Detectives.

Hello fellow sufferers and amateur unwilling detectives.

Does anyone out there know what happens to the evidence and paperwork from your appeal, (by the Tribunals Service), after a decision has been reached?

Is it given to the D.W.P, (because it certainly isn't given to the appellant), and if so, how long do they hold it for?...... (They are one and the same, aren't they? Or have I got it wrong)?

I lost my case for D.L.A this year in March, after waiting about a year due to an overwhelming amount of appellants. Now,after another disabling event, I have filled in another claim form for D.L.A, (so we are only talking of about a six-month period here between a decision from the last claim, and a fresh claim).

Our details are obviously on the D.W.P's data base,(maybe even results and dates of an appeal), because they no longer ask the question in the claim pack about "Have you been turned down or been stopped D.L.A in the past three years. Presumably, they just need a mouse click now to access this information.

What is the likelihood that they look at this information, (if they have it), should anyone make a fresh claim.(Maybe this is the reason for the three year reference in the past claims pack), so that they can make assumptions or assess the strength of the claim?

I decided not to have a representative last time because I was told that the waiting time would be even longer if you had to wait for a representative,(by CAB).

What is the current state of affairs now, regarding reprentatives such as the Citzens Advice Bureaux and Welfare rights organisations, should I have to appeal again?

The DM has to consider the situation as at the date of your claim, not as at the date of your previous claim. This does not mean that they cannot look at your previous claim, but it does mean that their decision should only be made on relevant information.

If, for example, it was determined at a previous claim that you had just one leg, then the information they previously had would be relevant. If you previously had two legs but now one, then the previous information would not.

CABx and similar organisations all over the country have been losing all or part of their funding, so it is pot luck whether you can get an adviser quickly or at all in your area.

Thank you Survivor for your answers.

I am a little confused as to how the decision maker can look at a previous claim, if, as it has been reported on this site, that the D.W.P shred your paperwork after a maximum of 14 months.

This means that the CLAIM PACK from my previous claim (January 2009) is no longer accessible, and cannot be resurrected.

The paperwork I am referring to is the evidence from the Tribunal itself that you send to the Tribunals Service. Is this accessible by the D.W.P?

Thank you in anticipation,
Paul,(Eternal optimist and failed Barrister)

From my experience not all data is destroyed, government departments can keep them for as long as they need to.

DWP can share the info with Inland Revenue and local council benefit offices. this is to combat fraud. I should imagine that they can share information with any relative government agency.

Here's an extract from an FOI request I made on this topic about 18 months ago :

The Data Protection Act 1998 dictates that 'personal’ data kept for any purpose shouldn't be kept for longer than necessary'. As such, for the service that we provide these document/data retention periods are mainly determined by benefits legislation covering review and appeal time limits.

The maximum time limit for review and appeal is 13 months and 14 days and in order to meet this, the general principle of DWP Benefits Document and Data Retention policy is a retention period of 14 months. This in practice allows customer documents to be destroyed 14 months after the end of a claim or when a claim has been superseded.

There are exceptions to this, across all benefits, for example where an appeal has been made or there is fraud or overpayment activity. When an exception applies, documents and data will not be destroyed until at least 14 months from when all the exception(s) are lifted.

Additionally, for Jobseekers Allowance claims, data remains on the JSAPS computer system for at least 4 years after the record was last updated. And when the benefits is taxable, paper records are retained for 4 years after the claim ends, this to meet the requirements of Her Majesty Revenue and Customs.

I'd be very surprised if data was shredded after 14 months. At my last tribunal the paperwork included documents that were up to 8 years old, copies of previous medicals etc...

Hi SMC,

By "the documents at your Tribunal", do you mean information the D.W.P had found about you from your medical records from 8 years previously, which you yourself hadn't submitted?