Successful but sort of not happy

madquasimodo

Just thought I would update our claim in case it helps anyone, had a very poor assessment, used the complaints system right up to the ICE and am now waiting (around a year backlog) for the case review. We got a court date after the MR refused to even look at the paperwork, I called and spoke to someone reviewing the case, their reply was "If you don't like it you can go to a Tribunal"

Court day comes round we get a call putting off the case, 1 month later we get another court date, all ready to leave and the phone rings, thinking the worst only to find the Clerk of the Court informing us the case was sorted. PIP and Mobility back, a short chat and we were told the case should never have been sent back, I guess (doctor/disability) actually looked at the Neurologist report and the ESA's own Disability Analyst report, the lady from the court apologised for the cancelled court date and said after checking my partner should never have been asked to attend court they were receiving lot of cases which should never be asked to be looked at.

Unhappy because after such a long time collecting reports, doctors letters, consultants reports, we both were ready to stand up and fight to try and sort this out, knowing they don't like hearing how you might have been failed by the system or the assessor lied, we spent ages getting things right (or hoped so) not happy because they never gave a proper review descriptor by descriptor, so my partner still has no points in getting around, communication, and other descriptors, it seems just like last time they decided "give enough points to qualify" rather than follow each descriptor though, one other problem depending on how its acted on.

"It is inappropriate to fix a term" and "It is inappropriate to fix a term in view of her age and length of time that the symptoms have persisted"

Not sure how the DWP will react to that, I feel it was deliberate targeting to review her claim only one year into a three year award, with the above comment on the court papers I do wonder if they will try for 3, 5 or longer when a review is due and if the paperwork comes back, I don't feel safe in going for a mobility car after losing the award so quick last time, the DWP can be a bit tit for tat, lets hope when the paperwork comes back it's all ok, I will update this should anything other than the award on the paperwork comes through 

poppy123456

Hi,

May i ask what award was given to your partner? You mention you're still not happy because no points were given for moving around.

Inappropriate to fix a term is a 10 year award and this is the longest award anyone can be given. I'm assuming based on that your partner received Enhanced for both parts, is that correct?

madquasimodo

My partner has some problems, but the first Tribunal just gave her PIP and lower mobility and asked if she wanted to try for full mobility, she did and won. sadly they never went though anything else, so low points for getting washed or dressed, she no longer goes out socially and cannot mix or communicate, she used to pop out solo and thought nothing of going on a flight to see someone, now she gets lost coming from the shop to the car or taxi.
If you asked her to go to the local shops she would not find it or get the right bus, without assistance she cannot walk 5 paces without falling.

While we are thankful for the Tribunal award it passes the mark by 2 points, if you go through the descriptors and fairly mark them she should have many points to spare, It would have been nice to have all the descriptors corrected rather than just enough to gain the award back, to me it seems like "we don't care you have to wash and lift her out of the bath"  

poppy123456

Sorry but i'm still confused, what was she actually awarded by the Tribunal this time please for daily living and mobility?

cristobal

@madquasimodo - speaking personally, if you've been awarded PIP  I wouldn't worry about which points you got for what.
My assessment was a mess.
It was corrected at MR.
In terms of accuracy it was no better - but I got the award that I thought I should get so I just left it at that otherwise I could have gone on forever...

cristobal

@Username_removed - I might be missing something Mike but if there's "no requirement to go further" when you hit 8 points, how can you be certain that someone wouldn't have scored 12 points and got a higher rate??

madquasimodo

Thank you mikehughescq 

Username_removed said:

Legally the case law is crystal clear. If a claimant hits the 8 or 12 point threshold then there is no requirement to go any further. There are numerous good reasons for this but 

1 - there’s no legal requirement for a PIP score to accurately reflect every aspect of your impairment once enough points have been scored. 

2 - tribunals do well to get through 6 to 8 appeals in a day and some areas are pushing for 10. That’s before you even get into the paper hearings they have to do. 

3 - tribunals sessions are around 3 hours long. 2 sessions in a day is the equivalent for a judge of writing enough to do 2 3 hour exams every time they sit.  Focusing on things which don’t change benefit entitlement would be a poor use of time and money. 

This may be the answer, still does not make me feel happy, when speaking to the Decision maker who looked at the MR they were very dismissive almost mocking, they said the assessment report was fit for purpose and a few points would have made no difference, the reason I probably sound churlish or petty if the descriptors were properly awarded we would never have needed to go so far, there would have been points to spare, even losing a couple would have made no difference, hence wanting a day in court to correct this, I am glad its done and the award re-instated, it has been 2 years of worry and stress getting ready for the Tribunals, the first reduced my partner to tears, the only good thing is we won on both appeals.

I only want to show sometimes it can be a good outcome but not perfect, perhaps someone else will take it as a sign to keep fighting, you have nothing to lose as the stress is there regardless fighting or giving up for some it can be very stressful.

poppy123456

I have no idea why you would want to go through the stress of appearing in person when the award has already been given, sorry but there would be no point in appearing. The only thing that will be achieved from doing that is more stress.