Saturday 26 November 2011

This is straight off the Atos website:  DWP has been very evasive about this project, but this at least confirms where the publication hold up is
Recording of Assessments

Piloted, following the Harrington Report 2010
Professor Harrington also asked us to pilot the audio recording of assessments to see if it might be helpful to customers and whether it would have any positive effect on quality.
A team was set up to look at the process for:

Getting consent
Recording assessments,
Ensuring recordings were appropriately used
Meeting data storage and data protection requirements as set out by the DWP
A pilot was then set up inviting 500 ESA customers to have their assessment recorded. The findings of the pilot have been shared with DWP, including the feedback from a cross section of customers who were surveyed about their experience.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi - I'm waiting for my assessment date; I was wondering per recording the interview if I as an interviewee may record it - for my archives?

Tia Junior said...

This is more complicated than it may sound and I am not a lawyer, but I’ll explain as best I can.

Amazingly, DWP is being highly secretive and/or vague about the trail itself, its results and what they are planning to do going forward. The strong inference is that they are only playing lip-service to the project, doing as little as they can get away with – they actually don’t want to do it at all and have yet to make any kind of announcement to the public about availability and amend internal procedures etc.

Information about what is actually going on where is a bit fragmented, but given you have a bit of time on your side, when you get the appointment letter from Atos (it should be about a month in advance of the WCA), tell them straight away that you want the session recorded so they have plenty of time to set it up. This is the most straightforward way to get what you want.

Rumour has it that they use pucker equipment that makes two simultaneous recordings – one for them, one for you. Recording the session yourself is certainly possible and I believe not illegal whether done openly or surreptitiously, but better to avoid if possible. If you run into problems when you make the request, let me know.

Be warned that there is a great deal of subterfuge employed by Atos and DWP to arrive at their conclusion and your ESA decision so comprehensive awareness and solid preparation on your part is vital to ensure your case if fairly assessed, starting with the ESA questionnaire you will have to complete. You must be aware of at least some of this or you would not have raised the question about recording. There are plenty of sources of help if you need it – again, let me know. Forewarned is forearmed as they say. No matter how ill you are and how well you present, there is still a good chance your claim will be terminated, but that’s for another time . . . . .