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LCWRA Tribunal was very hard and emotional

Gcloud

2 days ago I have my face to face tribunal and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. the questions felt very dehumanising and almost in tears the whole thing. I've not heard form them so i have no idea if it was a successful case.

No one knows how bad it is in an anxiety sufferers head afterword's, i dont know what to think atm. my heads just a mess with worry and anxiety

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Justcheckingin15

I hope your fears are unfounded @Gcloud

jamrumples

Why did you have to go to a tribunal? Did they find you fit for work or put you in LCW when you believe that you should be in LCWRA? … rest assured that more than half of cases that go to tribunals are successful. Take care of you.

Gcloud

jamrumples said:

Why did you have to go to a tribunal? Did they find you fit for work or put you in LCW when you believe that you should be in LCWRA? … rest assured that more than half of cases that go to tribunals are successful. Take care of you.

They put me in LCW and I've not once been asked to do anything since last year towards work prep.
The fact they asked if I can use a pen just made me feel like I was able to work which I don't see how having anxiety stops you using a pen but hey I have no idea on how the system works.

Sue_Alumni

Good morning @Gcloud,

I am so sorry that you found the tribunal hearing such a distressing experience and unfortunately you are not alone in feeling like this It is the nature of proceedings that the tribunal judge and the other members of the panel have to ask a lot of questions and even to ask you about things which you haven't raised yourself. This doesn't mean its any easier for you to cope with. You should get a decision fairly soon - probably towards the beginning or middle of next week. Do let us know how you get on.

If your appeal is unsuccessful it is possible to appeal a decision of the tribunal but you need to show that the decision is wrong because the tribunal made an error in law. You will need to ask for a "Statement of Reasons" of the decision. The Statement of Reasons is a more detailed explanation and reasons for the decision. If you do want to appeal to the Upper Tribunal you will need this statement and you will need to request the Statement of reasons within 1 month of the decision date. Once you have read the statement of reasons it may be clear why you have been unsuccessful. If it is not clear, I would suggest you contact Citizens Advice for further help. The tribunal's statement of reasons must set out clearly what it what it decided and why. If you had put forward specific arguments the statement must show that the tribunal understood them and applied the relevant law. If the statement is not clear on any of this this may amount to an error of law.

Good luck and I hope your appeal was successful.

Gcloud

@Username_removed yes they still asked some really hard questions that I felt weren't really about my mental health.

The fact It was mentioned that I can play piano come across like it suggested that I might not have anxiety or mental health issues. its just really odd questions

Gcloud

@Biblioklept im not sure most of what was said i cant recall tbh i have a pretty bad derealization that takes over and makes remembering things pretty hard, they just said goodbye and we will let you know, it was an hour long tribunal i was exhausted by the end

AndrewHall

It is best to wait for the decision or we will all be speculating.

Gcloud

@Biblioklept its hard to stop it happening but i do try to keep my mind occupied but its still hard when someone is chatting with me. im there in person and on auto pilot it feels

Tori_Scope

How are you feeling today @Gcloud?

Gcloud

@Tori_Scope thanks for asking, I'm drained to be honest. i dont know how much more i can take of all this.

Tori_Scope

I'm sorry to hear that @Gcloud. Anxiety can certainly be really draining.

Do you mind me asking what you mean when you say that you don't know how much more of all this you can take?

Have you ever tried any grounding techniques to help with your anxiety and derealisation? Some people find them helpful, so it could be worth a go.

A good one to start with is the 12345 technique. You think of:

5 things you can see
4 things you can touch
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste

Are you receiving any support to help you manage your mental health at the moment?

Please remember that the following organisations are there to support you, should you need someone to talk to:

Samaritans: call 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org (you don't have to be suicidal to get in touch with them)
SHOUT: text SHOUT to 85258 to speak to a volunteer over text
CALM: call 0800 58 58 58, or use their live web chat between 5pm to 12am

Best wishes for your outcome, and please do keep us updated!

Gcloud

@Tori_Scope sorry maybe that was a poor choice of words. I'm just fed up of waiting and the whole system seems to make things worse. sitting in a room with strangers pouring my heart out just for a little extra I feel more anxious now more people know more about me. its horrible

Tori_Scope

There's no need to apologise, don't worry, @gcloud

That's understandable. I hope you're not left waiting for too long!

Gcloud

My tribunal was unsuccessful, lost for words.

"Work related activity will be tailored to the claimant"

Horrible process to be honest, just to be left for months on end between calls to UC to not do anything. like being on hold in life for having severe mental health issues.

Alex_Alumni

I'm so sorry to hear about this decision @Gcloud and that it was a horrible process.

Do you know anything more about what they mean when they say "tailored"?

Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help support you in the meantime.

Gcloud

@Alex_Scope there is no other words other that that. this is the direct quote.

"whilst the tribunal accepts that the appellant suffers from anxiety the weight of the evidence does not support the conclusion that this is so severe that the appellant would be at the risk of deterioration to health if they were found to sufficiently fit to engage in work related activity since this is calibrated to the needs of the claimant"

over 2 years I've done zero work related activity as all my work coaches say that we wont ask you do do any at this time due to your mental health.

this will only make things worse in the end for me.

Alex_Alumni

Thanks for explaining that @Gcloud, I would hope that given the way things have been arranged for the past two years, that this is what they mean by "calibrated to the needs of the claimant", and that therefore, nothing will change at this time.

I don't know enough on the subject to be certain on this, if you have worked with any professional advisers during the tribunal, perhaps they can shed some light?

The community is here to support you, so don't hesitate to reach out if you need to.

Gcloud

@Alex_Scope thanks for the help.

Ill wait and see what the CA can help with as they did help me with this whole process

Alex_Alumni

I hope the Citizens Advice can continue to help @Gcloud

I also know it's bad news right now, so be sure to take some time to look after yourself and your mental health if you can this week.

poppy123456

You can request the Statement of Reasons and Record of proceedings from HMCTS but you must do this within 1 month of the date of the decision.

Once you receive those you'll need to find someone to take a look to see if they can find an error in law.