APPEALS PROCESS FIRST STEPS.

Hi G E lad,

yes I was rather confused with this part of the B@W document. Im still confused aswel now after reading it a half dozen times.

Can someone please clarify whats meant on this page of the document.

regards A.

Hi

The questions raised will be dealt with by Steve Donnison as soon as he has a chance to investigate.

If you wish to contact Steve in the meantime please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Regards

Michael

Michael many thanks for that.

I look forward to Steve Donnisons Invesigative reply as I feel its a crucial part of the appeals process and I along with others it would appear need a little clarification.

regards A.

Hi All,

The guidance on completing the GL24 is designed to try to prevent a situation where the DWP contact a claimant who has appealed and insist that they must provide more evidence or their appeal will not be accepted. In fact, this isn’t lawful, only the tribunals service can decide that an appeal has not been properly made. It has nonetheless happened to claimants who have not submitted detailed GL24s and can make the whole process even more stressful, particularly for people with conditions that make sustained concentration difficult or exhausting. Demanding more detailed appeal grounds is a tactic that can cause some people to abandon their appeals.

There are other reasons for saying that it’s best in most cases for people to take their time to put together their evidence for an appeal and only to do so once they have seen the evidence used by the DWP to refuse their claim.

In general, if you’ve used the B&W guides from the outset you will already have submitted very detailed evidence, including medical evidence, about why you qualify. So, for many people there will be no more evidence to submit at this stage until you have seen why you were turned down. The best you could do is restate what they have already submitted.

If, on the other hand, you didn’t use the B&W guides and have discovered that your initial application was not as well done as it could have been, then there are very strong arguments for taking the time to prepare a very detailed appeal submission and collect further evidence rather than rushing through this process to try to benefit from a reconsideration.

Attempting to collect further medical evidence in support of your appeal before seeing what evidence was used by the decision maker may also cause problems. If, when you see the evidence used, there are specific statements that you think it is vital to try to rebut with evidence from your GP or specialist, you will have to return to them a second time to ask for evidence in connection with your appeal. For most people, it makes much more sense to wait until you can see exactly what evidence there is against you before asking for supporting medical evidence.

Trying to put forward a detailed appeal case in a hurry can also cause problems if you later come up with further grounds of appeal when you’ve had more time to consider and research the issues involved. A tribunal can quite reasonably query, or simply be influenced by without asking, the fact that you didn’t include these grounds in your original very detailed grounds of appeal. Putting forward a consistent argument is generally more persuasive than a piecemeal series of grounds of appeal.

Having said all that, the very recent reduction in the time limit for returning the ESA50 and the fact that people are being moved from IB to the WRAG without having any kind of medical assessment does mean it would be worth looking at the ESA appeals guide again,particularly in relation to WRAG to support group appeals, which I am happy to do.

Greeneyedlad, the decision maker is supposed to look again at the decision every time new evidence is submitted, though clearly they seldom do so. If you have evidence that you think is persuasive and that you didn't submit as part of your initial application, then you can submit it at any time and specifically ask the decision maker to reconsider. If this doesn’t happen, you can then ask the tribunals service to ask a judge to consider issuing a direction to the DWP to carry out a reconsideration based on the new evidence. There’s no certainty this will work, of course. But asking for directions isn’t something we have dealt with in the guides up until now - perhaps it’s time that we did.

Steve

Hi steve,

much appreciated that reply.

"There are other reasons for saying that it’s best in most cases for people to take their time to put together their evidence for an appeal and only to do so once they have seen the evidence used by the DWP to refuse their claim"........

WHEN WILL THIS BE THEN?.

Ive only had a phone call so far.

When will I have all the FULL FACTS as to why ive been placed in wrag rather than support?.

I was thinking it was after this bundle had been sent out, but surrely its your submission of the ESA appeal form that triggers the sending of the bundle, or am i wrong here?.

King regards A

Hi Article,

First you lodge your appeal, then another decision maker looks to see if the decision can be changed in the claimant's favour. If not, a bundle is prepared and sent to the tribunals service and to the claimant.

So no, you won't see all the evidence until after you've lodged your appeal. When we say put together the evidence for an appeal, we are talking about preparing for the hearing, not completing the GL24 appeal form. Sending in the GL24 form is just the very first step in an appeal.

You can, make a subject access request for the evidence used by the decision maker to make the original decision and you may receive this sooner than you get the appeal bundle. You may still not get it in time to help with a reconsideration, however.

Steve