Hundreds of disabled Mansfield and Ashfield people challenge the Government over benefits

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Hundreds of people in Mansfield and Ashfield have taken the Government to tribunal over disability benefit payments – and two-thirds won, figures show.

Since 2013, hundreds of thousands of benefits decisions have been overturned across the UK after disabled people battled a ‘complex and distressing’ appeals system to win their case at tribunal, disability charities say.

Anyone denied Personal Independence Payment – which covers the additional expenses faced by people with disabilities and is worth between £23 and £150 a week – can request a reconsideration.

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Department for Work and Pensions data shows roughly 720 cases from Mansfield and 960 from Ashfield were taken to tribunal between April 2013 and the end of 2021.

Department for Work and Pensions data shows roughly 720 cases from Mansfield were taken to tribunal between April 2013 and the end of 2021.Department for Work and Pensions data shows roughly 720 cases from Mansfield were taken to tribunal between April 2013 and the end of 2021.
Department for Work and Pensions data shows roughly 720 cases from Mansfield were taken to tribunal between April 2013 and the end of 2021.

About 66 per cent in Mansfield and 70 per cent in Ashfield saw the decision overturned in their favour.

Nationally, claimants have won more than two-thirds of the cases that have reached tribunal since 2013.

Nina Huszarik, of charity Scope, said far too many disabled people received the wrong decision and were left without financial support as a result.

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She said an enormous number of disabled people’s lives had been thrown into turmoil by ‘failures of the benefits system’, with many not well enough to face the stress of taking their cases to appeal.

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Condition

Overall, the DWP assessed 11,710 applications for PIP from people in Mansfield between 2013 and 2021, with the benefit awarded in 7,729 cases. In Ashfield, the DWP assessed 12,500 applications, with the benefit awarded in 7,875 cases.

Scope said it has worked with many disabled people assessed by DWP workers without appropriate knowledge of their condition.

Ms Huszarik said: “We hear about assessors having to Google people’s conditions during the assessment because they’ve never even heard of it.

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“Disabled people must have the right to an assessor who understands the true impact of their condition and how it might fluctuate.

“To make the system work, disabled people must get the right decision first time around.”

A DWP spokesman said the overturned cases represented just a fraction of millions of decisions made.

He said: “All assessments were carried out by professionals trained to consider the impact of an individual’s condition or disability, but we are exploring what more we can do so the welfare system better meets the needs of disabled people.”

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