Appeal advice for ESA please

Maxinus

hello, could anyone advise me please, when you apply to appeal Esa do you have to put forward your whole appeal grounds within a month, or just notify them you are going to appeal? Sorry to be a bit dense, just wanted confirmation.  Also, do you have to use the form or can you write your grounds on separate submissions as the form only has a tiny area for your reasons for appeal which is nowhere near enough.  Thank you.

CockneyRebel

You do not have to put your case when asking for appeal, this you will do later once you have received the bundle of evidence used by the DWP

Benistmonk

As above, or you can make your pitch from the off, which means the DWP has to respond based on what you say. Then you can go into more detail when you see what the DWP is saying in response to what you said. 

Maxinus

Thanks for the responses, when you say they respond based on what you say if you make your pitch from the off, in what form is this likely to be? I am a bit confused on how they will comment if it hasn’t actually been heard at a tribunal, who is making the comment?  Just to be clear, I am now thinking just put a basic overview on the form and then submit all evidence subsequently when the appeal has been accepted.

Benistmonk

They will try to refute what you say, if you don't put anything other than you want to appeal against the decision, the tribunal might not accept your appeal. 

Maxinus

Which way would you play it?

poppy123456

You need to put your reasons for why you want to appeal and send the MR decision letter with it.  Don't worry about any extra evidence yet if you haven't got everything, you'll have plenty of time to send that later. Just concentrate on getting that SSCS1 form sent off. Waiting times for Tribunals are huge and a lot of people are waiting in excess of 1 year for their hearing date.

Benistmonk

I would make it as awkward as possible for them, the more you put in, the more likely they are to contradict themselves. In my appeal, I argued against everything the HCP and the DM said, I also included a copy of my medical records, a mountain of doctors letters, and in response, they made some out and out howlers.

They stated I had not been in treatment for years, and my medical evidence was old. But there is a letter in there showing I was last in treatment 2017, I received the ESA/50 in 2017 so I was currently in treatment, and my medical info was up to date when I returned the completed ESA/50 

And I am still going to submit further evidence when I can get someone to look over the response with me, to see if there is anything else worth mentioning.

Maxinus

I have found 25 inaccuracies in the report made by the assessor at the department interview. I have the document ready with all marked as the decision maker has based his/her decision on false information.  Do I send all this with the form at the outset or keep and submit later?  The other question I have is if we back claim the esa payment, and the appeal takes longer than one year and we have already had 3 months payment.  Would we have to pay back any over and above 1 year, if that makes sense.

poppy123456

The Tribunal won't be interested in any lies told in the report. My advice is to stick to the reasons why you think you should be placed into one of the groups.

Contacting a local advice centre near you will be helpful at this point.

Once the Tribunal accept your appeal if you haven't claimed Universal credit then you'll be able to go back onto assessment rate for ESA but you'll need fit/sick notes from your GP backdated to the date your ESA stopped. If the Tribunal doesn't go in your favour you won't have to pay back any money you've received.

Benistmonk

That is true. It is not much use saying the HCP lied, there is a little bit more to it than that. You need medical evidence to prove what they are saying is wrong. Then work on the descriptors, say which ones should apply and why they apply to you.

Then when you get the response from the DWP, look for mistakes in their evidence that you can prove is wrong, that can be submitted later 

Maxinus

Thank you for your help and advice.  Can I just query the point that the tribunal won’t be interested in inaccuracies.  If a decision has been made based on incorrect information, doesn’t this add any weight at all to a case if an unsafe decision has been made in the first place?

poppy123456

The Tribunal will look through everything that's sent to them from DWP which will include the assessment report, ESA50 form and the evidence you sent. All you really need to concentrate on is which group you think you should be in and your reasons why. Remember being placed into the support group isn't about scoring points. It's about satisfying at least one of the support group descriptors the majority of the time. Or reg 35.

This link will help you know what's in your area for help and face to face advice. https://advicelocal.uk/

Benistmonk

I would mention the inaccuracies as it casts doubt on their evidence, afterall it is their word against yours and the fact that a HCP is ignoring your doctors and specialists should not be allowed in a civilised society. This means they will have to argue that a nurse or physio knows more than a doctor and all the specialists put together, common sense will tell you that must be wrong. 

poppy123456

This is another one of those times where we will have to agree to disagree.

@Maxinus please use the link provided above and good luck with the Tribunal.

Benistmonk

@poppy123456 I respect your right to disagree. If you want to challenge the lawfulness of such decisions, you can't not mention the inaccuracies. I am sure someone out there will eventually get to the judicial review stage, and put a stop to nurses masquerading as medical experts.

CockneyRebel

Tribunals want to be able to find the relevant information and evidence as easily as possible. If you report accuracies and misrepresentations the tribunal will have to sift through these to find what is relevant and in doing so could  miss the points that you want to make.

Ask yourself whether it directly helps in proving your claim, if it doesn't then there is little point in sending it.

To get a bit of satisfaction, make a complaint to the AP about the inaccuracies and lies in the report. Don't expect it to come to anything but you will have got it off your chest.

Benistmonk

I think it helps in proving your case if you can show the HCP and DM has said things that conflict with your medical evidence. I don't see how a court of law can use evidence like that against you.