Post-PIP phone assessment - getting the report

I just had my own telephone Pip assessment after reporting a deterioration in my condition.
I was nervous as I have never had to do a telephone assessment before because mine are normally done on paper.

I had a nurse carry out the assessment, she was extremely nice and understanding and very reassuring.....She started off the call telling me that I did not need to panic and she felt she could do my assessment quickly because I had submitted good evidence in the forms including the diary which she said was extremely valuable.....SO anyone reading that part, take note...

She explained that she had thoroughly read my previous claim forms and evidence, as well as all the new evidence submitted in the review....

She was extremely patient and told me to stop whenever she felt I was suffering from distress and reassuring me that I did not need to talk about things if it was going to overwhelm me as she understood my circumstances....

Maybe I was lucky and got a good assessor....

At the end of the call she wished me all the best for the future and again told me not to worry as she has scored me very highly on all activities. She was concerned about the effects of waiting times for decisions from DWP and reminded me that it can take up to 8 weeks to hear anything, but reassured me once more not to get myself worried......

I think I am going to still ring and ask for the PA4 form in a couple of days time, even though by the sounds of it, I dont need it.....

But the purpose of my post is to remind all members of the importance of a good diary, it can save you a lot of ordeal and questions during the assessmet....

I have just found this post while looking through this amazing website and trying to work out what to do next following an outright rejection for PiP and being awarded zero points on every section.

The report at the end of the letter I received does not reflect the face to face assessment I had a few weeks ago.

I totally forgot to ask for my assessment to be recorded and when I mentioned this at the end the health professional (not sure what her qualification is) simply said something along the lines of "Oh well it's too late now". At that point I asked if I would get a copy of the medical report and she said I could request it once I had the decision letter. I made a comment about things I'd heard with regards to these type of assessments and her response to that was that you only ever hear the bad stories!

This is all totally new to me and I am annoyed at myself for feeling that the assessment had gone OK. And at not finding this page until just now. I have been thinking about it since I got the letter in the post today and as I can't sleep I am online at this silly time!

Obviously I will request a mandatory reconsideration and intend to do it as soon as possible. I suppose my question is whether or not I should request a copy of the assessor report before doing the MR? I think I have answered my own question as I would be silly to complete the reconsideration request before seeing the report. I'm just hoping that I can get the decision overturned without having to go to a tribunal.

I've not had the PIP payment previously so I don't miss the money. However, I have been signed off sick since October last year and only just been accepted for LCWRA. So my income has taken a massive hit and PIP would make a big difference to me.

Apologies for a long post. I feel like I am facing an uphill battle and writing down some of my thoughts will hopefully get them off my mind now so I can get some sleep!

Hello pomaus, it's good to hear you had a good experience with the assessment. My assessor was nice too, but I was still wary because I have heard stories of getting a bad report after a good assessment - I do hope that doesn't happen for you (as it didn't for me).

I would definitely ask for the report. I asked for mine after my first award of PIP (I didn't have a phone or in-person assessment then) in 2020 even though I got enhanced mobility and enhanced daily living. It was useful to know what they based that decision on, and also the reason it was (supposedly) only for two years m(it ended up being double that). The reason was that I was likely to have a hip replacement and I might feel better afterwards.

Knowing that, meant that I knew to explain that after my op, although my hip is better, other things are worse.

The diary is a good point, though for me I didn't keep one because my condition doesn't vary much from day to day, just gets progressively worse over time.

One tip I would suggest is that if one's condition includes fatigue, do ask for a break in the assessment. I asked at the beginning and was told that would be fine; then I asked again about half an hour in, and we rang off and she rang me back ten minutes later. This was mentioned in the report so is definitely worth doing.

In a way it goes against the grain for me, and maybe for others - if you've had experiences of exams or job interviews in the past, you might want to show how capable you are, not to show 'weaknesses'. And for me, emphasising to myself what I CAN do is how I get through the day. But it's sort of the reverse of a job interview, you get rewarded for what you can't do, not what you can.