Appeal Win!!

lottytildy wrote: Thanks to all the excellent advice on this site, I was able to prepare throughly and confidently for the tribunal. It was a very fair hearing. I found the examples for the 'Grounds for Appeal' statement really useful and am happy to share mine if it would be useful.

I am now unsure whether I should just sit tight and wait for the DWP to contact me or whether I should send my statement of reasons from the court into the DWP. Could you advise please?

Thanks

Hi lt,

Many congratulations on your Appeal win !!!

DWP can take 4-8 weeks to action a Tribunal decision, the more monies owed due to back payments of arrears, the longer that it may take.

We generally advise that you give it 4-5 weeks before sending copy of The Decision Notice to The DWP to give them a nudge.

I notice that you say that you have the "Statement of Reasons" ?

Although Tribunals sometimes produce a written Statement of Reasons (S of R) at the same time as compiling a Decision Notice, (DN) and they sometimes send copy of The S of R with The DN, this would not be the norm.

Sometimes, they even say that The DN also suffices as The S of R !

N.B. : If you do only have The DN and you are happy with the decision, you should not request a written Statement of Reasons from The Tribunal, as this may be interpreted as the first step in you appealing the decision to The UTT. !

If you request and receive copy of The S of R, a copy will also be sent to The DWP, even if they did not intend to request one.

If DWP then spotted anything within The S of R that they considered to be an Error of Law, this could give them reason to seek leave to appeal to The UTT.

bro58

Hi

Thanks moderators for your advice. No I don't have the Statement of Reasons, just their decision so I will sit tight with that for now.

To be honest the whole process put our faith back in the British justice system. It was good to know that the appeal panel wanted to know the facts and make a decision purely on that. As the moderators have said, this is just an account of my experience and everyone's circumstances are different.

The tribunal was held in a not too intimidating room - the 'judge' (legal person), doctor and disability representative were all seated in a row behing a long table and me and my husband sat opposite them at another table. There was a clerk to the side who took notes throughout.

I didn't take anyone to represent me and the court had no problem with my husband accompanying me - in fact they gave him the opportunity to add any further evidence and his view of the situation.

I had already sent 2 documents of further evdience to the Tribunal Clerk by special delivery, in advance of the hearing. One was a letter from my hydrotherapist and another clarifying my occupation as that had been wrongly reported by Atos. I only received my letter from my consultant the day before, so made copies and took it with me. When the clerk came to greet me and acknowlege my arrival, he was happy to take the documents into the room for the panel to read before I went in.

The hearing probably lasted for 25 mins - I had prepared thoroughly, following the excellent advice in the guide on this site. i would recommend everyone does this, but actually didn't really need it - the panel just wanted to ascertain my ability to walk 20 metres safely, timely and repeatedly etc and proceeded to ask me lots of questions about this. For example: how far can you walk without stopping, how many times can you repeat this with rest breaks? how do you do your shopping - where do you go , how long do you take, do you need rest breaks? Where did you park today? How did you manage to get into the court (no blue badge parking at our court?!!!) What do you do at the weekend with your family?

They asked if I wanted to add anything - I started to give some of reasons for dispute and they said yes, we have read all of what you have said - is there anything new you want to say? there wasn't, so we finished up and went out to the waiting area to await the decision. After 10 minutes the clerk came out to us to tell us that I had been awarded enhanced mobility and would my husband like to go back in to collect the papers. They didn't want me to have to do that.

My panel were very fair, HUMAN, listended carefully and accurately. They made sure we understood everything that was happening - even though they got my situation wrong!! They explained the difficulties in transferring from DLA to PIP - but actually I was in the position of having enhanced mobility with PIP which was taken off me completely after re-assessment last summer!

I would urge people to go through with the appeal. Turn up and go yourself. They are not allowed to carry out a medical examination, but boy, did they watch me carefully walking in and out of the court room!

Use the resources on this website and tell the truth with out being over optimistic and positive about your condition. This was my downfall at my Atos assessment and I wont make that mistake again. Dont be put off by the quantity of appeal papers - I had 185 pages - just hole punch them, stick them in a file and dont be phased.

FIght for what you are entitled to and give yourself a chance to be judged by people who haven't got the juristiction to make cuts and reduce benefits.

Hope this helps and not too much of a ramble!

Bro58, very handy info there. Just knowing a vague scenario some of us might be walking into in our various stages of where we are in this "lovely process" we are all entwined in is a huge help.

Thanks.

Boomer wrote: Bro58, very handy info there. Just knowing a vague scenario some of us might be walking into in our various stages of where we are in this "lovely process" we are all entwined in is a huge help.

Thanks.

Many thanks B, but you have forgotten to thank lottytildy for taking the time to post their experiences !

bro58

Many congratulations. I've got an appointment for my first ever PIP assessment and am more nervous and anxious than I have words to express. It would be really interesting to see grounds for appeal you used. I may as well be prepared.

HI there, I found your info very helpful - thank you so much. I have Tribunal tomorrow and am getting more and more nervous. Can I just check where you found the examples of "Grounds for Appeal" statements, so I can read them through as well. Much appreciated!