DWP will NOT look at New Evidence !

My MPs office spoke to the DWP about my claim today and told me they will NOT LOOK AT NEW EVIDENCE that I have sent in before the appeal. I do not yet have a date for the appeal. The
evidence was sent both to the court and the dwp.

Last week they sent a letter out after my MP got involved, saying they ALLWAYS looked at new evidence as it came in when someone was going to appeal.

It appears they cannot agree on their own policy.

Do you have any idea what are their obligations for this please ?

The new evidence means the award could be made as it gives me more than the extra point I am looking for.

Thankyou

Thank You Gordon

I am not giving in, will wait until they change their mind or will attend the hearing, am right at the end now am not backing out

I appreciate your clarification

Hi
When I was first assessed for ESA without a medical I was placed in wrag and I raised an appeal to be placed in support group. At the time I was awaiting the out come of a medical examination by the consultant for CFS/ME which I forwarded to the DWP to back my claim.

At the hearing however I was informed that the DWP could only accept the information at hand at the point of the medical and time of the original decision and therefore would not consider the additional information supplied which confirmed my illness even though I had given notice in the ESA50 form of pending consultant results. So the original decision was upheld, however the following assessment for ESA did place me in support group.

Gordon

UPDATE :
I have just spoken to the court and they have given me an estimate of when my appeal will be heard and there best guess is in another 3 months.

I therefore wanted to clarify what you said regarding legal obligations of the DWP to look at new evidence.

They HAVE SAID THEY HAVE RECEIVED NEW EVIDENCE but are not willing to review the evidence before the appeal.

QUESTION :
Because of the additional 3 months I need to establish facts of question 1.

1/ Do they have a legal obligation under benefit law to look at new evidence
before the appeal or is this voluntary ? Or can they go to appeal without looking at new evidence ? Note : they acknowledged by telephone they have received it.

2/ If I have submitted evidence which details that my condition is worsening because of the appeal process and length of time its taking, are they under any obligation to look at the evidence to comply with benefit law ?

Only learned of another 3 months to appeal an hour ago, but have contacted my MP again but they were previously told they would not review again before the appeal.

If I know they are not following the correct legal procedure my MP will be able to help me
more to break the impasse.

As the decision makers giving me points are the same ones giving me 0 points, it does appear they are not willing to show any flexibility even when staring the obvious in the face.

Hope you can clarify Gordon please so i can decide what to do next. Living with reduced money for 3 months will be a nightmare, but I don't see why I should give in as the evidence I have submitted gives me 4 points and I am only 1 point short.

Thankyou most sincerely