tribunal how long does it take

nicholafitzpatrick1

hi how long does it take once the tribunal and court have your application someone said 2/4 weeks?

CockneyRebel

has your appeal been accepted ?

nicholafitzpatrick1

not yet but our doctor emailed information too, really praying he gets it!

CockneyRebel

If you have appealed to the tribunal the first thing will be a letter to say that your appeal has been accepted. The DWP will then have 28 days to prepare their bundle and you will receive a copy. You should then prepare and send in your submission

nicholafitzpatrick1

yes had the acceptance letter 2 weeks ago. And the citizens advice emailed me the form to fill out and highlight what activities we think the decision is wrong and the way to word it. And our doctor emailed the court backing my partner up on his disability.I was told 75% of appeals get overturned so fingers crossed!

CockneyRebel

The next thing will be a big bundle of paperwork from the DWP with all the evidence which is their submission to the court. They have 28 days to do this. When you recieve this you must check it to make sure that all your evidence is included. You must then prepare your submission ( with the help of CAB if possible). This you send to the court. If you have opted for an oral hearing, one that you are going to attend to give evidence, the court will write to you giving you a date. Currently, depending where you live, this could be 6-7 months. If you have asked for a paper based hearing it may be quicker but you will not get a date as they slot them in when they can. Oral hearings statistically have a 65% succes rate with paper based slightly less.  

Matilda

@nicholafitzpatrick1

Can I just clarify whether this is a PIP or ESA appeal?  I don't know anything about ESA - but I won a very good PIP Tribunal award recently so I could give you a lot of info about the latter.

lulubell

Hi all , I'm awaiting esa tribunal appeal date , so far I've been waiting 21 weeks for a oral appeal . In the meantime I'm receiving no benefits

CockneyRebel

Have you rung the tribunal ? they should be able to give you an idea when your hearing will be

cath61

Hi Matilda could you give me the information you have on your appeal ... Mine is ESA but i might be able to use the information you have 
thank you 
cath61 

Matilda

@nicholafitzpatrick1

Below is what I posted right after my Tribunal Hearing.  Hope it helps.

"Had my Hearing today and have been awarded enhanced daily living and enhanced mobility; indefinite award.

Tips?   Have your wits about you and be prepared for a grilling; and have thorough medical evidence even if it's not recent.

The only medical evidence I had was the DWP doctor's report and my GP's report from 1998 (both very thorough) when I was awarded DLA highest rates both components indefinitely.

The other two tribunal members weren't too bad - but the doctor asked some probing questions.  Asked for how long I could walk (time).  The Atos assessor asked that, too.  Although of course PIP points are supposed to be awarded for distance, not time (or so I thought).

Doc also asked how did I know I could only walk 20 yards?  Had I ever measured it?  I replied no, it was an estimate based on experience of distances.

The judge, doctor (as well as the Atos assessor) all seemed to think that ability to drive indicates a low level of disability.  Which is nonsense.  What's the point of Motability, then?  And many disabled people would be housebound without a car.  

I only take two, maybe three, round trips of 12 miles or less a week; I find driving long distances tiring.  I wouldn't advise any claimant to state that they do a lot of driving, especially longer distances."

Read more at https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/33823/pip-tribunal-decision#OWEMRRhCFdMLkFsm.99

lixsharp13

Hi ive been waiting since june for a daye for my hearing. Ive had a copy of the dwp s response and got some more evidence from my gp. Ive since been in hospital and my condition is worse. Should i write to them and include my evidence or wait for the hearing date?  Thanks everyone

Matilda

@lixsharp13

The Tribunal are only allowed to consider how your disabilities were at the time of the assessment not as they are now, even if they have got worse.

CockneyRebel

If the evidence from your GP relates to your condition at the time of assessment then you should send it. If it relates to a later condition then you should hold it for next review or new claim.
Have you rung the tribunal clerk for an update on waiting times in your area ?

CR

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @nicholafitzpatrick1

As the community above have indicated, there is no fixed timescale, and it does vary geographically, but roughly, its around 2-3 weeks for the Tribunal to log the initial appeal, another month or so for the DWP to prepare the bundle, and another 4-6 months for the hearing date. Citizens Advice have some very useful info on their website https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

@lulubell - I presume your ESA appeal related to a fail to attend an appointment/return a form/change of condition? for an ordinary 'didn't score enough points' ESA appeal you can receive 'appeal rate' ESA once your appeal is logged if you have a sick note...?

@lixsharp13 - @Matilda is right in saying that the Tribunal are only allowed to consider you as you were at the date of the DWP decision under appeal - this means that deteriorations in health cannot be considered, and sometimes can be harmful to appeals in that if the Tribunal feels you only just meet the criteria now, they may assume you would not have at the time since you state you were significantly better. If the deterioration is significant you could think about making a new claim on this basis as well as the appeal.

Hope this is of assistance.

Kind regards,

Mary

Peachy

I've waited 6 months for my appeal, I should have gone on the 9th January but it as been cancelled because they put me on the wrong list and didn't have a Doctor. any body got any Idea how long I'll wait and how to prepare for the tribunal. Thanks

mikehughescq

Once you have lodged an appeal there is in fact no deadline for an appeal bundle to be produced. There was a 90 day figure used in guidance but it's largely ignored. At present appeal bundles are being produced if not quickly then at least relatively quickly. The big delay is in listing. This is because there is a shortage of medical professionals and fee paid judges and a general mess on the admin. side as you'd be hard pressed to find an organisation so administratively backward than HMCTS. Ordinarily they list one quarter ahead - so normally they'd be booking in appeals for January to March at the start of December. Suffice to say I've just been made aware that locally they're only just getting around to listing February in the 3rd week of January. 

Whilst it is true to say that evidence of deterioration after the date of claim can go against you (see the comments from the BTC above) it's also important to say that this does not rule out more recent evidence if in fact it casts further light as to what you were like on your date of claim. So, for example, if your date of claim was January 2017 and you now had a report dated January 2018 which suggests you've got worse, it may still be helpful if it infers or suggests that you have had some or most of your symptoms going back to well before January 2017.

A delay between getting the papers and getting listed is generally welcome as it gives you an opportunity to gather further evidence and secure representation. It's not automatically a bad thing.