DLA claim turned down because of dwp doctor

newleaf

MrSmartprice wrote:

Many seem to have questionable overseas qualifications.

I think myusernamestaken alludes to this remark.

MyUserNamesTaken

newleaf wrote:

I think myusernamestaken alludes to this remark.

That is exactly what my comment refers to. I thought it was obvious.

newleaf

MyUserNamesTaken wrote:

That is exactly what my comment refers to. I thought it was obvious.

It was to me.;)

Strike_Team

I successfully appealed against my Incapacity Benefit being revoked. The "doctor" who examined me was a foreigner who spoke poor English. His report was complete nonsense, even adding an extra storey to my house and inventing some children for me.

There's an appeal form, I can't remember where to get it from now, but your local Job Centre or CAB should be able to help. There's a time limit for sending it in. You just say you want to appeal, briefly state your reasons and send it off. Make clear that you'll be sending other material later on. Make sure you get the initial form in by the deadline.

I prepared my own appeal, and got a supporting letter from my GP and consultant. I wrote a detailed rebuttal, going through the DWP report line by line, and refuted all the errors. Any supporting evidence you supply must be relevant to the time youy were examined, not subsequently.

I took my Mum with me to the appeal as my representative, and my Dad as witness, as he was at the examination. The appeal panel consisted of a doctor and lawyer. There was such a difference in the level of courtesy afforded to me compared with the DWP doctor. They questioned me fairly thoroughly, looking for consistency in my answers. They quickly rejected the DWP report, and didn't feel the need to call my Dad. The DWP were slow in reinstating my benefit, so they had to be nagged on the phone.

You can also have a "paper appeal", where the panel doesn't interview anyone. It's very much worth going in person, as this improves your odds.

Don't let these gooberment numpties get you down. Fight for your rights. Your wife deserves DLA. Keep at it and you'll win.

jazzy

Thanks for the information but the time limit is now probably up? The dwp examanation was carried out in January this year and only now the contents of this are coming to light with the DLA reconsideration process.

I am contacting Welfare Rights on Monday for more advice.

Thank you all again for all of your care & support!

Strike_Team wrote:

There's an appeal form, I can't remember where to get it from now, but your local Job Centre or CAB should be able to help. There's a time limit for sending it in. You just say you want to appeal, briefly state your reasons and send it off. Make clear that you'll be sending other material later on. Make sure you get the initial form in by the deadline.

hjb123

Strike_Team wrote:

There's an appeal form, I can't remember where to get it from now, but your local Job Centre or CAB should be able to help. There's a time limit for sending it in. You just say you want to appeal, briefly state your reasons and send it off. Make clear that you'll be sending other material later on. Make sure you get the initial form in by the deadline.

The form you are meaning is the GL24 form - you can get them from Welfare Rights or the Citizens Advice Bureau - the benefits office should also be able to send them out. Though the time limit has probably passed now.

You can also have a "paper appeal", where the panel doesn't interview anyone. It's very much worth going in person, as this improves your odds.

I wouldnt recommend the paper appeal as a much higher percentage win appeals if they go in person and a much higher percentage of those win if they have representation from someone such as Citizens Advice or Welfare Rights

Ted_Hutchinson

From GL24 available online
If you think our decision is wrong (GL24) (308KB)

Certainly appeal BUT with the intention of attending personally. Appeal statistics
About 10% of awards are changed at reconsiderations before appeal, that's the combined total of claimant requested reconsiderations and those that are always instigated by the DWP before papers are prepared for appeal.
about 25% of paper (where no one represents the claiminant) hearings are changed
about 58% of REPRESENTATIVE ONLY appeals are won
about 58.6% of CLAIMAINT ONLY appeals are won
about 67.7% of CLAIMANT AND REPRESENTATIVE appeals are won.

So note that paper hearing are over twice as good as reconsiderations.
You more than double your chances of winning by attending personally.
If you attend by yourself you've as much chance as a professional representative appearing alone on your behalf.
If you attend with an experienced person with you then you have the best chance.
Some people will not win appeals because although they may be very disabled they simply don't meet to criteria for the component they are after or because they cannot provide the evidence that shows categorically that they meet the criteria for MOST of the time.

SMC_2

jazzy wrote:

Thanks for the information but the time limit is now probably up? The dwp examanation was carried out in January this year and only now the contents of this are coming to light with the DLA reconsideration process.

I am contacting Welfare Rights on Monday for more advice.

Thank you all again for all of your care & support!

There are circumstances where you can appeal after the month has passed, I don't know what the circumstances have to be but as you say the contents are only coming to light now then you might be able to appeal still.

essexhoney

I just wanted to come back to this post and say an extra thank you to everyone who posted. I passed the link onto my friend who i refferred to in my above post and he found some of the replies extremly helpful.
In fact it helped him so much when it went back to court today he won the appeal!
So he has asked me to say an extra special thanks to you all.

hjb123

Glad to hear that he has won the appeal - so he should! If he feels anything like I did when I won the Incapacity Benefit tribunal it was such a relief!