Sally Hunt of the Administrative Justice Council has highighted the below to us:
The Advice Sector Panel of the Administrative Justice Council is working on a project to highlight, amongst other things, the consequences to the claimant of poor decision-making by the DWP in relation to PIP and ESA claims and reassessments. The resultant report will seek to offer ways in which decision-making could be improved.
We are looking for case studies to include in the report that illustrate the wide-ranging knock-on effects to individuals who then went on to have DWP decisions overturned at the tribunal stage.
We want to shine a light on problems that claimants face while waiting for reconsiderations and tribunal hearing dates, such as –
- Debt
- Rent arrears, leading to the threat of homelessness and/or the use of local authority housing departments
- Loss of a mobility vehicle
- Reliance on food banks
- Deterioration in health, including mental health, leading to an increased use of local services such as GP visits, consultant appointments
- Reliance on family or friends for caring duties
Anonymised case studies (half to a full A4 page in length) should be sent to shunt@justice.org.uk by Friday 30 April 2021. If you would like to participate using another method, please contact us on 0330 995 0400.