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Surely helping with an appeal from a distance can't work. Right? Wrong!
Professional and affordable representation is available - see the 'What we charge'
page for what the fixed fee of £150 for tribunal representation covers. Many advice
agencies have had to stop, or severely restrict, representation for clients due to financial pressures. Instead, they
are having to rely on sending in written submissions. Certainly better than nothing but this comes a distant second to having
an experienced professional who has prepared for the hearing.
The charity, Child Poverty Action Group are a leading provider of written material and training
for those who specialise in this area of law. In their current Welfare benefits and tax credits handbook, under
'Advice and representation', they say, "If you are not eligible for free advice and assistance, or you want to
be represented by a lawyer at an oral hearing, you are likely to have to pay. It may be a worthwhile investment if your
claim is worth hundreds of pounds."
There are so many variables here, but help can
take the form of:
+ Discussing your claim or appeal, to see whether you should continue or if there's a better option. We will always give you straight forward advice on the merits of your appeal or claim.
+ Discussing your claim or appeal, to see whether you should continue or if there's a better option. We will always give you straight forward advice on the merits of your appeal or claim.
+ We can suggest how to word your appeal, or write it for you,
for you to sign and send off.
+ We can write to your GP or specialist for medical evidence. Couldn't you do that? Yes, but if the letter from your doctor is going to be as helpful as possible, they need information on what the relevant issues for the appeal are, and how we say you should have qualified .
+ For an ESA appeal, we can produce a list of 'suggested descriptors' for the tribunal to have before the hearing. This can narrow the issues and help ensure that they direct their questions to where we believe your extra points should come from.
+ A written submission of evidence and law can be submitted to the tribunal; or caselaw could be important for you. Examples of this are Mr C's DLA appeal where we produced Commissioner Turnbull's decision in CDLA/97/2001, because of what he said about how the 'walking' of someone who could only move around by swinging through two crutches should be assessed, or Mr A and how his case was supported by the Commissioner decision in CDLA/20/94 because of how he is affected by the steam produced in cooking a meal.
+ You could opt to have Glenn Brooks represent you at the appeal hearing. Our fixed fee of £150 represents excellent value, especially when you look at it against what you stand to gain in arrears. When Glenn left a Cardiff firm of solicitors in 1997, they were charging his time at £120 an hour, plus VAT! Statistics show that 40% of appeals succeed but this rises to 70% when there is a representative at the tribunal. (These figures come from a Conservative Party blog). Our current success rate for appeal, as at 31/03/2012, is 95.5% allowed.
+ We can write to your GP or specialist for medical evidence. Couldn't you do that? Yes, but if the letter from your doctor is going to be as helpful as possible, they need information on what the relevant issues for the appeal are, and how we say you should have qualified .
+ For an ESA appeal, we can produce a list of 'suggested descriptors' for the tribunal to have before the hearing. This can narrow the issues and help ensure that they direct their questions to where we believe your extra points should come from.
+ A written submission of evidence and law can be submitted to the tribunal; or caselaw could be important for you. Examples of this are Mr C's DLA appeal where we produced Commissioner Turnbull's decision in CDLA/97/2001, because of what he said about how the 'walking' of someone who could only move around by swinging through two crutches should be assessed, or Mr A and how his case was supported by the Commissioner decision in CDLA/20/94 because of how he is affected by the steam produced in cooking a meal.
+ You could opt to have Glenn Brooks represent you at the appeal hearing. Our fixed fee of £150 represents excellent value, especially when you look at it against what you stand to gain in arrears. When Glenn left a Cardiff firm of solicitors in 1997, they were charging his time at £120 an hour, plus VAT! Statistics show that 40% of appeals succeed but this rises to 70% when there is a representative at the tribunal. (These figures come from a Conservative Party blog). Our current success rate for appeal, as at 31/03/2012, is 95.5% allowed.
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