Thank you . I'll be working on my appeal submission this week.

When you write your appeal, you need to write something like why you can't do the activity and what happened the last time you tried.

As a side note from your posts is that you stay most nights what do you mean by this? Do you sleep over most nights or stay till your partner goes to bed then you go home?

I ask this because you could be opening a whole new can of worms here...

Also as to your bills and financial arrangements how many bills are registered at your partners address?

All my bills are registered at my address including my uni address. All my partners bills are at his address including work address. Neither of us are registered as next of kin.

As for sleeping arrangements, that is my concern.

The reason for the delicate enquiry was to find out how many nights a stop over happens so to speak. The DWP have rules regarding this arrangement sorry for asking.

Also it could be that it could be seen as they could be a sort of carer and checking on you at least once a night for at least 20 mins but I'll say no more on this sorry to offend... you can look this up yourself to see what I mean...

No offence taken. Maybe we are looking at this differently I'm not sure. My worry is the cohabitation rule or the perception.

i don't know if this applies as I have only experience claiming ESA but like ESA I would think get supporting medical evidence especially from your GP letter stating the same descriptors your trying to work out in order to score high enough in your PIP appeal though from your knowledge on ESA as seen on other threads im sure you already know this best of luck

fletch, have you looked the living together as husband and wife or civil partners rules? Here's a link to the decision maker's guide page with the link in case it helps.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/decision-makers-guide-vol-3-subjects-common-to-all-benefits-staff-guide

HB

Ok to give you an idea as to why I asked what I did ok.

My daughter stays with me often. My daughter is family obviously, but she can get a reduction in CT and or get carers allowance. But could this be seen as living here as she also has her own home too. That answer is no because of her role as carer. This also helps with DLA as I need overnight care. Can you now see what I was saying and asking?

It only matters if the relationship is seen as living together as a married couple for the purposes of claiming benefits. If this is seen as such this could cause issues...

I have read some of the link provided

As I see it

We each have our own property ( one rented one owned)

Each person has all their bills attached to their own place

The furniture etc in each property is owned by the person whose property it is i.e All my possessions are stored in my flat , all my partners possessions are in his

There are of course some items that are mine and stay at my partners e.g toothbrush, shaver, a few clothes and any current books that i am using

I can not be a member of two households (according to the rules) and as my property is in my flat for which I pay bills etc we can not be seen as living together

Does anyone disagree

On another note I have received the decision

It seems that they have taken the statement by the HCP i.e can cook beans on toast and don't have physical disabilities along with the fact there is no specialist or nutritionist advice I am able to cook-go figure

Anyway i will be writing my appeal over the next two days

Would it be appropriate to post it on here when it is done for constructive input?

I am not going to elaborate on my living arrangements just as RMW suggested talk about when I have proper meals and if I can phrase it correctly as mikeymack suggested

mikeymack, there are reasons why I can not PM - I am sure Citizen B would elaborate if you asked , let's just say i am not the messiah i was a very naughty boy

Happy to proof read in due course.

I'm apparently very adept at providing just the right information to encourage someone to make the assumption that will benefit me the most whilst being totally and absolutely honest.

ATOS, Maximus, Captia and DWP seem to love making assumptions, so I'm just helping them along a bit.

Shortly the MR decisions will be posted and also my draft appeal letter

MR decision uploaded as requested.

Edit.pdf

Thanks Citizen B

Here is a draft of my appeal letter

I am not sure about the bathing question , if it looks as if I am using a scatter gun approach then i will leave it out.

While i do suffer social anxiety and only make familiar journeys i do not think that it is worthwhile following the mobility route

I would like to appeal against my decision to refuse Personal Independence Payment .

 

My appeal is based on two grounds as I believe the evidence and decision on all other grounds has been appropriate.

 

Ground 1

Preparing and Cooking Food

 

I do not believe that the decision maker understood my problems with preparing a meal. Firstly the only question the assessor asked me was whether I could cook beans on toast ,I do not believe that this is what the legislation intended when it described a simple one course meal from fresh ingredients. I did try to raise this with the assessor and again in my request for a manadatory reconsideration but was told by the assesor that this was the definition he had been given.

 

In reality the cooked meals that I eat are either meals paid for , usually at college or cooked for me by my partner. All other meals are snacks such as snack soup, pot noodles, cereal etc. The reasons that I do not cook are several fold

1. I lack the motivation to cook and just can not face the struggle of preparing the food as needed. When I arrive home from University I am emotionally and physically tired which means that for some time I just do not have the will to cook.

2. In the past when I have used a cooker I have either left the hob or oven on long after it is needed. I have had to contact a neighbour to go into my flat to check if the oven was left on because I had left the flat and could not remember. When with my partner I have left the gas hob burning which has been found some time later.

3. Eating meals , although important in management of my diabetes frequently exacerbates my I.B.S. I usually have to use the toilet several times soon after eating a meal although there is no way to predict this. As a result I do not eat breakfast before I leave for University or meals when I know I have to leave the house. My IBS has caused me some great embarrassments due to eating and I have now had to modify my eating and life to cope with this.

 

 

 

Ground 2

Bathing and Showering

 

While I admit that I am able to use the over bath shower at home I must point out that I have a non slip matt in the bath so that I don’t slip and that the bath has handles which I use when getting in and out of the shower.

 

When I am at my partners there are no shower facilities and the bath does not have handles, as a result he helps me out of the bath most times. This is because I slip and fall back into the bath without help.

I must stress that I never have a bath when I am alone

fletch, in the letter they say that the next stage is the tribunal. I'm not clear if you're writing to the decision make or the tribunal with your appeal.

To the tribunal. I am not sure if I need to quote the legislation etc or phrase it differently

You need to quote the criteria you think you meet. You then need to explain why you meet it and examples. Because some of the criteria you refer to, says something about help from another person, (ie, there's something about supervision / assistance when cooking) I'd also explain how a person would help. So, you said that you sometimes leave the oven on, therefore, you'd need someone to check that once you've finished cooking your meal, that you've turned the oven off.

Here's a link to the forum stikky with a template, fletch.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?251737-Mandatory-Reconsideration-Appealing-or-going-to-a-Tribunal-Some-useful-information

HB

Thanks HB

Since that sticky was written I think things have changed a little in that I need to download a form from the internet , fill it in and send it off. The contents of the appeal wording however seem to be great. I will try to get something better written up over the next day or two. I know at least I can input it into the document before I print it off.

There is clearly an art to this that i do not have

Where would I find the internet form please, fletch?

The stikky template is based on my own appeal a while back, there are others online. My OH did a lot of the work researching the DWP's rules and descriptors and using their own rules against them. I went through the Atos report on me and highlighted where it was wrong or contradicted itself and that was the basis of my appeal. I won.

HB

fletch, I'm a bit tied up for the next day or two but haven't forgotten my offer to help. I'm with HB that you need to expand your statement and include the actual descriptor which you feel you meet. It's almost like talking to an idiot and taking them step by step through the process, eg. this is the descriptor I meet, this is the condition/effect of the condition that causes it, this is why I need the aid/help, this is what would happen without it, this is how often. Remember the 50% rule - you must need the help more than 50% of the time, and particularly remember the 'reliably' criteria. It would help enormously if you were able to expand on why you wouldn't meet each of the reliability criteria without the help/aid.

Thank you both so much. i am up to my eyeballs in writing an essay at the moment on the charming(but fascinating) subject of the Holocaust but I am giving myself a day off tomorrow so will work on a much more in depth letter.

HB I have been to tribunal before on several occasions both for myself and my late estranged wife and always won until the last one. It is of course much harder to get them to believe the person concerned than say an estranged wife. I absolutely hate it as trying to tread that fine line between explaining how it affects you and exaggerating the effect is incredibly difficult. Sometimes I think I should just make it up but I know that it is a silly idea.

I saw this some time ago don't if the idea of the words used may help but could give you an idea

Hi Mikey

I have been told, within the last year so current I imagine that even when a submission is made to tribunal the DWP can amend their decision

What I find incredible is that they have used the fact that there is no dietician or expert on my case, clearly that may be the case if I had a chronic eating disorder or maybe terminal illness however I am talking about cooking a meal . That will be brought up in my appeal.

As I said I hope to get onto it tomorrow

What you have not been told or have queried something that is known as a substantial meal. Please check this out. The reason for this is that beans on toast is a snack and not a MEAL.