident.

At the end of the assessment I said again I was anxious I had not been able to explain about my condition and she basically ushered me out. I explained that it was important to me and that I couldn’t cope with having an appeal. She claimed she had someone else, although there was nobody waiting.
I had arrived on time and had to wait for over an hour, the reception staff and security guard - well the astmosphere made you feel like you’re a criminal, they said if you want to go out for a coffee so we did. I’m not sure if it’s paranoia but the experience made me feel like my every move was being judged. I don’t know whether it will go against me going out for a coffee and I even felt that I could have been watched when in the coffee shop – admittedly maybe paranoid here 

I asked the reception about my expenses nothing was forth-coming, I also asked if I could speak to the assessor again as I wanted it written on my file that I was anxious about not being able to discuss my condition properly, a message from the assessor- she declined and said she had someone else, although no-one waiting . So I wrote it on a piece of paper and asked for it to be put on my file- who knows?!

After I left the building I realised they’d not given me anything about expenses. I went back and they looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language after me specifically asking them, she finally got a form and started filling it in and asking about my fees but I sensed a reluctance.

I felt that with some of the questions from the assessment she was trying to catch me out, for example I have problems with social contact and she seemed to be homing in on the friend I’d come with, how often I see her and how often I see my brother, where I see them, how many friends I’ve got, what I mean by acquaintances and do I say hello when I see them, where do I see them etc a bit interrogating to be honest. Again she wanted a weekly estimation and it was very hard to describe, I could see once a week every two weeks once a mth, not for mths. So god knows what has been written down.

Also when asked about using the telephone I have problems with that and will have to avoid speaking due to anxiety sometimes but then she wanted to know how I made my doctors appointments. I did say I rang my doctors but with specialist they ask you to book an appointment within 3wks of letter and once I had missed this due to my condition and not been able to call and had to be re- referred by my GP. I don’t think she wrote any of this and I don’t think she was very competent and it’s almost like the assessment was very fixed and I was unable to communicate effectively my condition because of this.

The final question she asked me was if I’d been on holiday, which I haven’t for years but I am a bit brown from the garden, who isn’t at the moment?! But I felt that I had to justify that also and asked her why can you not go on holiday if you are on benefit? and she said yes. But to me inherent in that question is a judgement for the assessment and it’s just the final in the coffin so to speak. I don’t know is this an acceptable and fair why of assessing people to make them feel guilty, to try and catch them out and make them feel like frauds when I am suffering with health conditions that I have got very robust medical evidence for

As you maybe able to tell I’m quite upset and distressed by the experience and I just wanted to know your perspective on the system and what happened to me today??

So I’ve had two totally different experiences recently one for PIP and one for ESA and I feel like ESA claimants are discriminated against, people should be treated the same, why is it different with these two different benefits??
I read recently that with ESA that claimants can have an unexpected visit from an officer but this does not happen with PIP why is this so?

Finally my overall worry now from all of this is getting transferred onto ESA but feel also todays assessment could be of detriment and put me in the wrong group through no fault of my own.
What do you think? I hope I’m over worrying and it will all work out fine but thought I should share my experience on here...really sorry for long post

Angelcake