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Appealing a decision
MikeAppleton
Posts: 55 Forumite
Hi guys, I just wanted to make a bit of a post here because information elsewhere is pretty thin on the ground and it's important stuff. It's about making an appeal against a decision made by the benefits office.
I was claiming Jobseekers Allowance for a while earlier this year and if you're not aware of how JSA works, you pretty much need to attend the job centre twice every fortnight, a regular appointment and an ad-hoc one whenever you can be squeezed in. These ad-hoc ones can be given with very little notice and if you miss one, it's assumed you are no longer available for work.
I fell foul of one of these appointment in February, I'd gotten my dates mixed up and attended 24 hours late. I was completely in the wrong and apologised profusely. After a few days I was informed I would be placed under "sanction" effectively meaning I would be getting no money for a month. It doesn't sound like a long time but when you are reliant on it to survive, it's a different matter. There are numerous back issues regarding the now defunct crisis loans and also the considerations of hardship payments that I have brought to the attention of Iain Duncan Smith as well as my local MP who represented to DWP on my behalf, but I'll not cover these for now.
Ok so I'd found out my sanction would be applied from mid-March and of course, I have the right of appeal and it's the appeal I want to focus on because I know there are a lot of PIP appeals going on right now.
The first thing to bear in mind is to have a reasonable reason for appealing, don't do it frivolously, you're unlikely to win unless you can put a case forward. So you need to find your reason. Here is the link to the Decision Makers Guide produced by the benefits office to help decision makers make their decisions.
Decision Makers Guide
It's a long guide and it could take you a day to read it in full. The part I was particularly interested in was Chapter 20 (pdf) Conditions of entitlement. This details who is and isn't entitled to JSA, but more importantly for me, it covers "good cause" in relation to failing to follow a job seekers direction (in this case, attending an appointment). Just causes are acceptable reasons for failure to do so.
My brother had died in January and I had informed the job centre by an informal email to my personal advisor prior to the missed appointment, so I felt that it could constitute "good cause" and that this would be the basis for my appeal.
Following due process, you should first ask the job centre to reconsider their decision which is what I did, explaining that my brother had died and that the bereavement had clouded my mind, confusing me and mixing up my dates. I thought this was a perfectly justifiable reason and sent off the forms. I didn't reference the decision makers guide, but I'd hoped that the decision maker would agree that I had good cause.
They didn't. I got a letter back saying that they have reconsidered the original decision, but come to the same conclusion, that I had no good reason for failing to attend, this was in mid April. I had a chat with my adviser and he advised me to appeal, I wasn't particularly eager to do so given that I was back on JSA at that point and didn't want to be dwelling on it for months, but he was a good lad and steered me in the right direction, he said it takes about a month (which it doesn't I have now found out) so I decided to appeal.
I got the appeal forms and specifically referenced the decision makers guide (chapter 20: Conditions of entitlement. Section 20935: Good cause. Point 1.13.a: Dealing with the death of a close relative) and attached a copy of the email about the death sent to the advisor.
It took until the end of July for my appeal to be heard so the process is not quick as the advisor told me, so be prepared to sit it out.
Attend court, this is the biggest advice I can give. After my case was heard, I was talking to the appeal judge and he said very few people turn up in person to argue their case, most don't bother because they are appealing frivolously without much hope of winning, less than one in ten actually attend and he implied that they assume the other 9 to be frivolous appeals.
The courtroom is actually not an imposing and overbearing place, I didn't know what to expect, but the clerk introduced himself and invited me in where the judge introduced himself by his first name and asked me to take a seat. It was just the three of us in there, he wasn't wearing any court regalia, just a shirt and tie. He asked me to explain the circumstances and what effect my brothers death had on myself and my family. It wasn't a cross-examination, more like a formal chat. don't worry about this part in the slightest!
I received notification today that my appeal has been successful and I will be receiving money withheld at the time.
Good luck in your appeal.
I was claiming Jobseekers Allowance for a while earlier this year and if you're not aware of how JSA works, you pretty much need to attend the job centre twice every fortnight, a regular appointment and an ad-hoc one whenever you can be squeezed in. These ad-hoc ones can be given with very little notice and if you miss one, it's assumed you are no longer available for work.
I fell foul of one of these appointment in February, I'd gotten my dates mixed up and attended 24 hours late. I was completely in the wrong and apologised profusely. After a few days I was informed I would be placed under "sanction" effectively meaning I would be getting no money for a month. It doesn't sound like a long time but when you are reliant on it to survive, it's a different matter. There are numerous back issues regarding the now defunct crisis loans and also the considerations of hardship payments that I have brought to the attention of Iain Duncan Smith as well as my local MP who represented to DWP on my behalf, but I'll not cover these for now.
Ok so I'd found out my sanction would be applied from mid-March and of course, I have the right of appeal and it's the appeal I want to focus on because I know there are a lot of PIP appeals going on right now.
The first thing to bear in mind is to have a reasonable reason for appealing, don't do it frivolously, you're unlikely to win unless you can put a case forward. So you need to find your reason. Here is the link to the Decision Makers Guide produced by the benefits office to help decision makers make their decisions.
Decision Makers Guide
It's a long guide and it could take you a day to read it in full. The part I was particularly interested in was Chapter 20 (pdf) Conditions of entitlement. This details who is and isn't entitled to JSA, but more importantly for me, it covers "good cause" in relation to failing to follow a job seekers direction (in this case, attending an appointment). Just causes are acceptable reasons for failure to do so.
My brother had died in January and I had informed the job centre by an informal email to my personal advisor prior to the missed appointment, so I felt that it could constitute "good cause" and that this would be the basis for my appeal.
Following due process, you should first ask the job centre to reconsider their decision which is what I did, explaining that my brother had died and that the bereavement had clouded my mind, confusing me and mixing up my dates. I thought this was a perfectly justifiable reason and sent off the forms. I didn't reference the decision makers guide, but I'd hoped that the decision maker would agree that I had good cause.
They didn't. I got a letter back saying that they have reconsidered the original decision, but come to the same conclusion, that I had no good reason for failing to attend, this was in mid April. I had a chat with my adviser and he advised me to appeal, I wasn't particularly eager to do so given that I was back on JSA at that point and didn't want to be dwelling on it for months, but he was a good lad and steered me in the right direction, he said it takes about a month (which it doesn't I have now found out) so I decided to appeal.
I got the appeal forms and specifically referenced the decision makers guide (chapter 20: Conditions of entitlement. Section 20935: Good cause. Point 1.13.a: Dealing with the death of a close relative) and attached a copy of the email about the death sent to the advisor.
It took until the end of July for my appeal to be heard so the process is not quick as the advisor told me, so be prepared to sit it out.
Attend court, this is the biggest advice I can give. After my case was heard, I was talking to the appeal judge and he said very few people turn up in person to argue their case, most don't bother because they are appealing frivolously without much hope of winning, less than one in ten actually attend and he implied that they assume the other 9 to be frivolous appeals.
The courtroom is actually not an imposing and overbearing place, I didn't know what to expect, but the clerk introduced himself and invited me in where the judge introduced himself by his first name and asked me to take a seat. It was just the three of us in there, he wasn't wearing any court regalia, just a shirt and tie. He asked me to explain the circumstances and what effect my brothers death had on myself and my family. It wasn't a cross-examination, more like a formal chat. don't worry about this part in the slightest!
I received notification today that my appeal has been successful and I will be receiving money withheld at the time.
- Tear apart the decision makers guide to find your appeal angle
- State your case in an appropriate and decent manner
- Follow due process (reconsideration, then appeal)
- Practise putting your case across to a family member
- Attend in person and calmly and succinctly state your case
Good luck in your appeal.
0
Comments
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Excellent post
Thank you & condolences0 -
MikeAppleton wrote: »
Attend court, this is the biggest advice I can give.
Agreed. I know of one judge who used to start hearings with the words "right, let's see how we can get this decision changed shall we?"
0 -
Excellent post
Thank you & condolences
Thank you very muchAgreed. I know of one judge who used to start hearings with the words "right, let's see how we can get this decision changed shall we?"
Sounds like my kind of man.
Problem is now that everyone is a !!!!!!!!!! unless proven otherwise. The jobcentre are targeted on how many people they sanction. There was a whistleblower a year or so ago if I remember. Thankfully I'm back in work or it would have brought be to the edge of insanity.
Just been reading some more because I'm giving a few people advice about it (not that I'm an expert in the slightest) and came across this pdf:
Appeals Process changes
Apparently they have made the reconsideration request mandatory, so now once they have made a decision, if you don't like it they have to reconsider it before you can appeal. This just seems to be adding red tape to an already overloaded minefield. Obviously it's going to add a month or so to the whole appeal process during which time, desperate people are without money, it's no wonder some turn to crime. They should get it right in the first place. But I've got my own ideas as to why the reconsideration process is not mandatory, it means they can be a lot stricter first time around, disallowing benefits for reasons they know would get successfully appealed in the hope that some people accept it and don't request a reconsideration.
Shocking state of affairs in my opinion. Don't even get me started on hardship payments, i'd be here all day......0 -
MikeAppleton wrote: »
- Tear apart the decision makers guide to find your appeal angle
- State your case in an appropriate and decent manner
- Follow due process (reconsideration, then appeal)
- Practise putting your case across to a family member
- Attend in person and calmly and succinctly state your case
You are one lucky person to have had a judge like that. I put an appeal in against a decision late - 4 weeks or so too late!
Reason was that the original decision notice wasn't received and by the time I received a copy of it from the DWP it was 4 weeks or so after the month that you are allowed.
The DWP refused to accept the late appeal as my excuse was not considered good enough and at the Tribunal they agreed with the DWP saying that my argument was a lame one.0 -
tokenfield wrote: »You are one lucky person to have had a judge like that. I put an appeal in against a decision late - 4 weeks or so too late!
Reason was that the original decision notice wasn't received and by the time I received a copy of it from the DWP it was 4 weeks or so after the month that you are allowed.
The DWP refused to accept the late appeal as my excuse was not considered good enough and at the Tribunal they agreed with the DWP saying that my argument was a lame one.
Are you the same person but different username I was speaking to about this? i.e. it was sent but sent to the wrong address?0 -
tokenfield wrote: »You are one lucky person
I agree with this too. The dates of the significant events aren't clear, but it certainly looks like the decision was wrong0 -
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I think the point is being missed here. Whether or not the bereavement affected my ability to think straight (even I don't know whether the death of my brother contributed to my confusion, but I argued my case that it could be a contributing factor), it's the argument I thought gave me the best option of winning, and that's the advice I'm giving, to read and re-read the decision makers guide until you find your best point of contention. If you can't find anything, then you're culpable.0
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