What do I need for Tribunal?

RazWaz

To give a bit of background -
I was born disabled, and at the age of 17 I also ended up with a progressive illness, as well as a short(ish) acute illness of 18 months that left me hospitalised on 13 separate instances for upto 6 days at a time. I had surgery for this issue in June 2012 and am now basically cured, but still have the disability from birth and progressive illness of 5 years.

Towards the end of 2011 I had to stop claiming JSA and moved onto ESA, by coincidence my DLA renewal came up at the same time (been on it for 20 years, started aged 2 in 1992).

I was given 0 points at the ESA medical and turned down for DLA, I sent in a one sentence letter to both departments saying "this decision is wrong".

My DLA was overturned almost right away and back dated, but my ESA has now been taking to tribunal and I was sent a letter a couple of days ago giving me a date (next month) and requesting any further information to be sent to them at least 7 days before that date.

I have no idea what I am expected to provide as information, I have never been asked for anything (I was never even given an ESA50 form and went right from claiming to WCA). Can people give me some help on what sort of things I need to collect and send off. Is there anything I need to take with me on the day? I basically have no idea what I'm doing at this stage so any help would be good.

RazWaz

Extra info I thought of -

At my medical a friend attended and took notes, he will be attending the Tribunal with me.

We requested that they record the medical but that never happened.

There were several outright lies in the medical - how to I prove these?

rogerblack

Sending a one sentance 'this decision is wrong' is a very, very bad idea, you should always go into the full amount of detail you can.
First thing is to realise that ESA is (with rare exceptions) not given because you have a given disability.
Or because you can't work.
It's given because you meet the legal tests.
http://www.tameside.gov.uk/esa/wca#LCW

Errors that the assessor made that do not affect the outcome should be dealt ith separately.
It is not important if the assessor said 'opened door with left hand' - if your ability with your left hand is not in question. Nor if they called you fat, rather than something more diplomatic.

It is important if they have misreported something that would lead the decision-maker to an incorrect conclusion on your abilities on the above tests.

Do you have any recent medical evidence - are your GP or other doctors aware of the issues?
Do you live with someone who sees these on a regular basis?
Are you in contact with anyone who would be willing to provide a letter or other evidence that your disabiity in fact causes you problems with the above descriptors.

Ideally any of these letters or evidence would address the specific descriptors.
A letter of the form 'X can't work' is almost useless.

RazWaz

I sent that as at the time I was in hospital hooked up to a morphine drip and barely conscious. I expected them to contact me and request more info but that never happened.

I have a veyr helpful GP and several consultants + physiotherapists, should I get letters from all of them? What do I actually ask them for?

I live alone, and my mother and boyfriend help care for me, should I get them to write things too? What should they include.

Going through the descriptors I should score around 54 points so meeting them is not the issue, just proving it.


Should I also write something myself, going through descriptors and explaining why I meet them?

rogerblack

RazWaz wrote: »

Should I also write something myself, going through descriptors and explaining why I meet them?

Yes.
Try to think if an uninvolved person, following you around 24*7 for a week could make a reasonable case that each descriptor applied.
If so, explain why.

However.
One thing to note is that the tribunal will only be looking at your condition on the date of decision.
Were you in hospital at this time?
Or did that happen later.

RazWaz

rogerblack wrote: »

Yes.
Try to think if an uninvolved person, following you around 24*7 for a week could make a reasonable case that each descriptor applied.
If so, explain why.

However.
One thing to note is that the tribunal will only be looking at your condition on the date of decision.
Were you in hospital at this time?
Or did that happen later.

The medical was in Feb 2012. I was in hospital in June 2012 (had major surgery) when the decision was sent to me. I understand that I have to only account for my condition at the time, but would that be Feb or June?

RazWaz

OK I spent a few hours last night writing a document, I've written each descriptor I think applies to me at the top of the page, and written a few paragraphs about why that is the case (Around 10 pages, 1 per descriptor).

I have an appointment with my doctor on Thursday, should I just get him to sign this document on each page to confirm it is correct, or do I need to ask him to write a letter himself from scratch? If so what do I need to ask him to write?

I will be seeing the doctor who provided the evidence for my DLA claim so he is familiar with my condition in general, but I don't see him every time I attend that practice, so some aspects he may be unaware of.

One other question, will anything from my DLA claim be included in the tribunal in anyway? Just wondering if it would be used to get more background information about myself, or should I just assume they know nothing but what was in my medical report?