Disabled - no life - no money - refused dla - truly unfair

[trendywendy]

Can anybody help me sort out the injustice of the DLA system. Read on ...you wont believe this!

I am 26, suffer from chronic proressive medical condition which has resulted in fixed deformities in all major joints. My condition has significantly impacted on my ability to complete activities of daily living.
This is what the OT recently wrote when assessing me for a wheelchair to enable me to get out, putting in adaptions to help me around the home and to help me find more suitable accomodation.

I also suffer from panic attacks, anxiety and depression which i take medication. My consultant says the same and that i am hirsute.

Indoors i use a stick to manage a few steps. In the main I have not been going out and suffer from basic vitamin deficiencys.

I was on low rate DLA allowed after I had a medical 10 years ago, with the shake up, I had to reapply about 3 yrs ago, I filled out the form and was refused.

I had very little if any support then, no money and found it virtually impossible to go out even to hospital and doctors which meant they had little medical history on me for reference.

When i did manage to get to the hospital they kept me in because i was so much pain and immobile, to get there my dad travelled up 200 miles to take me!!

My legal advisor informed DLA I needed a home visit for the Appeal Tribuneral not least due to my physical and mental state but they refused this.

On the day of the appeal I was so ill and anxiuos I could not attend...... I wanted to, I need the money to help me get my life sorted, bring in the care i need, Legal advisors appealed again and it has been refused referring to Rule 40!!!

In laymans terms what is this?

Can they refuse on these grounds when they have never offered me a new medical assessment?
My condition
am 100% genuine and cannot believe this is happenng to me. This cannot be fair.

I invite Mr Cameron round to refuse me to my face and ask wether he will have a clear conscience !!

[davewhit]

Can anybody help me sort out the injustice of the DLA system. Read on ...you wont believe this!

I am 26, suffer from chronic proressive medical condition which has resulted in fixed deformities in all major joints. My condition has significantly impacted on my ability to complete activities of daily living.
This is what the OT recently wrote when assessing me for a wheelchair to enable me to get out, putting in adaptions to help me around the home and to help me find more suitable accomodation.

I also suffer from panic attacks, anxiety and depression which i take medication. My consultant says the same and that i am hirsute.

Indoors i use a stick to manage a few steps. In the main I have not been going out and suffer from basic vitamin deficiencys.

I was on low rate DLA allowed after I had a medical 10 years ago, with the shake up, I had to reapply about 3 yrs ago, I filled out the form and was refused.

I had very little if any support then, no money and found it virtually impossible to go out even to hospital and doctors which meant they had little medical history on me for reference.

When i did manage to get to the hospital they kept me in because i was so much pain and immobile, to get there my dad travelled up 200 miles to take me!!

My legal advisor informed DLA I needed a home visit for the Appeal Tribuneral not least due to my physical and mental state but they refused this.

On the day of the appeal I was so ill and anxiuos I could not attend...... I wanted to, I need the money to help me get my life sorted, bring in the care i need, Legal advisors appealed again and it has been refused referring to Rule 40!!!

In laymans terms what is this?

Can they refuse on these grounds when they have never offered me a new medical assessment?
My condition
am 100% genuine and cannot believe this is happenng to me. This cannot be fair.

I invite Mr Cameron round to refuse me to my face and ask wether he will have a clear conscience !!

i thought rule 40 was some irregularity in the original decision/hearing but not necessarily wrong.

[wobble1]

Please don't get me wrong but when you say "legal advisors" who exactly are they, because it appears if they can't sort this out I don't think there is anyone here with more expert advice that could help, shouldn't they know what rule 40 is?
It is hard from a single post to ascertain what is going on in an individuals case. You say DLA but don't mention any other benefits, which I'm assuming you must be getting unless you have a private income. I do know that not turning up for medicals and then again for the appeal ( even with justification) is probably why you are in this situation.
I'm afraid to say that as far as I know there is no appeal after a Tribunial other than taking it to a higher court, but then your legal advisors should be the ones to know how to proceed with your case.

[Lighttouch]

See rule 40(3)(b) of the tribunal procedure (upper tribunal) rules 2008 (page 1448 of Vol III Social Security Legislation and page 1189 of the CPAG handbook)

http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/discounts-claimants

And it certainly doesn’t mean you’ll win next time: it means they agree there was some irregularity in the original decision/hearing that renders it unsafe, but not necessarily wrong.

Appealing to the Upper Tribunal - Social Security Commissioners.

As you are unhappy with the decision, you should have asked the judge that you would like a full written decision. This is a complete record of the hearing which the judge writes.

As you weren't at the hearing write to the 'Tribunal Services WITHIN A MONTH of the hearing and ask for a full written decision. In fact it's a good idea to make the request in writing just in case!

The written decision, which can take up to three months to arrive, does not commit you to anything. But if you do have the full written decision you are not permitted to seek leave to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Social Security Commissioners), so it's worth keeping your options open by asking for a copy whilst you consider what to do.

I hope your Welfare Rights Officers can help you from there.

Good luck.

[davewhit]

See rule 40(3)(b) of the tribunal procedure (upper tribunal) rules 2008 (page 1448 of Vol III Social Security Legislation and page 1189 of the CPAG handbook)

http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/discounts-claimants

And it certainly doesn’t mean you’ll win next time: it means they agree there was some irregularity in the original decision/hearing that renders it unsafe, but not necessarily wrong.

Appealing to the Upper Tribunal - Social Security Commissioners.

As you are unhappy with the decision, you should have asked the judge that you would like a full written decision. This is a complete record of the hearing which the judge writes.

As you weren't at the hearing write to the 'Tribunal Services WITHIN A MONTH of the hearing and ask for a full written decision. In fact it's a good idea to make the request in writing just in case!

The written decision, which can take up to three months to arrive, does not commit you to anything. But if you do have the full written decision you are not permitted to seek leave to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Social Security Commissioners), so it's worth keeping your options open by asking for a copy whilst you consider what to do.

I hope your Welfare Rights Officers can help you from there.

Good luck.

do you mean without copy ? not have ?


and cool I was close with my answer from the top of my head !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[trendywendy]

I get incapacity benefit, I cannot get out on my own for 2 reasons i get overwhelmingly anxiuos and I need someone to push my wheelchair. If I could have gone I would I need the money to help me have a better quality of life.
The problem was no support where I lived and being anxiuos , CLA (legal advisors) asked for a home visit and DLA refused, then rejected my claim in my abscence but I physically and mentally couldnt get there!! I want to meet them and let them see how I am.
I believe CLA will take it further, but its so difficult to speak to them they are so busy.

[wobble1]

Tredywendy,
It is always difficult to work out from a short post what is going on with any individuals claim, so excuse any errors.
It seems as if you have been on benefits since the age of sixteen, did your health problems begin before then? You applied for DLA 3 years ago but was refused, when did you put in this latest claim or is this issue now from that refusal 3 years ago?
Given this time scale and that your condition is progressive do you not have any medical records from GP etc etc especially as you are on IB and for example the report from your OT ? I ask because when you are unable to attend examinations and appeals the onus is on you to provide evidence to the Tribunal and the CLA should have made this point.
Sorry for the questions, just looking for clarification.
P.S.
If you are IB then at some point you will be transferred to ESA and this process will begin again.