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PIP Tribunal

KevinH
KevinH Community member Posts: 3 Listener
edited June 2017 in PIP, DLA, and AA
I had a really bad experience at my PIP Tribunal that I'd like to share. Absolutely never felt so intimidated in all my life, i left there shaking. Before proceedings began the chair warned me that the rules have changed. This was all said before the new changes that were not due till the 17/3/17. They hadn't even looked at my extra evidence. Told me they wouldn't be looking at the part i was disputing but my claim as a whole and if I did proceed my award could stay the same could be lowered or I could lose the lot and advised to take legal advice if needed. Adjourned to consider my options with my rep and decided to withdraw. I felt threatened and intimidated. They did say as my award is up till 2018 I can then put forward my case when I'm reassessed.I got some advice from the MS disability law service at the time but they weren't very helpful. I wrote to my local MP again wasn't very helpful. I lodged a complaint with the tribunal service who said I had to raise it with the judges commission who again just fobbed me off with more red tape. Citizens advice in my area only deal with debt matters so really exhausted all avenues. 

Comments

  • Liam_Alumni
    Liam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 1,101 Pioneering
    Hi @KevinH,

    I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you had with your PIP tribunal. @BenefitsTrainingCo, do you have any advice as to what to do next?
    Liam
  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @KevinH I am so sorry to hear about your bad experience, there are lots of people on the community who are going through, or have been through the PIP tribunal experience.  We pulled together some tips about PIP appeals that may be helpful to you.

    If you'd like to speak to someone, you can call the Scope helpline on 0808 800 3333.

    Best of luck to you, do keep talking, we are here for you.  And take a look around the community and see if you can connect with others.  If you use the search facility at the top of the page, you can look for 'tribunal' and it will show you all discussions as well as blogposts and information.
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • BenefitsTrainingCo
    BenefitsTrainingCo Community member Posts: 2,621 Pioneering

    Hi KevinH,

    It sounds from what you are saying that you have some award of PIP (up to 2018?) so maybe the tribunal hearing was about the fact that your award should have been higher or should have included the mobility component? 

    Some of what you describe is standard procedure - the tribunal often tell people that they will look at the whole award (and they have the power to do so). The part about the rules having changed is confusing. Of course the new rules on the mobility component would not have applied to you. However, sometimes tribunals talk about the rules having changed when what they mean is that PIP is a very different benefit to DLA. But anyway the fact remains that you were intimidated and that shouldn't have happened.

    Some steps you could take:

    1) usually, to reinstate an appeal after you've withdrawn it you have to apply within one month of the hearing. However, the tribunal can give you longer, so it might be worth writing to them, asking for reinstatement. Having said that, it must be at least 2 months ago (as it was before 17th March 2017), so you should explain why it's taken you a while to ask for reinstatement - the fact that you sought help from various sources who couldn't help you is relevant.

    2) your complaint about the judge. I would look at this again, but bear in mind that it may not fit well if you are asking the same judge to reinstate your appeal. So it may be a move to consider if you don't go for option1. You can complain about a judge within 3 months of the matter you're complaining about - if you later than this explain why (that you were persuaded not to earlier!). The Judicial Conduct and Investigations Office procedure for complaints is here. If you've already done this and got nowhere, then you can complain further, to the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman.

    3) I don't agree that you have to wait until 2018. You can always ask for your PIP to be reconsidered, particularly if you have more evidence or things have got worse. However, that generally means you only get more benefit from the date you ask for the reconsideration. There are exceptions - if you can show the DWP got the law wrong, or already had evidence they failed to take into account for the original decision, then it can be possible to get the original decision changed even after a long time.

    Unfortunately whenever you ask for your PIP to be reconsidered they do look at the whole thing. That is always a risk, just as it can be at a tribunal. But if you have a strong argument that you should have been awarded the mobility component and/or a higher award of either component, it is worth asking for your PIP to be reconsidered now. That doesn't have to involve a reassessment (medical examination) by the way - although it may do.

    I hope some of these options are possible for you Kevin. Do get back to us if you want to ask more.

    Will
    The Benefits Training Co:

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