court date and pip evidence- do I send before I go?

Disabilityjustice

Hi I’ve been waiting for a tribunal date for pip for what seems for ever, my original date of claim is 10 jan 2017 is this an acceptable time to wait seems far too long for me. I’ve tried ringing the court and they just say there’s no date yet and as nobody who I speak to can give an answer do I need to send off evidence before I go or bring it on the day? 

poppy123456

Hi,

Tribunal waiting times for a lot of areas are 1 year and for some, it's even longer than this, from the time of your Tribunal request. Any further evidence should be sent to arrive no longer than 10 days before the hearing date. Good luck.

Pippa_Alumni

Welcome to the community, @Disabilityjustice. I hope the above advice helps, and in the meantime you may be interested in Scope's guidance on DWP appeals to help you prepare too. Fingers crossed you get your date soon!

Disabilityjustice

Hi thanks for your input @Pippa_Scope @poppy123456  such an awful situation to be in, as many others. People keep telling me start a new claim as starting to struggle and symptoms of my brain tumour are getting worse, it’s getting harder to work just hope it’s soon! Apparently it doesn’t matter if I’m getting worse the court will only care about how I was on the day of my assessment? Is that true? 

poppy123456

The Tribunal will only take into consideration what you were like when the decision was made. If you start a new claim any decision made will overrule a decision made by the Tribunal. You really do need to get expert advice before considering starting a new claim.

markyboy

You have waited this long if you start a new claim you could end up with the same award and lose your back pay 
On a previous post a member was in the same position as you and started a new claim and the DWP did not cancel the tribunal and she attended and won her case and was then told her new claim took preference and the tribunal decision did not stand

poppy123456

Yes indeed, never start a new claim while waiting for a Tribunal without first getting expert advice. Could be the worse thing you can do.

Yadnad

poppy123456 said:

Yes indeed, never start a new claim while waiting for a Tribunal without first getting expert advice. Could be the worse thing you can do.

Good advice if the claimant is progressing an appeal.
But there are many that would/could not face going to a Tribunal. For them a new claim is the only way forward.

mikehughescq

To be clear. Any evidence you have needs to be submitted now. There’s actually a legal obligation on DWP to put whatever they have before the tribunal ASAP and it makes life harder for both the tribunal and DWP if you don’t do the same.

Lorry

I sent in copies of evidence before the tribunal. I had to wait a year from the face to face to the tribunal date (which I won)..Good luck

victoria105

Wait for the tribunal it will happen , they will find you a date , mine took 10 months . I then went to the tribunal the judge was very understanding just make sure you check the letter they give you about their decision as I didn't double check the dates ,I had an error on the dates and it had to go back to the judge.

mikehughescq

victoria105 said:

Wait for the tribunal it will happen , they will find you a date , mine took 10 months . I then went to the tribunal the judge was very understanding just make sure you check the letter they give you about their decision as I didn't double check the dates ,I had an error on the dates and it had to go back to the judge.

Sorry but that is wrong. All parties have a duty to give the tribunal all the evidence they have as soon as they have it. That is actually within the tribunal regs. and always has been. Late evidence can be admitted at the discretion of the judge but evidence you have now has to go in now legally. It ensures DWP see a copy within the appeal papers and have reasonable opportunity to comment.

victoria105

Ok

victoria105

Mine is from my own personal experience, whether right or wrong this is what has happened to me , but won't comment giving miss information

Disabilityjustice

Thanks everyone for your great help going to see a pip expert next week to get evidence submitted as I got 0 points it’ll be hard but I’ll fight have results from brain test at the end of the month as struggle with memory and get dizzy
as the assessor didn’t believe any of what was being said just lied on the report he wrote that I drove and yet my partner drove to the assessment not me as I can’t drive! 

Yadnad

Disabilityjustice said:

have results from brain test at the end of the month as struggle with memory and get dizzy

I do hope that that evidence is accepted by the DWP.

I had a head scan back in early 2011 (primarily for suspicions of Dementia given the brain damage sustained back in 1995) The scan showed the damage to the frontal lobe and slight but definite markings which were confirmed as early onset.
 I then spent two whole days with my memory and brain function being assessed doing all sorts of written and verbal tests. The conclusion was that I am experiencing symptoms of early onset Dementia as well as a further reduction in brain capacity - a whole 4 page report.

That report was dismissed by the assessor and the DWP as not relevant due to the fact that it was more than 2 years old in 2013, 2015 and 2017

mikehughescq

Come on @yadnad. Whilst I appreciate you see nothing positive from your experience I do think it might be better to offer people something more positive. 

Matilda

You should send in further evidence not later than seven days before hearing date - but you can also submit not more than two pages of A4 on the day.

mikehughescq

There is no rule on what you can take on the day at all and never has been. It’s entirely at the discretion of the judge and the state of the case. 

Yadnad

mikehughescq said:

Come on @yadnad. Whilst I appreciate you see nothing positive from your experience I do think it might be better to offer people something more positive. 

I honestly wish I could Mike.
I can only recall what I have been through, therefore my own experiences.

As I have said many times no matter what evidence both from the various medical bodies that have looked after me as well as my own 'story' of how those issues affect my life the DWP have completely ignored and disregarded it.
They gave the reasons as I stated above as some of it was more than 2 years old and therefore not relevant.
In the 3 assessments I have had none of what I have said at the assessments, what I had written on the forms and the evidence submitted was used in my favour. 
The only positive aspect of those PIP claims & renewals was that two of them were revised at the MR stage which in itself is a miracle.
The whole system drained me of my determination and will.

All I can do is make others aware of the pitfalls involving the PIP system. Don't do as I did and make sure you do it better.

As has been said before if someone wants to take up the fight on my behalf they are welcome to it.

mikehughescq

At the risk of going all Disney on you perhaps take the approach that if you can’t say something positive don’t say anything at all. There’s a time and place for people to hear negative stuff - goodness knows forums are full of it - but Peru’s is not when people need encouraging that, in most cases, a challenge will be worth it and will succeed with minimal risk to anything they already have. Wrong message at the wrong moment.

Yadnad

mikehughescq said:

At the risk of going all Disney on you perhaps take the approach that if you can’t say something positive don’t say anything at all. There’s a time and place for people to hear negative stuff - goodness knows forums are full of it - but Peru’s is not when people need encouraging that, in most cases, a challenge will be worth it and will succeed with minimal risk to anything they already have. Wrong message at the wrong moment.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst is how I see it.

Disabilityjustice

Hi, just to update everyone that’s given me advice for my pip tribunal over the year that I had it today and I won! So relieved more than anything, thanks again everyone so much scoring 0 at the assessment to getting higher daily living and standard mobility is absolutely amazing.

what happens now as the systems were down ie backdating and do I have to contact dwp? they couldn’t tell me anything other than I won 

Matilda

Congrats!  Must be such a relief. You should start receiving regular payments and arrears lump sum in 5-8 weeks.

victoria105

It will all go to Dwp , you don’t need to contact them the tribunal will , well done on your victory 

vollante

Perseverance paid off, well done. My daughter waited for 2 weeks after the decision and then contacted DWP for an update from their end. They informed her that they had received the decision and was putting it into practice. They gave her some dates of when she could expect her payment day for her PIP award and when she could expect her back payment. They were very helpful after the tribunal, but not so before.