Question pls re tribunal appeal & court case

[dc1960]

I wonder if anyone can help with a brief question please?

 

I was due to appear in Magistrates Court next month on a benefit fraud charge. However, my appeals (both heard together in relation to a 'living together' decision and subsequent overpayment of ESA benefit) were heard almost two weeks ago by the tribunal and both have been allowed.

 

Can anyone please tell me what happens now with the court case and/or is there anything I should be 'doing' ? I know it seems an inane question but after after nearly two years of this being ongoing I've not had the mental or emotional capacity to consider "what happens next?" if my appeals were successful.

 

Many thanks.

[estellyn]

contact your solicitor to prod the prosecution - if the appeals are allowed then there should be no case to answer. Unfortunately these things take time to work their way through the system - it usually takes 2-6 weeks just for the DWP to process the appeal decision.

[id6052]

if your appeals have been successful, then normally the DWP/LA will drop the prosecution

 

there are sometimes exceptions, it would help if you could confirm what offence you were actually charged with

[dc1960]

Thank you both for the replies. Bit frustrated with it at the moment - the tribunal judge said I would receive his decision, in writing, within 3 days of the hearing though his clerk stopped me on my way out and said it would be closer to a week; that was almost two weeks ago and I still have nothing. Having twice rung the tribunal service I was told that a decision was made on the day and I should have had the decision notices by now and said yesterday they would send further copies. It was mentioned that they informed the DWP electronically on the day of the hearing and it was actually the DWP who told me yesterday, when I rang them, that both my appeals were allowed. But I won't be happy until I have the actual decision notices.

 

I am aware that the DWP can challenge the tribunal's decision within one month but there's little point me worrying about that at the moment.

 

It was a 'living together' decision by the DWP and a subsequent fraud charge in relation to ESA benefit which apparently formed two separate appeals, one being the 'living together' decision and the other a subsequent overpayment of benefit.

[id6052]

Sounds like they charging you with a Section 111A or Section 112 offence, in which case the prosecution should collapse.

 

Unfortunately, the wheels of state turn very slowly

[dc1960]

Received this morning the decision notices from the Tribunal and a letter from the DWP. Both of my appeals (‘living together’ and the subsequent large overpayment of ESA benefit) were allowed. The letter from the DWP relates the same, stating ‘no overpayment of benefit’.

 

I should be delighted but don’t seem capable of feeling anything other than, perhaps, a rising sense of anger. Like most people, I’ve had some turbulent times in life but can safely say that the last two years since the initial interview under caution have been the worst, leaving me in a limbo of depression and constant anxiety.

 

All I seem to be able to focus on are my mistakes and the biggest one, by far, was not realising early on how crucial it was to find legal help specialising in welfare benefit cases. You panic, proceedings looming, unable to find specialist help because it either doesn’t exist within reasonable traveling distance (remembering you’re unwell and often penniless which is why you’d made a claim to benefit in the first place) or they’re already snowed under and unable to take your case. Knowing I’d done nothing wrong, I settled for a local solicitor with very little expertise in the field because surely all I needed was someone to help me set things out, dot the i’s and cross the t’s, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Terrified of changing solicitors part way through, I constantly found myself struggling to lead him through the complexities only to be ‘kindly’ but constantly told to make an early guilty plea and that my case was weak.

 

To be fair to the solicitor, legal aid does not cover the tribunal/appeal process and, even had he possessed knowledge and understanding, he still wouldn’t have been able to assist me pick my way through the appeals process. With no-one to represent me, I was on my own through several (adjourned) appeals and I’m just very thankful that, ultimately, the tribunal hearing took place prior to criminal proceedings in magistrates court; my solicitor tells me I was “very lucky” that the prosecutor sought and obtained a last minute adjournment so that the tribunal went ahead first. I firmly believe that the prosecutor knew their case was weak and that the tribunal was likely to find in my favour.

 

For anyone going through similar all I can say is, if you know you have done no wrong, never take the optimistic view that you’ll be believed by the DWP and move heaven and earth to find yourself representation who understands welfare benefit law inside out.