Hello warriors, how are you?
Well, as you can see from the title: we won. Code name: THE ICEMAN won.
This is the celebration dance I did in my mind when I got the update he won! LOL
I’m going to cover my feelings and then chat about the ICEMAN.
My feelings:
I cannot tell you what a weight off my shoulders this is. As you all know I HATE tribunals. I am good at them (not being big headed - it just seems all my experience to date results in this outcome), but I fucking hate the whole tribunal process.
Here’s the problem I have when I work with a client, I get to know their daily life; in detail. In a lot of cases I know more about the details of their daily life than most of their family members do. So, at this point I KNOW what they are entitled to regarding PIP.
So, if they are not treated fairly, its natural to go to the next step. And then the next step…..until it gets to Tribunal. Well, I will NOT abandon them at this point. Tribunals are like ‘accuracy on steroids’ if that makes sense and I know that most people do not have the experience to win or confidence to keep going.
You need to be really good at identifying the right information and putting it across very clearly in a format that works for the Judge, Doctor and Disability Specialist. It takes fucking hours (and that’s for me).
I hate it.
This is the case where we only discovered two days before the Tribunal that there were errors on the GP’s notes. Now the ICEMAN has been with me since the start, he booked me from the point of his claim. Then we did a private practice session.
Then I got scared. For the first time EVER, I experienced someone I had worked with at the start getting ZERO points. This has never happened before and has not happened since. Which then led to me losing sleep wondering what I was missing.
We did the Mandatory Reconsideration and started preparing for Tribunal. I do not think (as per normal) that anyone read the Mandatory Reconsideration. So, we submitted to Tribunal. What I did not know at that time, was the DWP were so far behind they were not reviewing a lot of the Tribunal submissions (they have 30 days to review their outcome and potentially make you an offer).
Then we got a fucking date for the Tribunal…..WTF. Not many of my clients actually go to Tribunal. So, now I was really losing sleep. What was I missing???
His GP records did not show his condition, they did NOT reflect his daily life. They were over 5yrs out of date. (48hrs before Tribunal this was discovered). WTF!!!!
We asked for an extension and were DENIED. At this point, I honestly thought it was over.
I advised NOT to go in as I felt like he would get slaughtered as if someone is reviewing the evidence before them. They will believe an independent GP not just take a claimants word for it.
Thankfully, I was wrong. I was so worried the outcome of this case would shatter my views of Tribunals. In my mind I trust them a lot more than I do the DWP. I have NEVER found errors in the notes of a Tribunal. They review ALL of the evidence and ask very good questions (assertively sometimes).
With the one case I lost, now with more experience I totally agree with the outcome at Tribunal. All other Tribunals, the outcomes have been fair. And all we are asking is to be treated fairly.
So, I was wrong. The Tribunal did NOT just focus on the GP notes. They looked at ALL of the evidence they had before them and awarded the ICEMAN with a level of PIP funding.
Now, he did NOT get the level that matches his daily life. But, we know why. We know that he needs to speak to his GP, we have 3 big action points to do, he is on the case.
Based on the evidence they had, the award they gave his is not only fair, but it was also extremely reasonable of them. As they could have been dicks about it. I have NEVER experienced them being dicks, I have only experienced them being fair.
So, one year later: finally the ICEMAN has some funding to improve his quality of life. I am so so happy for him.
How the ICEMAN is feeling:
We chatted today and he explained he didn’t want to open the letter as he knew what it would say. The page with the award on it was last, when he read it, he had to re-read it. And re-read it and re-read it. There were tears!
This 12months had been really hard on the ICEMAN. I was so worried he would give up and he told me there were a few times where he was like: I am not going to win so what’s the point? Or: I can’t cope with this. Don’t forget, he is dealing with his conditions AND this on top PLUS normal life.
We did quite a lot of calls as I just checked in with him at intervals to try and give him a boost and to keep him sticking with it. He is sooo grateful and will be sending me some cat and dog food as a thanks lol.
ICEMAN if you are reading this: You really need to give yourself a massive pat on the back….fucking hell its been so tough. You stuck with it and did not give up! You were amazing at all times!! It was an honour to work with you! Xx
And YES. We will get you to the right level on your review (when we have the GP notes sorted) xx
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
I had better be able to write something like this for POSH NAILS as well! Hopefully in the next month or so.
Achievement of the week
I am the queen of cable ties! Look at this:
There are so many things in front of the fence as Matilda will run full speed in the pitch dark and I was worried she would break her neck! So the row of objects and red ribbon is temporary!
I put a ‘door’ here so we can get through to the other side:
Look at how neat the cable ties are…..that was my contribution and my body did NOT appreicate it LOL.
The BOG is now blocked off from the dogs, so my home should have a lot less mud and ‘mud dust’. I am so happy but fucking hell, it nearly killed me and mum.
I haven’t put this photo in yet, this is from the rug I have at the doors the dogs come in:
I mean, that is BAD!! I know the rug is there for that purpose i.e. getting the mud off their paws, but WTF!
What has made me happy
Obviously:
The ICEMAN’s win – POSH NAILS – we need to sort your case next and UNDER CAUTION!
I got to spend time with my mum, we went to buy some plants (we ran out of time to put them in)
I sorted some insurance incase I die. It suddenly hit me a couple of weeks ago, if I die my mum is fucked. She won’t be able to afford to keep the pets (which we consider family) and she won’t be able to afford the bungalow. She would lose her home as well as me.
This made me panic a bit. When I was employed in traditional employment, I had good insurance in place. Well with health issues like mine its not that easy-to-get good life insurance.
He explains everything so clearly. He was so helpful and sorted it for me when I didn’t think it would be possible (due to being rejected a lot lol).
This made me sooo happy, I can sleep a lot easier now knowing my mum will be protected if I die before her.
A couple of other things that made me happy:
This is a suncatcher hanging in my window, it reflected lots of these on my desk:
Its beautiful…..from a distance it looks like yellow light….this is close up.
Books I have read
Very crappy romance shit hahaha…lets move on.
Arthritis update
OK, so I managed to start increasing my steps a couple of weeks ago, do you remember me saying my right hip was so grumpy and this triggered my right knee as well. Well when working with John (my awesome physio); he advised I cut back my steps.
It took us two sessions to figure this out as there are so many fucking variables to consider:
Weather changes
Flare up
Level of pain meds
Sleep
Activity
Stress (fucking tribunals lol)
Any other stuff I am getting grumpy listing it all so going to stop here
So, even though it pissed me off. I cut my steps by over 1,000 a day. It worked. My pain has massively reduced. MASSIVELY.
My toe that was grumpy as I walked about bare foot (in Gertie) for two days, has also calmed down (thank fuck, this scared me as I don’t want to lose my ability to walk (again)).
So, I am back to limited walks BUT I am still walking so its amazing news.
I asked John why my body didn’t warn me. He explained it happens a lot with humans (that’s my word not his). People increase, feel good and then decline.
So, we are tracking my pain levels and everything else, as per normal. Once we get a good base line we will look at me increasing my steps again.
This week has not been great as I crashed 3 times, but this was due to the fencing day and me screwing up my physio session. So, hopefully next week there will not be any crashes!
PIP
Having people trust me so much is a huge honour and something I do not take lightly. I am always honest with people when it comes to their entitlement. For example with the ICEMAN I would NEVER have put him through the stress of the last 12 months if I did not 100% believe/know he was entitled to PIP.
This is my fear. I am really scared about when someone loses, and they turn against me. Its all well and good when you are helping someone, and they win. I have felt it a couple of times when things have not gone as the client thought (Mandatory Reconsideration for example). And they start to get a bit angry and remember bits of what I have said.
So far, I have been able to sooth people and as my success rate is so good I haven’t had to deal with this issue. But I am always worried about it.
Now, I have worked with so many people that I don’t always know the outcome. Sometimes I won’t hear from someone for 2 years then they will come back for a review and I am like:
Did you win?!
To which they respond in a confused manner:
Yeah! You knew that?
I didn’t know it as you didn’t tell me!! LOL. I think some people assume I will assume they won. So, I don’t know if you have noticed, I stopped saying on videos:
I have only lost one case.
I stopped saying that, as I might have lost more and not be aware. Now I say:
I have helped over 150 people win their PIP claims
Which I know is true. I know that statistically I will lose more cases. But in my mind failure is NOT an option. Its not an option as I know my clients are telling the truth, I know they are entitled to it and I firmly believe if you are honest at all times throughout this process you WILL be treated fairly. This is the experience I have had over and over and over again.
But I still fear the day someone turns on me. I know I need to be a bit tougher about it.
When it happens, I will be straight here to talk to you lol xx
What I am looking forward to
So, this week was a week off consultancy so I could focus on ‘products’. I think I only did about 4hrs on products the rest was me trying to get my life in order.
You know catching up on admin (FFS), doing tasks with my mum. And mainly tackling the bog that is the end of my garden.
Next week…..OMG fucking hell…..I just opened my diary…..guess what?
Code name: RUSSIAN LIONESS: we are at Mandatory Reconsideration stage. We are having part 2 of our meeting as she has been getting more evidence. My gut feel is they won’t read the Mandatory Reconsideration so we will have to go to fucking Tribunal stage again. FFS. If you knew her case, its like ICEMAN’s life: massively impacted by her condition. Again we just want to be treated fairly.
OK….pffttt….not sure how to spell that to be honest hahaha. Any way:
Next week: 3 new clients and one returning client. I had a cancellation on Friday as someone booked the wrong Mandatory Reconsideration meeting. I have not made that available again as I need time to work on YouTube.
So, a busy week, its actually a mix of a new claim, a review, a private practice and a Mandatory Reconsideration. Normally it seems to be grouped so this is a nice mix.
I am actually going to take another week off consultancy as I need to work on the products and YouTube. I cannot handle going back to weekly videos, I just can’t cope with it. So, I am going to book that in, I think it will make my mum happy so we can do some bits she wants to do as well.
Also, Ollie has learnt a few more tricks so I would like to book a lesson with our training and work on our dog training skills, well my dog training skills!
This weeks video
Take care of yourself
Charlie
P.S
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