New DWP Tactics

by **assassin** Sun May 26, 2019 2:29 am

It appears the DWP are using new tactics to delay and pressurise those appealing decisions into submission.

If you are sanctioned for ANY reason you have a right to something called a "statement of reasons" and this outlines their claims and stipulates the exact reason/s you have been sanctioned and who actually sanctioned you, from here you either comply or proceed directly to the lower tier tribunal and this statement of reasons is a legal AND lawful requirement to provide one and in many nerfarious and fraudulent claims against benefit claimants they fail to provide this and hope the drivel and play on words is enough to force you to comply, and this tactic is being openly used against benefit claimants they are trying to move onto Universal Credit.

You have one month from receipt of the statement of reasons to request this be put before a decision maker who is a DWP employee and this request can be done verbally OR in writing, and my experience shows a verbal request at the time of sanction is best done and this should be followed up by a written request for it to be put to a decision maker, and this is best done on the same day if possible and hand delivered to the Jobcentre you attend. By doing this there can be no doubt that you have requested this be put to a decision maker and the correct use of words is crucial, and I would include the following:

Following my sanction today (insert date here) I verbally requested to the advisor sanctioning me (insert their name here) that this be put directly to a Decision Maker, and I am following this up with a formal written request to put this to a Decision Maker to remove any doubt that I require this to be put directly to a Decision Maker and this has been done verbally, and in writing, and has been hand delivered to the DWP and handed in at (insert office name) to prevent this document becoming lost in the post or your internal systems.

This is vital evidence that you have requested verbally, and in writing that you require this to be put to a decision maker and will be seen by the tribunal when you submit your documentation to them.

When it gets to the tribunal stages it first passes through the lower tribunal and if the DWP refuse or fail to send you the statement of reasons then they have breached their own legislation and policies and the lower tribunal will use a Judges Direction to provide them and you with this information; and this is where the scam begins, the DWP ignore this direction and the lower tier trubunal and this is simply a delaying tactic to prolong the time you are without benefits as currently the backlog at the lower tribunal stage is around 4-5 months. Your case can be heard by either a tribunal jusge who has little to no authority or a judge who does have authority, and when they ignore the direction it goes back into the tribunal system and has to wait for the period of delay which currently is around 4-5 months and it comes before a real judge who generally orders the Secretary of State as respondent to respond to the tribunal within 21 days, and to respond to you within 42 days and give you a full statement of reasons, and the reasons for their failures and delays.