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Do you know of any reasons for long Upper Tribunal delays?
gentlegee1976
Member Posts: 34 Connected
Hi All,
Just a quick question. After being refused permission to appeal by the FTT, I applied directly to the Upper Tribunal for permission to appeal against the decision to stop my ESA payments. This is after I only got 12 points at my FTT hearing. I have CFS/ME and have had it for 8 years.
In September last year, I received a notice from the UT judge granting me permission to appeal, and giving his reasons for doing so. There were numerous reasons according to the judge, although, in his words, he said he has focused on one, arguably rather narrow issue which was the issue of the lack of coherence regarding the supersession from the previous decision that gave me LCWRA.
The case management directions said that -
1. The DWP representative is asked to provide a written response within one month of the date on which the notice is sent to the parties (that date being September 11th 2020).
2. I would then be asked to provide a reply to the DWP response, and would have one month to do so from the date on which that response was sent to me.
It has now been more than than 2 calendar months since the time limit for the DWP response expired (and a total of 90 days) and yet I have heard nothing back from the Tribunal Service at all.
Based on previous experiences, does anybody have any idea was to why things are taking so long and why I haven't heard anything back yet? It's stressful and quite frustrating for me to be honest.
Just a quick question. After being refused permission to appeal by the FTT, I applied directly to the Upper Tribunal for permission to appeal against the decision to stop my ESA payments. This is after I only got 12 points at my FTT hearing. I have CFS/ME and have had it for 8 years.
In September last year, I received a notice from the UT judge granting me permission to appeal, and giving his reasons for doing so. There were numerous reasons according to the judge, although, in his words, he said he has focused on one, arguably rather narrow issue which was the issue of the lack of coherence regarding the supersession from the previous decision that gave me LCWRA.
The case management directions said that -
1. The DWP representative is asked to provide a written response within one month of the date on which the notice is sent to the parties (that date being September 11th 2020).
2. I would then be asked to provide a reply to the DWP response, and would have one month to do so from the date on which that response was sent to me.
It has now been more than than 2 calendar months since the time limit for the DWP response expired (and a total of 90 days) and yet I have heard nothing back from the Tribunal Service at all.
Based on previous experiences, does anybody have any idea was to why things are taking so long and why I haven't heard anything back yet? It's stressful and quite frustrating for me to be honest.
Replies
I had the same news today.but neither happy or glad as it was expected.
I'm interested to know if the judge said much about it but mine said seei g as everyone agrees there was an error the matter is returned to a new different panel.
At least I have better evidence to back my case regardless of the dwp withholding some of it last time.
They arent interested in gripes better using the time to support your case rather than dwell on previous errors which I did do last time.
Good luck with your new hearing
1. The doctor sitting on my old FTT hearing completely ignored my diagnosis of CFS/ME, dismissing it as sleep apneoa. My diagnosis of CFS/ME has been confirmed, added to my medical records and accepted by my GP, so I don't see how they can get away with ignoring it this time around.
2. The appeal is supported by the DWP (which is very surprising) who also agree there's an error of law.
The statement that I have sent has been edited to remove all personal details and attached as a PDF for you to read should you wish to do so.
The DWP do not appear to be supporting your appeal. They appear to have supported your UT appeal. That’s not the same as supporting your appeal at FTT. If they supported your appeal at FTT then, to be blunt, they would have conceded and you wouldn’t be going to another FTT.
A diagnosis is irrelevant for ESA as it is for other disability related benefits. The fact that one diagnosis was wrong is neither here nor there. All that matters is whether the symptoms you have are accepted as real and whether they in turn would lead to your scoring the appropriate points. Your haven’t addressed that, the single key point, at all. Instead you’ve argued that if you have diagnosis b rather than a then you ought to qualify because the person in another case had b. That’s not a great argument.
Irrelevant to the above but all the things you claim would not be caused by sleep apnoea are known symptoms of... sleep apnoea.
Just a quick update, things have been hectic and I simply forgot to update you all. Sorry.
My appeal was successful and I've been given LCWRA. An edited PDF of the Tribunal decision is attached. It shows no personal information. This appeal has taken 2 years to be resolved as I was declared fit for work in Feb 2019 at it was finally resolved in Feb 2021. I'm now led to believe that I'll get a significant back payment.
I came across this statement on another post -
If this is still true, then I'm owed around £8,100 (24 months at £341 per month). Will they pay it to me and how do I ensure that I get it. My appeal was allowed just over 3 weeks ago.
What is the existing status on your UC claim?
My DWP contact (not my work coach) is waiting for the additional component to be added to my existing claim. He mentioned something to me about waiting to hear from the ESA dept.
Thank you for your help by the way !!