In Plymouth, Tribunals are heard at St. Catherine’s House, 5 Notte Street, Plymouth, PL1 2TS, and occasionally at St. Andrew’s Court, 12 St. Andrew Street, Plymouth, PL1 2AH.

There is a video online showing a Tribunal and saying ‘this is what the DWP do not wish you to see’. Please do not take any notice of it as it is nothing like a real Appeal.

The only word I think to describe a Tribunal is brutal, so be prepared and anything less than brutal, you are doing well. It will be hard for a few hours, but you will not see these people again, so take a deep breath and get through it. It should take approximately an hour, but then you will have to wait for the decision, so allow 2 to 3 hours.

Dress fairly smartly, so no jeans if you can and clean clothes, but do not do something that you would not do everyday, so if you do not shave, wear make-up and so on, do not suddenly do it.

You can bring someone with you, so a family member or friend. I turned up for a Tribunal, only to almost not recognise my client who was dressed up, in full make-up and lots of jewellery; I was astounded and my client informed me that she had been up since 5.30 am trying to get ready, but was now so exhausted she did not think she could take part in the Tribunal! It was years since she had managed to dress up in this way, don’t forget that you have to be able to do things repeatedly, reliably and safely, once does not count!

Prepare before the Tribunal, read your submissions that you prepared a while ago, a few times, this should help you to calm down as you will see how well prepared you are. Pack your Bundle, so all your papers, a pen, tissues and so on.

You do not need to take water as it will be provided, both in the waiting room and the Tribunal room, as will a box of tissues.

At the door you will be met by a security guard, they are all very nice and they will welcome you, so make sure you get there with plenty of time to spare as getting through security will take a little while.

There is a book that you will have to write your name, date and time in and sign it. The security guard will look in your bag and then use a wand to pass around your body. If you have taken a bottle of water with you and it is open, you will need to have a drink from it to show it is water. If you have asked One Stop Advocacy to be your representative, I will meet you there.

Once through security you will be shown to a waiting room. If there are other people there and you need to be on your own, please ask the security guard for your own room and they will try to accommodate you.

If I am with you, we can discuss your case and read through your submissions.

The Tribunal for a Personal Independence Payment Tribunal will consist of three people - a Judge, a GP and a Disability Officer. For a Universal Credit or Employment Support Allowance Tribunal there will be two people - a Judge and a GP. There may also be a representative from the DWP, this does not often happen, but they will be giving the DWP’s case, again they are all very pleasant.

During the Appeal, be respectful to the Tribunal, you can call the Judge by their name, so Judge Smith, or call them Ma’am or Sir, the GP you can again call by their name or people on the Tribunal Ma’am, Sir and the same with the Disability Officer. Please do not swear or raise your voice.

The Clerk will come to see you and explain who the Tribunal are, ask you to switch off your telephone and so on. The Clerk will try to put you at your ease and again, they are all very nice indeed.

When it is time for your Appeal to be heard, the Clerk will come to collect you and whoever is with you, and show you to the Tribunal room. The Tribunal will sit at tables opposite you and next to you will sit whoever is supporting you, myself and the DWP representative. Sometimes the Clerk sits in as well but on their own.

NB. When you walk in to the room the Tribunal will be watching you, so if you have stated on your initial form that you walk slowly with a limp, do that. What can happen is the occasion takes over, applicants anxiety kicks in and they suddenly turn in to a scalded rabbit and almost run in to the room! They then may not be able to walk for a few days due to the pain they have caused themselves, but the Tribunal will not know that. Just do everything as you normally do.

The Tribunal will have received The Bundle at least 10 working days before your Appeal, so they will have read all the papers, including your written Submissions which they will be looking carefully at.

The Judge will start the proceedings by introducing the Tribunal and explaining what will happen during your Appeal. The GP will start by asking you questions about what is wrong with you. They will discuss things that you struggle with and they quite often start with mobility. They will also discuss your medication and treatments.

Please do not forget, it is all about how you were at the time of your assessment, not how you are now. The Tribunal will keep asking you to think back to how you were at the time of your assessment, and will stress it is not about how you are now.

The Disability Officer will also ask you questions, this time regarding the descriptors, so the questions in your initial form, and how you manage them, or not. They will have read your submissions and will be using these to discuss the points you have made in them.

The Judge may ask you questions, usually to clarify a point. The Judge will be writing or typing a report on the proceedings.

If you do not understand any questions, please say so, do not guess the answer. When the Tribunal have asked all their questions, anyone you have taken with you to support you, so a family member will be asked if they wish to say anything. Then your representative if you have one, so me if you have asked me to represent you, will be able to ask you questions if they feel anything has been missed out.

The Judge will then ask you, your support and representative, as well as the person from the DWP, to leave the room. You will be shown to the waiting room and wait while the Tribunal discusses your case and makes a decision. If they can make the decision fairly quickly, they will ask the Clerk to show you back in to the room so that they may give you the decision. This will then be followed by a letter to you, which can take up to a week.

The Tribunal may not be able to make a decision then, this may be for a number of reasons, perhaps they are running late and have to hear another case or perhaps they feel they have a lot to discuss about your case and do not wish for you to have to wait for a long time. In this case the Clerk will inform you and you can then leave.

The Tribunal have to make a decision about your case that day, they cannot leave until they have done so. You will be informed by letter of the decision.

If your case is successful a letter will also be sent from the DWP to you explaining the level of PIP you have been awarded and the length of the award, so how many years it has been awarded for. Quite often you will see a payment in your bank account before you receive the letter. Your award will be back-dated to the beginning of your claim. This money is disregarded as savings by the DWP for a year.

In rare cases, if you do not agree with the decision on a point of law or something that happened that you do not feel is correct, so perhaps the GP did not ask you any questions, then you can Appeal to the Higher Tribunal. If the DWP do not agree with the decision, then they can also appeal to the Higher Tribunal.

If this happens, the first step is that the Judge will be asked to submit their written statement to you and the DWP. If it was you who asked for this, you will need to read it and, after reading it, you can decide to go to the Higher Tribunal, or not. I deal with many cases at Tribunals and have only had one go to the Higher Tribunal.

Cases that go to the Higher Tribunal are not decided by the Higher Tribunal. The case is looked at from start to finish and they decide if they think the Tribunal made the correct decision in the correct manner. If they think not, then the case is returned to HMCTS and another Appeal will be heard by a different Tribunal.