It's finally over!

1. The appeal is allowed.

2. The decision made by the Secretary of State is set aside.

Words can't describe the sense of relief I've felt ever since reading the decision notice after my DLA tribunal hearing on Monday. I wouldn't have found the energy and resolve to see this through without you at B&W, so special thanks go to bro58, Gordon, Mrs Hurtyback, Jim Allison and everyone else who has helped answer my questions since 2013. It's been a long journey, including a trip to the Upper Tribunal and back, to get to this stage.

A cloud of worry and stress has finally been lifted now that my 2-year long battle with the DWP has come to an end. The tribunal found that I should have been entitled to HRC and HRM, rather than the original award of LRC and LRM, so, hopefully, the DWP should pay me the difference between the two rates for the duration of my 2-year DLA award, which expired last month as I was moved over to PIP.

Regarding the PIP migration, I was awarded the enhanced rates of both components until 2019, and, again, I am indebted to you all for your advice and excellent guides during the changeover period. I am also relieved that I don't have to go down the appeal route with this one!

And I've also been moved from the ESA WRAG to the SG following a reassessment, thanks to your guides.

So, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thanks to everybody on this wonderful website for all of your help. The two words "thank you" really don't seem enough, as words cannot express the extent of my gratitude to you all.

To anybody else in a similar situation: please don't give up. Fight for what you are entitled to. The truth will prevail.

One quick question: I've been in receipt of the EDP since I was moved to the ESA SG, but now the tribunal has retrospectively awarded DLA HRC, am I right in thinking that I should be able to get the EDP backdated to cover the time I spent in the ESA WRAG whilst in receipt of DLA too? If so, do I need to write to the benefit centre dealing with my ESA claim, or the DLA unit, or should they sort it all out automatically once the decision has been implemented?

Thanks! And I really mean it.

Jonathan wrote: 1. The appeal is allowed.

2. The decision made by the Secretary of State is set aside.

Words can't describe the sense of relief I've felt ever since reading the decision notice after my DLA tribunal hearing on Monday. I wouldn't have found the energy and resolve to see this through without you at B&W, so special thanks go to bro58, Gordon, Mrs Hurtyback, Jim Allison and everyone else who has helped answer my questions since 2013. It's been a long journey, including a trip to the Upper Tribunal and back, to get to this stage.

A cloud of worry and stress has finally been lifted now that my 2-year long battle with the DWP has come to an end. The tribunal found that I should have been entitled to HRC and HRM, rather than the original award of LRC and LRM, so, hopefully, the DWP should pay me the difference between the two rates for the duration of my 2-year DLA award, which expired last month as I was moved over to PIP.

Regarding the PIP migration, I was awarded the enhanced rates of both components until 2019, and, again, I am indebted to you all for your advice and excellent guides during the changeover period. I am also relieved that I don't have to go down the appeal route with this one!

And I've also been moved from the ESA WRAG to the SG following a reassessment, thanks to your guides.

So, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thanks to everybody on this wonderful website for all of your help. The two words "thank you" really don't seem enough, as words cannot express the extent of my gratitude to you all.

To anybody else in a similar situation: please don't give up. Fight for what you are entitled to. The truth will prevail.

One quick question: I've been in receipt of the EDP since I was moved to the ESA SG, but now the tribunal has retrospectively awarded DLA HRC, am I right in thinking that I should be able to get the EDP backdated to cover the time I spent in the ESA WRAG whilst in receipt of DLA too? If so, do I need to write to the benefit centre dealing with my ESA claim, or the DLA unit, or should they sort it all out automatically once the decision has been implemented?

Thanks! And I really mean it.

Hi J,

That is fantastic news, thanks for letting us know !!!

Well done for persevering in taking this to The UTT and back.

Your comments regarding B&W and "The Mods" are much appreciated by all !!

As this decision is a remaking of the original adverse DLA decisions, any arrears of payments owed should be paid from the date of the adverse decision.

If you have the Decision Notice, you can send a copy to the DLA Unit, this may speed up the payment of any arrears owed.

Any entitlement to premiums as a result of the DLA HR Care Award, should also be backdated to the date of entitlement.

There is no time restriction on this, so if the entitlement "should" have been there 2 years ago, then the "Premiums" should also be paid from that date.

As these "Premiums" would be paid on top of your ESA as IR : ESA Premiums , you could also send a copy of The Decision Notice to the address of the Benefits Office/Centre on your most recent ESA letter, informing them that you had entitlement to payment of the premiums from the original date of the adverse DLA decisions.

I don't know your personal circumstances, but as you may know, an MR or HR Care Award of DLA may also entitle you to payment of The Severe Disability Premium. (SDP)

Please keep us updated.

bro58

That's great news J, thanks for letting us know and for your kind words about B+W

You have really been through the mill with this, I do hope that you will be able to relax without worrying about DWP now.

Hi again,

I'm pleased to report that DWP paid the arrears yesterday! It only took 3 weeks and a day since the hearing - whereas I expected to wait several more weeks.

However, I was wondering if you could please clarify something for me. The Tribunal found that the start date of the retrospective claim was 21st September 2012 (a Friday), but DWP have only paid starting from 26th September 2012 (the following Wednesday). When querying this on the telephone, the agent said that it was correct as they can only start paying from the start of each benefit week, which runs from Wednesday to Tuesday, so although I was retrospectively awarded DLA from 21/09/12, they couldn't start paying it until the next Wednesday, which was 26/09/12.

Is this right? I'm around £90 worse off than I would have been if DWP had paid from the date the Tribunal decided was the start date for the claim, rather than 5 days later. I don't see why they couldn't just take the weekly rate, divide it by seven and multiply it by five to cover Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.