PIP tribunal

sportsarb

I actually disagree with the advice not to involve the MP if it is the case that you think an obvious mistake has been made.

You'd be surprised at what help your MP may give you BTW, quite often I have seen letters from MP's where they are asking for their constituents benefit to be set right, despite the fact the law that prevents us paying the person benefit is one that they have voted in favour of many many times. So the fact they are a tory won't necessarily stop them helping you because they know there is a chance directly helping you may get them a vote.

There's less potential for mistakes to happen in a case where an MP has been involved because the reply that goes back to the MP generally goes through more sets of eyes to make sure the MP isn't misled.

Also, that's what we overpay them for, make them work for their money. It will be a constituency worker that does all the running anyway.

cornish_donkey

sportsarb wrote: »

I actually disagree with the advice not to involve the MP if it is the case that you think an obvious mistake has been made.

You'd be surprised at what help your MP may give you BTW, quite often I have seen letters from MP's where they are asking for their constituents benefit to be set right, despite the fact the law that prevents us paying the person benefit is one that they have voted in favour of many many times. So the fact they are a tory won't necessarily stop them helping you because they know there is a chance directly helping you may get them a vote.

There's less potential for mistakes to happen in a case where an MP has been involved because the reply that goes back to the MP generally goes through more sets of eyes to make sure the MP isn't misled.

Also, that's what we overpay them for, make them work for their money. It will be a constituency worker that does all the running anyway.

Thank you for your input. That is very interesting.

Alice_Holt

cornish_donkey wrote: »

Could you elaborate on this please? Who could help

See my link at post 6.

Also use google to check if your area has any Law Centres / other advice agencies who could help with an appeal.

" The foot deformities and muscle wastage are clearly visible"
The success of any PIP appeal will depend how this affects the PIP activities and descriptors. It's the effect of the condition not merely the condition itself you need to consider.
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-self-test*

* As posted by calcotti @ post 3. Please, please look carefully at the links we post. There is some very good online advice you need to familiarise yourself with, if you are to make progress with the appeal.

As an aside I think contacting your MP at this stage would be counterproductive. It will take your energy away from the important task of constructing a compelling appeal within the deadlines.

cornish_donkey

Thanks for the links, I’m currently going through them and making notes.

poppy12345

Tribunal waiting times are huge across most of the country and some are waiting as long as 1 year for a hearing date, so you'll have plenty of time to prepare.


This link will help you have some understanding of the descriptors and what they mean. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers/pip-assessment-guide-part-2-the-assessment-criteria

Iwanttobefree

cornish_donkey wrote: »

Hi my husband who suffers from a muscle wasting disease has been refused PIP and although he was given ESA Support group straight away now has to go to tribunal.

Does anyone know what information will help with his claim? Would it help contacting a charity? Is there a date timeframe on the documents we send to the tribunal service for example would it help to get his full medical history from the doctors or does the documentation need to be dated within the last 3 months? Someone said to contact our MP but because he is conservative in our area probably won’t help. Any information would be gratefully received.

Good luck with your appeal. You could have a year wait

I involved my MP (Brandon Lewis), a complete waste of time. His assistant obviously didn't read what was written properly. He forwarded my complaint to the DWP (his was a cc'd copy of the complaint I had already sent the DWP) , and when I finally received something like a 3 line reply to read the included DWP response, all that was included was part of my original letter?????

I had just as useless time when I asked Brandon for advice/help with the lack of medical help for my condition (I had to chase up for a reply, they apologised, said they would get back to me asap, that was a few years ago, still waiting).

I don't know where you live (possibly Cornwall by your name), but there are charities who specialise in things like this and they generally know how the system works, can represent you at the tribunal, know what the judges etc look for.

Here in Norfolk there's DIAL which will only help you if they filled in the initial ESA questionnaire, the CAB, Equal Lives https://equallives.org.uk/, and the most helpful I've found (Equal lives put me in touch with them) is Norfolk Community Law Advice https://www.ncls.co.uk/.

I suspect there is similar in your area. While Equal Lives is Norfolk based, they might well know of a similar service in your area, so might be worth contacting them.

EDIT: Presuming you are in Cornwall

https://www.supportincornwall.org.uk/kb5/cornwall/directory/service.page?id=C9eP5ACK690

which state

Social Security Appeal Tribunals :

a) Advice and support to help people through the social security challenge processes, and

b) Help people to prepare cases for appeal tribunals i.e. explaining the legal principles of a case, help to gather supporting evidence and preparation of written submission for appeal tribunal panels.

All support and advice is provided by telephone, email and post - authority will be needed (verbally or written) to discuss a person's benefit affairs with someone else e.g. family member, friend, support worker, social worker etc.

Appeal Tribunal cases will involve home visits due to the more complex nature of the work .

I also found a company cropping up all the time in goggle that I would AVOID at all costs at tribunalappeals.co.uk, very poor web page and they charge you for their services, they wont be acting in your best interest.

cornish_donkey

Iwanttobefree wrote: »

Good luck with your appeal. You could have a year wait

I involved my MP (Brandon Lewis), a complete waste of time. His assistant obviously didn't read what was written properly. He forwarded my complaint to the DWP (his was a cc'd copy of the complaint I had already sent the DWP) , and when I finally received something like a 3 line reply to read the included DWP response, all that was included was part of my original letter?????

I had just as useless time when I asked Brandon for advice/help with the lack of medical help for my condition (I had to chase up for a reply, they apologised, said they would get back to me asap, that was a few years ago, still waiting).

I don't know where you live (possibly Cornwall by your name), but there are charities who specialise in things like this and they generally know how the system works, can represent you at the tribunal, know what the judges etc look for.

Here in Norfolk there's DIAL which will only help you if they filled in the initial ESA questionnaire, the CAB, Equal Lives https://equallives.org.uk/, and the most helpful I've found (Equal lives put me in touch with them) is Norfolk Community Law Advice https://www.ncls.co.uk/.

I suspect there is similar in your area. While Equal Lives is Norfolk based, they might well know of a similar service in your area, so might be worth contacting them.

EDIT: Presuming you are in Cornwall

https://www.supportincornwall.org.uk/kb5/cornwall/directory/service.page?id=C9eP5ACK690

which state

I also found a company cropping up all the time in goggle that I would AVOID at all costs at tribunalappeals.co.uk, very poor web page and they charge you for their services, they wont be acting in your best interest.

Actually I live in Hertfordshire lol

Thank you for your response. I hope we’re not waiting for a year!

NeilCr

sportsarb wrote: »

I actually disagree with the advice not to involve the MP if it is the case that you think an obvious mistake has been made.

You'd be surprised at what help your MP may give you BTW, quite often I have seen letters from MP's where they are asking for their constituents benefit to be set right, despite the fact the law that prevents us paying the person benefit is one that they have voted in favour of many many times. So the fact they are a tory won't necessarily stop them helping you because they know there is a chance directly helping you may get them a vote.

There's less potential for mistakes to happen in a case where an MP has been involved because the reply that goes back to the MP generally goes through more sets of eyes to make sure the MP isn't misled.

Also, that's what we overpay them for, make them work for their money. It will be a constituency worker that does all the running anyway.

Out of interest were these cases where the claimant was "still in the system"? Unless it is a blatantly obvious case my sense has been that MPs will let it run until a final decision has been made before intervention.

poppy12345

cornish_donkey wrote: »

Actually I live in Hertfordshire lol

Thank you for your response. I hope we’re not waiting for a year!

A lot of areas have huge backlogs so expect a wait of around a year. I've heard of some areas in excess of a year.

cornish_donkey

Most of the medical evidence is dated after the PIP assessment, does that matter? The hospital referrals were made before the PIP assessment but obviously had to wait for the appointments. The medical evidence proves and backs up what was said at the assessment. Tia