very frightened

greennoah

hello, i have long term issues and had had dla high rate care and low rate mobility for about 20 years ,not really sure where to turn feeling very scared, i have severe mental health issues and mobility  problems. i had to go for the atos appointment 2 years ago and was awarded high care and low mobility , award was for 5 years , then less than a year later had to apply for pip , was awarded no mobility and standard care , appealed was turned down flat so my carer found a solicitor who helped us appeal to a tribunal , and i won my case i was awarded enhanced care and enhanced mobility , (my mobility has worsened a lot in the last ten years), it took a year to get to this point , now i receive a truly frightening letter from dwp saying they have requested a statement of reasons to see if they wish to appeal the decision , i won my case on the 27th june 2017 , now its the 26th july 2017 , all of this has made my condition so much worse and is still ongoing , im a mess, thankfully my carer is my partner and he looks after me 24 hours a day , otherwise not sure i would still be here , i am at complete breaking now , i really cant take any more , has any one else has this and when can i expect this to end and what will happen now , i am feeling suicidal 

Matilda

@greennoah

I understand that DWP often ask for an SOR with a view to appealing - but in practice they rarely have grounds for appeal as the first tier tribunal rarely makes an error of law.  So I wouldn't be too worried.

wildlife

@greennoah Please do not worry. You have received a standard letter that everyone winning their tribunal receives and it is worded very badly. The facts are that the DWP cannot appeal your award decision. They can only appeal if the decision was made incorrectly according to the law governing PIP claims. This is just a threat made by them because they do have the right to appeal on a point of law but this is very rare as judges and tribunal panels know what they are doing. They only have 28 days from when they receive the Statement of Reasons to appeal, then the appeal has to be accepted, then they have to win the appeal so all in all not an easy thing for them to do. Please stop worrying and enjoy the fact your appeal was successful. Best wishes to you..X
 

Liam_Alumni

Hi @greennoah,

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you're having. We have a few discussions about requests for a Statement of Reasons and what this means in the community before, which might be useful for you. I've also moved this post into our Ask a Benefits Advisor category, where @BenefitsTrainingCo may be able to offer some more information and support about what SORs mean.

You mention that you're feeling suicidal. If you are having thoughts of suicide, it is important that you discuss them with someone who is qualified to help. Please call the Samaritans on 116 123 (free) or email them at jo@samaritans.org

You might also benefit from reading MIND’s information on how you can help yourself:

http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/suicidal-feelings/how-can-i-help-myself/

If you feel that you may be an immediate danger to yourself, please call 999 or go to your local hospital right away.

Matilda

Not everyone who wins a tribunal appeal receives a DWP letter stating that they are going to ask for an SOR - I didn't.  I don't know what the percentage is for SOR requests - I'd be interested to know - but I think that SORs are more likely to be requested in mental health cases than in purely physical cases.

mossycow

The most important thing I think I'd you are having a bad time and right now you need to survive it. You can't kick it in the nuts otherwise! 

I have been where you are and a few years later things feel much better. 

Whatever letters they send, you have won the appeal. But it will always have a small degree of uncertainty. I sometimes say to myself "even if you were earning millions you could still be sacked or sued or something" it's just a hard part of being alive. 

You sound like you have coped through the hardest bits. I suspect it will take time to realise this means you have won and that it will get better to cope with. 

The dudes writing these letters are just random in suits doing what they're told. It's not a personal attack. You deal with **** everyday I bet and this as I said above is just something else to kick in the balls..... 

greennoah

thanks , im feeling a bit better now , i just feel like im bullied by them really , i feel like the government would like all disabled to put to death to save money, im trying so hard to improve my health physical and mental health , but with this still hanging over me im not making any progress really, i had a brief respite from the stress when i won the appeal then, then just hit the floor again with this dreadful letter , which they must know frightens the life out of people , i think they are actively trying to kill me by giving me too much stress to cope so i kill myself and they have saved themselves lots of money

BenefitsTrainingCo

@greennoah,

Please don't be frightened by this!!!

Firstly, @Matilda is right in saying that the DWP request a statement of reasons fairly frequently, but far less frequently take it any further - they could only do so on an error of law, not simply because they disagree with the decision.

Secondly, think about the worst case scenario, they do appeal, and you have to go to another Tribunal - it's not ideal I grant you, but not worth getting stressed about.

A tribunal who seriously know what they're on about has decided that you have won. Concentrate on that for now, and if the DWP do appeal, just wait it out, and you're likely to end up with the same result in any event.

Keep us posted, and if you get anything further through that's confusing or worrying you, know that we're here!

Kind regards,

Mary

Justice

@Greennoah . I agree with what all of the others have said. From what I have read on here they do send these letters out with alarming regularity. It is not personal, but in my opinion they should not do this it causes People so much extra stress and worry. You won your appeal so very well done on that. They can as others have said only appeal on a point of law. In  reality it would be very unusual for them to win an appeal under these circumstances. 
Your main priority now is YOU. Get some support if you can ( Plenty of emotional, and practical support right here on Scope). Don't let them get you down, I know it seems right now that you are in a big hole with a broken rope ladder, but soon someone is going to throw a brand new one down to you tied tightly to the top, and you will come out shining. 
Please keep in touch with us, we are all here for one another.

Justice

@ Mossycow. LOVE your attitude :-)

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi greennoah,

You will receive a copy of the statement of reasons at the same as the DWP, and they will only have one calendar month in which to request a set aside so you will know when their time has run out. I have been a Welfare Rights Officer for 11 years, and I haven't had any cases where the DWP have successfully overturned a tribunal's decision that has gone in favour of the claimant, because it's so hard to find an error in law in a judge's decision. Please stop worrying about it, it's not worth it! Good luck! 

Lee

greennoah

thank-you so much , it helps a lot , its been a real struggle to get out of bed of late , but im going for small walks in my garden , trying to build my strength back up a bit and just trying to not get too low, i really dont know what the government hope to achieve by doing any of this , i said to the solicitor who helped its like say if you had an open wound and some has a dirty old stick and they keep poiking it in the wound and asking " is it better yet ? it is better hows the would ? not sure we believe you about the wound " poke poke poke
and im saying " well it was a little better and improving but then you kept poking a stick with dirt on in the wound and now its much worse and infected will take longer to get better , i can rest and get better when you just wont stop poking me , it was starting to heal but now....."
its counterproductive , just causing harm for no reason 

rosie55

It's an horrible stressful wait.my tribunal was beginning on July and got the dreaded letter asking for sor .still waiting on them cuming through . Hopefully hear something soon x

ourtyler

I am disabled now for 7 years before this I worked in housing benefits and sometimes we have to ask things that sadly will cause stress but there is nothing we can do it is policy's that we have to follow but there are so many good people working in benefits and it is never personal so yes you get a few that are cold and not caring but sadly these people are every were you go I have learnt that since becoming disabled but please focus on you and your future and I promise you there are a lot of good caring people who do their best to help and wish you no harm x

wildlife

@ourtyler So where are the good caring people? I hear what you are saying but many people would disagree with you from their own personal experiences especially of the PIP process. To be fair I would distinguish here between DWP staff and those who work for the private companies doing the actual assessments or over seeing those people. Many of these are only in it for the money and don't care what they have to do to keep their jobs. Everyone I spoke to at DWP even the Decision Makers were empathic and anxious to get things right but unfortunately their job requires them to take the word of assessors who are trained to not see people as human just as a statistic. Everyone is different and I'm sure there are good and bad people in both organizations but the present system encourages benefit staff to be uncaring, inefficient as regards getting the award correct and disrespectful. The criteria to be eligible for Housing Benefit is much clearer being means tested. So there isn't the same opportunity for staff to lie and cheat people as it does not depend on the opinions of the staff as to whether or not you're entitled to claim. Good caring people usually leave the assessment companies as soon as they realize how they have to treat people but there are plenty of others willing to take their place and so it goes on. 

greennoah

yes , the atos company got a bonus for every one they managed to knock off DLA, there was more than a few cases of disabled people and their partner/carer committing suicide , because of the pressure they were under from government instead of helping the most vulnerable in society this government is treating them criminals