Have just been at a meeting where we had a presentation on PIP and the current way of telling people about their assessment. I was quite staggered by some of the things explained, and thought maybe I could raise them here so those affected could look into it further.
They are sending out notices in batches by National Insurance number and postcode, so two people in the same house wont get them at the same time.
You phone them with initial details, then they post you a form. If you need help they'll come and knock on your door. They will also visit people not responding.
However they cannot do this for multiple occupations - flats, apartments. If you don't fill in the form within four weeks your PIP is suspended. If they aren't helping people in flats, that's going to be tricky.
Also you need to have told them about change of address (assuming the call centres process this). Homeless people will have to go to a job centre.
They said they aren't getting feedback about whether people have difficulties with the procedure, despite they say asking for feedback. In one region questionnaires were sent to stakeholders and only 3 were returned - they wondered whether that was because they had no problems or couldn't tackle the forms. But who are these stakeholders? Are they reaching the right people?
A new information leaflet DWP 26 (January 2015) has a questionnaire at the back, asking if people used the internet, and if so why did they pick up a printed leaflet, from where did they get the leaflet, how helpful was the leaflet, and what are you going to do next, some "about you" questions. Evidently they are not getting these sent back, despite being postage paid.
They've been doing this how long........? They don't sound too sure. Is this any different from what has previously happened, or do people need to start finding out?
Should NAS be asking questions?