Hearing loss PIP appeal adjourned

suzie11

Hi everyone,

Please can I ask someone to help me understand the notice of adjournment I’ve received.

I have moderate-severe sensorio- neural hearing loss in both ears.

I applied for PIP for the first time and was awarded 10 points for mobility as I need my hearing aids to travel as I cannot hear announcements etc. 

However I was denied the daily living component as I fell 2 points short of the standard award. 

Under the communication category, DWP stated that with my hearing aids I can hear fine, even though I might experience minor difficulties with hearing aids too.

I appealed as the DWP didn’t reconsider the award. I requested a paper appeal.

I received a letter stating that the appeal was adjourned as the Tribunal felt my argument Would benefit from the an assessment in person. (I was never assessed by the DWP as they made their decision based on the audiologist report).

However, this paragraph threw me:

“ The Appellant is advised that the Tribunal hearing the appeal has the power to increase an award, To leave an award as it is, or to reduce or remove an award altogether. The Tribunal has not yet made a decision on the appeal And will not do so until it has considered all the evidence, but the existing award may be at risk if the appeal goes ahead.”

My argument included the fact that I cannot hear on the phone, that I miss large parts of conversation. 

Please can someone help me to make a decision whether I should go ahead with the appeal or abandon it as I may lose the mobility award. At the moment I receive £23.70 a week for mobility only.

Thank you so much in advance.

God Bless x

poppy123456

suzie11 said:

“ The Appellant is advised that the Tribunal hearing the appeal has the power to increase an award, To leave an award as it is, or to reduce or remove an award altogether. The Tribunal has not yet made a decision on the appeal And will not do so until it has considered all the evidence, but the existing award may be at risk if the appeal goes ahead.”

This means that they are warning you that if you continue with the Tribunal you risk losing your existing award.

I must admit that paper based hearings for Tribunal have an extremely low success rate of around about 6%.

Before continuing you need to get some expert advice quickly so start here. https://advicelocal.uk/

We dont' know anything about your case so we can't give any advice whether you should continue or not.

suzie11

Thank you Poppy123456!

my main emphasis when applying for pip as someone with hearing loss was under the communication sub heading of the daily living component. I scored 6 points under daily living and needed 2 more points to qualify.

under mobility, I was awarded 10 points as a hearing aid is classed as an aid and I wear them all the time and certainly need it for going outside.

I don’t have any other condition apart from a lifelong permanent moderate-severe hearing loss.

I just wanted to ask whether that paragraph in the adjournment letter “the existing award may be at risk if the appeal goes ahead” is standard/normal or have the Tribunal assessed my case to be weak?

As the mobility award is not in dispute- can they still stop any award all together?

Thanks in advance again 

suzie11

Thank you mikehughescq for your very detailed and helpful response!

I think I may just withdraw my appeal as the whole process has just been very stressful. I had never applied for PIP before or DLA as a child having been discouraged from doing so.

Can I just ask quickly how I could have argued I need help prepping food on the application form as I left that section blank as I assume that referred to a physical disability?

 Thanks so much again in advance 💓

poppy123456

Preparing food doesn't just apply to those that have a physical condition, it applies to those that have mental health too and those that are deaf/hard of hearing.

For example yourself, what would happen if a fire started in the kitchen, would you be able to hear a smoke alarm?

Some useful information here. https://pipinfo.net/

calcotti

Username_removed said:

The reality is that if you were to get standard rate daily living you’d be less than £3 a week worse off than with standard rate mobility. 

I think you mean "...enhanced rate mobility".

suzie11

Yanni, thank you very much for your helpful guidance. May I ask since your diagnosis is similar to mine (although mine is classed as moderate-severe) do you only receive the enhanced rate mobility and not daily living allowance?

At the moment, I’m ONLY receiving standard mobility. I was awarded 6 points under the daily living component as I fell 2 points short of the standard award.

That is the reason I appealed because I believe DWP should have awarded me the daily living component.

My points were as follows:

DAILY LIVING (only the relevant sub-headings as below)

1. Washing and bathing: 2
2. Communicating: 2
3. Mixing with other people: 2

MOBILITY 

1. Planning & following a journey: 10

“You need another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid to follow the route of an unfamiliar journey”

1. Moving around: 0

How can I qualify for enhanced mobility here?

I have realised 2 things:

1. Under daily living component I left the “preparing food” section blank. (Thanks mikehughesscq for pointing this out) 

But I can’t hear bubbling/sizzling of food which poses a health /safety risk. When the fridge door was left ajar I didn’t hear the warning beep beep until someone else did.

Can I still explain this at Tribunal even though I omitted this information to the DWP as I assumed it referred to a physical disability? 

This is a technical point- does the Tribunal have jurisdiction to consider a point that was never raised on the application form?

2. My appeal focused solely on the communication element- the DWP maintained that with my hearing aids I may experience “minor “ difficulty but that is overcome with my hearing aids and lip-reading.

I have insisted that I need communication support in order to communicate effectively. I need someone to help me fill in the missing blanks of conversation and to speak on my behalf on the phone (lip reading is impossible on the phone!)

I must confess I’m feeling rather overwhelmed- and would like to thank everyone for their time and input- it’s much much appreciated 

 

poppy123456

Did you contact an advice agency for some expert advice? If you haven't then you really should do this urgently.

AndrewHall

@suzie11
You said and I quote;;  " Can I still explain this a Tribunal even though I omitted this information to the DWP as I assumed it referred to a physical disability? "

Of course you can. The Tribunal hear everything afresh.. As long as you are not contradicting what you said to DWP,, you can add further evidence and information 

suzie11

@poppy12345

Yes, thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I contacted my local council welfare office via the online contact form. I explained I prefer to chat via email or in person due to my hearing issues. I received an automated reply stating that they will contact me in 10 days

@AndrewHall

Thank you. I would be interested in reading the Tribunal guidelines also as to this point too.

What I might do is send a supplementary bundle to the Tribunal and attach the “preparing food” section of the PIP form that I left blank and explain my difficulty. 

Can I just say thanks to everyone who is commenting…I was on the brink of withdrawing my appeal and thinking I should have never applied in the first instance

mzjojo

Wow!  I've learned so much today by reading this.  Thank you everyone!  I have been almost deaf all my life due to untreated boils and such in my ears when I was young.  I am now about 2 points away from total deafness and the inability to socialize is totally debilitating.  I don't bother to try now.
I'm glad I have found this forum and hope to get to know you all.  
Joni  xx

suzie11

@yanni

Thank you for your incredibly detailed response- it has been an incredible source of help and hope! 

poppy123456

somalian said:

I think you need to get legal advice, if I were you I wouldn't want to lose the award, but on the other hand filing an appeal would be a fair decision.

You've commented on a thread that's 9 months old. I would like to think that the member has now got everything sorted.