DLA Evidence In PIP Appeals

keira

My brother is appealing the short length of his PIP award due to his long standing medical conditions . The DWP stated in their submission to the Tribunal that he didn't ask for his DLA evidence to be taken into account when he originally made his phone claim to PIP. However, the telephone operator did not ask him if he wanted his DLA evidence taken into account? In the DWP bundle there is no evidence that he was asked this question. Where does this leave him as far as his appeal is concerned?

CockneyRebel

Hi keira

Is your brother only appealing the award length ?

CR

keira

Hi CR,

No, he is appealing another issue too. However, the statement re the DLA evidence is only cited in their reasons for not giving a longer award and is not mentioned anywhere else in their submission.

CockneyRebel

Hi keira

If your brother has DLA evidence that is fairly recent then it will be a good idea to submit this for his appeal

CR

keira

Thanks but the DLA evidence is not recent. Also, I didn't realise that DLA evidence was relevant as it is a different benefit with different criteria.

CockneyRebel

If the DLA evidence is not recent/relevant then you need to concentrate on showing that he meets the criteria for the challenge. Long term DLA may have been of use as to length of award and likely prospects

CR

keira

If DLA evidence can help in some cases then they need to advertise this more widely. Not just say someone didn't ask for it to be used when making their phone claim to PIP and then they can't even produce any evidence of this!

CockneyRebel

Hi keira

A recent post by @Username_removed mentioned the possible benefit but I can't find the post at the moment

CR

keira

Thanks CR. Hopefully @Username_removed can give his advice regarding this.

Matilda

The only medical evidence I submitted for my PIP appeal was the DWP doctor's report and my GP's report from 1998 when I first claimed DLA, my PIP appeal Hearing taking place some 19 years later.  The tribunal placed a lot of weight in this old medical evidence; however, I do have a condition that can never improve.  So, old medical evidence is likely to be accepted if at the time you had a condition that cannot get better.

keira

@Username_removed

Could you possibly offer any advice regarding this matter please.

keira

Username_removed said:

Very simple. In view of the assertion that DLA evidence was not requested you 

1) Post the evidence to HMCTS and ask for its inclusion in the appeal papers. Don’t tell them what it is. Just write a letter advising that this is further evidence for inclusion. This won’t be refused. It’ll then be up to the tribunal as to what weight they give to that.

2) Make a separate request headed “Request for a direction” and ask for a judge to direct the DWP to include the PIP 1 as

a) it ought to be in every set of appeal papers.’
b) DWP need to evidence their assertion the answer to the DLA questujn was no.

HOWEVER, it is naive to think that any of the above will automatically tip a PIP decision your way. You need to identify the specific points to be scored and identify the more recent evidence to support that, especially anecdotal examples of daily living and mobility issues.

Thanks Mike,

Would it make any difference to the tribunal if the the PIP1 proved that they did/didn't ask my brother if he wanted his DLA evidence used as this is the only reason the DWP have given for not giving him a longer PIP award?

keira

Username_removed said:

If you can get the DLA evidence into the appeal papers then job done anyway. 

He doesn't have the evidence and it's not recent anyway.

Just one more thought, he never received his invitation to claim PIP as they sent it to the wrong address so it was after his DLA stopped that he rang to claim. So it must be this phone call they are talking about and stating that during this he didn't ask for his old DLA evidence to be used. Does any of this make a difference?

keira

Username_removed said:

There’s no way of knowing what difference it would make but having read that I would say ask for directions re: the PIP 1 abs explain why.

My brother has already highlighted to the tribunal that there is no evidence from DWP of being asked about DLA evidence (he didn't mention about not receiving the pip invitation). Should he still do as you have stated above?

keira

keira said:

Username_removed said:

There’s no way of knowing what difference it would make but having read that I would say ask for directions re: the PIP 1 abs explain why.

My brother has already highlighted to the tribunal that there is no evidence from DWP of being asked about DLA evidence (he didn't mention about not receiving the pip invitation). Should he still do as you have stated above?

keira

Username_removed said:

Yes. It takes the decision as to whether to listen to the point out of the hands if the tribunal. 

I'm sorry but I don't quite understand what you mean? Could you possibly elaborate?