hubby got his esa appeal tomorrow. do he take anything with him?

mumof3mk

hiya all, .
only waited months for hubbys esa appeal and its tomorrow!. fingers crossed this time.
hubby was awarded only 6 points, even thou hes 60% disabled, has a bad knee (work injury about 15 yrs ago) what he had a arthuroscopy op, (keyhole surgery) and he now uses a stick 24/4, very unsteady on his feet, and struggles to get from sitting down to standin position for a chair etc, . he cant walk without the stick and is often havin dizzy spells aswell, nornmally a couple a day dizzty speells he would have.
hes on high rate mobility dla,, but he has a mobility car instead of the money etc..

he had a accident at work a few yrs back, which resuited in havin a operation on his elbow, and having his elbow bone shaven, which has left him with a very weak arm,
he has thoyroid probs, asthma, high cholestrol, and rattled like a rattle snake, with the amount of pills he needs to take.lol

now surely the people at the appeal would have copies of all medical files, reports from everyone. so do we need totake anything with us.

any help would be great, thanks
x

DorsetGirl_2

mumof3mk wrote: »

hiya all, .
only waited months for hubbys esa appeal and its tomorrow!. fingers crossed this time.
hubby was awarded only 6 points, even thou hes 60% disabled, has a bad knee (work injury about 15 yrs ago) what he had a arthuroscopy op, (keyhole surgery) and he now uses a stick 24/4, very unsteady on his feet, and struggles to get from sitting down to standin position for a chair etc, . he cant walk without the stick and is often havin dizzy spells aswell, nornmally a couple a day dizzty speells he would have.
hes on high rate mobility dla,, but he has a mobility car instead of the money etc..

he had a accident at work a few yrs back, which resuited in havin a operation on his elbow, and having his elbow bone shaven, which has left him with a very weak arm,
he has thoyroid probs, asthma, high cholestrol, and rattled like a rattle snake, with the amount of pills he needs to take.lol

now surely the people at the appeal would have copies of all medical files, reports from everyone. so do we need totake anything with us.

any help would be great, thanks
x

I would take them all just in case they have been 'mislaid'.

Its better to have everything than not enough, so I would take every scrap of paper you have ever been given by a HCP.

Muttleythefrog

mumof3mk wrote: »

now surely the people at the appeal would have copies of all medical files, reports from everyone. so do we need totake anything with us.

You should have been sent the appeal pack... that should contain all the evidence the DWP used to make decision. You may have additionally supplied evidence since then to the tribunal (I presume not in this case). If it is in the appeal papers or you sent it to tribunals service then the appeal panel should have it.

But I'm reading between the lines here and maybe neither of the above apply... a tribunal will not go out of its way to seek evidence... it does have powers to do so and sometimes will... but you should assume that doesn't apply here. Take any evidence you want them to consider that isn't in the appeal papers or that you subsequently sent and that hasn't been acknowledged by the tribunals service... that's my advice.

When you get there... tell the receptionist you'd like to have some additional evidence available to the tribunal and hand it to them. They'll probably contact the tribunal clerk who will copy the papers etc and ensure the tribunal has them before proceedings.

Make sure you take your copy of the appeal papers (pack) and it is worth reading through it all before going so you know what the panel will have read as evidence.

Good luck!

P.S. And remember ESA entitlement is determined according to the descriptors for WRAG, Support Gp and special circumstances criteria... understand before going what descriptors you think should apply in this case and therefore what you'll effectively be wanting to convince them is the reality. I would also make sure that the tribunal becomes aware at some point that he gets DLA HRM.

sunnyone

Thay dont have copies of medical notes and they dont want you to take them either but selected copies of parts of the notes to back up his claim should have ALREADY been submitted to the trirunals service, they might accept them on the day if there are not to many notes and they are not interested in ancient history either so nothing from years ago will be entertained.

mumof3mk

well a doctor and another man was there, they spoke, my hubby put his points across, , and the verdict came back with a fail.
even thou last yr he scored 15 points, and this year he failed and scored nothing, so he was given the letters to say he will be no longer entitled to esa, but was advised to claim jsa.
now.... how can a disabled man claim jsa, and be active looking for work, while needing a stick 24/7, had dizzy spells, had a very weak left arm, and a gammy leg due to work injuries and a few ops on it, in constant pain 24/7, along with other health probs>?>

the worlds a mad place!.....

rogerblack

First step - ask for a 'statement of reasons' from the tribunal.
What did he gain points on last year?
The descriptors changed on March 28.

Does he have anything which would stop him using a manual wheelchair?
If so, he will likely get no points for mobility.
Weak arms - to the point of being unable to lift moderate objects - will not usually qualify for ESA, nor will gammy legs - again - the premise is that people in wheelchairs are as fit to work as anyone.

Unfortunately, at this point, it's quite difficult to appeal the decision.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/m-06-11.pdf

Do any of the descriptors in question seem to be inarguably applicable?
You can't do anything until you get the statement of reasons.
At that point, only errors of law will generally allow you to appeal.
An error of law would be if they heard your evidence, ignored it, and diddn't say why they were ignoring it.
Just not believing you, and stating why is not grounds for an appeal usually.

Muttleythefrog

Sorry to hear you didn't get outcome you wanted. Agree with what Roger says.... wonder if descriptor changes last spring have been at play here. (And I've a horrible gut feeling you may have assumed evidence would be available at tribunal that wouldn't be and may not fully understand the technicalities of ESA descriptors). But it does seem quite a dramatic change of conclusion (and rare to hear of tribunal awarding less points than DWP in decision appealed against) and I wonder if you might have been well advised to have 3rd party (legal) support in making appeal and/or attending tribunal. I really am guessing the appeal went particularly badly... because you failed to convince the panel that even the descriptors the DWP thought applied do apply.

As Roger says... you could look to asking for a statement of reasons (in fact in light of the zero points I'd be seriously tempted to request it out of interest alone) from the tribunals service (judge - 'the other man' will take a matter of weeks to send it to you) and then look at possibility of appealing on an error of law... but this is a long shot and you'll almost certainly need some legal advice/support to do it properly.

What may be a viable option is to re-apply for ESA. I understand that you can re-apply for ESA 6 months or more after the decision to turn you down was made... and I'm assuming that 6 months may well have passed in your case as typically these things are taking longer to be appealed.