Conditions worsened before a tribunal

I completed my PIP questionnaire on Feb 16 2017. It was accompanied with a letter from my GP, dated Feb 21 2017. The Atos examination was on April 18 2017. My PIP award letter was dated April 29. I appealed. My mandatory reconsideration notice was dated June 30. The tribunal first heard my appeal in January 2018. I did not attend. The hearing was adjourned to obtain GP's records. The tribunal received the records in February 2018. They show that I did not see a GP or specialist after Feb 2017. They also suggest that I have lost hope in being 'cured'. The next hearing is in five days time, on March 26 2018.

My sister (who is writing this post on my behalf) is writing a long letter for me to hand over at the hearing. I will probably have difficulty giving verbal answers at the tribunal, because of CFS and depression.

The PIP points in the award are too low for nearly all the activities because:
- we made mistakes on the PIP questionnaire
- the ATOS assessor did not ask enough about variability
- my conditions worsened considerably in August/September 2017

We intend to get a new GP's letter this week. I saw him last week and am optimistic that the letter will say that my health is significantly worse than it was when he he last saw me, in Feb 2017.

We have studied all the B&W downloads and various threads on the forum, and it seems that the tribunal will just assess my health as it is now. So my letter should just help them with that. Is this the right procedure? Or do we need to notify the DWP of the changes in circumstances? Have we weakened our case by not notifying them of these changes when they first became apparent?

If I cannot get the GP's letter in time for the hearing, should I ask for another adjournment?

Hello Nick,

The Tribunal will only consider your condition at the point of your claim. It cannot take into account any deterioration in your condition after your assessment. If your GPs letter refers to a deterioration in your condition after your original F2F then the Tribunal will not consider this. It would only be relevant if you were to subsequently report a change in your condition to the DWP

Another option would be to withdraw the appeal, tell the DWP my circumstances have changed, and ask to fill in a new questionnaire and have another Atos examination. Any thoughts??

The context is in another recent thread www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?view=topic&catid=10&id=121323 I asked for an adjournment but they refused, so the hearing is at 3.30 on Monday. I am really struggling to write a letter, I'm having a bad patch and can't be awake for more than a handful of hours every day. Because of CFS and anxiety I won't be able to give a good verbal account at the hearing. So a letter is vital and it has to be long because there is so much to say. If I finish it over the weekend, the clerk would see it in his email on Monday morning, just a few hours before the hearing. So the panel may not read it or accept it. If they don't read it I'll probably have my points reduced. If I lose 1 point I go from £55 per week to nothing at all. I can't see a way out of this. Is there a way I can force an adjournment?