Hi, my name is Drowssap_7! Should I appeal the decision?

Hi OverlyAnxious

I had originally been on Invalidity Benefit. This became Incapacity Benefit and finally ESA. This last switch entailed losing my annual National Insurance Stamp Credit so after one year I would not be able to claim benefits. When I appealed I was sure I was making a medical appeal for loss of benefits and wanted to challenge the change from Invalidity Benefit. I have MS & coeliac. The DWP accepted I could not work because I had to manage incontinence.

I discovered that PIP another benefit (not ESA) had a specific cooking test but this does not disqualify anyone from benefits - only a part of a PIP benefit relating to being able to cook safely and in a certain time etc,. The woman in charge of my appeal spoke on the four subjects I mentioned which had no relevance either to my medical appeal or to the actual appeal she told me about at the very end of the 'hearing'.

She said at the end of the hearing, there has been a new law passed that says if you can cook you cannot get benefits. What I discovered is that there was no such new law at all. I have been advised not to challenge her decision because I would need to employ a lawyer! Maybe she would deny it. There was a Doctor sitting next to her but maybe he might not remember anything or would corroborate anything she might say - a denial of everything she said.

A fresh appeal about the change to ESA from Invalidity is what I am not sure about. The woman in charge of the hearing had to have lied saying what she said. She could be a circuit court judge and if she has lied would she admit it? Could she have been 'mistaken'? I don't think anyone would imagine a mistake had been made. I also had not been informed of this 'new law' before or during the hearing. She claimed to be impartial. Holding back pertinent information about the nature and substance of the appeal does not indicate an impartial person. Another lie.

I don't think she is the sort of person who claimants want to meet in the Court system. She did say that if she had told me about the new law at the beginning of the hearing, I would have said I could not cook. She is happy to draw unwarranted inferences about me - I would certainly not have said I can't cook. I am now retired but I did lose about 2 years benefit from 2015. I lived on my very small work pension & savings. I hope this clarifies things for you but if people in Court Circuits go to such extreme lengths to appellants as to lie, what hope is there?

Many thanks for your interest.

Drowssap_7!