Request for telephone hearing

Hi Jonno

Sorry to hear about what happened. I am assuming that your appeal was heard in your absence despite you requesting an oral hearing, if I've got that wrong then please say.

If my assumption is correct then yes you could apply in writing for the tribunal's decision to be set aside on the grounds that a party to proceedings (you) wasn't present at the hearing. A tribunal judge will then decide if it is in the interests of justice to do so. You should do this within one month of the date of the tribunal's decision and if it is refused you could then consider appealing to the Upper Tribunal. If that happens then I suggest posting back on here and we will advise you further.

If the decision is set aside then there will be a new hearing before a different panel and you will be given opportunity to attend.

I hope that helps.

Best wishes

Paul

Hi Jonno,

I agree with my colleague Paul's advice on asking for a set aside because you were not present, despite your requests to be involved by telephone. Another option (or a possible course of action if you don't get the set aside) is that you request permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. You've got your statement of reasons so that is a possible next step, or you could ask for the set aside and see what happens (as Paul advises, you need to do this within one month of the decision notice being given or sent to you).

Permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal can be sought within one month of getting the written reasons OR within one month of a decision refusing your application for a set aside.

The reason why you might consider either of these next is that I think, leaving aside the procedural issue of your not being there when you had requested to be present on the telephone, it sounds as if other errors of law were made - evidence which should have been taken into account was ignored, and evidence which arguably shouldn't have been taken into account (because it plainly contradicted your doctor's evidence) was taken into account, perhaps without adequate reasoning.

Finally not having your request to be present by telephone considered looks to me to be a potential breach of the Equality Act. The tribunal system was not made accessible to you and instead went ahead without giving you the opportunity to make representations other than those submitted on paper. You could mention this in your set aside request if you go for that.

Will 

Hi @shouldbetoesup

Regarding the PIP - It seems to me you have two distinct claims here - the one with the potential appeal to the Upper attached, and the new one, relating to a deterioration in your conditions plus new conditions.

The thing to remember about appeals is, that no matter how long the appeal drags on, the Tribunal can only look at how your conditions affected you at the time the decision under appeal was made - given that your post was in Feb 2017 and by that time the appeal had been decided, I'm guessing that the refusal was around a year ago - you state that your condition has deteriorated since then, therefore this needs dealing with separately to the new claim.

As regards the appeal itself - yes, the procedural errors and failure to account for the Equalities Act (reasonable adjustments) would be the reasons for appeal. If the Upper Tribunal allow your appeal however, they are very unlikely make an award of benefit, but instead will probably refer the matter for a new hearing in the first-tier (at which the Tribunal will presumably have more regard for your requests for a telephone hearing - or even a domiciliary hearing).

As regards the new claim - I think it would be very difficult for the DWP to justify reducing the award the Tribunal made, given that your condition has deteriorated since then. I can't say they won't do it, but if they do it would be a fairly straightforward appeal I think.

As regards the ESA - the SDP that was attached to the middle and higher rates of the care component of DLA, is only attached to the Daily Living component of PIP. Therefore your mobility award will not suffice. If the Tribunal award Daily Living however and backdate it, you will be entitled to backpay of the SDP as well.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mary

Hi Shouldbetoesup,

From what you have said it sounds as though he has understood your limitations but it's impossible for us to say whether he has had enough information to give you the enhanced rates.
You have nothing to lose by sending this evidence to PIP for the decision maker to consider and I can't see that he was trying to sabotage your claim. All the best and I hope you get the outcome you want.

Lee

I was just about to apply for a high court hearing and had sent the DWP a copy of the arguments that a lawyer was going to be making on my behalf.  Within days I received a call from DWP to inform me that they had reassessed my claim and were awarding me high rate mobility and standard rate care backdated to 2016 because my conditions had got worse. Although I am happy about this it still suggests that the nerves in my legs grew back for a while in 2013 and then disappeared again in 2016. When I pointed out the error of logic I was told that the original assessment (every statement was a lie) was still accepted so pip was only backdated to when I got worse.  I said that I got worse a week after my car was taken and had no way to buy food and went into a depression but we eventually settled on. October 2016 when I was hospitalised with ulcerated legs from being forced to ignore GP advice to remain in bed with legs raised and had fallen down stairs breaking my ankle then getting MRSA from hospital.  

when I checked my bank account I had been paid £1500. I received a letter of entitlement saying my PIP award was backdated to October 2017.
no explanation for the £1500 but that has not covered depts I have just from food and taxi fares to medical appointments. I keep trying to call them but never get through just put on hold for an hour or so then cut off. 

Should I expect that information given should be accurate and that after agreeing on backdate to 2016 they should not then change this to 2017? 

Is it worth asking for a reconsideration for full care as I am now bedridden so cannot cook , clean or do laundry so how can I cook a simple meal unaided or get dressed or communicate with others when I sleep for 20 hours per day and rely on friends and neighbours to do chores.  

They want me to send coppies of letters for. Housing costs and other things. But how can I go and get photocopies and then post them from my bed? If I stand or even sit up my legs swell and go black within minutes and I will lose them if I do not manage this so I'm not sacrificing them just to send a document to the DWP but they ignore email. What can I do about this? 



i am also in the ESA support group and on that letter of entitlement it says I am receiving work based. And contribution based payments. When I stopped receiving any benefit at all in 2013 which I received 9 different and illogical explanations for I was forced to cash in my pension or starve. Because I was ill the pension company allowed me to retire early and gave me an enhanced annuity and pay me £22pw . I notified the DWP that I could return the lump sum paid and cancel the pension payments within 5 weeks so the pension could mature. That gave them 5 weeks to reinstate my income support and incapacity benefit. After 7 weeks they said they had no idea why my benefits had been cancelled and were paid to me again,  but with £22pw deducted because of my pension payments.  I argued that it was their fault I had missed the opportunity to cancel the pension and that up to £85pw pension was to be disregarded if I was in the work related (I think) group. They replied it was my choice to take the pension.  
Is it legal to have me in both groups? If so They can cherry pick the rule that suits them at the time , I feel my pension has been stolen from me so could you clarify the rules on which group I should be in ? I have a full NI contribution record going back to starting work at 16yo.  Have not been able to work since 1987 but contributions were paid by income support.

I used to have a carer who was an unpaid volunteer but he died a year ago and since then my situation has got worse as problems build up and my house gets dirtier, now I don't even have covers on my duvet or pillows and my dog just uses the doormat as a toilet so the place stinks, what would have been unacceptable to me a few years ago is now just normal.

hi cockneyrebel,
thank you for taking time to reply to me,
I do not receive SDP (I assume you mean serious disability payment) but I intend to notify ESA of my PIP award once I have sorted out the conflicting backdate decisions.

I rely on friends too much and I can understand why they are getting fed up with helping me as they expected me to be able to employ a carer 3 years ago. They have problems of their own so to expect them to go to the nearest post office which would take an hour by bus is a lot to ask.  If the DWP accepted email as a fair adjustment my communication with them would be simple but as it is theyhave accused me of failure to notify them when my DLA was cancelled which is stupid as it was their department That cancelled it