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Audio recording option set to be introduced for all PIP assessments

shawn mach
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DNS reports that -

The Department for Work and Pensions has finally agreed that all disabled people being assessed for personal independence payment will be able to have their face-to-face assessments recorded.

The promise has come in a letter to the Right to Record action group, a disabled-led group of campaigners in Barking and Dagenham, who have been meeting online every week for the last six months ....

... the action group has received a response from ministers which says audio recording should be available by the time DWP resumes face-to-face PIP assessments, which are currently “paused” because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More:
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/audio-recording-option-set-to-be-introduced-for-all-pip-assessments-says-dwp/
https://www.studio3arts.org.uk/the-right-to-record

 

Jo_Smith
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Daphne’s post above refers to recording of F2F assessments- but what is the current situation with regards to recording of telephone assessments?
My client was heavily discouraged when she requested that her telephone medical assessment for PIP is recorded. She had this assessment on 18 January 22. She was apparently told that if she insists on having it recorded, the appointment would be delayed by few months because of the technical issues.

We are appealing the decision to award zero points and I am not desperate for this recording, because we all know what Tribunals think of the value of those assessments (most of the time NIL) but client wants to submit a complaint. A side question: would this be a complaint to DWP or to the provider? (not sure yet what contractor was used)

shawn mach
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Some figures, via an FOI request made by Carri at CPAG. on the number and percentage of PIP assessments audio-recorded by the assessment provider:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/audio_recording_of_pip_assessmen

Elliot Kent
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Shelter

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shawn mach - 28 July 2023 11:59 AM

Some figures, via an FOI request made by Carri at CPAG. on the number and percentage of PIP assessments audio-recorded by the assessment provider:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/audio_recording_of_pip_assessmen

To save the trouble of clicking through, the figures are consistently less than 1% of Capita assessments each month, and less than 0.1% of IAS assessments each month.

Mike Hughes
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Senior welfare rights officer - Salford City Council Welfare Rights Service

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I personally hope it stays that way.

Dan Manville
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Greater Manchester Law Centre

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Elliot Kent - 28 July 2023 01:20 PM

To save the trouble of clicking through, the figures are consistently less than 1% of Capita assessments each month, and less than 0.1% of IAS assessments each month.

You’ve waxed lyrical about gatekeeping elsewhere today; I’m pretty sure such low numbers are the result of exactly that. Too often I hear “they’ll have to delay… you’ll be waiting for ages…”

Mike Hughes
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Definitely that kind of gatekeeping, but, I find the more common one is agreeing to record; setting a date and time and then, when the HCP is reminded on the day that this needs to happen, it becomes apparent that THEY don’t consent to being recorded (and likely were never asked) and so after a brief little chat elsewhere the assessment is postponed. What then often happens is that there is no assessment but mysteriously an award gets made.