Bloody ATOS FtF meeting!!

[strugglingstepdad]

Just contacted the PIP enquiry line about the outcome of my face to face.

I apparently have 0 points for mobility and personal care!!

Guessing it'll be mandatory reconsideration now then!!!

I thought ATOS were supposed to be the new and better company that didn't do this crap???

I was on DLA for 14 years, so now going to have to fight to get it back!

ATOS have been doing this for years. I hadn't heard anything for a while about them so hoped they were no longer conducting assessments. Sprry to hear they still are. When did you have the f2f?

I think the numbers for it being reinstated after appeal are meant to be quite high.

Was 2 weeks ago the ftf.

I thought ATOS had lost the contract and it had been taken over?

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26766345[/url]

They were supposed to finish in 2015??

No, Atos lost (or possibly gave back) the contract for ESA, not PIP. Stats (apologies this is a Mirror link) from the end of last year show that 65% of appeals were successful, which is ridiculous. You can guarantee there are a proportion of claimants who can't face going through an appeal and I believe that is part of the cost saving measure.

I should say my DH was (to my great surprise) successful when he transferred from DLA to PIP. I hope you get yours reinstated on appeal, OP.

Cheers.

I have to go through mandatory consideration first :(

I do welfare advice. Firstly, you need to get hold the assessment report. An MR is far more easily completed if you know exactly what they've said. It's also in your interest to get as much good quality extra evidence as you can. Your evidence has to undermine the assessment report, line by line. MRs should always be completed on paper.
This is a bit late, but PIP is not DLA. PIP is a far more "functional" (ie. how you're affected day to day) benefit which is a big problem for a lot of disabled people as they lack appropriate functional evidence. Do you see a hcp regularly enough that they could provide a detailed assessment of your day to day needs (cpn, specialist nurse, support worker)? Or have you had a fairly recent OT assessment? Evidence ideally needs to address the criteria as closely as possible while still being "good quality" (ie NOT just repeating what you told them: " my patient tells me that they have difficulty with..." is usually rejected as being too vague/biased).
I'm not sure what your disability is but the DWP can also be a bit funny about what they consider "severe" enough impact. I've seen claimants declined due to having a chronic pain condition but not taking "strong" enough painkillers-the DWP does have a tendency of dismissing anything weaker than tramadol or even morphine. I've also seen claimants with serious depression/anxiety declined due to not having significant enough mental health involvement-even though it is almost impossible to get CMHT support in lots of areas; the DWP doesn't care. If things like this apply it's worth addressing them directly.
The other issue is what's called the 50% rule-the DWP only considered a disability disabling if it affects someone at least 50% of the time. This is a serious issue for conditions like epilepsy where it's very rare for seizures to take up that much time by themselves but it takes people affected a long time to recover. If this is relevant then it's worth discussing recovery time and insight (ie how much warning you get) as this can increase points for "supervision". Someone who has uncontrolled seizures multiple times a day can't be left alone to cook or wash even if the seizures themselves don't take up 50% of the time-there is precedent for this.
Really, the thing I advise most of all is that you get some help with the MR. Organisations like Fightback are amazing. Being rejected on a DLA to PIP transfer means you're already on the back foot and getting some expert help is the best idea, really. Did you get any help with the original form? I am happy to advise though