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Hello positivitygoing1
Firstly, there may be a delay in your appeal case as from what you have posted the tribunal have requested copies of your medical records. It will take time to make this request, time for the GP to respond and then time for papers be sent to the tribunal members.
You will know when the tribunal service has sent the papers out to the tribunal members as you will receive a copy of your medical records at the same time. When this evidence is received then it maybe that your case is ready to list for a hearing. However, I am sorry to state, that there is currently a delay in listing appeals in some arrears of the country due to the high number of appeals. If you are in one of these papers then there may be a further delay in getting a decision made on your case.
You could make your local MP aware of the delays in your case. As even if this does not change the length of time you have to wait, it may be good for an MP to know the lengthy delays in getting a case decided, and also know about discrepancies in medical assessment reports.
You mentioned that you sent some of your medical records/forms to the tribunal. It may be that the tribunal want to see all of your records for a past period to help them make an informed decision on your appeal case.
A tribunal requesting copies of medical notes DOES NOT mean that you are more likely to lose your appeal case. It just shows that the tribunal want to make a fair decision and they must believe that requesting your notes will enable them to make this fair and informed decision.
You also mentioned that you have requested a paper hearing, is this correct? I ask as when comparing the success rate of a paper hearing against appeals where a person attends, the chances of success are much higher when a claimant attends the hearing. You can request that your appeal be changed to an oral hearing that is an appeal that you attend.
If it is a paper hearing this may also be why a tribunal have requested your medical notes, that is, as they cannot ask you any questions about your condition they may rely on your medical notes to answer any queries.
As you are aware PIP is points based system with (generally) a person having to score at least 8 points to claim PIP. The points come from a list of descriptors, such as how far you can walk. It is therefore important to establish which descriptors you would score points on. Scope has a section explaining PIP, and the link is below:
http://www.scope.org.uk/support/disabled-people/benefits/personal-independence-payment-pip
Good luck, and please post back with any further queries.
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