DWP changed decision before Appeal

I sent my renewal form off in Oct 2019, had an assessment in Jan 2020. The assessor was very cold and dismissive, felt like she had no understanding at all. Their decision came in Feb 2020. I went from standard/standard to 4pts for both even though I had deteriorated alot. As a result my housing benefit had been reduced and was unable to pay the shortfall so I was sent an eviction notice. I was devastated to say the least. The thought of appealing sent me in a spin. I have Rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, sciatica, fibromyalgia, mental health problems, anxiety, hiatus hernia, barretts oesophagus and overactive bladder. To say things were difficult is an understatement. One of my biggest problems is that I play everthing down and struggle to allow anyone to see how much pain I'm in, which you can not do with dwp! So to appeal was my only choice. I contacted them straight away to inform them that I was going to appeal, sent my MR within the next 4weeks timescale. In April I got their decision, they were sticking with their original decision of 4pts for both! At this point I joined Benefitsandwork.co.uk for help and followed their guidelines on how to appeal. This made me realise I hadn't gone into enough detail about how my disabilities effect me. 9.5.20 I submitted my very long appeal detailing every little thing, stating what I disagreed with, why and what points I think I should be awarded and why. I only submitted one piece of evidence ( a letter from my Rheumatologist supporting my claim and stating the damage to my joints and the amount of pain I'm in) My intention was to gather more evidence and submit it at a later date. My health was seriously being made worse by all the stress that most of the time I couldn't get out of bed. Everyday I felt like giving up but I kept thinking of my kids and grandchildren so i kept going.

23/6/20 I got a txt message from the appeals saying dwp has changed their decision so they have close my case. I was in shock i thought "closed my case, what if i dont agree with their decision" never in a million years did I expect them to award me what I thought I should get without going to appeal tribunal. It took another few days before I actually received a letter from dwp with their new decision expecting it to be standard for both when I believed I should get enhanced for both.

Finally I got ENHANCED for both till 2026, they agreed with everything I said, my rent was sorted out and the eviction was cancelled. I'm so relieved it's over for at least 5 years, it's been 9 months of hell.

I hope this helps anyone thinking of or going through an appeal. Stick with it, it's worth it in the end even if you don't get what you think you deserve because we cannot let the dwp keep dismissing us as if we are nothing!!

Thank You for this site otherwise I would never have been able to do the appeal.

Sorry for the long winded post

Thank you so much