PIP appeal problem

Shaun_Hobbs

In january 2020 at southend magistates court i appealed against a PIP decision,
i lost the appeal after the judge used a letter that contained a list of machines
i tried to use at the Cluny HUBs free gym.the list had been clipped and a later
date added and then photo copied by a person unknown presumably at the DLA,this
was then presented at the appeal without my having previously seen it or having
been sent a copy of the altered document by the Courts,the altered list was then
used to suggest i had written i could walk for miles,ride two bikes and paddle a
canoe,i was not given the oppertunity to refute how the content was presented and
mearly asked by the judge (who i know and dislikes me) to read the selected passage
without being asked for an explanation of what was written,when i tried to ask about
the context of the page the judge ended the appeal and told me to leave the court,
later that day i phoned the Court of Appeal and they sent me an upper court appeal
form.I have macular degeneration and have had two strokes so my writing is almost
unreadable so i took the letter to the CAB Southend to compleat,i was told to first
contact the courts and ask for a statement of reasons this i did and after i received
it back took it to the CAB,in the statement she used the altered passage (i can walk
about about a mile) as the main reason for refusing my appeal for mobility allowance,

The woman who specialized in DLA cases (Mrs B.) had taken some days off work,so
photocopies of my documents were taken at the CAB and i was asked for any other documents
i had in regards to the case.i returned the paperwork to the CAB a few day later and
was told the court had already sent them the evidence that had been used at the tribunal
included the altered list,i phoned the CAB every few days and  was told it was being
looked into by the expert and allow a few weeks,these passed without any further contact
from the CAB and with only two week left to appeal and the CAB having the altered letter
i visited the office again,i met Mrs B. and was asked for any documents i had in
connnection with the case,i told her they already had them and i wanted them back she
told me they had lost them!,she said i quote ''ill have a rummage round and try to find them''.

On the 25th March i received a letter from Mrs B. telling me she had finally had
an answer from the court saying it was too late to appeal and from the 20th of March she
was working from home,i phoned the Court of Appeal and was told Mrs B. had made no
contact with them at any point in time and it was not too late to appeal,the courts were
very upset but fortunatly i had two days left,however due to the Covid-19 lockdown my
appeal would be put on hold until i could get my paperwork back from the CAB affices,i
have phoned the CAB office dozens of times and visited at least five with no answer.

The girls at the HUB helped me wth this until the lockdwn,now i have no one.

[Names removed by moderator]

steve51

Hi @Shaun_Hobbs

Welcome to our online community/family.

I am one of a number of Community Champion’s here at Scope.

Sorry to here about your “pip benefit journey”

We have got a member who is very knowledgeable when it comes to Benefit’s.

 Hi @poppy123456

Sorry but I just come across this pip post.

They have had a right time with there pip benefit & they are in need of both help & advice!!!!!!

@steve51

KingKongsFinger

Mate that sucks massively, they need to realise that even ill people need to exercise. I had an UC tribunal the other day and the judge and the Dr were both arses, they tried implying that becuase I walk round the block once a day, on the advice of My physio and as part of My treatment, that constitutes being able to repeatedly mobilise more than 200m, absolute **** hats. Unfortunately these laws/criteria are deliberately vague and open to interpretation, which is wrong imo. And as for the tribunal being "independant" hahahahaha, how can any tribunal be independant if it works for the government and is funded by the dwp, complete farce and if You aren't dying or nearly dead You're screwed. Need to get a campaign together but no-one around here seems interested in doing anything or challenging anything.

Shaun_Hobbs

What worries me is the delay at the DLA,i visit every oppertunity i can and they are not answerig my emails either,also if some of my writting looks odd  its because i have macular degeneration and cant see very well.

Shaun_Hobbs

KingKongsFinger said:

Mate that sucks massively, they need to realise that even ill people need to exercise. I had an UC tribunal the other day and the judge and the Dr were both arses, they tried implying that becuase I walk round the block once a day, on the advice of My physio and as part of My treatment, that constitutes being able to repeatedly mobilise more than 200m, absolute **** hats. Unfortunately these laws/criteria are deliberately vague and open to interpretation, which is wrong imo. And as for the tribunal being "independant" hahahahaha, how can any tribunal be independant if it works for the government and is funded by the dwp, complete farce and if You aren't dying or nearly dead You're screwed. Need to get a campaign together but no-one around here seems interested in doing anything or challenging anything.

The Hub gym shut in march and I had my supervised physio cancelled the very same week it started at the hospital that was after a five year wait.

Shaun_Hobbs

The apprentice magistrate who oversaw the case knows me,she kicked my door open once,

standing with her and trying to restrain her were two policemen,she was trying to get my

neighbour to turn his music down and had the wrong address,a relation of hers lived above me

and he called her,luckily i knew one of the officers and  he told her to stop,we had a huge row

on the doorstep,she came back on her own and told me to tell the music guy she was coming

back with a warrent,womans a lunatic,i made a complant about her.

KingKongsFinger

Yeah exactly, so how can that possibly be "impartial" or "independant"? Joke mate

KingKongsFinger

Sounds like You were cross examined like a criminal like I was pal, utter **** hats

KingKongsFinger

I genuinely felt like I was on trial

KingKongsFinger

Shouldn't be about that it should be about overturning the original decision because they are invariably wrong

Shaun_Hobbs

KingKongsFinger said:

Yeah exactly, so how can that possibly be "impartial" or "independant"? Joke mate

That was not our only meeting,she was the magistrate at another tribunal that i won against

the DHSS,she kept calling me the defendant until the clerk had to tell it was me that brought

the case,she thought an appelant was the defendant,she also said in front of a dozen witnesses

she did not care about the law,the clerk laughed and she went mental and threaten to have his

job.

Her name is [removed by moderator],

KingKongsFinger

From gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision very clearly says "appeal a BENEFIT DECISION" not "be put on trial and reassessed and have all previous evidence ignored"

Shaun_Hobbs

KingKongsFinger said:

From gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision very clearly says "appeal a BENEFIT DECISION" not "be put on trial and reassessed and have all previous evidence ignored"

Oddly enough i wrote out a list of my objections and mistakes in both of the assesments and gave each member of the bench a copy,she glaced at it the threw aside and said  ''I dont need this,i have everything i need in the assesors report''.

cupcake88

Hey and welcome how did they know you went to the gym ? Did the gym just tell them ? 

It’s a joke that exercising goes against you 

Shaun_Hobbs

cupcake88 said:

Hey and welcome how did they know you went to the gym ? Did the gym just tell them ? 

It’s a joke that exercising goes against you 

The gym was fine i wrote to the DLA explaning after my accident and stroke
i used four machines at the gym,as such,see below.


I can walk about one mile
I can ride about one mile
i can ride about one mile
I can row about one mile


A full explanation was originally written on the back of the piece of paper,i used
this note as my writing was so bad and this was already made out before i had
my stroke,in court someone had photocopied just the four lines and not the reverse
containing the explantion and wrote a date of 1019 on it,the judge asked me to read
the first line and nothing else saying 'i cannot read your writing'' then ended the
tribunal then and there without letting me question were the letter came from or how
it was presented.

I started to question it and was interupted by the DLA DR who suggested ''You mean you
can walk one mile with your painkillers'' i said no and was told to leave the court.

laurapeach

@poppy123456 and @mikehughescq are both very knowledgeable about tribunals etc so I have tagged them to see if they have suggestions for you.

The tribunals aren't paid by the DWP by the way, they're part of Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service which are entirely independent of the DWP and PIP.

What explanation was written on the back of the piece of paper? If you can walk about one mile you wouldn't be eligible for the mobility part of PIP as the limit is only being able to walk 200 metres reliably, repeatedly and safely, if you can walk a mile at a time they would so no to that I'm pretty sure.

Topkitten

When I first tried getting DLA I had some issues because I filled the form in myself and did it incorrectly. I was refused but appealed. When I attended I had a better idea of what I should have put but was advised not to change it, I lost the appeal. I tried again about a year later with the help of someone from MIND but again was refused. I appealed again and it turned out the woman hadn't written what I had said and it got refused again by exactly the same judge and accompanying professionals, which isn't supposed to happen. Another year went by before I tried again and this time I had the help from someone at the CAB and she did a better job but still I only got low rate mobility and I appealed again and lo and behold I got the same judge for a third time. This judge refuse d me and took away what I did have for the reason that "It isn't my job to give you a free car". I consulted with the lady from the CAB and we asked for a "Statement of Reasons". It was supposed to be sent within 6 weeks but took 3 months to actually get sent out. The lady from the CAB said there was nothing we could do. So I pointed out 5 outright lies in the statement and commented on another half dozen dubious points so she said she would get back to me. The next day she rang and had spoken with a Barrister friend who agreed with me. Consequently we applied to the High Court of Appeal and soon after that the judges decision was thrown out by the Clerk to the High Court (not the Court itself) as being non-factual and I was given a new appeal. This time I finally got a different judge and a successful appeal of High rate Mobility and Medium Rate Care backdated to the date of the third attempt (18 months). This also meant I could get ESA but they refused to backdate that at all, said it didn't apply or meet the demands of reasons to backdate.

Since then I have had to reapply for DLA once and switch to PIP. On both attempts I had a person from DWP visit me at home and fill the forms in for me. Both were successful because the people didn't just take my word for simple things but made me consider everything I automatically did without thinking, which also made things more difficult than even I considered.

I only applied at all the first time because when I asked my doctor if I was disabled he said "Yes, and you have been for about a year". The total time from start to finish was about 4 and a half years.

If I hadn't been able to understand and contest the Statement of Reasons or if the lady at the CAB hadn't had that friend I probably still wouldn't have got help.

The system is detestable and even worse now than it was then.

TK

Shaun_Hobbs

My expectation  is that anyone with macular degeneration and presumably with explicit and  ongoing consequences of a stroke would comfortably qualify for both components for PIP for at least 3 to 5 years but, depending on how far advanced the MD is.

Wrong on both accounts,MDs did not conduct either of the PIP assesments or the initial refusal by the DLA.they mearly provided a mountain of evidence  to them. 

I don’t know on what basis you “know” the judge or indeed know that they dislike you.

Read the whole post first before commenting again.

More waffle: As you appear to have sprung documents on the tribunal on the day I again think some perspective is required.

The court presented the forged/illegal note not me.

As regards a late appeal to the UT there are 2 issues:

1 - you may wish to query with your local CA why the deadline was missed and why a late application was not made? That’s between you and them.

All CAB offices have been shut since  March and The CAB has the only copy of the note,the explantion they gave me is clearly written in the second paragraph.

2 - you did not need anything back from CA in order to pursue the matter yourself. The UT1 form is available online and you could get a further copy of both your appeal 'paints' and the statement of reasons by contacting HMCTS. C-19 really doesn’t come into play. This may well still be rectifiable but you will need to move quickly.

I did get a UT1 form,the CAB volenteered to fill it in.

The illegal/forged note is pivital to my appeal to the Upper court,again it is the only copy.

In the statement of reasons the judge uses the fake note as the reason for refusing my appeal.

[Removed by moderator - Please remember to be civil]

Shaun_Hobbs

Luck is generally not the best qualification needed when seeking legal advice.

Dont bother,im reporting you.

poppy123456

Please only use the spam function when needed. It's not there to be used because you don't agree with another members advice. Mike is the best person to give any advice, on an internet forum.

laurapeach

The DWP don't care about the diagnosis, they just want to know how it affects your ability to live your daily life. If you can walk a mile then you won't be eligible for the mobility component.

Do you need aids around the house to help you complete the daily living activities? So do you need an aid to help you cook a meal, or do you need an aid to help you shower? Those are what they are asking you to explain.

What was on the explanation on the back of the illegal/forged note the judge was given? And can you prove that it was altered? If you're looking for better advice than what Mike has given you then you're going to need to pay for a solicitor.