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

[PAYE]

The only good thing about the budget is that Rachel Reeves announced that face to face assessments for PIP and disability benefits are being brought back. AIBU to think that this is a great thing?

It will make sure that the money goes to those who need it. It is madness that such face to face assessments were ever stopped.

UC usually stops when you're out of the country for 28 days....

It is not 'so easy' to claim PIP.🙄 It is quite the opposite.

This is why PIP needs to be abolished and replaced by a benefit that targets disabled people. The present system is open to abuse. Too many people on the gravy train.

And if you believe what that poster said you will believe anything

It only applies to PIP, not DLA. DLA for children has never had face to face assessments that I'm aware of.

Even DWP acknowledge that PIP fraud is only 0.2% of claims. That’s not a gravy train.

As long as home visits are still an option, i dont see the issue personally. i had a home assessment and it was quite pleasant. Didnt see any side of what some people claim (rudeness, making the claimaint cry, lying etc)

If you have good medical evidence I don’t see the point.
How is an assessor more qualified that a medical consultant? It just ends us costing more with more assessment times and reviews and massive back paying they won’t account for.
The only people who will be put off are people who are scared of the process.

And how would you propose that the fraud number is lower? What are your suggestions for reforming this benefit?

I think it’s a good thing although how doable that is is anyone’s guess. My son had a face to face and honestly it was great that they could see things that are hard to write down. The assessor was great and could see my son wasn’t able to give any input so the assessment was quite quick. He was awarded at 16 and he’s 27 now and never been reassessed. His award actually says until 2067 but I’m guessing that’s a typo 😂

They will still do paper assessments for those that qualify.

Two people this week alone on the support group for my disability, both severely affected and unable to function, both in tears of anxiety and confusion at the paperwork arriving following their assessment which in no way reflects what they actually told the assessor (in some cases actively contradicts what was said in the session) and refuses them. Managing the functioning necessary to fight it weeds out a lot more who will just give up. And a hell of a lot of people in the group even if the assessors and assessment process wasn't as bent as a dog's hind leg, fall down the gap between too ill to work and not ill enough to qualify.

You would have had a fair assessment then. Not everyone is so fortunate.

When have they never been face to face?

I know they were done by phone for a while due to covid, but they've never actually stopped assessments for people have they?

Why are you so pleased that many people who have long-standing chronic illnesses and disabilities, will have to continue to go through these humiliating, and stressful assessments, that make people so anxious, that they have to have counselling for it.

What a horrible, gloating, mean-spirited thread.

A lot of home visits would be needed for people unable to travel to an assessment centre. That would cost a lot. Perhaps the idea of having to attempt to travel would put people off applying.

Report her

I agree this is a good thing. I help a lot of people to claim PIP and I often think the decision would have been different if the assessor could have seen them face to face. Prior to covid in my area they were all done via home visits from the assessors.

This isn't a new announcement. DWP have said for over a year that they want to increase face to face assessments but they don't have the capacity to do this. As well as new PIP claims there is still a long wait for those existing claimants to be reassessed. It is the same with Work Capability Assessments. It might be better to improve the quality of the assessments so that more correct decisions are made saving money spent on appeals 70% of which are successful,

That would be excellent advice if the person actually existed but, since she is definitely a Daily-Mail styled bogeyman conjured up by this poster to whip up yet more hatred of disability benefits claimants, I think reporting her might prove difficult. The same goes for the other, allegedly real, examples of flagrant benefits fraud being recounted on this and other threads. I would be astounded if a single one were actually real!

Same boat here.

My DD will completely lose her shit when faced with this. She has GDD and mentally functions around 18 months old and is non verbal.

She gets really violent towards strangers but mainly towards me and her dad when faced with situations like this. Like biting and pulling our hair, hitting with all her might.

I can't wait.

Ah the benefit bash of the day.

That poster won't report the woman. These posters never do. As @Everlore said, it's funny how they always know someone who has £4383 a month in benefits, has a La Cornue Château Range in her kitchen, has 7 iphones, a top of the range BMW XM, a 5 bed detached house (funded by housing benefits,) and 5 kids who she claims off the dads for, and goes to food banks getting £300 of food a week.

She has just returned from a trek on the Inca trail in Peru too, and has recently booked a trip to Mount Everest, costing (the taxpayer!) £28,000. Oh, she has chanel perfume, and all her food from Fortnum and Mason, and her kids all go to private school. Funded by taxpayers of course.

Funny how so many posters on here know someone like this. I have never met a soul who is on benefits, and living a life like the Beckhams, and LOADS better off than people who are working...(as so many posters on here claim.

Depends where you are in the system. Claimants, genuine or otherwise will face an assessor who has a financial interest in ensuring the claimant doesn't get the money they need. The people paying tax from wages have been pitted against the poor and disabled, so it gives them a sense of justice to know they're being crutinised and humiliated.

The claimant, who may be so anxious they begin to experience suicidal ideation before the assessment, or crying because they know a long journey or having a stranger in their home could create physical pain or severe mental discomfort, is less likely to be happy to have their situation satisfy the bloodlust of those who despise them and are determined to see them tripped them up on every word, when those in need are frightened to begin with.

There will always be cheats, bit those who don't need support should realise that if every person was stripped of sickness benefits, the government is unlikely to pass savings on to the rest of the population in any meaningful way.

What about people already claiming, will they have a face to face too?

I’m just applying to move DS from dla to pip. We have reports from 7 medical professionals, school, his EHCP and his recent ed psych report.

Who exactly would benefit from putting him through the stress of a face to face with someone who knows nothing about him?