Hearing Date Arrived

BB

1. Providing the GP has clearly identified that his evidence applies to 2012 as well then there should be no problem.

2. Your father is appealing being placed in the WRAG so if the appeal is successful then he will be entitled to back payment of the difference between the WRAG and the SG, about £6/week. In addition, by being placed in the SG, the time he spent in the WRAG will be removed from the 365 days count for the payment of ESA(CB), as it appears he spent the full year in the WRAG, this should reset the count to zero.

Gordon

BB

As a general rule, unless a Tribunal is specifically related to payments, never mention money in connection with an appeal, it is likely to result in the case being thrown out, Tribunals take the view that an appeal should only be made because the claimant believes they meet the criteria!

It is quite possible that your father's IB payments were more than the ESA WRAG rate and that as a result he received a Transitional Payment, I would have expected that payment to have been lost when he was moved to the SG on the latest assessment so it is possible that his payment remained the same or even went down.

What will happen if he wins his Tribunal is that the period he spent in the WRAG is erased and the DWP will re-calculate his payments from scratch as if he had just been transferred from IB, this may not result in any increase, but it may, and it should also result in any Transitional Payment continuing on to his current award.

I know it's complicated and I will warn you that the DWP often get it wrong, but you cannot say for certain that there will not be an increase in his payments.

I seem to remember from previous conversations that he was not eligible for Income Related ESA, but it would be worth checking this again if the cause was related to income or deductions as the amount the government expects him to live will have increased now that he is in the SG.

Gordon

Bluebear wrote: With my dad's appeal coming up at the end of April... Are you able to give us an idea of what to expect. Who would be there... What would be asked... How long will it take, etc? As a representative, I/we are getting a little stressed

For an ESA appeal there will be two members on the panel, a Judge or legal member and a doctor, there may also be a DWP Presenting Officer, if there is then although it may be related to your Dad's claim it is more likely that they are there for the day and are attending all of the hearings.

The hearing is usually about 40 minutes, it will start with a brief introduction of who is there and there role and then the hearing itself will start, most of the questions are likely to come from the doctor although the Judge will also ask questions as they feel appropriate.

Questions will be directed to your father and unless he has problems communicating they will expect him to answer, you can add extra content if you feel it is important but be aware, say too much and they will politely ask you to be quiet, you will get some time at the end to make any comments you want.

Most of the questions will be about your fathers daily activities, they will however be a lot more straight forward than those asked at the ATOS assessment, they are looking to understand his limitations, they also likely ask for some background information.

You may get the result on the day, but it is becoming more common for the result to be posted the next day.

Have a look at the following

Preparing for a Tribunal

and

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?view=topic&catid=10&id=87354

Gordon