BENEFITS APPEALS PROCESS AND COURT PROCEDURES |
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Benefits appeals process and court procedures, evidence reports, grounds for appeal, submission to the Tribunal, doctors opinion and insurance company dirty tricks departments
Pay close attention to: The Benefits Agency medical report. This will only be in the papers if you actually had a visit to or from a Benefits Agency doctor. Sift in great detail what he has said about you. He could have been very nice to your face and stabbed you in the back on the report. If his writing is illegible write to The Appeal Service telling them that you can't read the report or sections of it and ask them to obtain a typed transcript from the Benefits Agency. If you don't get one raise this at the hearing. you may want to ask for adjournment whilst the tribunal gets a typed transcript. It is vital that you are able to read the evidence being used to refuse your claim. Note down anything that is wrong with the report. More often than not the doctor has not written everything you have told him down. Has the doctor said he considers you can do things that in fact you can't. Has the doctor taken things you said or did out of context? Has the doctor recorded things that didn't happen? Many people feel awkward about challenging the opinion of a doctor, DON'T the doctor has been paid to say these things and if they are inaccurate then the Tribunal needs to know. If you don't challenge it, remember legal process not personal, then the tribunal will have to accept what he has written. Don't personalise the compliant. All that is required is that the doctor is mistaken in his opinion because the doctor seemed in a hurry, didn't seem to listen or asked leading questions then you should say so matter of fact rather than angrily or accusingly. Thousands of cases every year tribunals accept the evidence of the claimant rather than that of the Benefits Agency doctor. They are used to what they are like!!! If you have managed to get detailed supporting evidence from your own doctor then the tribunal have to choose between two conflicting sets of medical evidence anyway. Your job is to help them choose the right evidence. Another area to pay close attention to is the summary of facts and the Decision Maker's submission. Sift these carefully because what the Benefits Agency calls facts may not be facts at all. Has the Decision Maker assumed things about you that aren't based on any evidence and then presented them as facts? Has the Decision Maker only told half the story? Has the Decision Maker used evidence from the Benefits Agency medical report which you consider to be incorrect? Has the Decision Maker ignored evidence that you or your health professionals provided that undermines his case? Has the Decision Maker just got things plain wrong? Note down the inconsistencies for the Tribunal then go through the papers to see where you need more evidence from your carers or health professionals to specifically counter what the Benefits Agency doctor or the Decision Maker are saying about you. Send copies to The Appeal Service prior to the hearing so they have a chance to read the material. Keep hold of originals and take them with you on the day of the hearing. You will probably be very stressed out on the day of the hearing. This is normal especially if you have not been through the procedure before. The Tribunal panel will do their best to put you at your ease. You may be asked how you got to the hearing. This may be relevant to your appeal consider it in light of what you will answer the Tribunal. Hearings often run very late and if you are down the list you may nor actually get heard that day. If you have any further evidence that you have not as yet sent in, give it to the clerk when you arrive. The tribunal consists of three people: a chairperson who is legally qualified, often a practicing or retired solicitor, and two others specialising in the area being appealed. The Appeal Service is part of the judicial system and is independent of the Benefits Agency hence the importance of getting your appeal out of the Benefits agency to be reviewed truly independently. It is common to ask you to describe something you are very happy with describing for example what you did the previous day. You may then be asked to expand on that theme for example to describe the day before and then the day before until the tribunal feel they have a clear picture of what you are appealing actually affects you. When the tribunal have heard all the evidence, everyone will be asked to leave. The three members will then consider their decision, a process which can take anything from a few minutes to half an hour or more. You will be invited back into the room, told the decision and given a yellow piece of paper with the decision written on it. This is called the short decision notice. You are not invited to comment on the decision. If you have got what you hoped for then you need do nothing else. Your award should be backdated to the date of your original claim if you have won, so you may be owed quite a large sum. If you haven't got what you hoped for you will undoubtedly feel painfully hurt, disappointed and angry at apparently not being believed. You have the opportunity to try to appeal to the Social Security Commissioners. This is a more complex procedure, it may take more than a year and it is beyond the scope of our experience so we would advise formal legal help at this stage. There are tight deadlines in order to be able to pursue the appeal.
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