DWP have backed out of PIP Appeal?

sleepy1

Hi all, not sure if this is just good news for me or perhaps many others as well who are waiting for a PIP tribunal.

Got a letter today from Tribunal Services saying the Appeals Officer has revised the decision on your case and the new decision is a more favourable one, your appeal has now lapsed.  I thought initially how dare they as I have only sent in a very brief outline of my appeal and not had the chance to submit any further evidence.

Having spoke to someone at TS was told that the appeal has lapsed because the DWP have withdrawn from the case without giving any reason.  Just checked my bank account and have been paid a PIP back payment from when they initially stopped my claim, which puts me back to the same position before they cancelled it.

Not sure why this has happened but it did cross my mind that it might be more to do with this:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/19/esther-mcvey-makes-disability-benefits-u-turn-over-payments

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @sleepy1, great news! Thank you for sharing this with us, and I'm glad your payments have been sorted without having to go through the full appeals process.

missm

great news for you maybe they have started to look at peoples awards again 

janice_in_wonderland

Hi @sleepy1

This is really good news to share and I'm pleased for you to have reached a point of relief it's finally over 

Bw 

sleepy1

Thank you Pippa, it is great news for me as I was dreading the appeal. Not really sunk in yet to be honest and in the back of my mind I'm thinking hmmm how long will it be before the next inquisition!

Hopefully mine is not an isolated case and the same letter will be whinging its way to many others.........Who will no doubt be doing Stan Laurel impressions as we speak 

sleepy1

Hi Janice and Missm, I'm very slow at typing so think your posts may have been missed while doing so, sorry guys.
Yes certainly am relieved (for now) and many thanks for your warm feelings.  As pleased as I am hope its not just me and many others will have some of the same good news.

keira

That's great news. You must be feeling really relieved.

Thanks for sharing that information and as you say hopefully others will be receiving the same letter.

If you don't mind me asking was your appeal for the planning and following journeys descriptor?

sleepy1

Hi Keira, yes very relieved atm.
My appeal was that I was unable to get to the harasssessment centre in time for my appointment......so that could may well come under that descriptor.  Good point!

Had to cancel first appointment because my son who was going to take me was unable to due to work commitments. I asked for a home assessment but was told NO.  Why?  Because you have a son that can take you!  Long story cut short I was unable to plan or execute a simple journey 

keira

Thanks for the reply. Did you just receive your appeal bundle recently?

Matilda

Good news, @sleepy1 !  Even the DWP on this occasion accepted that they had screwed up.

sleepy1

Hello again Keira 
Sorry for late reply, went off to call PIP to get more info but ended up falling asleep and have not long woken. Will try again tomorrow as I want to find out why they decided to drop my case so I can determine if this is an isolated one or if it is some directive being enforced following the DWP backtrack.

In answer to your question, no I did not receive any appeal bundle ( seems it did not get that far) only a letter to say my appeal had been logged.  All I did for the appeal was jot down a few very brief points of why I thought the DWP were wrong to stop my previous award.  Spent most of the weekend shuffling bits of paper around and writing notes to add to my evidence for the appeal.  Then got the letter today to say the appeal had lapsed.

Someone somewhere must know why?


  

sleepy1

Matilda, yes it is good news for me and wanted to share it.  My gut feeling is they are now aware that the system they have put in place is not working and will end up creatining a lot more problems than the ones they sort to resolve.

I just wish I had more energy to do a lot more X rosie

cobra

sleepy1 said:

Hi all, not sure if this is just good news for me or perhaps many others as well who are waiting for a PIP tribunal.

Got a letter today from Tribunal Services saying the Appeals Officer has revised the decision on your case and the new decision is a more favourable one, your appeal has now lapsed.  I thought initially how dare they as I have only sent in a very brief outline of my appeal and not had the chance to submit any further evidence.

Having spoke to someone at TS was told that the appeal has lapsed because the DWP have withdrawn from the case without giving any reason.  Just checked my bank account and have been paid a PIP back payment from when they initially stopped my claim, which puts me back to the same position before they cancelled it.

Not sure why this has happened but it did cross my mind that it might be more to do with this:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/19/esther-mcvey-makes-disability-benefits-u-turn-over-payments

Great news @sleepy1 I'm so pleased for you
Thsnk you for sharing your news

dottydotty

sleepy1   Excellent news for you , Hope yours is  the first of many more good news  posts ..      

sleepy1

Hi Cobra and thanks for highlighting the point I was trying to get across,

Mark Atkinson, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said: “It’s absolutely right that the government has accepted the high court’s ruling over the ‘discriminatory’ changes made to PIP last year. This announcement is a victory for the many disabled people who have been unable to access support they are entitled to.

Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate - sent direct to you

 

Read more

“The regulations introduced last March made crude and unfair distinctions between those with physical impairments and mental health conditions.”

He argued that thousands relied on PIP to live independently and meet “often substantial extra costs” as a result of their condition or impairment.

“While those affected by these misguided changes will now receive the payments they are entitled to, the fundamentally flawed PIP assessment process still needs radically overhauling so it accurately identifies the extra costs disabled people face,” he added. 

Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, Debbie Abrahams, said the government was wrong to bring in the new regulations and ignore the view of the courts “time and time again”.
But she added: “Serious questions remain including: how many people have been adversely affected by the government’s reckless decision to oppose the tribunal’s original judgment? How much public money has been spent on lawyers, trying to defend the indefensible? And how quickly will people with severe mental health conditions receive the support to which they are rightly entitled?

“This is yet more evidence of the duplicity and disarray of the Tories’ social security policies.”

.................................................................................................................................

IMO Mark Atkinson should have the word sir in front of it, but my guess would be he would not give a flying duck about that.

 

sleepy1

Hi everyone and thanks for all your lovely messages.

After speaking to someone at PIP it turns out that they have now reconsidered my case and decided that I should have been entitled to a home visit.  The assessment people will contact me to arrange my interrogation in the next few weeks.  Can't wait ; )

Sorry if I mislead anyone into thinking DWP had started reassessing all the PIP cases they got wrong, I really thought it might have been the start of that but it appears not.

Back on the merry go round again  

dottydotty

sleepy1  good luck with your assessment , keep us posted .

sleepy1

Hi all
Just sending an update.  After being told by someone at DWP my pip appeal had been cancelled because they agreed I should have been allowed a home visit and a letter explaining this was in the post (still not received).  I did however receive a new Award Review form to complete on 14/02/18 soon followed by a new f2f appointment letter for 23/02/18 at an assessment center around 50 mile trip away.

Spoke to someone today at pip and was told the appeal was lapsed by tribunal services because they (DWP) were now able to offer me another assessment and whoever told me it was for a home assessment got it wrong!  Was told they are working with very limited resources and to arrange home visits are very costly and I would need to be able to provide substancial evidence to justify the huge cost involved.  (perhaps if they stopped mucking us all about that might save a bit of money).

Gist of it is last time I could not make it to the assessment center less than a mile away so how do they now think I can get to one 25 miles away, also even if I did manage to complete the new forms they have sent me the assessor would not have that information in time so will only assess me on the same information I give previously, so what is the point?  Answer was our assessors are totally independent and any information you send in to us following the assessment will be looked at by the decision maker.

Fed up of all these lies : (

dottydotty

sleepy1  what an ordeal for you . Is this the new DWP tactics .   I am still awaiting my MR decision , rang PIP  today and they said it could take weeks  even months . I am tempted to just reapply for Pip .Have nothing to lose as have no award in place , they took it away from me . Hope you get your home visit . and  Good luck .

sleepy1

Hi Dotty, thanks for your kind wishes, very much appreciated X

I would seriously think twice before putting in a new claim.  You say you have nothing to lose but from my understanding you certainly do because if you previously had an award that was taken away you will be kissing goodbye to any back payments that you would be entitled to should you have the MR go in your favour or win at an appeal. 

I won my last appeal (in the end) and they had to pay me a large sum that was back dated from when they first stopped it which helped me pay off the debts that I would not have had if they had listened to me and more qualified healthcare people instead of some bonus grabbing toerag from Atos.

I spoke to my decision maker after they took my award away and she kept telling me all you need to do is put in a new claim (insert own swear word).  That's what they want you to do so they can meet targets and collect a bonus from the money you should have got.

Please consider getting more qualified advice before making a new claim as I can only tell you from my own experience and each case will be different.

Love and best wishes Rosie

dottydotty

sleepy1  Thankyou for your advice .. I will await my MR decision and take it from there .  Reason  I was going to reapply now is that  in August  I will reach 65 and  will not be eligble to apply for Pip  . Time is not really on my side .if I lose an appeal  .    Once I reach 65 I can apply for Attendance  Allowance  but I has no mobility attatched to it .  Plus now have rent and council tax debt ,so thinking of quickest way forward . Best wishes .x

CockneyRebel

hi dotty

concentrate on your current claim through MR and appeal.
If you haven't had a result from your appeal you can still put in a new claim in July

CR

dottydotty

 sleepy1   may i ask when does your current award end . I see you have an assessment date . Just wondered what the time scale is . . My  Pip review form arrived last May .and never heard a thing until  December when i got a letter from Capita about a F2F assessment  .  almost a 7 months wait.

dottydotty

CockneyRebel  Thankyou   . I am getting myself  in a spin with not knowing  what to do .. Wil  ltake your advice  and also sleepy1 advice . Focus on  the MR and my Complaint with Capita .  One step at a a time

CockneyRebel

It can be very hard knowing what to do for the best. There is no rush to reapply until you have exhausted the appeals process or are much closer to your 65th. We will  always be here to assist you in any way we can

CR

sleepy1

Good evening Dotty and the Rebel one )))
I can now see why you would be concerned about the timing issues doing a new claim and I don't have enough knowledge to advice you but I would think as Cockney says stick with the one you already have on the go.  I would think if you did put in a new claim they would have to take it from the date they receive it, so hold off for now.

My current award according to the Judge on my appeal ends in July 18  but apparently dwp are entitled to do a review at anytime irrespective of any court ruling.  The review forms were sent to me in June 17,  I sent them back with no change for most of the questions even though things had got a lot worse, was too ill and could not be bothered with all the hassle of gathering more evidence and had read on another site that was the best thing to do.

On this latest adventure in to the unknown was told by dwp it would probably be at best 8 weeks before I would hear anything about a home visit THEN a few days later get a letter for an appointment for a f2f  25 miles away this week. 

So that is the time scale Dotty from my end.  I won't be going to anymore of these bullshit assessments, hugs rosie

englishrose

Make sure that any phone calls from DWP  or you to them that you get a name as I have had the bad experience of getting advice, finding out it was wrong and because I couldn't remember the name of the person was basically told I had made it up and the DWP wasn't interested in my complaint. Honestly there is absolutely no such thing as good customer service - just annoying customers!!

dottydotty

sleepy1 Thankyou for the reply . I wish you the best of luck with your assessment .   Yes my age is against me but as  CockneyRebel  has wisely stated  hang on a bit longer and reapply later on n the year. The DWP have no strict guidelines that I can find it just says apply before 65 years of age  so i will wait a bit longer . My award should have ended in June so will bear that date in mind , as if lucky it may get reinstated until then .  It is unbelievable how much stress can be caused by a simple 35 minute assessment , it creates havoc and sleepless nights . Again  best of luck for your assessment .

dottydotty

CockneyRebel  Thankyou .for the advice . .

dottydotty

englishrose   Thanks for the advice  . Trouble is I have hearing loss so don't always catch the name . But have logged my calls dates and times.