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Evidence included from overturned PIP mandatory considerations in next review.

  • VogueClownJob
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1 month 4 days ago #295594 by VogueClownJob
They have used/copied and pasted sentences and reasonings as evidence/justification in his latest 23/24 assessments that are directly quoted or re-iterated from a assessment summary and decision given in 2020/21 that was overturned after Mandatory Reconsideration. Why? We have been ping-ing and pong-ing between Serco/DWP/Mandatory Recon Enquiry- All blaming the other and we're about to start a complaint because it ridiculous, we just don't know who with! Is this mandatory reconsideration decision is going to be skewed (again) by previously disregarded or ultimately incorrect findings- We've sent our reasonings including a sentence or two about this. But is there a better way? How can I stop the MR-decision maker doing the same thing? Who is to blame for the 2024 accessor having evidence from 2020 instead of the successful one in 2014? Why do they not provide the overturned reasons from a claimants past MR's as evidence too? Can we send a copy of this ourselves as a supporting evidence?

There some more back (or rather present) story below for depth and context if you fancy a read....... This is the second mandatory reconsideration we are having to go through for my partner, his mother is his appointee and has been officially since 2010 he was on DLA as a child and then onto PIP in 2014/15. - Back in 2020 he had a FTF with his parents present and that resulted in him losing his award. His mother went to MR and won it back. (She forgot she filled a form) At the time we thought it was just a clerical mistake adding up points incorrectly or something in the system- And so at the time we didn't even request the accessor's notes in 2020 until present day. In July 2024 he had a telephone assessment- they told his appointee/mother to not talk for him- after his mother said 3 times she would be speaking for him due to his tics/anxiety the accessor even agreed and then at the 12min mark she rescinded permission from his mother. Very, very glad we recorded it with their consent plus a double check and requested to do so the day before. We never listened to it and until the decision came in Sep 2024 -Given zero across that board (Despite having DLA to PIP and already had a MR back in 2021) we had assumed he did okay BECAUSE he did so terribly! (If that makes sense) he suffered through a 1hour 38 minute assessment anyway... it was hard to listen to. The accessor should have stopped when they weren't getting answers they wanted after so much prompting/suggesting/re-explanation/re-phrasing but instead they said "if you don't they will get me to call you back" - not great to be forced into saying anything just to satisfy but we will deal with this after the MR from PIP as we have been informed this will have to be taken up with Serco themselves now. -We have no time to have the assessment disregarded by sending a recording for them to pull apart and to have another assessment done. Of course if this MR goes terribly at tribunal we are more than happy to provide said recording. - Not to mention they gave us a tiny window to get the complaint in. -we do not want to put him through it again especially so soon. Even with the guarantee his appointee/mother could talk. He couldn't take stress this would cause. -We Immediately requested the evidence they used, apparently there was no medical evidence since 2018. why/ not sure? they didn't request records or ask for extra evidence/ we assumed after claiming for so many years it was robust enough? This was when we received the 2020 and the new 2024 accessors summary and saw all the similarities we were confused. why use evidence from overturned decisions?

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1 month 3 days ago #295612 by BIS
Hi VogueClownJob

No one is to 'blame' for an assessor in 2024 looking at an assessment in 2020. Many assessors don't even read the current form before an assessment. If they look back, it's highly unlikely they will look back ten years. Their role is to give an opinion of a claimant's current health - not to judge what has been said in the past. I understand why you are furious - cut-and-paste jobs are infuriating, but they are very common from lazy assessors.

You can certainly send in any information to the MR that you want them to read - making sure that you highlight the difference and why it is more accurate. Remember you want to show that they are wrong in the points they have (or haven't awarded) - it is that you are fighting. You are right to be cross - but don't focus on their crappy practices, because that won't improve his score. If you have already sent in the MR - you need to get this extra information in about the previous overturned decisions and make sure that you ring to check that it has been received and uploaded to the system.

I'm saddened to hear what has happened to the mother as her role as appointee. As an appointee, she is allowed to speak on behalf of her son, and in my view, he should never have been exposed to any sort of face-to-face assessment. Many of the assessors don't seem to understand the role of an appointee and they bully appointees. One of our members, who is an appointee, was recently told by an assessor that they wanted to speak to her son at the assessment. Forewarned by me - I told her to refuse - which shocked the assessor, and after some argument - the mother won, and her son was spared the trauma of the assessment. The majority of assessors have little understanding of the conditions that people with appointees have and so often say the claimants are more capable than they are.

At a Tribunal, you will have to provide a transcription of any recordings and have a physical copy if the Tribunal Service asks for it.

BIS

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