Anybody had trouble getting a private diagnosis recognised?

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It is the same way here in America with getting on disability. To be fair, disability is supposed to be for only those who cannot hold a job, not people who have a problem and want to exploit it so they don't have to work for a living, but the application process frequently results in an initial denial of benefits...which is why several law firms do good business handling disability appeals.

Yes, the assessors take the lazy option a lot. Of course taxpayers (including myself) don't want to see public money being spent on people who can perfectly easily fend for themselves, but there has to be a better way of discovering the cheats than simply denying benefits to anybody who doesn't fight back with a will of iron. But they prefer to do it on the cheap, so they get half-assed results which harm the innocent and probably benefit the guilty.

Member of parliament Tam Dalyell once wrote in "New Scientist" that in his experience, genuine cases invariably went to great lengths to push for their rights, and he pretty much said that he used that assumption to discern the deserving from the undeserving when he ran his MP's "surgery." He's just been in trouble himself via the MP's expenses claims scandal - bought himself some very expensive bookcases at the taxpayer's expense. Hypocrisy or what? I hope he was kicked out for it.

Sadly, it's the middle class who are in the best position to work the system, because of their education and access to information. And ironically they're the ones in least need of the resources.

For a short time, I worked as a case manager for a welfare program. We quietly tried to find ways to keep people out of the program because it was intended for only those wanting to go to work, and lots of people would lie and say they'd get a job when they never intended to. We needed to find interesting ways to "test" the sincerety of an applicant before we did the paperwork on them. Our system wasn't perfect, but it helped.

What is disgusting (here in America) is that the system actually rewards someone who will lie and cheat to get government benefits, but someone honest who is down on his luck and needs temporary assistance often is denies because he says or does something that disqualifies him. Those most deserving of help don't get it and those who don't really need or deserve it know how to play the game to get benefits and keep them.

I mentioned to my diagnostician the possible tendency of social services to play this kind of game with private diagnoses - she was surprised, and pointed out that the social services themselves commission private assessments for some of their clients, and accept the results. It's really beginning to look like some of these assessors are clutching at straws, isn't it? I'd be tempted to report that one, if I were you. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with making things up. And I'd love to be a fly on the wall behind the counter and find out how an assessor comes to feel under pressure to pull such stunts. Is it the individual assessor who has their own warped idea of how to do the job, or do they somehow get coerced into it by their managers, or does the rot come from higher up in the food chain? And why do the media always mean the clients when referring to "benefit cheats" ?

Tell this assessor that they are legally-obliged to accept the diagnosis and that if they refuse to accept it, you will submit a written formal complaint against the assessor, copied to CAB, MP etc, in advance of possible legal action. The letter will serve as evidence that they were warned in advance of any proceedings.