Medical reports for ESA appeal - only with permission of DWP!!!!

cit_k

Try and get someone to go with you to the tribunal, even if it is only a friend, they dont even have to contribute.

It increases the chance of success.

andyandflo

cit_k wrote: »

Try and get someone to go with you to the tribunal, even if it is only a friend, they dont even have to contribute.

It increases the chance of success.

Ehh!!! I am sorry but I don't understand your reasoning. Surely you are not saying that just by having 'anybody' would improve my chances of success??

Is that a fact? and if so, it would appear to make the entire process of the Tribunal look a complete joke.
I'm not having a go at you, and do thank you for your comments, but I cannot see the connection with having 'just somebody' with me would make any difference to the outcome. Am I missing something here??

AngelBadger

andyandflo wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your comments. No, I don't have anyone. I have been down to the local CAB and all they would offer to do is put the details of the case together for me to present at the hearing. They don't represent anybody at the hearings as they did not have the time or staff. Put it bluntly, the girl was a 1st year law student so it didn't give me any feeling of comfort in putting my life in her hands. So off I went looking for a more experienced individual. No such luck - local council stopped employing a Welfare Rights Officer years ago due to budget cuts. County Council do have one but only for people who have a social worker. The rest of the disability/charity outfits were only good for handing out leaflets.
So it's down to me along with the other vast number of residents of Kent to look after ourselves.
Anyhow, as I have said, I am employing a solicitor to hopefully get me out of this mess. I have already spent £100 on obtaining copies of my medical records. Hopefully, the Tribunal will pay for the evidence I need from my GP and Consultants. I have put a total limit of £1,000 on all of this which goes on the old plastic! Have no choice!!

I find it apalling when where you live affects the facilities you can get.

I'm not sure if this was your first assessment but as for me it was my second, he compared the reports to see where I had got points before but hadn't this time and asked me if anything had changed/if what he had written was correct. He said that before they asked me questions that he would go through the areas that I/we disagreed with in the report. Unfortunately this didn't happen and I was asked which parts of the report I disagreed with, which completely threw me. So more than anything I'd recommend that you have your report in front of you marked so you can easily see which points you disagree with and why. I had a feeling that if I'd been able to do that my tribunal might not have taken so long.

Have you had a look at the work and benefits website as I found them quite useful? For full info you have to pay something like £18 for the year, which is slightly annoying but probably worth it. They also have a forum where some of the mods are welfare officers etc.

andyandflo

AngelBadger wrote: »

I find it apalling when where you live affects the facilities you can get.

I'm not sure if this was your first assessment but as for me it was my second, he compared the reports to see where I had got points before but hadn't this time and asked me if anything had changed/if what he had written was correct. He said that before they asked me questions that he would go through the areas that I/we disagreed with in the report. Unfortunately this didn't happen and I was asked which parts of the report I disagreed with, which completely threw me. So more than anything I'd recommend that you have your report in front of you marked so you can easily see which points you disagree with and why. I had a feeling that if I'd been able to do that my tribunal might not have taken so long.

Have you had a look at the work and benefits website as I found them quite useful? For full info you have to pay something like £18 for the year, which is slightly annoying but probably worth it. They also have a forum where some of the mods are welfare officers etc.

Hi thanks for the tips re the report and the website. Seeing as it is costing a damn fortune to get a solicitor to write up a report, I might as well spend another £18 - you never know.......
This is my first Tribunal, and as for the points that I disagree with... well there is little I do agree with!!!. Even the physical examination was a joke. I tried to do what he asked but the pain was too much and he reported that I refused to carry out the procedures!!!!! And on the ESA50 under the mental health section I stated that this did not apply to my current illness shown on the sick note, which it doesn't, it is for something else - he then wrote that I had no mental health history - tell that to the DLA and my mental health team that looked after me for 8 years.
But thanks again, I appreciate your input.

cit_k

andyandflo wrote: »

Ehh!!! I am sorry but I don't understand your reasoning. Surely you are not saying that just by having 'anybody' would improve my chances of success??

Is that a fact? and if so, it would appear to make the entire process of the Tribunal look a complete joke.
I'm not having a go at you, and do thank you for your comments, but I cannot see the connection with having 'just somebody' with me would make any difference to the outcome. Am I missing something here??

The percentages for people winning with representation are higher than for those that attend alone.

I have had representation before, once, they did not even say a word..

However, I was talking to welfare rights about my last tribunal, and he said its funny I should say how different my last tribunal was, as lots of people say the same thing, that they are treated differently by the tribunal when they went without someone than when they went with someone in the past...

cit_k

Try not to worry about the tribunal to much, percentage wise I have found them much fairer overall than the actuall assessments, or DWP decision makers.

andyandflo

cit_k wrote: »

Try not to worry about the tribunal to much, percentage wise I have found them much fairer overall than the actuall assessments, or DWP decision makers.

Thanks for the comments. No doubt if the Tribunal see that you are represented, it 'would' give the impression that you are serious about the appeal.

No, I'm not going to worry about it, no point, at 61 there is little that they can do to me that others haven't tried in the past.

Win or fail, it really is of no consequence, I will just put in a new claim! OK, the extra £25pw would certainly come in handy, but seeing that I haven't had it since October 2009 when I first made a claim, I've got used to the loss now!
You can't go on through life expecting the increase because if it doesn't materialise, - it's a shock to the system.