Opinion of a relative less important than claimant

Hi Nervy

Please bear in mind that it is not practical to give advice on individual claims without seeing the appeal papers. I can only give an opinion from what you have mentioned.

You shouldn't submit evidence that you do not feel supports your case. If the DWP obtain information of their own initiative from your doctor that does not support your case and that you disagree with, you should contest it.

Tribunals can only consider your circumstances at the date of the decision that you are not entitled to DLA, so if the adverse medical information refers to an earlier period of time, you can argue that it is not relevant, either in writing or at the hearing.

Regards

Derek

The reconsideration period is bugging me. I gave my local CAB lots of extra information to add to the unfinished DLA claim, and a letter from a relative. I though perhaps this would be sent off with the GL24 but it wasn't.

It has been reconsidered and it has been decided no change. Well ofcourse if nothing new has been added!

Apart from the ESA WCA which happened since the original DLA decision was considered. And the small paragraph written by my CAB advisor.

They didn't write to my GP. Now I have to worry about that. This could have been avoided!

Now I'm having to deal with this complicated appeals process - at the stage of having to decide on a paper or oral tribunal.

Have i got this right? Shouldn't the new infomation have been added? I could have atleast tried to get middle rate couldn't i?

I don't have a great deal of respect for the work that CAB caseworkers do. I would have expected your caseworker to send the information to the DWP for reconsideration.

If you wish for that information to be in front of the tribunal, I would suggest that you tell your caseworker to send it. You should then receive a copy of it from Tribunals Service with the pages numbered so that it can be added to the appeal bundle.

I have been told by CAB that without any other medical evidence i could risk losing my award i already have.

How important really is medical evidence?

I've got a long and detailed letter that i shall get my mental nurse to say that she agrees with it if she can find the time to read it, because from my experience so far anything written by a medical person is always brief.

Is it that the same letter written by me (or a relative) couldn't get it up to middle rate?

If you had two letters which were exactly the same but one or was written by me (or a relative) and the other written by my mental nurse, would the CAB be right in thinking that the letter written only by a non-medical person couldn't bump it up to middle rate?

I have also been told in a letter by the CAB "Without supportive medical evidence we are unable to assist you with your appeal"

The CAB are under a lot of pressure, so they are probably trying to be selective in the cases that they take on.

It's not possible to give a definitive answer to what evidence is required to get middle rate, that's a matter for the tribunal to decide.

Medical evidence is very important, but that is not to say that your own statements and witness statements do not hold weight. As been mentioned already, the strongest evidence comes from you in person, at an oral hearing. Although you are still undecided, I would encourage you to attend an oral hearing if at all possible.