DLA application = Shambles

[aberdeenlad]

I applied for DLA almost 14 months ago and its been nothing but a disaster.

 

Firstly, me and my representative filled it in and I got a rejection letter almost instantly, so we appealed it.

 

But during this 14 months, its been nothing but stress for me.

Not in any particular order, but these some of the things that have happened:

 

:They got my application mixed up with another guy called George, who had also applied for DLA

 

:They claimed we had appealed after the time limit but,

we proved them wrong as we had postal evidence from when we sent the appeal in

 

:They requested my brothers doctors notes instead of mines from my GP,

so we had to then get my ones sent out

 

:They have been using my outdated ESA information from 2 years ago from when I failed my ESA

and not my ESA information from when I passed my ESA appeal last year

 

:They sent me a letter asking me to sign it saying I was happy with a tribunal being heard

and that "I had if I remember correctly", 10 days to send it back.

 

However, I received the letter 11 days after when they typed up the letter

so I had to call them and have the date put forward a week

 

Tribunal part one:

on the day of the tribunal, my representative said she would go by herself and represent me as it said on the letter,

that Nor me or my representative had to attend as the hearing will go ahead with or without either myself

or both of us attending or not.

 

So she went along with all my information, including a letter from the specialist I see at the hospital.

 

However, when she arrived, they told her that I MUST be there???

 

so they rescheduled another hearing

 

Tribunal part two.

On the day of my second hearing, unfortunately, my representative was involved in a small car accident out the road

and called from the hospital saying she would not manage.

 

The tribunal asked me if I wished to go ahead with the hearing. I

 

said yes BUT then they asked me to leave the room and I went back in after only about 90 seconds.

 

I sat down and they said that, it would be best if both myself and my representative was there so they rescheduled another hearing

 

The hearing is for this Tuesday.

I guess I am just wondering, is this normal for all this to be happening to a person who puts a claim in for DLA or PIP?

[estellyn]

Sounds like you have good grounds for complaint - but wait until after the appeal to do that. There are cases of administrative error, and sometimes a string of errors can happen to the same person, it's not acceptable, but occurs in such a large operation like the DWP.

 

 

You should also put in a complaint about your rep - have they never done an appeal before?? The whole point of an oral appeal is that you attend and answer questions - the rep can't answer them for you and the rep should know all this.

 

 

Your rep should have put your case together in a submission arguing the points that they feel you qualify on, highlighting any written evidence provided and countering any points made by the DWP that are detrimental.

[aberdeenlad]

Hi, Thanks for your reply. Before the first hearing, the DLA people sent me a letter informing me of the date and it said on the letter that, "You may attend the hearing with or without a representative, however, if you or neither the representative attend, the hearing will go ahead"

[aberdeenlad]

I was rewarded lower rate mobility and lower rate daily living care yesterday. Do I need to inform the DWA because, I also get ESA currently? Thanks