Pip overpayment appeal advice please

Smedz29

Hi I’m really hoping someone can help or even tell me who can help me as I’m finding my case seems to be a grey area where nobody wants to help me and I’m scared and desperate ? 
I’m begging you all to not be nasty or judge me because I’m already feeling like giving up on life .
I will explain best I can as I’m really not well and my mental state is really bad at the moment .
i have many many health conditions put will name a few ptsd , depression, permanent nerve damage to my right leg , chronic fibromyalgia, bipolar, osteoarthritis, boarderline personality disorder prolapsed lower discs , spondylosis of the lower spine there is more 26 in total so you can imagine I struggle a lot with pain and need a lot of help and support so I have been claiming pip standard care high Motability since 1st of January 2015 and was a endless award well that was until me and my friend fell out and since she has been bullying me and then reported me to pip telling them I’m not as disabled as I claim I am !!! This is not true ! 

So the dwp acted on this report by instructed a fraud team to film and follow me this happened in April and may !! ? I didn’t know anything till I had a letter saying I have to go to a interview under caution the week after I fell apart completely couldn’t believe this was happening to me ,
so when I went to the interview I was questioned for 4 hours is was the worst experience of my life I told them only truth and explained I haven’t got better if anything I’m much worse they then showed me the video footage which honestly was just stupid and what they filmed me doing I really didn’t think they had a leg to stand on against me how was I wrong !! 

They had a log of 13 dates over 63 days and only 9 dates they had footage because they had problems with the camera. oh also they only had footage in the mornings nothing past lunch , also the dates where there is not footage are complete lies .
they had footage like me standing at my front door in my dressing gown saying bye to my daughter and that I waved and smiled as she was leaving this was because I was too unwell to drive her so a friend took her to school for me .
another I was seen leaning the house with a envelope in my hand and walking 3 steps to my car and driving away
they are all just like that
I fillies my form in as my worse days which I have more than good and I can’t walk at all Ona bad day and I’m on massive amounts of pain killers !!
i then 6 months later I get the decision I was dreading they have said because of what they have seen in footage and me saying my conditions haven’t improved then I must be laying and always been so !!
so they are overturning their original decision from 2015 and I now have a overpayments of 26k !!! And it will be sent to crown court to be punished I’m so scared and worried I haven’t eaten for over 2 weeks and I won’t leave the house or open my curtains.
my question is  does anyone here know of a solicitor or advice centre that can help me with my appeal because even there i have tried everyone  
i don’t have any money  as we are in a iva so need to be someone free that’s willing to help me x
thank you 

Melissa 

so I’m in the middle of doing the reconciliation of  

tracyhelen

Hi melissa the exact same thing is happening to myself my husband and my daughter we dont know where to turn either I'm so depressed I used to be so out going and happy but now all I want to do is cry I'm worried about going to prison and how they expect it all to be paid back we have varying health issues too they seem to catch the good points but dont show the after effects it can have I'm trying to find a solicitor but dont know where too go maybe we can find things to help each regards TracyHelen 

poppy123456

HI @Smedz29 and welcome,

I'm one of the community champions here on scope.

When you first filled out the PIP form i see you filled it out based on your worst days, is that correct? If so then is most likely what has caused you these problems. Filling out a PIP form this way isn't recommended because PIP isn't about your worst days, it's how your conditions affect you at least 50% of the time over a 12 month period.

If you filled the form in based on your worst days then DWP will think that's what your condition is like all of the time.

You urgently need some face to face advice from either welfare rights or a law centre, if you have anything like that near you. Put your postcode into this link to see what's local to you, if there's anything then it will tell you.

https://advicelocal.uk/

It's very difficult to give any other advice on an internet forum because no one knows how your conditions affect you, what you wrote on the form, when you first applied or anything else regarding your case.

Good luck.

poppy123456

tracyhelen said:

Hi melissa the exact same thing is happening to myself my husband and my daughter we dont know where to turn either I'm so depressed I used to be so out going and happy but now all I want to do is cry I'm worried about going to prison and how they expect it all to be paid back we have varying health issues too they seem to catch the good points but dont show the after effects it can have I'm trying to find a solicitor but dont know where too go maybe we can find things to help each regards TracyHelen 

HI and welcome,

Is the overpayment for a PIP claim for yourself or your husband? or is it for a different benefit?

Face to face advice is urgently needed, put your postcode into this link to see what's local to you for that advice. Welfare rights or a law centre will be a good place to start. https://advicelocal.uk/

Ails

Hi @Smedz29 and @traceyhelen and welcome both of you to the Community.  It is nice to meet you both and thank you for sharing with us.  I don't have anything to add to the marvellous advice that @poppy123456 has provided for you above, but just wanted to say that the Community is here to support you, should you need it.  So please feel free to chat to us anytime, as I can appreciate how stressful things must be at the moment.  I wish both of you well in everything and I hope things gets sorted out for you.  Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.  If there is anything we can help/support you with then please just let us know.  All the best.  

Smedz29

Thank you for your reply’s .
it was my pip claim and my worst days are more than 50% over a year , there is no law centres in my area and all the welfare rights places don’t seem to want to help because it’s not a normal appeal/ case .
i have found a solicitor to help with my appeal but they charge 3k I’m just hitting a brick wall ?

Ails

Oh I'm very sorry to hear about this, @Smedz29.  I can imagine this is really upsetting for you.  Have you tried contacting your local Citizens Advice Bureau for advice?  Or maybe seeing if you are eligible for free legal advice?  Sorry I am not experienced in this area so unable to suggest much, but there may be other members or one of the Community Team who can come up with something.  

I wish you well anyway and please keep us posted as to how you are doing.  Feel free to chat to us anytime as that is what we are here for.  All the best. 

poppy123456

Even though your worst days are more than 50% of the time, you should still never base it on your worst day because that's not what PIP is about. You should always be honest and tell them about all of your days.

I'm sorry you're finding it difficult to get representation. Did you put your postcode into the link i provided above?  It's extremely difficult to give any advice regarding this on an internet forum because no one knows anything about your case.

chiarieds

Hi @Smedz29 - I was just about to reply, when I saw Poppy had replied further. Just to say Poppy knows more about benefits than anyone else here.

My husband said as far as PIP goes, to describe my worst days; something I refused to do. Some people think this is what you should do. I felt I just wanted to say how my disabilities usually affected me, so when I had a f2f I would be able to reply completely honestly, which I did.

No one is doubting your medical conditions, nor the pain you're in, but PIP isn't about this, but how any disabilities you have affect you. Perhaps you misunderstood, or were ill-advised about PIP. 'Perhaps' you should have a PIP award, but lower; 'perhaps' you should have your current award due to the difficulties you face, which weren't better explained initially.

As Poppy has said, it's very difficult to advise on an internet forum, but please look at the link she gave.

Tiatruffle49

Mines not pip mines esa and housing benefit I’ve been overpaid by and now having to pay back esa but luckily it’s only £3.70 a week atm but it’s going to take me years due to financial difficulty I’m in a deep depression and like everyone else I’m struggling to eat and do anything due to pain I want to just cry hope everyone managed to get all there overpayments sorted out it’s amazing how malicious people that we thought were friends can be and they don’t care how damaging on people’s life’s and mental health and all there all illness has on that person I’m in the middle of being blamed for a lot of he said she said and I’ve lost a friendship of 17yrs because she has split with her ex who is my partners friend so it seems everything is my fault obviously it’s my fault I don’t live near her I don’t know what’s going off in her relationship or life xx