Awful assessment and assessment report

william

I've moved your post to its own topic, we ask members not to post their questions in other member's topics as it can lead to the wrong advice being given or taken.

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.

Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;

"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"

than their opinions

"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.

When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.

there are two distinct issues with a claimant driving, one that is reasonable and one that is less so.

First, the DWP will argue that someone who drives has good cognitive ability as the process of driving requires the driver to be aware of what is going on around them, to be able to pre-empt situations that they are approaching and to be able to manage the operation of the vehicle.

They will also argue that it show good navigation skills and an ability to plan a route, however, claimants might be able to argue that if only one journey is undertaken and the claimant had to be shown that route, that they are in fact not able to plan or navigate a route, but I think there is little flexibility in this argument.

Secondly, the DWP view driving as a physical activity, for example holding the wheel requires a level of dexterity, strength and endurance in their hands, arms and shoulders, They also believe that the operation of the pedals is akin to walking and so someone who can drive can also walk. I (for what it is worth as I don't do assessments) think that this argument is very weak, however, most people drive a car to go somewhere and having arrived at that place they may then need to then walk to complete their journey, for example; none of the car parks in my area have lifts that are less than 20m from disabled parking spaces and the Motability shop where I can hire a scooter is the best part of 100m.

Gordon