To be delighted PIP assessments are to be face to face?

My previous phone assessment was carried out by a physiotherapist

I was claiming for severe mental illness.

The report was....barely coherent and so unbelievably incorrect it was extremely easy to over turn even at the MR stage.
He lied and for every single descriptior denied me points because he wrote (verbatim) "she work 6 days a week she have no issues with this"

Despite the fact that I was quite easily able to prove I actually only could work part time over 4 days 🤦🏼‍♀️

And there was a hit where it asked for his professional input and it legitimately said
"I have none" 🫠

At the absolute bear minimum I would expect someone with severe mental illness to be assessed by a mental health nurse or just anyone with ACTUAL relevent qualifications

Nope. They may have attended the assessment centre on shared premises but medical assessments for disability benefits are not carried out in Jobcentres. The assessments are carried out by private companies - they have nothing to do with jobcentres, and PIP applications are not submitted to Jobcentres, they are collated and distributed to assessment providers via dedicated centres.

Guess what? Some people, when presented with a tick box sheet, tick the ‘no’ box.

They were before Covid - suspended during the pandemic, and within the last couple of years have gradually been brought back in. The government would have you believe that’s down to them. It’s not. And whether the assessment is face to face, over the phone, or by video call, the rules and guidelines for assessment are still the same. What matters is the quality of the assessor and the accuracy of the decision. Assessment by other means has it’s place for those too disabled to travel, or for those who have provided enough paper evidence to support a claim, where a few points need to be cleared up. Assessments cost the tax payer - why do it where it’s not needed ?

Mumsnet will be thin on the ground on those days.

Yes, the agenda has been pushed for a very long time. Maybe we should set up a public hanging platform for all those who have received some kind benefit and the mob can get comfortable with their knitting.

I thought they were always face to face

Agree. 100%. And as far as I can see this is just another benefit bashing thread. I’m surprised nobody has trotted out the Stephen Hawking analogy yet (unless I’ve missed it) !!

Do you really think government agencies don’t talk to each other ? There are warnings all over benefit claim forms advising claimants that DWP shares information to verify the claims. One of the questions on claim forms is ‘have you been out of the country for more than four weeks in the last year’. It appears on PIP claim forms and also on review forms. People can lie - of course they can. But DWP aren’t stupid and systems exist to easily check.

What the baying mob, the term Hellohelga resents, actually want is for there to be no benefits completely. He/she will deny that but that’s exactly what the endless, repetitive threads are all about. To the mob no one is entitled to ‘free’ money, ‘tax payers’ money. What the baying mob would absolutely love is for them to be put in charge of the decisions and for it to be made as humiliating as possible, such is their fury. But the old disclaimer will be trotted out about it just being about the fakers.

Anyone who has been through the PIP assessment will tell you that whether or not you are genuinely disabled is not the point. It’s a forty minute snapshot of your life as a disabled person, assessed by a nurse, physio or paramedic who have a few days training and who are generally woefully under qualified to be assessing complex disability. And assessors routinely challenge claimants’ own medical evidence supplied by HCP’s far above the their own pay grade. I don’t know of any other area of medical assessment that would tolerate this, but it’s OK for our disabled ?

The government promised root and branch reform to make the assessment process fairer and more transparent. What disabled people actually got was more tinkering around the edges which will actually make it harder for the genuinely disabled to secure an award.

These people had their benefits stopped for supposedly leaving the country https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/16/i-was-scared-parents-reveal-stress-of-hmrcs-child-benefit-errors?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Completely glossing over the fact that ‘ have you been out of the UK for more than four weeks in the last year’ is one of the questions asked on claim and review forms. Lying is benefit fraud and easily checkable.

100% this, in spades!

This. The average assessment is around 40 minutes. There are no doctors employed by assessment companies, in the main they are nurses, physios and paramedics. They are not qualified to assess complex disability, or to challenge medical evidence supplied by claimant’s own doctors and consultants. They have no specialist knowledge and are given a few days training as ‘disability analysts’.

The assessment is indeed about functional ability, but how much of that can be assessed in 40 minutes ? If the assessor doesn’t have a working knowledge of the limitations and challenges presented by the claimants’ disability, they haven’t a hope in hell of providing a fair and balanced assessment. The 70% success rate at tribunal speaks for itself, because the professionals who sit on panels are much more qualified than those employed to do the assessments. We’re hanging our disabled people out to dry with this nonsense, and then blaming them for claiming benefits they’re perfectly entitled to claim.

🙄

Because some people have had such secluded lives, they can’t conceive of such blatant contempt for wider society. People (like my friend) who take liberties to such an extent are outside these posters’ personal experience.

It’s literally the only explanation I can think of. 🤷

How can they accurately assess how someone's condition affects their ability to function in day to day life if they have little knowledge of the actual condition? If it is life long and medical evidence states that it isn't going to change, what is the point other than wasting everyone's time?

If they want face to face assessments, at least have it be someone who knows what they are talking about.

Have you reported them? I absolutely would!!

My friend was last heard of exiting Thailand, entering a neighbouring country, and hiring a bicycle. Funded by UC and PIP.

But you’re right. You all know this person far better than I do. I’m just inventing it all.

Why would you automatically assume it isn't true?

I think as a nation we just don't want to believe some people are playing the system

What a waste of taxpayers money!

Anybody with severe learning disabilities or profound and multiple learning disabilities is never, within the realms of current scientific knowledge, going to get better. There will be a wealth of paperwork, probably going back to age 2 and definitely their entry into the education system, detailing this - statements, EHC plans, IQ tests, social care assessments, care plans, you name it.

OP, what do you think a face to face assessment is going to add to pages of paperwork? Don’t you think it’s blindingly obvious, when they start talking or not, in the case of the non verbal?

I guess some disabilities would mean you can still travel? I travel with a wheelchair etc. But that does seem hard to swallow when I work full time and don't qualify for any benefits

Okayyyyy. Whatever. I give up .

You obviously don’t know many (or any) chancers, grifters, dysfunctional people… and you might live in a middle-class bubble.

Wake-up call to @MsPavlichenko : the underbelly of society consists of gigantic piss takers who don’t care about the taxpayer.

100% agree with you.