phone call from the tribunal services

Hi All, I have just heard from a friend of mine who suffers with the same disease as i do. He was going to his tribunal for ESA today but got a call at 10 am telling him that they had looked at his paperwork and decided he has passed without having to attend his tribunal.
Its nice to hear something positive for a change. Just my turn next
sue

This is good news if he is put into the group he was hoping for. Fingers crossed that he has been.

Best wishes,
Rachel

Hi Sue,

This seems to be happening quite often now.

In recent months the Tribunals Service has been allowing DWP and Atos staff
in to their offices to look at cases which had previously been turned down by
DWP Decision Makers.

It's questionable whether or not this practise is lawful, but if it leads to ESA being granted without the need to go to appeal, then I don't think appellants will complain.

I am still in the process of discovering if the practice of allowing DWP and Atos staff to access Tribunals Service records is lawful, but the consensus of opinion amongst moderators is that it's not, so it's a kind of 'catch 22' situation.

We will of course keep members updated in our regular Newsletter.

Good luck with your case.

Kind regards.

Jim

The point appellants should bear in mind is that if the number of successful appeals is made smaller by this practice then it makes the DWP's overall figures look good. They will no doubt suggest this amounts to further justification of the entire shambolic and unjust testing procedure itself. This is very much a two-edge sword.