pip appeal refused

Hi glammy35

I am sorry you and your daughter have found yourselves in this position.

You are right, the first thing you need to do is to apply for the statement of reasons. That will tell you why they came to their decision. You can only apply to the upper tribunal if they made an "error in law". This is not something we deal with and you would need to take specialist advice. However, you might also be able to make an appeal, if she was not able to give a proper account of herself. They should not have talked over her.

Your other choice is to put in a new application for PIP. When you get the statement of reasons, see why the panel turned your daughter down and then review what you said on your form. See if you emphasised enough about the reliability and safety of her completing tasks and decide whether you would be better starting again. I'm not saying you did this, but claimants often assume that the people reading it will understand some of the difficulties - when they don't.

BIS

Hi glammy35,
Depending where you live I am sure there will be voluntary organisations that provide appeals assistance. CAB might do this, but would no doubt give you information about other organisations who can help. Otherwise a law centre could help.
When asking for the Written Statement of Reasons (WSOR) also ask for a transcript of the recording that should have been made during the hearing. (You may only get a recording so you may have to listen to this and copy it down yourself.) Compare the transcript with the wsor, in order to appeal further you will need to identify at least one error of law. Obvious errors of law could be agreeing that someone has difficulties eg with preparing a simple meal and then not even considering to award points. Alternatively there may be contradictions in the transcript versus the WSOR, maybe the tribunal have ignored vital evidence and hence make the wrong conclusion. There may be other errors of law where the tribunal have applied the wrong test, but this may not be very obvious as this could involve reference to caselaw . This is where the help from an experienced appeals officer at an advice centre will be useful. But, if you can spot an obvious error, only one error of law is needed! You will first need to apply for what is called a 'set-aside. Write to the first tier tribunal and explain that you believe there is an error of law. Be as clear as you can, as long as the Judge who reviews this (often a different judge) can understand, the judge will be able to determine the existence of an error of law. Remember that the tribunal has an overriding duty of fairness so are not going to expect a legal essay from a layman! This judge can then set aside the decision and organise for another tribunal panel to rehear the case. Sometimes the judge will automatically refer the case for an Upper Tribunal judge to make a decision.
If you feel that the tribunal didn't give you a fair hearing, listening to the recording could show the extent of overtalking etc this could also amount to an error of law. There may be more than one!
You can try and appeal the tribunal decision but this may take a long time to resolve. The importance of pursuing your appeal is that if you do win, you will get backdated pip right to the date if claim or whenever the money stopped. This could also mean other benefits which relate to receipt of pip will also be backdated. However, there is no reason why you can not put in a new claim as well, but then any backdating will be limited to the date of the new claim, if this succeeds.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
LL26