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Doctors on tribunals do not actually have to be licenced to practice medicine. Whether that is right or wrong, would probably depend on a court case to decide....

Is there not any welfare rights advisors in your area? Try ringing the council and asking them if there are any welfare rights advisors in the area that can help with an appeal, or look in yellow pages, use google etc. They should be free, if you can find one. Plus a welfare rights advisor is probably better than a lawyer, as most laywers dont specialise, or know much about, benefits.

You can appeal an appeal, but only if the first tribunal made an error in law. I would suggest finding a welfare rights advisor (quickly) to discuss the issue, as you must file the appeal within the time limit (not sure what the time limit is, I would guess it may be the same 30 days as for a normal appeal, but cant say for sure)

I would not hold out much hope of getting anywhere with someone that works for the dwp.... Try though, you never know....

My last post in this thread where I posted a link to benefits and work to back up the 70% figure was 'moved' by cagbot But both benefitsandwork, and the disability alliance state up to 70 percent where the claimaint and representative attend are won. source

All I know is what you know, they have decision makers at each jobcentre who make the decisions on claims. They are not required to be medically qualified, and it is annoying they do not have to put their name to the decision,as it makes accountability much harder.

The percentage of wins rises quite a bit for claimaints that go to tribunal with a representative, I think its around 70 percent for IB where the claimaint is represented at oral hearing. Paper only hearing have a very low success rate, so avoid those.

Appeals president slams DWP and ATOS

they have to assess the details of any request for a home visit, it costs them more for a home visit so they wont like doing them, but they have to look at every request and examine the evidence to see if it is required. It really is not illegal to tape record a converstation by 2 people without the other persons consent. You can also request that it be used as evidence in a tribunal, but it is up to the tribunal if they accept if, and what weight the will give to the evidence. ATOS/DWP try to scare people into thinking it is illegal, but its has been debated many times on many forums, and so far, no one is able to prove it is illegal...

Recording is good, but DONT TELL THEM, or you will not get the medical and will lose your benefits. If you do it, do it without their knowledge. The only way ATOS will do a home medical btw, is if you can provide 'compelling' medical evidence, ie your gp or specialist etc has to provide atos with good proof that one is absolutely required, otherwise they wont do a home visit.

As has been pointed out by someone else you can complain to atos, the dwp and the GMC. However, I also wonder if their is a way to take direct action, ie sue the people responsible.... You should remember as well, to go after not only the ASSESSOR who did the medical but also the DECISION MAKER at the DWP who read the report (Im assuming the report will be full of inconsistencies and will contradict itself) AND the second decision maker who reconsidered the case before it went to appeal...

Physical exams are done by a doctor (who does not examine as a normal doctor would, but follows dwp procedure instead) Mental exams do not have to be done by a doctor, a nurse can do those. Many,many people report bad medical reports.

Even if it got sent to the decision maker, would they bother reading the note... They dont seem to read medical reports properly, well not mine anyway!