What a surprise - DWP have lost my appeal supporting evidence!!

[molly44]

I had to appeal DWP decision after Atos medical zero points. Initial GL24 was sent and received in time for appeal deadline 3/7/13, and I wrote on it that all supporting evidence will follow.

Additional supporting evidence (disputing ESA85 Atos report, consultants letters, letters of support from family and friends, descriptors and how they relate to me) was sent special delivery and received at Glasgow, signed for 1 week later on 10th July. (sent later than initial GL24 as my Mum had heart attack on 25th June and I was too stressed to get it all in before deadline).

I received a letter on 18/7/13 from DWP asking why my appeal was late! I rang and was told to ignore the letter as it was obviously an admin error as I am being paid assessment rate so obviously they received my appeal!! I was told that the reconsideration had not been done yet and that I could still send stuff in before reconsideration is done, so I sent a load of doctors letters and hospital appointment letters!

Apparently decision maker tried to ring me on 16th and 17th July (no call received!!) and then made decision to send appeal to tribunal. The DWP has sent me documents showing what this 'reconsideration' was based on and none of my supporting evidence is there! D.M said reconsideration was done and no new evidence was sent which is total rubbish as it was signed for on 10/7/13. Also date of decision is 17/7/13 and yet I was told on 18/7/13 that reconsideration was not done yet!!

Rang DWP to ask where all my supporting evidence is and to find out what has been received and their system does not show what is received, it only shows dates of incoming mail. I don't know if they have received my supporting evidence or not!! They did say some documents were received and forwarded on to appeals dept on 25/7/13 so D.M would not have received it in time for reconsideration. They could not tell me what the evidence was whether it was the first lot i.e. all the main evidence signed for on 10/7/13 or 2nd lot sent on 18/7/13.

It's all a conspiracy!! I have no idea what they have received and don't know whether to send whole lot again??

Can anyone please advise??

Thanks

molly44

[Ginsing]

They were copies you sent wernt they so make another full set - put in appeal include a later stating what went on and say you have sent a full copy to your MP as you are so dissatisfied . Then send everything registered mail to the appeals address. Wait see if it bring anything up. Write to your MP aask for assistNCE as this matter is rulling your life. Good luck xgins

[molly44 in reply to Ginsing]

Thanks gins for the advice.

Yes my next step is to write to my MP!! The DWP do not know what they are doing - they lose documents, say they never received things even though I have proof of special delivery signed for 7 days before the reconsideration was done! They told me when on the phone that I had approx 5 weeks to get any additional evidence in before the reconsideration and they did it 2 weeks after appeal deadline! They can be very efficient when they want!!

I received reconsideration letter on wed 31/7/13 and tribunal letter on Friday 2/8/13 - VERY EFFICIENT SUDDENLY! Pity they are no good at looking after a person's private documentation!

My friend rang on my behalf yesterday as it was all stressing me out too much and apparently they are going to get the decision maker to ring me on Monday between 9am and 1pm. We will see as I have never received a call yet even though they have apparently rung 4 times over the last few weeks.

I am doing a timeline of when stuff was sent to them and when I received letters from them, which I am going to send together with ALL DOCUMENTS already sent. I will send them proofs of delivery to show it was there at their offices before reconsideration. There seem to be too many DWP offices involved. I sent stuff to Glasgow (address on initial decision letter) and it was forwarded to both Stratford and Dundee!!

Thanks again gins I will keep you updated with my journey into the unknown!!

kind regards

[esagestapo in reply to molly44]

There appears to be a complete breakdown in the service regarding claimants medical evidence, whole files of documents seem to disappear off the face of the earth when sent to the DWP. You may want to report the DWP for breaching the data protection act which states your personal information is kept safe and secure. I think if more people done this, it might cause them a few problems which they can't ignore, if they can't be trusted to look after personal data, what the hell is the point of the data protection act?

It occurs to me that the DWP may have an incorrect phone number for you on their system, this would explain why they have not been able to contact you. The last time the DWP rang me, they used my old mobile phone number that I had not used for 10 years or more, but I still have the old mobile phone plugged into the mains as a back up.

[molly44 in reply to esagestapo]

Well the DM did not ring me today!! What a surprise!

Someone called James rang instead from DWP who could not give me any more info. Then someone called Keith rang who also could not tell me what has been received! He just said that I should send everything in again but send it to Stratford. My appeal was initially sent to Glasgow as per instructions from DWP.

Keith said when I send stuff to Glasgow it then goes to Stratford, then to Dundee and then back to Stratford. No wonder documents get lost!!

I have written to my MP today asking for help, but he is probably on holiday so probably not much use to me at the moment.

I am sending everything again tomorrow morning by special delivery guaranteed to reach DWP on wed am. Mind you don't know why I am bothering as they don't seem to have received anything yet that I have sent by post (the GL24 and appeal letter included in the pack sent to tribunal was the ones I had Bromley JCP fax to them at start of appeal)

Thanks esagestapo for you advice. I wish I had read it before writing to my MP as I could have put the bit about Data Protection. If I get a response from him I will be sure to include it in any further letters.

I will keep you updated!

molly44

[esagestapo in reply to molly44]

We should all complain when they lose our documents to show them up for the bungling fools they are, actually I can't believe they are losing our documents, I think the lazy bstards are chucking them in the bin because they can't be bothered to read and file them correctly.

gov.uk/data-protection/make...