to appeal or not to appeal, that is the question

Suep283

Hi, My husband suffers with GAD, Depression, OA & Fibromyalgia. He has had his PIP. We were lucky and he been granted standard for both mobility and daily living. 
We asked for MR and listed the reasons. This has been refused, so now we are considering appealing. 
for Mixing with other people, he scored 2 as he was able to converse with the Capita assessor, who conducted the assessment in our home and I was present for most of it. Due to his mental health he will rarely leave the house. He will not engage in conversations with anyone other than professionals to do with his conditions. He will actively avoid situations which would result in having to converse with people. Even close family he will try and avoid (his parents and our children) I could go on. But basically he will not leave the house without me.
He scored 0 for making budget decisions as he has a credit card and has set up reminders on his phone, prompted by me to organise as the statements are 4 weekly and we do not want to miss a payment and be charged. He purchases on the card, but has little consideration of whether we can actually afford to repay the purchase. 
And planning and following a journey he scored 4 as we said that he will look at the sat nav on his phone if i ask him to if i am lost. As per the above- he does not leave the house without me and takes no solo journeys. I plan the route for the various medical trips. 

For the appeal we will need evidence. Might we have a case? and if so how do we get evidence for these types of things? 
Also we think we'd do better with an advocate, but where would we find one? We have no money to pay one. We do not have enough to pay our household bills. Do any charities provide them?

I work 24 hours so we can not get ESA, he can't get it on contributions as in the last tax year he got carers allowance, which doesn't contribute that type of NI. And I work too many hours for him to get it on income based. we can't get working tax credits as I do less than 30 hours. Between a Rock and a hard place comes to mind! 

Has anyone else appealed on these points?
Advice, help anything appreciated. 

CockneyRebel

Hi sue and welcome

It is not unusual for MR's to not change anything.
Tribunals are independant and should veiw all the evidence without the bias of the DWP
Appeals have a much greater success rate but can also take points away.
How many points did your OH receive for each component ?
If he only received the bare minimum ie. 8 points you have no buffer.
What evidence dis you supply ?
Have you submitted supporting evidence from GP or other specialists ?
You can submit testimony from any friends or familly that know your OH

It is important to understand the points system, the descriptors and the criteria for an award

CR

 

Suep283

Hi CR,
thanks for your reply.
He scored :- Daily living - 10 points and Mobility :- 8 points.
I know they had evidence from specialist re the Fibro and may have had info from Drs, not sure. But nothing else i don't imagine re the MH side of things as there isn't really any. He has been on a CBT course through the Dr, but apart from his medication he is on nothing else through the GP. Suggesting that next time he sees the GP to ask to be referred for more CBT for more evidence. 
We only have a small family, most of whom I don't think really understand his H behavior, so I'm not sure we could rely on them to write supporting evidence. (We only have his parents and our children, none of whom live locally) 

yeah, i think he and I both have difficulty understanding the descriptors.

CockneyRebel

It is unlikely that they will have contacted your GP
You don' have to provide more evidence for an appeal, but a letter of support from your GP will help. If possible it should be specific to to your OH difficulties.

if you haven't done so there is some excellent advice on here and on the B&W site
A good starting place to start understanding is the self test

 http://www.mybenefitsandwork.co.uk/pip/indexxx.php

Please come back with any questions and we will try and help

CR