Hey, Dear Friends! It is so good to see you as always! I hope you are staying strong and positive! This shambles of a government needs to be told that what they are doing in the name of our interests is seriously wrong! You'd have thought that common sense and good ol' English values would have kicked in by now... Oh, freaking no! Anyway, as promised, here's what you can do to give you the best possible chance of winning your tribunal. THE FIRST STEPS 01. You have received a sanction. 02. You have called the Universal Credit Service Centre and given a verbal request for a Mandatory Reconsideration and/or sent in a written Mandatory Reconsideration that refutes the sanction or sanctions and your reasons for the sanction(s) to be revoked. 03. You get a response in writing to your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice (verbal and/or written). The response is negative, obviously, otherwise you wouldn't be at the stage where you are calling for a tribunal. 04. You will have downloaded an SSCS1 form from HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Here's a link that describes the process from receiving a negative on your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/benefits-introduction/problems-with-benefits-and-tax-credits/challenging-a-benefit-decision/challenging-a-dwp-benefit-decision-on-or-after-28-october-2013/appealing-against-a-benefit-decision/appealing-against-a-dwp-benefit-decision/ And here's a link to the form you need to fill in to instigate a tribunal: http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=3038 Right! You can do the following:- A. You can visit your local Citizen Advice Bureau and ask for someone there to represent you. B. Get a family member or friend to represent you - it is better if they have some experience. C. Go it alone. ONE AGAINST A SYSTEM OF CORRUPTION If you, for some reason, end up going it alone then you are like me. Me? I have tried to get some help from my local CAB and it didn't work out. Not that I am trying to big myself up but I knew more than the person that was helping me. Moreover, she didn't want to listen to what I was saying and she kept telling me to do the wrong things. That's the skinny of my brushes with my local CAB. I am quite a logical person - at least I think so - and I just approached my tribunal defence with logic. Cold hard irrefutable logic! I organised every single letter/notification surrounding my sanction(s) in order to have them within reach at all times; I went to the Poundshop and bought some A4 sized plastic wallets and made the following separations: 01. Letters/notification received from the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office regarding the sanction(s). 02. Tribunal correspondence. 03. My defence correspondence to the tribunal against the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office. THE GOLDEN RULE Scrutinise, scrutinise and scrutinise! Just in case you weren't paying attention: SCRUTINISE! That is the golden rule. You must pick apart the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office decision to enforce the sanction(s). You have to read and deconstruct every word and sentence. Let me give you an example of an oddly written DWP/JCP/Universal Credit sentence, "Because you called the Service Centre and agreed to another appointment, we will take another 6 days of your Universal Credit personal allowance at £10.40 a day..." Do you see what is wrong with that sentence? No? Well, think about it... Why would you or I or anybody else call up the Service Centre to "agree" to another appointment when (a) we called up to make another appointment in the first place, if we haven't found a job we will have to keep seeing our respective work coach and (b) it is not, therefore, a true recording of events that lead to you or I making the phone call. Also, you must ask for any data they have on you at the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit such as the notes your work coach has of you i.e. his/her notes on the system and any telephone calls made to the Service Centre. The notes that your work coach has created in the lead up to your sanction(s) could help your case a great deal! It is the same with the recordings to the Service Centre; the recordings alone could exonerate you outright! You must also scrutinise these materials until the cows come home; you have to consistently take apart any arguments they have made to enforce a sanction. IT WORKS LIKE THIS You send in the reasons why the sanction(s) is (are) wrong and then you get a response from the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office that is sent to the tribunal and then a copy is sent to you for you to reply to. Again, you have to scrutinise their arguments, take them apart and send the tribunal your arguments against any attempt by the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office to discredit your reasonings. And when the tribunal thinks that they've gotten a good sense of the arguments from each side you will then get a date for your hearing. Usually, when you go to your hearing there will be no representative from the other side. It is very rare that you will see a representative from the other side. The tribunal judge will then ask you questions based on your defence and your answers should reflect your experiences and what you have sent in. And that's more or less it. You could find out there and then that you have won or you will have to wait to learn the verdict that comes in the form of a notification through your letterbox. Again, maintaining logic is what should win you your tribunal. Don't get personal unless you can use it to illustrate a point or two but I would advise you to stick to logic. Look up the rules and regulations that they quote in their responses; you really have to scrutinise these rules and regulations in order to show that they are not adhering to them. That's it! That's how I have won my tribunals on my own. Bear in mind that a tribunal is not the same a court of law whereby rulings can be forced should you win. The tribunal cannot force the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office to pay what they have stolen from you. So far, when I have won my cases, I received a tribunal certification and then I would receive a notification from the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office in acknowledgement and then the stolen money is recovered. Because I have been systematically targeted since 2013 I am looking to take things higher than the tribunal. I will let you know when I know. Right now, I haven't much of a clue as to what I am going to do. At the moment I am just gathering evidence: work coach notes on the system, calls to the Universal Credit Service Centre, sanction notification letters and the paperwork for tribunals that I have won! CONCLUSION I hope that I have given you some inspiration and an insight into how tribunals work. They really aren't difficult; they are just time-consuming. You will find that the DWP/JCP/Universal Credit/Tax Credit Office will string out the decision to your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice up until the last day - it can take up to 28-days to make a decision! I guess I have a week or so to go before I get the decision... Gosh! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me!