Appealing the date of backdated payments

emmajayne77

This discussion was created from comments split from: Won appeal but DWP say may be appealing tribunal decision.

emmajayne77

Hi... sorry if this is the wrong place to pop this , I am new to this site ...
I have a son who has autism , he is nearly 6, I applied for mobility March 2016 , it was refused , I then applied again in 2017, was refused again, but I appealed ..was refused and then proceeded to tribunal , 
On the morning of the tribunal 19th march 2018, I received a call saying I didn't have to attend that the decision had been over turned , I then received a letter from the courts stating my son had been awarded higher rate from March 2016 , amazing ...
Yesterday I received a call stating they are putting some of the backdated money into the account this week but only back to October 2017, and are writing to the judge to request a reason why it's been backdated to march 2016 ...
Has anyone any experience with an appeal of the date 

Thank you 

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @emmajayne77, and welcome to the community!

Thanks for sharing this with us. Many of our community members are knowledgeable about these kind of issues, so I wonder if @mikehughescq could advise? 

mikehughescq

A hugely controversial area. On the one hand DWP can suspend entitlement if they believe a question has arisen about it. That can and does get used to suspend in a wide variety of circumstances. On the other hand the tribunal decision is the only one currently in existence and should be honoured in full until it ceases to exist. The only way you can get them to shift on this is by issuing a letter before action and backing that up with action from a solicitor of needed. You don’t need a solicitor to do an LBA and there are plenty of good examples on t’internet. In theory DWP, like you, only have the option of writing for a statement of reasons and the record of proceedings. In practice they often seek to bypass what can be a slow process by writing a letter to query. No legal basis for it but they seem to get away with it repeatedly. Either way it could be some time before they get anything back and even longer before they decide whether to apply for a set aside or leave to appeal to upper tribunal so you can’t afford to wait. You need to issue an LBA ASAP. I’m going to be blunt again and say you should ignore all advice to talk to your MP; lodge a complaint blah blah blah. Only a letter before action will get them to sit up and take notice. You shouldn’t need to go to court but if you did you’d have a claim for the money; loss of interest etc.

emmajayne77

Hi ... and thank you for the advice ...
Will start my research for an lba ...
Thank you again

emmajayne77

Hi
So I received a letter that the judge has changed the date to August 17 ... so I have now been advised to ask the judge for a statement of reasons ..  
I contacted the tribunal services and we told they are only allowed to comment on point 1 ..which was the appeal is allowed, which apparently means it's gone in my favour ..???
Welfare rights have said they can not help any further as it is now legal ..hmmm 
Any advise would be appreciated..

Thank you  

mikehughescq

It’s being suggested that you appeal to the upper tribunal, which is on an error of law only and for which you initially need a statement of reasons and Recife of proceedings.

emmajayne77

Oh brill ...thats what I thought the procedure was ... 
I don't think what they have done is illegal ,but feel it's a great way of getting out of paying a years worth of benefit 
Going to give it a go and see where it gets me ...
Thank you