Dwp making an offer before tribunal

Hi mandy

These are decisions that only you can make!

What I would say is that if you reasonably feel that you meet the criteria for an Enhanced award and are willing and able to pursue this at appeal then I would recommend that you accept any offer that the DWP might make and request a new appeal.

But understand, these offers are quite rare and you do need to have some certainty that you meet the criteria for an Enhanced award.

The Going Out activity looks at three things.

Planning a route - this is primarily a cognitive or sensory (e.g. blindness) activity. You are being asked about the problems you would have with working out how to get from one place to another, you do not need to be able to follow the route that you are planning.

Undertaking a Journey - this is to do with mental health issues such as agoraphobia and social anxiety and is concerned with you leaving the house to go somewhere, they will be interested in the things that stop you doing this. You need to show that you would suffer "overwhelming psychological distress" to meet the criteria.

Following a route - This activity about the problems you would have navigating a route. So, are there any problems; cognitive, sensory or mental health issues that would prevent you from doing this? This is different from undertaking a journey, in fact, if you cannot undertake a journey then you will not score points for following one and vice versa.

If you say your walking is restricted, you would need to be unable to reliably walk more than 50m to score sufficient points for an award just on the Moving Around activity.

Gary

Hi mandy

You are free to request a paper-based assessment, but they are unlikely to grant one without a doctor's letter confirming that it would cause you 'overwhelming psychological distress' to have a telephone assessment. Be warned even then the DWP and/or the assessment services sometimes ignore such requests.

If you have a paper-based assessment are your chances improved or disadvantaged? it's almost impossible to say in the current circumstances. Paper-based assessments are great in there is no stress or intrusive questions from an assessor, however, they have a disadvantage in that there is no opportunity to clarify any questions the assessor may have or say something you have forgotten on the form.

Gary

Hi mandy

When talking to the DWP, ask how long the award will be. If you can show that your sisters condition will not improve over time then you can argue for a longer time period. you say that 'She does have evidence saying she has severe cognitive impairment and panic attacks' is it from a consultant? in which case use the evidence to argue your case.

Gary