PIP 1st Tier Tribunal Refused - what now?

northernpainter

hello, I got my 1st Tribunal appeal decision today - appeal refused. 

A bit of background on me; I have MS - it's rapidly evolving highly active RRMS diagnosed a year ago and have had 4 relapses since. I also have Generalised Anxiety Disorder and OCD. 

Had my appeal on Monday and the decision posted, arrived today and it's refused. They have upheld my existing award which is standard for mobility, but refused enhanced. feeling very despondent and unsure of what to do. 

basically half of me is saying to myself "that's it, 3 people listened and the verdict is you're not entitled to it". the other half of me is saying i really firmly believed I was entitled to enhanced. 

would welcome any advice, 
thanks

cristobal

@northernpainter - sorry to hear this....

I think I tend to agree with you when you say "three people have listened to me maybe I'm not entitled" but, on a forum such as this, no-one can really advise because no-one knows how your condition affects you. Only you know that.

Did you not get a daily living award?

poppy123456

Hi,

You won't be able to appeal the decision without finding an error in law. To do this you must first request the statement of reasons and record of proceedings and you have 1 month from the date of the decision to do this. There's no timescales how long it can take HMCTS to send this to you but once you receive it you need expert face to face advice to see if there's an error in law.

CockneyRebel

Hi @northernpainter and welcome

There are three possible courses of action

1 ) You can ask for the statement of reason and record of proceedings. If you can find an error in law then you may appeal to the UUT. To do so you will need trained help

2 ) The tribunal can only consider how you were at the time of your assessment. If your condition has worstened significantly then you can put in a change of circumstance with new evidence

3 ) How long is your current award ? You may have to wait for your next reveiw to make a better case

mikehughescq

northernpainter said:

hello, I got my 1st Tribunal appeal decision today - appeal refused. 

A bit of background on me; I have MS - it's rapidly evolving highly active RRMS diagnosed a year ago and have had 4 relapses since. I also have Generalised Anxiety Disorder and OCD. 

Had my appeal on Monday and the decision posted, arrived today and it's refused. They have upheld my existing award which is standard for mobility, but refused enhanced. feeling very despondent and unsure of what to do. 

basically half of me is saying to myself "that's it, 3 people listened and the verdict is you're not entitled to it". the other half of me is saying i really firmly believed I was entitled to enhanced. 

would welcome any advice, 
thanks

The key question here then is what fuels your firm belief. Are we talking mobility 1 or mobility 2? Which specific descriptor and why? My assumption is that you were unrepresented. You now need face to face advice to confirm your assessment of the facts as well as being able to find an error of law. The latter is irrelevant if an assessment of the former concludes your view as wrong. 

I’m interested to hear the case you made and for which descriptor. 

Chloe_Scope

Hi @northernpainter and welcome to the community! I'm sorry about the tribunal. The above advice is really good. I hope you manage to get it sorted and please do let us know if there is anything else we can do to help