First, a huge thank you to Benefits and Work for the excellent guides!
This week I won my appeal in style. The tribunal literally lasted about 3 minutes and I didn’t even have to go out and wait for the decision. The judge was impressed with the quality of my submission, which I wrote with the help of the guides. I represented myself too.
Now I have a question.
The medical evidence from the health professional was ridiculous, he changed the descriptor on the moving around activity from 12 points to 8 points solely based on a question about visiting the supermarket and walking half an aisle between stops. He didn’t say how far he considered the aisle to be and he didn’t ask about pain, fatigue or how long it would take. He also ignored the fact that I said that I would only be able to do this on a better day, maybe once or twice a week to pick up a couple of things (prescriptions for example).
The mandatory reconsideration basically rubber stamped the original descision, relying on the health professional’s report a little more. In his informal observations he wrote that I walked approximately 20m to the assessment room with a slow and rigid gait. Somehow, that meant I could walk more than 20m safely etc etc!
Obviously, the panel at the tribunal found the dwp evidence as ridiculous as I did. They didn’t have any actual medical evidence to show that my condition had improved, so didn’t have grounds to supersede my award. It was all based on those two pieces of evidence, that didn’t follow the PIP guidance that moving around should be measured on walking outdoors.
My question is, since they didn’t follow the guidance in the PIP handbook and made a really poor decision twice, should I complain to the ombudsman and try to get some compensation? I lost my enhanced mobility award, which meant my notability car had to be returned 9 months early. I got the outstanding advance payment back and the £250 for looking after it. But I lost part of the £1000 extra I had to pay for the car (it was the last one made of that model, so I didn’t have a choice on the optional extras). Also, I had to buy a used car on a credit card (no choice, because I can’t work). My reduced mobility award has been used to pay the monthly minimum payment on the card and I used the refunded advance payment and good condition payment to pay off the card. It’s an old car and has cost me a lot to keep it going. If dwp had followed the rules and made the correct decision, I wouldn’t be so out of pocket and I think they should compensate me.
Anyone else done this and have any advice?
