Lies from the Nurse/Assessor for PIP

My granddaughter has had a diagnosis of Autism since she was three years old. She is now 24 and we have just had a face to face assessment at home. The Assessor was flustered and cross when she arrived as she couldnt find out house and had to ring us for directions. She rushed through the "form" and had to direct all the questions through my daughter as my granddaughter could not look or talk to the woman. The assessment lasted just over half an hour this was in June. The DWP said they did not have the report until the 16th July. The result came through as 0 points for everything! She had previously been on high rate care low rate mobility. We immediately requested a MR both by phone and form (the person on the phone said there were no forms for MR? but we had already downloaded it and filled it in) we also requested the Assessors report. The Report arrived yesterday morning and this woman had put at the top of the form that she had read the reports (all saying that my granddaughter cannot go out alone two different diagnosis for her autism and the help she needed) but she actually said that because my granddaughter had done A levels (took an extra two years) and been to university (four years) she was "under the assumption that she could do everything on the form". Her education has been funded both for travel and private education funding from the Local Authority since she was eight years old. The Local Authority also funded a support travel companion for her university plus equipment. It has been a hard slog for everyone and unfortunately it has not led to her being able to do anything with her degree due to her high levels of anxiety and social communication difficulties. She does not go out alone ever yet this woman was able to say that she had good eye contact and was able to to talk about her condition. She directed all her questions at my daughter as if it was her Assessment. Luckily I was sitting in the other room so have been able to do a witness statement. Can this woman be held accountable for all the lies and can she ASSUME my granddaughters condition even with a professor/consultant's report?

Hi Susie,

I don't know if this is of any help but this is what happened to me this time last year.

I too had an assessment in which the HP put lies, lies and contradictions on my report. I was devastated and immediately phoned IAS to complain. I was on the phone for almost an hour and they had to transfer my call to a psychological nurse to calm me down.

I told her about all the lies etc and she was reading on the screen my past record and said my condition was lifelong and the report would be seen to be of insufficient standard.

Result: zero for everything.

I read the guides thoroughly and quickly realised that calling the assessor a liar wasn't going to get me anywhere.

Instead I pointed out each point and said in my opinion the nurse who assessed me wasn't suitably qualified to make decisions on my health issues.

I put a formal complaint to IAS and received around 4 letters from them. They didn't actually take my side but said it was impossible to completely get 100% accurate reports.

I then took it to the Nursing and Midwifery council and eventually dropped it when they sent me a letter saying I may have to a attend the hearing!

That totally freaked me the thought of possibly having to go to London, I don't go anywhere on my own and the thought of going somewhere I don't know was too much for me.

I did record the assessment but IAS said the recording wasn't clear enough to pass judgement. (A standard response in my opinion).

Anyway, I won my MR and got back my old award after all the endless phone calls and mountains of paperwork. It must have cost a fortune.

I will never know if that assessor got disciplined or dismissed from her position. Next time I am assessed I will make sure she doesn't assess me again, and I think IAS know that.

So I say: put an MR in and be careful how you word it. It worked for me. It really is a lottery. Ten minutes later and it would have been a different assessor and more than likely a very different result.

She must have been down on her stats and picked on me to even them up, so to speak. Well she lost.

Good luck.

Phrank.

Thank you BIS/Phrank yes the immediate reaction is scream from the rooftops "you liar" we have sent off the MR and have sent further evidence by way of the Disabled Student Allowance Assessment which states she needs a practical support worker and a travel support worker plus the Witness Statement.

I think what made us so "gobsmacked" was that she used the words "although she has a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and anxiety, social history shows she did A levels and attended university so it is reasonable to assume she can manage this activity".....all the way through the report for every question.

We have also sent off two letters of complaint one to the DWP and one to IAS/Atos. They (DWP/Atos HP) have thrown out all the expert evidence on the grounds of the HP's assumption, surely it cannot be legal or right. Surely this is against the Autism Act 2009, Equalities Act, Disability Discrimination Act. So she is saying you can't have Autism or anxiety (despite all the reports from Autism Experts) if you go on to higher education.

So she is saying or assuming that to have autism you have to be of low intelligence? We have also written to our MP but of course they are (a) wrapped up in Brexit and (b) on holiday.