My tribunal experience

pippycc

Hi am Christine am 48. Am new on here so i hope i have done this correctly. I was on DLA but decided to apply for pip as was diagnosed with cancer. Non hodgkin lymphoma stage 4 low grade though its in my groin my abdomen the armpit and my bone marrow. On what they call watchful waiting. I also have fibro cfs and degenerative spine in neck and back also arthritis and other conditions that effect every day of my life. Had my assessment and received standard daily.  Put in the MR but wasnt excepted. Then went to 1st tier tribunal and won standard on both. I was happy with that but was disappointed to see the Judge wrote i stay in bed because am not ill but because i have no were to go. So i was granted to go to upper tribunal as i wanted that comment with the paperwork not to be available as i was disappointed by it. The upper tribunal was aware of this but they also took away my standard mobility.  And awarded the standard daily till August this year.  To say am heart broken to say the least. All i ever wanted was the lie removed. Am aware what upper tribunal says that it is the final word but can i do anything else can i take them to court.

freckles

I dont think the dwp want to reconise serious illnesses

janice_in_wonderland

I don't think they're interested in anything except how day to day life is affected 

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

pippycc

Hi Ella my cancer nurse said she can only state what cancer i have she can not say or mention my other conditions as am under another hospital with those conditions. She can only state that the fatigue MAY be connected to the cancer. When she knows and i know it is. Its a shame when not even she will help. I can contact McMillan in charing cross hospital to make appointment with McMillan benefits advisor but i carnt travel 40 miles with no lift available to me. Its a sad world we live in.

pippycc

I do hope you are feeling much better now.x

Pippa_Alumni

I'm so sorry to hear about your situation @pippycc, I can't imagine how frustrating this must have been for you. If you need any support or advice going forwards, just let us know.

Matilda

@pippycc

I suggest you re-post in Ask a benefits advisor to ask what you can do next.

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @pippycc/ @Matilda, I've moved this over for you now so no need to repost, hopefully an advisor will be in touch soon.

pippycc

Thank you Pippa. X

BenefitsTrainingCo

pippycc,
Christine, I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. To go further than the upper tribunal (UT) by yourself would be very difficult. You would really have to have the support of a very experienced welfare rights adviser or a lawyer. You can only do it if the UT made an error of law. Also, to appeal further there must be an important principle of law at stake, or some other compelling reason. 

The UT should have given good reasons for its decision and explained why it changed your award. That is one principle (explaining a change) which is important, but it has already been established at Upper Tribunal so I would be very surprised if your UT hadn't explained their reasons. Perhaps there is another principle or something else important there, but someone experienced needs to look at the decision for you to see if there is. You would definitely need advice about going any further and it may be that a lawyer would say it won't work. That means you wait until August (or just before) and hope to get mobility back when you reapply/are reassessed. 

It might be worth ringing the Scope helpline to see if there's a law centre or disability information centre which can help. I realise you're may find travelling to see an adviser a problem, so maybe someone can come to you. 

To get permission to appeal you have to write to the UT within three months of being sent written notice of the decision, and you have to state what error of law you think they made (clearly) and what result you are seeking. So you can see why that is something you need help with. When you seek permission, the UT can review its decision, particularly if they overlooked a legal principle they should have followed. It's very hard to know without looking at your decision if they did miss something like this though.

I hope you are able to get some help to check your decision and decide whether to do anything now or wait until the summer when you'll have to think about your next award.

Will