Receive £30 voucher by sharing your experience of challenging a DWP decision

Ema_Scope

Are you interested in challenging a DWP decision? Or have you been through the appeals process for any of these benefits?

• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Attendance Allowance (AA)
• Employment Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit (UC) 
  
• Carer's Allowance

We're creating a new webpage on challenging DWP decisions and would love to hear from you. If you'd be willing to help, please email Grace.Brown@scope.org.uk. It would involve speaking to us about your experience and giving us feedback on the content we have written.

The session will last around 1 hour. We will send you a £30 voucher for your time. You will remain anonymous. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

colcslew

Good morning .
i challenged a dwp decision on my personal independence payment in 2018 after having a face to face assessment in Cardiff south wales.I found the assessment very challenging because i had a young female assessor who was asking me questions on how my condition affects me but when i was trying to explain to this assessor i was being interrupted on every answer.i came out of that assessment feeling worthless and that there was nothing wrong with me.I knew when i came out of there i would loose my personal independence payments.I then contacted dwp to ask for my report ,which i received and when i looked at that report i knew by the way i had been scored that i would loose my pip because the lies in that report was appalling.
I waited for the official letter from dwp and when that arrived it was stating that i  no longer met the criteria to claim pip.
I then completed a mandatory reconsideration and challenged the report with what the assessor had written.
I won my pip back in march 2019 after that mandatory reconsideration.
I find the whole process of going through this absolutely physically and mentally draining .
I was due a review in march 2022 and like many people this has been extended until December 2022 and to be honest i am dreading this again and i am expecting the envelope for my review to drop through my door at any time.
Since i won my appeal i have had to finish work due to my health and i then claimed employment and support allowance and again i had an assessment and because of covid this was done by telephone .
I was dreading this assessment as well but i have to say that the assessor was brilliant with me ,very understanding and patient and after that assessment i was placed in the support group of esa .
Everyone who apply for any benefits and if they are turned down they should appeal ,it is difficult to do this but never let the dwp get away with what you are entitled to because these assessors are not living with what we are all going through ,they have no idea and also they do not care and in my opinion they have no empathy-it is shocking .
kind regards
colslew

Ema_Scope

Hi @colcslew, thank you for sharing your experience. I am sorry that it was so difficult for you. Our team have created some online content for people who are challenging a DWP decision. Would you be interested in giving us some feedback on it? It would take about 1 hour and we can send you a £30 gift voucher for your time. If you are interested please email grace.brown@scope.org.uk and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Best wishes
Ema

rukhsanainam

I was declined my daily living totally in Mendatory aswell as they already declined mobility previous year.
so went to appeal which i won and i was also awarded Mobility backdated to 2019.

RichardLel

I have successfully challenged the DWP lose of my high mobility rate PIP was withdrawn and for family with Autism DlA to PIP appeal. I was Originally assessed by a doctor when started PIP, which last assessment by a nurse and I had to appeal on plenty of errors nurse made which DWP had internally investigate.

I general fed up with PIP & DWP when comes to  any minor changes with my care, to the DWP have do the forms all over again on a review, when not much change or impact in my disability long term.

PIP sadly to state is like being in competition with own disability and losing my mobility part of my  PIP was stress added onto daily disabilty living. I feel sorry for any one that has go for PIP that have become your own lawyer to some extent in doing the paper work as support not alway there complete the forms.

The problem is not just live Cp also with Autism and also had lodge also appeal for family converting from DLA to PIP conversion age 16 on other family members with Autism, with hidden disability even worse, that had to ask the special school for reports with parent letter outlining how autism works and supported needed. That only find that DWP ignored the evidence provided and said read it, declined the PIP, only months later picked up by a independent inspector for the DWP and said to DWP did not read the evidence provided in the first place and reinstalled the PIP. 

My experience that my PIP appeal I had to put a formal complaint ontop of the poor assessment in both cases and only describe not just the stress going through all this while trying self care is stress in own right, but only describe poor consistency DWP lack knowledge of long term disability, looking for minor things to cancel the benefit I suspect is happening or not looking at the evidence happened in both cases only to be independently reviewed DWP.

I spent allot of time arranging for my wife to be guardian of family member afairs take the stress away from a family member because of profound autism, only cause high stress, only for DWP contact the person directly, when guardianship in place, so much for safegaurding and only conclude DWP don’t read it own notes and to me poor training in safegaurding.

Sorry been so negative about DWP, as all think of disablity should not be hard work, but it is from DWP in self caring.p being vulnerable, let alone carrying with family with hidden disabilty with autism, I am so burned out!

AndrewHall

@Emma_Scope
It would be beneficial to others if people actually say what they did to win. ie  the strategies used etc

Singleandmalt

I have been to a tribunal over pip as the male who came to my house basically invented things and lied. Contrary to what my GP and consultants had sent to the DWP to support my claims.
I won that Tribunal which was very stressful as the “independent panel”didn’t seem very independent to me at all.
they wouldn’t let me challenge their assumptions about my health and day to day life.
they called me a liar and I had a meltdown.

The DWP didn’t turn up to defend or be challenged on their papers they’d sent to the court in their defence.

A subsequent application as you have to reapply once your award runs out I was told was an absolute nightmare!

I had an assessor come to my home as I have panic attacks and from the minute she came 20 minutes early that was to see if I knew and could tell the time and remember things as I have brain fog quite badly.

in her report she had put word for word the previous assessment which was done a few years previously. 

And repetitive copy and pasting of particular sentences and phrases which they are trained to do during their training to do these assessments! 

I challenged this as it was Child like and she claimed my lifelong medical conditions id suffered with which were getting worse with age were in fact reversible and a miracle had cured them!
The decision maker was newly appointed to the job and the system . and I  found out that he found glory in preventing disabled people from getting their benefits. Which I sent to the DWP complaints team!
I sent in photographs of things in my home and outside my home I got someone to lay a tape measure to the ground and take photos clearly to show the distances that the assessor had exaggerated upon as well as a copy of a recorded conversation and verbatim copy of what in fact was said by the assessor during my what I felt like an interrogation .

I eventually got my award re looked at properly as the DWP staff told me that “they weren’t medical experts and relied upon the assessors and what they had written!.
it was a nightmare but the decision maker I finally spoke to after a lot of me challenging over the ohone which bits I disagreed with and being told repeatedly and talked down to by staff that she would re visit the whole claim and reports which were duplicates of previous claims.
ive got renewal soon and my mental health isn’t that good now it’s got worse a lot and other health conditions have arise.
im not looking forward to this battle again.

Im happy to discuss more about this 

art_1

I've had so much happen to me on both PIP and ESA from lying assessments reports to information withheld to an appeals division.. In another occasion one of many I've had to inform them that I've taken legal advice as even staff over the phone have not had the relevant paperwork when reaching a decision and when I complained in writing to the Job Centre Plus they claim to have lost the letter it was only when my MP chased it up it was found and then I was expected to expect a weak apology which I refused to do and another phone call and I voiced my disgust at them..You can't be afraid to stand up to there bullying..The incompetent operative was hauled up in front of her boss not pleasant but I was the one who suffered the most.. Sinse then things have been ok but I don't trust them ever.

wilko

My review was due in March 2021 and in September 2020 I applied for a change of circumstances reference daily living activities as I needed more help and assistance. I sent in plenty of information regarding my difficulties referring to each descriptor. I requested my assessment report about 10 days after my assessment and on receiving it my PIP award was to remain the same. The assessment was over the phone and the assessor assumed or presumed that as I used a mobility scooter and drove an automatic car she deemed that it is feasible, possible for me to manage and cope the descriptors. On reading the report I set about preparing my MR to submit once the official award notification letter arrived. I stated that firstly I feel I was discriminated against because I use mobility scooters and drive an automatic car. I went through each descriptor stating and repeating the original submitted information of what I was capable of doing and what points I was awarded and then I put what the corrected points should of been a minimum of A or maximum of B. I did this for all the descriptors and my new award went from 8 points to 14. I got enhanced daily living and kept my enhanced mobility with an ongoing award as i presume because I have reached retirement age.

CL1

Hello i had all the lies,deceit,with both my esa and pip,i won my esa appeal at tribunal and with pip,i was awarded less than i was getting on dla,so i asked for a MR,that didnt shift things,but when i put my appeal in,they suddenly phoned me and made me an offer,which was in my favour,so i accepted,and while im here i would like to thank those members and scope,for all their very good advice that was offered,i was up the wall with the dwp at the time thankyou.

AndrewHall

My cousin found the Tribunal more of a lair than DWP. The Judge wouldn't let him speak at the hearing and a challenge was made to the Upper Tribunal. An audio tape that was used as evidence lookes like it has been edited and it is unclear.  He rejected the tape despite the pressure. The matter is currently at deadlocks with UT confused on what to do next. .

Ema_Scope

Hi everyone,

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us. We've had enough people take part now so will close the thread.

Best wishes
Ema