Letters from DWP/ Atos sent to wrong address

[Wicked_witch]

Hi,

 

I have discovered today that the DWP and/or Atos have sent some letters to the wrong address- two appointment letters and a copy of a PIP assessment report. All 3 (and possibly others) were sent to the wrong house number, about 30 houses down. However other letters, such as the PIP decision, did come to the right address. I only found out about this because the person who received the report asked my neighbour if they recognised the name on the assessment report!

 

What is the most effective way to complain about this? I am currently going to tribunal about the PIP decision, but think this is a separate issue as the letters going astray has not affected the decision maker's reasoning in any way. However, it did mean that my assessment was not recorded, as I only found out about the appointment a couple of weeks before the date when I called for an update. There was no time to arrange recording then and I decided not to put off the assessment as I had already waited ten months for a date.

 

If the assessment had been recorded, I would not be going to tribunal now, as the assessor would not have been able to get away with writing an extremely inaccurate report. Additionally, if I hadn't called Atos to find out what was taking so long, I wouldn't have known about the appointment, missed it and presumably been thrown out of the system. So this definitely needs to be dealt with properly.

[SabreSheep]

Data Protection Act complaint.

 

Sending personal information to the wrong address when the correct address is on file.

 

Also investigate a maladministration complaint.

[Nystagmite]

Both should have complaint procedures?

[Wicked_witch]

My email to Atos CS has been answered, they are going to take my complaint about the assessor via email. I will check out the data protection complaints procedure separately. Thank you!

[mazoo]

As a WRO more interested in the grounds you are seeking Man Recon/appeal.

 

Just had a case where ATOS has my client's address recorded incorrectly and DWP didn't, sonever surprised by the pair of them.5

[Wicked_witch]

What is a WRO?

 

We are appealing because the decision made (PIP) was completely wrong and doesn't reflect any of the evidence provided or what was written on the form. The decision has been entirely based on a completely inaccurate assessment report. We have also made a formal complaint about the assessor (to be clearer, the claim is my daughter's but because of her MH issues I have dealt with paperwork throughout). Already done MR, now at tribunal stage.

[honeybee13]

What is a WRO?

 

I think that's a welfare rights officer, they deal with appeals and so on.

 

HB

[mazoo]

As bee said WRO is Welfare Rights Officer, sorry.

 

In my experience attacking the competence of the assessment provider (ATOS or Capita I presume) is probably not going to help you win the appeal. Even caselaw has gone against us lately.

 

I would stick to pointing out why points ought to have been awarded and reference pertinent sentences from any supporting medical evidence on the SSCS1.

 

Was it a zero points decision or did your daughter get some points?

[honeybee13]

I agree with Mazoo.

 

The forum stikky template for tribunals is designed to use the DWP's own rules against them to prove the decision was wrong.

 

HB

[Wicked_witch]

Hi, the tribunal is completely separate from both the data protection issue and the complaint against the assessor. For the tribunal grounds we have kept to the reasons the decision was incorrect due to evidence not being taken into account and so on, as per the B&W site guide. The Assessor complaint is via Atos and the data protection has not been fully planned out yet, but will also not be linked to any tribunal proceeding.

 

Looking at the template here (thanks mazoo) we have done it in the correct way, so please don't worry that I have just written a big rant direct to the judge or anything It is more the data protection bit I could do with advice on, as it all seems a bit complicated and I can't find info on what to do when you already know there has been a breach. Sorry if I'm seeming dense to anyone, but I'm already drowning in paperwork and don't have the best mental health myself- finding more information is just one thing more than I can handle this week.

Edited April 8, 2015 by Wicked_witch
Additional info.