Incapacity Benefit: DWP appealing the tribunal's decision?

[ee-bee]

hi i`v just found this forum so not sure where to start,i received a letter today telling me my is had stopped 4 days ago,and i`m at a total loss as what to do now,i`v got spondylitus,in the spine and neck,and i was asked stupid questions like can i answer the phone!where would i find out about a welfare rights worker,many thanks

hi all, well i went to my appeal on tuesday and won,i was awarded 20 points instead of the 3 i originally got,great news i thought,except today i received a letter off thejobcentre plus saying they have requested a full statement of the tribunals reasons for this decision, this means that implementation of the tribunals decision will be suspended while an appeal to the commissioner is considered,i`m so upset and worried,has this happened to any one else on here

ee-bee

[ErikaPNP]

They will be requesting a statement of reasons for the decision so they can see exactly why the decision was made; If they believe the first tier tribunal has erred on a point of law, they can apply for permission to appeal to the commisioner. They have one month from the date of the decision to request a statement of reasons and a further month to apply for permission to appeal from when the statement of reasons were sent to them.

 

If they do submit a request leave to appeal, to the upper tier will decide whether the DWP appeal can go ahead.

 

Whilst this is being considered, they can suspend any payment due as a result of the first tier tribunal's decision.

 

They can only appeal to the upper tribunal on a point of law, not on findings of fact or the first tier's medical findings.

 

I have moved your post to its own thread to attract more traffic.

[ee-bee]

i`m gutted,i`v been waiting since feb for this to be resolved,was a nervous wreck at the tribunal,it was such a relief when it was all over,this letter has knocked me for six

[ee-bee]

dont mean to sound thick but what does erred on a point of law actually mean

[ErikaPNP]

You're not "thick". You just don't know what it means, that doesn't mean you're thick. Don't put yourself down.

 

It means there is an error in the way they have applied the law to a case.

 

When a decision to award benefit or decline benefit is made, it is made in accordance with the law that has been set for that particular benefit.

 

So if the DWP feel that the tribunal has wrongly interperated the law or feel the law should be further clarified, they appeal to the upper tribunal.

[ee-bee]

hi again do you think could have anythink to do with the fact i was awarded dla in july and i believe there is some sort of premium to be backdated

[ee-bee]

i have received the statement of reasons from the tribunal, so i assume the dwp have received theres as well, i`v spoke to my representative and he`s also received one,everything seems okay in the statement but we`ll have to wait and see,i`m assuming they have a month now to decide what their going to do? god its like waiting for christmas:)

[MIKEY DABODEE]

EE bee

are you on IS appeal rate at the moment ?

and if you are, do I.S know you now have DLA ?

if yes to the first and no to the second

they need to know because you could be due premiums now

Edited November 9, 2009 by MIKEY DABODEE

[ee-bee]

hi mikey, i`m on jsa(as advised by dwp)and they were notified as soon as i received dla and my premium has been added to my fortnightly jsa payment

[MIKEY DABODEE]

Thats good at least you are getting them.

Hope you get your appeal sorted soon

[ee-bee]

well its now been 2 weeks since the the statement of reasons was issued,i`m getting really frustrated ,waiting for the post every day,i`m begining to think this is going to be a very long drawn out appeal

[MelissaTeddyBear]

Hello ee-bee,

Same thing is happening to me with the DLA appeal I won. I,m on a countdown and will contact Tribunal Service a couple of days after the month has expired and if an appeal has not been lodged in time things will get interesting.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Cheers MelissaTeddyBear

[ee-bee]

Hello ee-bee,

Same thing is happening to me with the DLA appeal I won. I,m on a countdown and will contact Tribunal Service a couple of days after the month has expired and if an appeal has not been lodged in time things will get interesting.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Cheers MelissaTeddyBear

i`m gutted, i thought it was only me it had happened too,it seems its quite an unusual thing for dwp to do,when is your 4 week dead line?

[MelissaTeddyBear]

Hello ee-bee,

 

The statement of reasons is dated 2/11/09 so I think that the decision maker has to get the appeal in to the tribunal service by 2/12/09. I contacted Tribunal Service and they said that if an appeal by DWP was received late then it would be very unlikely for a late appeal to be admitted.

They tell me it is quite rare for an appeal to be made to the Upper Tier Tribunal after a Statement of Reasons has been issued but each case is individual therefore there are no guarantees.

 

My claim was made in March this year so I will complain of maladministration. The RNID website says most hearing impaired people get turned down with the initial application for DLA and most are successful on appeal but the DWP no not seem to want to learn. Probably the money saved on refusing applications outweighs the cost of appeals.

[ee-bee]

my case has been a nightmare from beginning to now,first in feb i lost my pca,was given only 3 points,then when asked to look again at my case they said it had gone for re-work as there was a discrepancy with the points,then after several phone calls by me because of the time it was taking they admitted they had lost my file!!a copy was issued to the dm and then they found my file,i ended up with 2 lots of appeal papers,its been one horrible year and i feel like giving up on the whole thing

[MelissaTeddyBear]

Hello ee-bee,

 

Sounds like you have had a lot to contend with. Sometimes you might imagine the DWP searching for reasons to refer your case to an Upper Tier Tribunal and putting a lot of time and effort in to that. In reality the DWP is understaffed and under resourced to properly do the volume of work they have to process and often in arrears with work. Therefore if you have not heard anything by the end of one month from the date of the statement of reasons it is probably sitting in a pile of work to be processed.

Give up after what you have already achieved getting the tribunal to overturn the DM's decision. Not on your nelly.

[ee-bee]

thanks for the support,my statement of reasons was issued on the 4th nov,but because i`v not heard of anyone else having this problem i`v took it quite personal and yes your right i visulize them spending hours trying to find a reason not to give me my money,

[ee-bee]

just out of interest, does the month go from ,eg, 1st nov to 1st dec or is it 4 weeks,eg,4weeks wed gone?

[MelissaTeddyBear]

Hello ee-bee

 

Goes from 1st November to 1st Dec. Goes from date sent rather than date received.

 

You may find the following useful :-

 

www.appeals-service.gov.uk/

Left of page How to appeal Guidance on how ....

Click How to a appeal leaflet

Page 30.

 

The leaflet and website give a good background to the appeals process.

 

No post today.

 

All the best.

[ee-bee]

hi, thanks for the link,no post here either,i`m sure one of these days someone will go to the papers or press about these medicals,etc,there must be hundreds of appeals going on,it has to be costing someone somewhere a lot of money

[ErikaPNP]

If you have a look around CAG, you'll find lots of people complaining about these medicals, some are taking action.

[consumerupset]

:-?What kind of action weneed to take?

Alf:roll:

[RaeUK]

:-?What kind of action weneed to take?

 

Alf:roll:

 

That's a good question. If some people are trying to take matters further it would be good to know. I'd certainly volunteer to help. There are two things that appall me.

Firstly, the low standard of the Atos medical assessment. They had no equipment to assess pulmonary disease, therefore no means to figure out how it would affect my work capabilities.

And secondly, having read all my tribunal papers from the DWP, it is so biased against people like myself who feel they can do some work but just need that bit of extra support.

I will confess to being very annoyed at not getting that extra £25pw premium. Not a lot to someone on fulltime work, but a life changing sum to me. And, lets be honest - should any member of the Government be reading this - it's not as if you're going to have to pay me a state pension, my lungs are saving you money in the long term!

[ErikaPNP]

Have a look around by typing ATOS into the search facility to see posts on the subject. You will also find plenty of stories by googling. If you want to discuss this though, please start a new thread in the appropriate subforum rather than cloud over this member's thread, where advice is being sought on the appeals process.

[ee-bee]

well i`m shocked ,i never knew there was so many people unhappy with the medicals,now i`v read some of the other posts i will stop being so paranoid about dwp gunning for me,still no post today,keep smiling