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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Decision making and appeals  →  Thread

Revision of PIP new claim following successful UT decision

JojoMitchell
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Disability Law Service, London

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Hello there
Just taken a call from a gentlemen who originally claimed PIP in May 2018, went to tribunal on 30/07/19, scored 5 points.  Error of law identified by UT and he attended a new FTT hearing on 16/01/20 which was successful (awarded PIP until May 2022). 

He was advised by PIP to make a new claim when the original tribunal refused his appeal which he did and a decision was made to refuse his claim on 19/12/19. 

PIP paid his arrears from May 2018 up to the date of his new claim.

My question is, can he have the new claim decision revised as per The Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999, PART II CHAPTER I Regulation 3 (5A) and The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2013, PART 2 , CHAPTER 2, Regulation 11??

Many thanks

Elliot Kent
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The “any time” ground for revision you have identified does potentially apply, but perhaps important to recognise that it does not necessarily entitle your client to a revision of the new decision - the DM could still decide not to revise.

However, you don’t need to rely on that “any time” ground because your client is still within time to request an ordinary “any grounds” revision. The argument would be that the decision was wrong for the same reasons that the decision on the first claim was wrong, the Tribunal has set the decision on the first claim aside and said that there should be an award until at least 2022, your client agrees with that and the new decision should be revised to reflect this. Your client can then appeal the second decision too if the DM won’t revise - maybe he will get the same FtT…

(Also, strictly speaking the Tribunal has exceeded its powers by purporting to make an award until 2022 - it was not entitled to do this because it was dealing with a “closed period” so it should have limited its award until the day before the new claim - although I’m not sure anything really turns on this).

JojoMitchell
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Disability Law Service, London

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The caller has already requested a mandatory reconsideration of the new claim refusal. 

He also rang PIP today to ask that the decision be revised as the FTT heard his appeal (“any time”) and a case manager told him that it couldn’t happen as he had already requested a MR and secondly, his conditions were not the same as when he claimed in May 2018 (not true).

Does he wait for the MR decision and/or try the “any grounds” revision?

Thanks

[ Edited: 4 Feb 2020 at 04:02 pm by JojoMitchell ]
Elliot Kent
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I would suggest he just sends the FtT decision and a covering letter in as supporting evidence for his existing revision request.

Terry Craven
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Hope Advice Centre, Liverpool

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It may be an idea to request a copy of your client’s DWP file covering the last 5 years. Once received you might find evidence that the DM referred to the original decision, which the FTT revised. 
Also, ask for the reasons why the second PIP claim was rejected. Again you are looking for a causal link between the two negative decisions.
If your C has mental health problems, have a look at MM v SSWP? This decided there was a duty on the DWP to seek evidence from a claimant’s GP as to his/her mental health. The law governing this is the duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure a claimant with mental health issues is not prejudiced by the decision making process.
There was a duty on the DWP to explain fully explain the ramifications of making the new PIP claim. Especially, it time strapped his appeal. If successful at appeal, the FTT could only make an award for the period from the date of the first decision to the date of the second PIP decision.
Regularly, I come across Cs, who have been advised by advisers to make a new claim for PIP in the interim after a refusal. In my opinion this is bad practice unless the new claim can be guaranteed, e.g. special rules.
If an adviser agrees to represent a C at tribunal, s/he must be confident the appeal is going to be successful. Ergo, a new claim is futile and might cause more problems than it solves. More worrying, it could lead to litigation on the grounds of negligent advice.
Once such case I heard about was where the C was advised to make a new claim after being refused PIP on migration.  At the time he was 67 years old. The C then claimed AA, which was refused. The result of this is the loss of mobility, which cannot be reinstated after the date of AA decision.  I cannot think of a way out of this situation unless there is some way the C could withdraw the AA claim. I am told this case is the subject of litigation.

[ Edited: 10 Feb 2020 at 12:40 am by Terry Craven ]