Great care will need to be taken here, this is because the claimant should consider whether they are being watched, not just during the assessment but also prior. For instance, many centres are not easily accessed and a member of staff may observe how you approach the centre itself. We would suggest reading through your application form before attending as this will be their guiding document, they will have sought out discrepancies and contradictions.
When attending the assessment centre itself you should always assume that you are being watched and possibly recorded on CCTV – consider how you would explain the following….
- Being watched walking say 400 metres to the centre from the car park, then through it to the reception desk – possible over 1Km in total (you may have claimed limited walking distance)
- Waiting in line to register your attendance – you may have said you have pain standing
- Filling in the mileage expense form – you may have said you get confused easily or struggle with forms.
As a general rule, our approach is to not pay for professional or legal help if you are comfortable doing it on your own, however, because the value of PiP claims, and their resultant benefits can be hundreds of thousands of pounds (see Introduction) then we suggest that this is a time when an investment, if affordable, is crucial.
We would explain that we were there to support you and our specialist would briefly explain their qualifications and experience, they may then ask the panel what their experience and qualifications are. This information is a professional courtesy but again useful should the matter proceed to appeal, especially if our specialist in the field is against a panel without such specialist knowledge.
Lestons are not suggesting that there are “traps” to trick you, however knowing how they manage and conduct such assessments is crucial to maximizing your chances of success and having a professional representative will prevent them from purposefully attempting to confuse/trap you into a contradiction which is then used to dismiss your claim.
Being a professional third party we are more likely to be allowed to record the assessment for our training needs this would be useful should the matter go to appeal as it would allow our staff to examine the assessment to the utmost detail.
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