Fightback

Some of our FB4J amazing team

We are in the Final of the National Diversity Awards 2018, for the 2nd time in Disabled Community Group award.

Local papers have been on the phone today, as we appear to be the only group in the Manchester area shortlisted for community group in disability to the NDA awards.
Go Team Fightback we are so pleased and some kind supporters have submitted videos to support us on the night, should we win, this prestigious award. We also have over 200 nominations we have found out this week thats amazing thankyou fightbackers you guys are the reason we work late into the night every night.
We... are shortlisted to the final 8 for the Disability community group, this is the biggest event in UK and Europe recognising achievement and its a great honour to be selected for the 2nd time since 2014 as finalists from tens of thousands of entrants.
This is a fabulous achievement and it would not be possible without the hard working advocates and volunteers, many of whom have disabilities themselves, and most of all the support of you guys, our supporters have been there encouraging us to keep going, praising us and supporting us financially from day one since we started in 2013.
You are all responsible for us being at the awards twice now.
Thankyou Fightback4Justice
http://www.nationaldiversityawards.co.uk/ shortlist/
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DO YOU LIVE IN Leicestershire??
WOULD YOU LIKE FREE ADVICE ABOUT: PIP and ESA Applications, Assessments, Mandatory Recosiderations, SSCS1 forms and Appeals???
... We are please to announce that we have appointments are available for the next FREE ADVICE ROADSHOW to be held Monday the 13th August in Leicester.
EMAIL us at fightback4justice@live.co.uk with full details for an appointment with our Legally Qualified Advocate
Please note, we cannot monitor all comments on this post, the best way to contact us is using the email address below.
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Shirley called this morning to say that her daughter's appeal was a success, she was awarded lower rate mobility and care for her DLA award, after it was removed last year. We advocated for her via distance and prepared the legal documents for court and submission.
We can advocate anywhere in the UK including NI and have advocated for clients from overseas in the past too.
Just ring our office on 0161 672 7444 or email enquiries@fightback4justice.co.uk

Great news in from our client Louis who has been awarded the standard rate for both daily living and mobility on PIP following a Mandatory Reconsideration which was completed by Amy and legally reviewed by Michelle.

Thanks for your gifts of stamps

Cat is dealing with the second PIP appeal so far this week where the claimant hasn't filled in the boxes in the application form but put all of the information on continuation sheets. This has lead to the application form being 51 pages long.... ...... bearing in mind that the assessor usually has 10-20 minutes to read your form, continuation pages and medical evidence - this can be very detrimental to your case. They simply dont have the time to read through 50+ pages. Many applications fail simply because of this. If you can, always use the boxes in the form itself and be very specific in your answers to each question (the boxes should almost always be big enough to fit the answer in). Obviously there will be exceptions to this - if you are unable to write for example.

YOU ASKED, WE RESPONDED!!
ANOTHER FREE FIGHTBACK ROADSHOW
MONDAY 13TH AUGUST, LEICESTER.
... FREE ADVICE ON PIP AND ESA APPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, MANDATORY RECONSIDERATION, SSCS1 FORMS, APPEALS AND HEARINGS FROM OUR LEGALLY QUALIFIED ADVOCATE.
EMAIL FIGHTBACK4JUSTICE@LIVE.CO.UK FOR AN APPONTMENT
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**LEICESTER FREE ADVICE ROAD SHOW*** We are please to announce that appointments are now available for the next FREE ADVICE ROADSHOW to be held Monday the 13th August in Leicester. We can advise on: PIP and ESA Applications, Assessments, Mandatory Recosiderations, SSCS1 forms and Appeals.
... EMAIL fightback4justice@live.co.uk with full details for an appointment.
Please note, we cannot monitor all comments on this post, the best way to contact us is using the email address below.
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We have added new appointments for Form Completion, Mandatory Reconsideration, Advocacy Submissions and Sign Ups that include a 1 hour session going through your case and completing the SSCS1 form and full Advocacy for your Appeal.
Appointments have been opened up due to demand on our highly sought after Legal Services.
Email if you want to book or see simply booking link on the left of the page.
... We also give Free Advice over the phone and at Drop In too, We also have some Probono cases each month. Email us fightback4justice@live.co.uk
We help as many people as we can, as often as we can, and the best we can.
Hurry these slots get taken fast!
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We have received hundreds of emails over the weekend from both our general enquires and VIP account which our team have ben working their way through this morning.
Remember that if you are a VIP Member, always use the VIP email address to receive a response within 24hrs (Mon- Friday) or give us a call on the VIP Phone Number which is prioritised. Remember that these VIP Contact details have changed recently so please log in at www.fightback4justice.co.uk to retrieve these details.
If you contacted the tech support team over the weekend, you should have had a response this morning 🥊

More great Monday morning news from one of Cats clients who had their hearing on Friday
'he said an award is due, enhanced care and standard mobility (5 years to Oct 2022) and if your happy to accept that then you can leave, so she did and we cant have been in there more than 90 seconds'

Hi Cat - Ive just had a call from M to say he has his PIP result. He has been awarded both care and mobility. We really werent expecting that! Im at work till 9pm so dont know the details. We would have been grateful if had just got one award. Thank you so much for all your help, and also to Jade who completed his application form - we wil be able to take taxis to all his appointments now, which will be a huge help for him. And for me too, as it's not easy using public transport with a 6' man who falls and trips and you have to catch him. Thank heavens for some good news!!

Some lovely post in this morning, thank you cards and lots of stamps donated. As you know, we have a huge postal bill every month and are always in desperate need of stamps! So THANK YOU. P.s. I think we should save the dads army ones for our letters to the DWP. The phrases on them seem particularly apt 😋. Cat xx

In the coming weeks, we will be adding some brand new and exciting content to our VIP Platform and Social Channels!
The new video content will range from Instructions / Tutorial videos on Form Completion and Assessments to Interviews with some well known faces!
We would like to know what kind of videos you would like to see.. Feel free to drop your suggestions in the comments below 👇🎬

Called in for a compliance interview- Often it's because something has recently been filled in and submitted, usually transfer to pip or pip renewal or a new ESA award. The fraud and error team now check and cross reference new claims in same house so if a partner is claiming disability benefits they may cross reference the form with partners new one or visa versa. While carers can be claimed for each other or by someone else on disability benefits it's now being scrutinised ...and cross referenced so ensure your claim forms reflect how you are generally not just on your worst day as other agencies advice wrongly. At fightback we've had over 100 calls on adviceline in last month re compliance visits and it's usually as a result of someone reporting you for being more able than claimed on the forms or after scrutinising a carer partners/parents pip form. We have attended compliance interviews and represented in overpayment/fraud cases and cannot reiterate this enough. Your form MUST reflect your current limitations as they generally mention good days and better days not just the terrible days. It is not how you are on your 'worst day' only, it should be an example of how you are for the majority of time.
Don't wait until you get a letter, ensure old forms for the person you care for are up to date with your own. If you used to give that care to someone and no longer can manage, then ensure the correct person is claiming Carers Allowance.
We've successfully helped lots of people claim carers and pip themselves and win pip appeals when they are a carer but the descriptors ideally should not clash on the forms. If they do you need to explain what measures are in place.
Remember DLA and PIP benefits are very different.
We are not trying to scaremonger but with the latest new style pip review forms being sent out this month, it's best to check everything before submitting.
Michelle Cardno LLB hons Legally qualified advocate
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