dla appeal help and complaints

i recieved some new paperwork for my dla appeal papers , basically just a copy of drs report( not very helpful just one word answers) and records updating my treatment but theres no sign of my army war pension medical ( which is from the same dr at atos)which i sent them a ten day diary basically everything i have that refutes there medical evidence has not been added to my appeal papers ,

q1 are they allowed to cherry pick what info they send to tribunal

q2 if they are not who would i make a complaint to as rung tribunal service and they said its down to the dwp not them

thanks for any help recieved x

It's the DWP that prepares the bundle for appeal. They should include all the evidence you submit. If they refuse to include evidence that you want to put before the tribunal, there's nothing to stop you giving it to the tribunal judge, explaining that the DWP refused to include it.

Hi pac100575

Please don't forget that a tribunal is duty bound to treat both sides equally. You have just as much right to send evidence as the DWP.

The DWP can choose what evidence they want to submit, but it is standard practice to send copies of the medical report, your claim form and any evidence that you sent to them.

If they have failed to do this you can send copies yourself direct to Tribunals Service. These documents will be copied, numbered and send to all parties, and will be considered by the tribunal.

I'm not sure if it is really worth making a complaint about missing documents (it's a standard level of incompetence that isn't likely to ever improve), but if you wanted to it would be the Customer Services Manager at the office that handles your claim.

Good luck

Derek

Sorry in advance for the length of this post! You may have noticed that I tend to write an essay when posting here but....


I have just been reading this thread and wondered if you can clarify something for me. Survivor, you state that it is the DWP who prepares the bundle for appeal. I am really confused here. Does the DWP constantly review and decide which information they want to pass on to the tribunal, or does this only happen when your claim is originally denied? I mean to say, is it a “constant ongoing process” with the DWP ‘cherry picking’ your further evidence? I thought the tribunal service was independent from the DWP and under the impression that once your case had been submitted for appeal, the DWP no longer had a hand in it so to speak. And any further evidence you submitted was dealt with only by the tribunal service. Or am I totally naive here?

I ask, as on Friday 4th February, I attended the tribunal hearing for my sons claim for DLA. On the 3rd of December I submitted (for the fourth time) what I consider to be very important evidence to the Tribunal Service in Cardiff. This was an OT report which stated that if 100 children were assessed using the same method that 95% of children of the same age, without my sons condition would not have the movement or coordination problems that he does.

I sent this evidence into the tribunal service along with various other letters, one from my sons paediatrician and also a letter which I had written in response. These letters were sent recorded delivery and I have the receipt. Despite sending in the report from the Occupational Therapist, (which I consider to be one of the most important pieces of evidence I have to support my claim) FOUR times by recorded delivery to date, this report has NEVER made it into the appeals bundle, and yet the other letters which were all enclosed in the same envelope and perhaps not of such substantial medical importance did!

I brought this OT report with me to the tribunal and the Clerk asked me if I had any additional evidence,so I gave her the report to hand to the panel. After around 5 minutes I was called before the panel to be told by the judge “As you have submitted rather a substantial amount of evidence today and one piece is of significant importance, I have to inform you that your hearing will have to be adjourned till a further date, so we will have an opportunity to look further into this evidence. Have you any further questions?”

Well yes I did for sure! Firstly, I asked the judge why this OT report was never received by the tribunal service and not included in the appeals bundle, despite being sent recorded delivery in the same envelope with other evidence which did make it in there?! I asked why when I telephoned the tribunal service previously to make sure that they had received it I was constantly being told “No we haven’t received it yet, can you send it in again?”.......

The judge informed me that this “indeed seemed rather strange” especially when I produced evidence to prove that it had been sent on four separate occasions. She also noted that a letter from my sons paediatrician dated the 24th of December, stating a diagnosis of ADHD and a further letter from myself dated the 7th of January had been received, but never the elusive OT report, stating my sons significant movement difficulties, very poor social interaction with others, and the extra needs he has ‘over and above’ other children of his age without his condition.....

I was a nervous wreck enough at the start and totally despondent after leaving the tribunal hearing with this news. My representative bailed out a few months ago, stating he did not have the time and too ‘large a case load’ to help me any further and anyway, I was “more than capable and articulate enough to go it alone”....I am not so sure now.

I am at a loss as to what to think now in all honesty. My papers are in order and I was pretty confident to state my case, but this has completely thrown me and I am not sure as to just how much influence the DWP has in all this.
Sorry for the length of this post, I would be so grateful for any information or advice anyone can give!

Many thanks

The DWP isn't supposed to cherry-pick which of your evidence it puts in the bundle. You shouldn't need to send any evidence direct to the tribunal. However, it is evident from what people have written on here that you are not the first to find evidence missing from the bundle.

Good luck with the adjourned hearing.

Hi Marie

The 'appeal bundle' is the entire bundle of papers that appear before the tribunal, including documents sent from the appellant.

The DWP start off the appeal bundle with their arguments to support their decision. The appellant has an opportunity to reply, and this goes straight to the tribunal and added to the bundle. There can even be correspondence between the two parties via the tribunal.

The tribunal is legally independent from the DWP and as you sent the report four times to Tribunals Service, it sounds like incompetence at the TS Administrative Support Centre rather than any DWP intervention.

If you were feeling confident before the hearing, I don't think you should feel any different now. It seems you finally got the evidence in front of the tribunal and they will consider it before the hearing.

Good luck

Derek