dodgy assessment

It is sickening to see many people getting treated this way, but the DWP and the stories I see, from so many people is really bad. People wait for that brown envelope and see the '0' points, and it's down to either the so-called Assessor or the DWP (who have the last say on all claims!).

There is so much negative feedback on the DWP, and it's always cases like yourself, that end up feeling depressed after opening the brown envelope and seeing the report is totally the opposite of what you mentioned... Some people are even recording the entire Assessment Assessor and everything they say, and not informing them. Because then you have the whole assessment on record, and you could get someone to put that in to a transcript, and then send that to them.

One word of advice, anything you send to the DWP, make sure you photocopy. Because they have tried losing peoples reports, medical records, etc.

Anyway, good luck Naomi..

Regards,

Les.

P.S - I have seen many PIP claims go from '0' points to Enhanced Rates on Care and Mobility for a 10 year period. Now, that is a big difference from a big fat zero points!

If I seen you had posted that problem on your first assessment, I would have said ask for a MR. Obviously, I must of overlooked you in the forums, which is sad to say. I have helped many people with PIP claims, more so on filling them in, because people do not see the way the DWP Application forms ask questions, some can be confusing.

So, many claimants come on these forums after their initial assessment, the best time is as soon as you receive the ESA or PIP Application Form. Hence, someone or quite a few people would have stated never just give up, even if an an Health Assessor states different, it is not in their job description to even tell you when or if you can claim again, that decision comes from the DWP, not any of the incompetent companies they hire, whom are totally useless in every way.

The DWP states they only use Doctors and Nurses, that is a lie straight away. I phoned the DWP up last year, but because of the questions I was firing at them, they transfered me to some guy higher up. He started to talk, but I instantly interrupted him and asked him for his name (The DWP staff can withold their surnames but not their forename), so he gave me that, then I asked which Team number are you? This is where he became 'flummoxed' with me, he knew I was not just anyone, I knew more about the DWP than your average person, so he said that he worked in 'Recoveries' which would have been correct, regarding where I was going with the conversation - and lastly, I asked for his departments' full address.

After I got all that information, it would be easy for me to trace him, if I needed to speak to him again. I also noted down the date and time of my call and duration.

Anyway, this is how bad the DWP can be towards any claimant and they are paid bonuses to do it, which makes it worse. I informed this guy that I had just received a letter regarding a Social Loan, stating it was time to start making payments. I said you are telling me that you want me to start making payments for a Social Loan which I had 10 years ago - he said 'Yes', I then asked him surely I paid that loan off when it was first issued, not 10 years later! His exact words was, they had only just found it on their systems, and he also said some people have had letters for loans taken out 20 years ago!

So, I asked this guy if he could put an hold on the repayments so I could find the paperwork regarding this loan, and if I had actually paid it off, he said he could hold it for 14 days pending queries from the claimant.

At the bottom of all DWP letters was the same wording on all correspondence from them, words that state something along the lines of 'Please keep this letter for future reference' - Anyway, we managed to find 5 letters regarding the loan in 2005, all on their headed paper.

So, I phoned this guy back up, and made sure I got the same guy, then I said well I have letters dating back to 2005 and regarding the loan of about £800, and one letter clearly states that I had been making several repayments on that loan, so I can send you this as proof that I do not owe you £800, but I cannot tell how many were made. This is when he said "The DWP does NOT accept letters on their own headed paper as evidence" - I said, if that is the case, why does every letter from the DWP state keep for future reference when you do not even accept them as evidence? His abrupt answer was, "They can be sent out as a computer error!" - I had actually 5 letters with different dates on them from the DWP, and he said we cannot accept them.

However, if you can show us the reduced payments on a bank statement then we can re-look at the loan.

Anyway, I got nowhere with the DWP Recoveries, waste of time - and a preposterous guy.

Then, I had another idea - but this was 'clutching-at-straws' - try and find the bank statements from 2005, we did not find any, so must of shredded them. I thought, a good idea I will login to online banking and find the repayments, but there's a problem - straight away, you can only print out the last 7 years of bank statements.

Last result, phone my bank manager and ask is there anyway of printing out bank statements from 10 years ago, he said if he could he would, but there is a clause in the Data Protection Act that does not allow a bank customer to print out any statements over 7 years. But, you can visit a bank and transactions from when you first opened the account. All you can do is write down notes, well it clearly showed payments for 10 weeks, then stopped - which I don't know why.

Anyway, phoned the DWP up and they said only repayments on Bank Headed paper is acceptable.

This was totally stupid, I got nowhere - on each path I tried, I hit a brick wall.

Then I had a thought, there is an Act called Statute Barred - which all credit companies must abide by, and they cannot claim money from you after 6 years, I thought 'Yes' my way out!!

But, would you believe it, the Government set it up with one exception the DWP is EXEMPT from this Act!! So, after all that there was no way of not repaying the loan, which they were taking the full amount, because I had no proof on paper, that payments were made initially.

I did find one way which the DWP cannot override at all and that is taking out a DRO (Debt Relief Order) - but, it would have cost me £90 and my wife another £90, just to take it out. Basically, it is for people on low incomes with low debts, which can be written off, but you cannot have any other debts while this is enforce. So, we would have to pay £180 just to clear any debt - we decided against it, and ended up paying the DWP nearly £18 a week for a 10 year old loan!

I could go, there is many stories that go far beyond phantasmagoric!

Regards,

Les.