Pip appeal in court

keepsmiling218

Hello all.
My pip was stopped in September 2017 following a face 2 face with asos, I felt so degraded having to hear my assessor tell me she suffered from fibromyalgia, yet she can do and manage with the symptoms that I struggle with. I'm sure no mention of her personal health shod have been compared to mine. 
I have taken it to appeal, and now almost 1 year later I still haven't got a hearing date. Is this the norm?

wilko

@ keepsmiling218, hello and welcome, having to wait so long with out any information regarding your appeal is and must be a stressful time. I would contact DWP to enquire about what the situation is over your appeal having not heard or received antsy information to a date for the appeal. Keep posting others will have more to say.

poppy123456

It wouldn't be the DWP you need to contact about this, it will be the Tribunal, you'll need your reference number when you ring them. Tribunal waiting times for some areas are as long as 1 year. Give them a call tomorrow and they'll tell you approx how much longer it will be. Are you appearing in person or did you ask for a paper based decision?

Yadnad

keepsmiling218 said:

Hello all.
My pip was stopped in September 2017 following a face 2 face with asos, I felt so degraded having to hear my assessor tell me she suffered from fibromyalgia, yet she can do and manage with the symptoms that I struggle with. I'm sure no mention of her personal health shod have been compared to mine. 
I have taken it to appeal, and now almost 1 year later I still haven't got a hearing date. Is this the norm?

 

For a start the assessor's report is certainly not a finding of fact. It is an opinion of what they feel is the truth instead of what the claimant is saying.

She probably does have that condition but it is not right that she should voice it to you. However she would be best placed to give an opinion on how that condition would affect someone. She can only relate to her own situation which may or may not be the same as someone else.

Sam_Alumni

How are you getting on @keepsmiling218 ?

fossoux

Your assessor (HCP) should not have brought her personal situation to bear on your assessment; that is irrelevant, as even if she suffers the same disability, the effects can affect people very differently. It’s now common practice for Assessors to lie/ invent things that weren’t seen or heard during assessment!! You should complain to the body that organised the assessment (Atos/ Maximus etc). Request a Mandatory Reconsiderstion and if things are not changed, appeal to the first tier tribunal and mention the lies/ untruths. It’s a very sad state of affairs when assessors need to lie but it has become usual.

Colino

My case in Derbyshire went to  the appeal  court in May 2018, 
I  phoned the courts  in August and was told that because of so many appeals date would be around May 2019 , so I got my doctor and cpn to write to the appeals court to ask for it to be brought forward due to the stress it was causing me and making me worse , it worked  I received a letter giving me a court date of 14th Jan 2019,   And I won now im just waiting for the back payments and been told that can take 4-6 weeks , that is a joke , they stopped the payments quick enough , but paying out different story 

freckles

Hi keep smiling i got onto my MP and told her that i had to wait 56 weeks for my appeal hearing it was suppose to be in march but with her help its now been brought forward to next week so get hold of your MP

Colino

good luck  freckles 

Yadnad

fossoux said:

......appeal to the first tier tribunal and mention the lies/ untruths. It’s a very sad state of affairs when assessors need to lie but it has become usual.

A Tribunal will not be interested in what lies that may or may not have been put in the report. Likewise the DWP will generally also not be interested - they will almost in every case accept the report as being best evidence available.

fossoux

Despite what Yadnad has said, you should ALWAYS mention to any appellate body, whether that be a DM when asking for a MR, or to any tribunal panel, any lies that are told by those undertaking assessments for benefit entitlements.  If you do not mention these unforgiveable lies, you thereby accept them as being true.  It matters not what weight is attached to the information but as a whole it sets a picture of the credibility of those writing those reports.  Good luck
to you all applying and/ or appealing.

Yadnad

fossoux said:

Despite what Yadnad has said, you should ALWAYS mention to any appellate body, whether that be a DM when asking for a MR, or to any tribunal panel, any lies that are told by those undertaking assessments for benefit entitlements.  If you do not mention these unforgiveable lies, you thereby accept them as being true.  It matters not what weight is attached to the information but as a whole it sets a picture of the credibility of those writing those reports.  Good luck
to you all applying and/ or appealing.

Yet elsewhere on this site we are told that a Tribunal for example would not be accepting an assessors report in any event if the claimant was able to prove his own claim - Tribunals generally take the view that the assessment report is nonsense and you have no need to prove that.

poppy123456

I have to completely agree with yadnad at time. The Tribunal and DWP are not interested in any lies told in the report. What you should do instead in concentrate on where you should have scored those points and your reasons why.

fossoux

I suppose everyone will have their opinion and you’re entirely free to agree or disagree with what’s written. However, please, don’t for a second think that bringing assessors’ lies to the attention of any tribunal or DM would be the only point offered; of course the whole of One’s appeal would centre around exactly how One’s disability impact and affect One’s life and also where the descriptors were not correctly applied in terms of points scired by the assessor.  I have personally been through the process and proffered information regarding blatant lies written by the assessor which were considered fully.  Best to offer such information rather than not at all even if some think it unimportant.  As I said, good luck to all going through this.