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Gentlemen! You can’t joke in here! This is a PIP assessment!

CHAC Adviser
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Caseworker - CHAC, Middlesbrough

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With apologies to Stanley Kubrick for the mangled thread title however, a new one from a PIP appeal bundle I was reading through for a client. Contained within the informal observations section of the assessment report there was the usual nonsense about how they coped well with the assessment, no sounds of breathlessness down the phone, they didn’t appear to sound fatigued, etc etc. But the new one that took me by surprise was the statement that: “They made a couple of jokes.” Presumably we should warn our clients that if they have the temerity to try and crack a few jokes this may endanger their entitlement to PIP!

It sort of reminds me of the good old days of WCA assessment reports where you often seemed to get a detailed statement of the clients TV watching habits (“Reported that they enjoy watching CSI: Miami, Criminal Minds and similar shows”) for some reason.

Hopefully this latest display of inane nonsense from an assessment report will amuse others like it amused me.

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

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Reminds me of a DLA for an adult report I once received.

“Client paints well with one hand.”

As opposed to what? Two hands? Feet?

Tim Saint
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Benefits Service Coordinator, Swindon Carers Centre

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I had yesterday, presumably to do with not awarding any points for activity 9 “you went to a funeral and engaged with others”

Unbelievable

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

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Tim Saint - 25 November 2022 06:43 PM

I had yesterday, presumably to do with not awarding any points for activity 9 “you went to a funeral and engaged with others”

Unbelievable

I would want clarity on whether it was the living or the dead.

Jane99
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Benefits and employment advisers team, Parkinsons UK

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In a former job I had an assessor who noted that the client believed themself to be god and then went on to say that that would not prevent them preparing and cooking a main meal. O points scored for any descriptor.