Tribunal & Legal Challenges - Flawed PIP Assessment

Hi Sheila,

Thanks very much for your kind message. Your words are heart-warming. Yes I guess I am a fighter, and I'm stubborn, plus have more than one functioning brain cell. I think that combination is something the DWP despises, so I believe they deliberately set out to break your spirit.

You are absolutely right - everything you list is a huge part of the problem and yet another hurdle to jump over in this process.
It very much is like they deliberately set out to make everything as difficult as possible.

There is a phrase for this - strategic incompetence.

This is when a course of conduct is incompetent, but it is deliberately so. I genuinely believe this is what is happening with the entire system. Your list just makes it more obvious. How can that massive catalogue of problems simply be a mistake? It is not a mistake. It is deliberate and calculated to make you give up.

Thinking about it, I did accuse the DWP of strategic incompetence in my complaint letter last year
Good - they deserve it!
Just wish I could do something to force them to change the entire system for the better. If there is something I can do, people are free to let me know.

Thanks again, I'm feeling a lot better as I got a massive 9 hours of sleep last night.

Hi LL26,

Thanks so much for your comprehensive reply

I knew they weren't right to suddenly start asking about my finances/HMRC information. I'm kicking myself now for not refusing to answer. What you say is correct - this information can't suddenly be introduced, it needed to be in the bundle at the very least. But there's no way I expected the DWP woman to suddenly bring it up. I was stunned by it. It really winds me up now, thinking about it. I'm aware this isn't a point of law to argue on, but is it something that can be brought up in any Upper Tribunal appeal? I guess not, as it was the DWP lady who was asking, and not the panel themselves? I guess if they use her information to refuse an award, then possibly? I have a feeling they may say - you draw money from your company every month, therefore you can't be that sick. But it is not me who files this, it's my accountant And money isn't actually being withdrawn, this is just being filed for tax purposes. Again, not anyone's business for the purposes of PIP, but it depends on whether they use this information or not I guess.

She was constantly trying to be nice to me outside the interrogation room too, told me I was 'doing really well' for example, when I had tears and snot dripping down my face. Is this something they all do, to disarm you or try to get you to engage with them so they can use it against you? Ugh, I hate them all.

Don't worry, I really don't expect to hear good news, so I'm not expecting you or anyone else to guess the answer for me. I've been totally broken by the experience so far, and while I understand and appreciate everyone else's support and positivity on here, I really don't expect to get an enhanced award. Although I do think it will be extremely wrong if this is what the panel decide. I was 3 points away from it for daily living and 2 points away for mobility, and importantly, I had repeatedly given the DWP assessor the right information to make the correct, enhanced awards and she had ignored it, as explained in my submission and evidenced by my audio recording and transcript.

I was hoping the panel might make a decision on my papers. I was careful to lay everything out in the right way, explained how my conditions prevented me from completing x and why, and referred to regulations 4 and 7 throughout in my submission. The panel clearly didn't like this! Or the judge said he knew I knew about the law but they wanted to find out about me anyway. Personally I think they disregarded what I'd written, or they probably thought, oh, she knows how to answer these questions, let's see if she knows how to answer them when we give her a grilling! I think they saw it as sport, making me cry etc and enjoying it.

In future, is it better to ask any Tribunal to simply make a decision on the papers, if I believe my submission is strong enough? I don't see why it's better to put yourself through an in-person ordeal, when you can simply and clearly make your case via papers and evidence and a judge will simply have to decide based on the law? I've read that once you're in front of them, they can decide if you're 'credible' or not, surely that isn't fair and a paper based assessment would be more fair, as they can't then make this kind of value judgement? I find it really hard to talk about my condition without breaking down and then I lose focus and concentration on answering in the right way.

Is it really going to be a brown envelope? I hate those things.

Lastly, you mention clients. Do you offer legal support for Tribunals etc and if so how could I take this up? Clearly it's beneficial to have someone like you present, you would have stopped their haranguing of me I'm sure. I'd amassed a collection of snotty tissues on the table in front of me well before the end of the first hour.

I'm fairly sure I made some stupid mistakes as I was so distressed and crying as I answered, for eg I fell into saying I don't do this, rather than saying I can't do this because my condition means etc etc and explaining why. I did this for some of the mixing with other people questions in the second half and am really peed off with myself now, but at the same time, I think it wasn't fair to keep up the questioning when I was clearly too distressed to think clearly and keep going. I was crying during the break, I didn't get any real chance to calm down at all. The assistant saw I was still crying when she came to collect me and as soon as the first question was asked in the second session, the disability guy could see I was still upset and asked if I needed water etc.

Should they have given me a break or adjourned to a different date in these circumstances?
Again is this an error of law? I suspect not, but any audio recording - which I absolutely will request - will show how distressed I was.

Yes I will be sure to update as soon as I know. I guess it will be anytime now. I'm expecting rubbish news so I hopefully will be able to carry on without being upset.

Thanks again for all your help, you're a true hero

Hi

Sorry for another update but I received an email this morning from the Courts and Tribunals service.

It says

A hearing took place for your PIP appeal on 8 March. You might have been told the decision already if you attended the hearing.

The decision has been posted to the address you provided. You should receive it by 20 March 2024.

We cannot give you your decision over the phone. This is to protect your personal information.

Please contact DWP if you have any questions about the benefit. You can find their contact details on any correspondence you have received from them.

Does this mean they only made the decision yesterday? Or did they indeed make it on Friday as they said and this is just a delayed email? Just weird as I was not expecting any email from the Courts and especially not this late in the day.

I still think I will get the letter anytime from now onwards, most likely by Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

Before I didn't want to know what the decision was, but now I just want to know so I can get it out of the way and think about what to do next. Fully expecting not to get any enhanced award, but I just want it over with now.

Hi all,

Finally got the letter today - thank God!

Appeal is REFUSED, so I was right.

I'll list here what has been said:

Activities 4, 5 and 6 were not in dispute. In respect of MDBond's assertions regarding activities 1, 2, 3 and 9, the Tribunal are of the view that MDBond's medication and help-seeking behaviour is not consistent with the duration and severity of her claimed severe functional impairment.

I am not surprised but I am actually pretty peed off now. I will ask for the statement of reasons. And after all I've been through so far, I'm tempted to not give up!! I have never been in control of what medication I'm given, how on earth can they blame me for that? Outrageous.