Baffling and worrying letter from PIP tribunal

I didn't show up to my PIP tribunal and got this letter from the judge: "the appeal is adjourned because the appellant did not attend and the tribunal felt that further medical evidence would assist. The tribunal shall obtain the appellant's GP records and any letters from specialists. The appellant is warned that the existing award of points may be varied by the tribunal at the next hearing, in particular descriptor 4e which was not indicated by the ATOS medical report. The appellant is advised to seek advice about this."

First question, this sounds like the judge is implying that the tribunal is thinking about reducing my score.

Second question, descriptor 4e on the ATOS assessor's report is about needing assistance to bathe and shower. I didn't pick 4e, I picked 4c, which is needing prompting to bathe, and the assessor agreed. The descriptors which the assessor and I disagreed about, and which are the reason for my appeal, are numbers 7 to 12. (She got the variability all wrong. She didn't ask how many bad days I have in a year - we only talked about the week prior to the examination. She assessed me purely on the basis of my good days. In my claim form and my appeal form I stated that more than half my days are bad. The decision maker completely ignored this point in the reply to the appeal.)

I was confident that I had a strong case, as the assessment seems so glaringly wrong. But now it's looking like the judge hasn't a clue.

The tribunal is on March 26. I haven't taken any advice because I've been too ill. And now there is no time left.

But I didn't claim 4e and I wasn't awarded it. I claimed 4c and was awarded 4c! The ATOS report says that my claim for 4c is supported and gives detailed reasons why. It's madness for the judge to say that 4 e was not indicated by the assessor's report.

Honestly, the judge's letter is so wrong that my only explanation is that I've been confused with somebody else.

I already have an award, 8 points for daily living and 4 for mobility. I want 28 and 20. I think the DWP know full well that the assessor goofed by only asking me how I had been for the week prior to the medical. How can they ignore variability with CFS and depression?? It's a joke. So I've got to pursue this. Unfortunately, although the medical was on one of my good days, I was too groggy to guide the assessor in any way. I would have had my sister there as my representative, but she was having a nervous breakdown.

I think I will write to the tribunal clerk to ask for clarification of the judge's letter. Maybe they are mudding me up with another claimant. And I will ask for the tribunal to be delayed so i can get advice and representation. (I recently had a 4 month period when I was too ill to get advice, or even to open my post. That's why I didn't attend the tribunal.)

I finally worked it out. i hadn't read my PIP award letter properly. Although the assessor agreed with me on 4c, the decision maker awarded me 4e, without explaining why. Maybe this was a simple mistake? 4e is worth one more point than 4c, and my total for daily living was 8 points. So if the tribunal were to award me 4c I would have only 7 points, i.e. not enough for any PIP payment at all. So I'm impressed that the judge thought to warn me about it.