Knew assessor

I have just recently had an assessment but I knew my assessor from years ago. Her husband had an affair with my wife (now ex wife). She did not say anything and I was unsure what to do. Should the assessment gone ahead or should she have canceled it?

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I think you could certainly claim that there was a conflict of interest! However, in your case I would not do anything until I had seen a copy of the report. No point in throwing a spanner in the works if the assessor behaved professionally (as she should)!

You can request a copy of the report from DWP. If it is a PIP claim you should be able to get it straight away. For ESA I think they say you must wait until after the decision is made (there's no harm in asking though).

If the assessor has behaved properly and the report is in your favour then I don't think it is worth taking further action. If the report is not in your favour, you feel that your past association has prejudiced the assessor against you, you should complain to DWP and the assessment provider. However, it is possible that this course of action would get this assessment disregarded and another scheduled, it would not result in the decision being revised.

You might wish to bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future. This will allow you to return with further questions or comments about your claim without having to start a new topic each time. It helps us enormously when everything relating to the same claim is kept in one place - and I hope you find it useful too

I have deleted your duplicate post so that all replies are kept in one place for you.

There will always be a delay before your post is published as the moderators view and approve each one first. Even when we are officially 'open', how long this takes depends entirely on how many (voluntary) mods are on-line and how busy we are

I have received my report and it is not in my favour. I have an autoimmune disease and my biggest problem is fatigue. Nowhere on the report is fatigue mentioned. In fact a couple of the points she outright lied. The overall report is just lies and is not a true reflection as to what happened at the assessment.
On the report she said she tried to contact me on the 4th July to discuss the report. I was in all day and received no phone calls. I phoned the number given in the report to ask for a mandatory reconsideration. i was told that he will ask the assessment centre to call me to discuss the report. I was told that they would contact today, but again no contact.
Sorry if this seems all muddled, I really don't think very clearly.

Hi Simon,

We always suggest following any telephone request with a letter - letters are much harder for DWP to 'lose'!

You will not be awarded the benefit ( you don't say which one is involved) until/unless you show how and why you meet the specific descriptors. These are explained in detail in the relevant members' guide for each benefit - as is the MR process.

Any complaint about the assessor should be a separate issue. As well as complaining to DWP, you can also involve the assessment provider (ATOS, Capita or Maximus)

Complaining to the DWP