Pip/ Tribunal Date

pope

I have been waiting for a whole year for my PIP tribunal hearing finally I have a date in a few weeks. The letter I have received says to bring all the paperwork with me I'm confused will they not have their own paperwork on the day?


Even though I had been waiting anxiously for the hearing I'm now getting more and more stressed thinking about whats going to happen at the tribunal. 

Can people share their experiences if they don't mind.

Thanks

poppy12345

Yes you will need to take the “bundle” with you. They have theirs but you will need it to refer to if needed. 

Others will share their experiences with you. 

NedS

pope said:

I have been waiting for a whole year for my PIP tribunal hearing finally I have a date in a few weeks. The letter I have received says to bring all the paperwork with me I'm confused will they not have their own paperwork on the day?


Even though I had been waiting anxiously for the hearing I'm now getting more and more stressed thinking about whats going to happen at the tribunal. 

Can people share their experiences if they don't mind.

Thanks

Please try not to be stressed.

I have assisted a few people with PIP tribunals, and in my experience they are fine.

The first really important point to understand is that they are independent of DWP and are there to help you. To help you get the right amount of PIP for your conditions and how they affect you.

These people are really experienced. They do this all day for a living, so it is not their first rodeo as the saying goes. They know all the tricks DWP use, and then some.

They will guide you through the process on the day and make it as easy as possible for you. They will ask you questions to get the information they need. They may dig deep to get that information from you to make sure they fully understand your considerations and how they affect you. They are not cross examining you or interrogating you - they are providing you with the opportunity to tell them in your own words exactly how your conditions affect you. You have waited a long time for this opportunity, so tell them.

In most cases DWP do not send a representative, so it's just the tribunal panel (normally 3 people) and you. You can have a representative if you wish, but they will want to hear from you, in your own words, how your conditions affect you.

Good luck, and seriously, try not to worry about it as it will be fine. 

Beeblebr0x

NedS said:

pope said:

I have been waiting for a whole year for my PIP tribunal hearing finally I have a date in a few weeks. The letter I have received says to bring all the paperwork with me I'm confused will they not have their own paperwork on the day?


Even though I had been waiting anxiously for the hearing I'm now getting more and more stressed thinking about whats going to happen at the tribunal. 

Can people share their experiences if they don't mind.

Thanks

Please try not to be stressed.

I have assisted a few people with PIP tribunals, and in my experience they are fine.

The first really important point to understand is that they are independent of DWP and are there to help you. To help you get the right amount of PIP for your conditions and how they affect you.

These people are really experienced. They do this all day for a living, so it is not their first rodeo as the saying goes. They know all the tricks DWP use, and then some.

They will guide you through the process on the day and make it as easy as possible for you. They will ask you questions to get the information they need. They may dig deep to get that information from you to make sure they fully understand your considerations and how they affect you. They are not cross examining you or interrogating you - they are providing you with the opportunity to tell them in your own words exactly how your conditions affect you. You have waited a long time for this opportunity, so tell them.

In most cases DWP do not send a representative, so it's just the tribunal panel (normally 3 people) and you. You can have a representative if you wish, but they will want to hear from you, in your own words, how your conditions affect you.

Good luck, and seriously, try not to worry about it as it will be fine. 

What a brilliant post. My son is yet to migrate to PIP, so the workings of the tribunal is very informative.

pope

NedS said:

pope said:

I have been waiting for a whole year for my PIP tribunal hearing finally I have a date in a few weeks. The letter I have received says to bring all the paperwork with me I'm confused will they not have their own paperwork on the day?


Even though I had been waiting anxiously for the hearing I'm now getting more and more stressed thinking about whats going to happen at the tribunal. 

Can people share their experiences if they don't mind.

Thanks

Please try not to be stressed.

I have assisted a few people with PIP tribunals, and in my experience they are fine.

The first really important point to understand is that they are independent of DWP and are there to help you. To help you get the right amount of PIP for your conditions and how they affect you.

These people are really experienced. They do this all day for a living, so it is not their first rodeo as the saying goes. They know all the tricks DWP use, and then some.

They will guide you through the process on the day and make it as easy as possible for you. They will ask you questions to get the information they need. They may dig deep to get that information from you to make sure they fully understand your considerations and how they affect you. They are not cross examining you or interrogating you - they are providing you with the opportunity to tell them in your own words exactly how your conditions affect you. You have waited a long time for this opportunity, so tell them.

In most cases DWP do not send a representative, so it's just the tribunal panel (normally 3 people) and you. You can have a representative if you wish, but they will want to hear from you, in your own words, how your conditions affect you.

Good luck, and seriously, try not to worry about it as it will be fine. 

What kind of questions will they ask? I'm not good at remembering things and if they ask me to refer to my bundle of information I'm not going to be able to do it. I know as soon as I walk into the room I'm going to start panicking. I'm worried I'm going to mess everything up what if I say something different to what's written in my form or evidence from DR'S. 

I'm already having restless sleeps.

Beeblebr0x

Best to take a friend with you. The tribunal will appreciate that it's a stressful time for most people.

NedS

pope said:

NedS said:

pope said:

I have been waiting for a whole year for my PIP tribunal hearing finally I have a date in a few weeks. The letter I have received says to bring all the paperwork with me I'm confused will they not have their own paperwork on the day?


Even though I had been waiting anxiously for the hearing I'm now getting more and more stressed thinking about whats going to happen at the tribunal. 

Can people share their experiences if they don't mind.

Thanks

Please try not to be stressed.

I have assisted a few people with PIP tribunals, and in my experience they are fine.

The first really important point to understand is that they are independent of DWP and are there to help you. To help you get the right amount of PIP for your conditions and how they affect you.

These people are really experienced. They do this all day for a living, so it is not their first rodeo as the saying goes. They know all the tricks DWP use, and then some.

They will guide you through the process on the day and make it as easy as possible for you. They will ask you questions to get the information they need. They may dig deep to get that information from you to make sure they fully understand your considerations and how they affect you. They are not cross examining you or interrogating you - they are providing you with the opportunity to tell them in your own words exactly how your conditions affect you. You have waited a long time for this opportunity, so tell them.

In most cases DWP do not send a representative, so it's just the tribunal panel (normally 3 people) and you. You can have a representative if you wish, but they will want to hear from you, in your own words, how your conditions affect you.

Good luck, and seriously, try not to worry about it as it will be fine. 

What kind of questions will they ask? I'm not good at remembering things and if they ask me to refer to my bundle of information I'm not going to be able to do it. I know as soon as I walk into the room I'm going to start panicking. I'm worried I'm going to mess everything up what if I say something different to what's written in my form or evidence from DR'S. 

I'm already having restless sleeps.

They are not going to be asking you anything to try to trip you up. They will simply be asking you about how your condition affects you, which you can answer honestly with examples. They may ask you about specific examples, like how do you manage with daily tasks such as...

They may ask you how often or how much of the time you struggle with whatever. Do you struggle all of the time, some of the time etc. They may ask how often you are able to do a task or what assistance or support you need to do a task.

Again, I reiterate they are there to support you and to listen to what you have to say. Just relax and have an open honest chat about how your conditions affect you and the things you really struggle with. They will steer you in the right direction to keep the conversation relevant for the things they need to know or clarify and not let you wander off talking about things that are not relevant. Once they've heard enough to make their judgement, they will move on.

It would be good if you could refresh yourself as to what you've written on previous forms, but really they just want to hear from you in your own words. You can tell them at the start that you are feeling quite anxious but that you will do your best, and they can take that into account when speaking with you.

 

pope

Beeblebr0x said:

Best to take a friend with you. The tribunal will appreciate that it's a stressful time for most people.

Will the tribunal ask the friend/partner questions I have written in my form I get supported by my partner?

NedS

pope said:

Beeblebr0x said:

Best to take a friend with you. The tribunal will appreciate that it's a stressful time for most people.

Will the tribunal ask the friend/partner questions I have written in my form I get supported by my partner?

That's up to the tribunal, but generally their questions will be directed at you.

When I have assisted my partner at previous tribunals, they have very clearly set out at the beginning their expectations of what will happen and that they'd like to hear directly from my partner if possible, and said they will give me an opportunity to speak at the end if there's anything further I would like to add. In other words, they were telling me they wanted to hear from my partner and did not want me constantly answering for them.

All I have done is assist my partner if they became distressed or found it difficult to answer, but I generally tried to support them to answer for themselves rather than answer for them. It's important they hear it from you.

It's their show, they make the rules and in my experience they will explain to you how it's going to work at the outset, so just go with the flow. Just remember, they are there to help you and they know what they are doing

pope

NedS said:

pope said:

Beeblebr0x said:

Best to take a friend with you. The tribunal will appreciate that it's a stressful time for most people.

Will the tribunal ask the friend/partner questions I have written in my form I get supported by my partner?

That's up to the tribunal, but generally their questions will be directed at you.

When I have assisted my partner at previous tribunals, they have very clearly set out at the beginning their expectations of what will happen and that they'd like to hear directly from my partner if possible, and said they will give me an opportunity to speak at the end if there's anything further I would like to add. In other words, they were telling me they wanted to hear from my partner and did not want me constantly answering for them.

All I have done is assist my partner if they became distressed or found it difficult to answer, but I generally tried to support them to answer for themselves rather than answer for them. It's important they hear it from you.

It's their show, they make the rules and in my experience they will explain to you how it's going to work at the outset, so just go with the flow. Just remember, they are there to help you and they know what they are doing

My situation is a bit different my partner does not speak English very fluently. Also long was you in the tribunal hearing for approximately?

NedS

pope said:

NedS said:

pope said:

Beeblebr0x said:

Best to take a friend with you. The tribunal will appreciate that it's a stressful time for most people.

Will the tribunal ask the friend/partner questions I have written in my form I get supported by my partner?

That's up to the tribunal, but generally their questions will be directed at you.

When I have assisted my partner at previous tribunals, they have very clearly set out at the beginning their expectations of what will happen and that they'd like to hear directly from my partner if possible, and said they will give me an opportunity to speak at the end if there's anything further I would like to add. In other words, they were telling me they wanted to hear from my partner and did not want me constantly answering for them.

All I have done is assist my partner if they became distressed or found it difficult to answer, but I generally tried to support them to answer for themselves rather than answer for them. It's important they hear it from you.

It's their show, they make the rules and in my experience they will explain to you how it's going to work at the outset, so just go with the flow. Just remember, they are there to help you and they know what they are doing

My situation is a bit different my partner does not speak English very fluently. Also long was you in the tribunal hearing for approximately?

They normally last around 30-45mins, but there is no set time - they will take as long as they need to do a thorough job (so could be shorter or longer). Really depends on the case and how much they feel they need to cover.

Normally once they've heard enough to make their decision, they will ask you to wait outside (or temporarily remove you from the video call) whilst they discuss and make a decision, and will then invite you back in to give you the outcome.