Ross Abernethy
welfare-rights adviser
Tenacious; evidence wins appeals
Benefits
A reassessment slashes her award and her independence with it. Gail challenges the decision through redetermination and tribunal, learning how evidence works and finding allies in a welfare-rights office she had never heard of.
Planned · not started yet
Civic life & public services Money under pressure Hard choices City life Tense Bracing
The premise
A reassessment slashes her award and her independence with it. Gail challenges the decision through redetermination and tribunal, learning how evidence works and finding allies in a welfare-rights office she had never heard of.
The protagonist
Gail Mackintosh — Wheelchair user in Dundee whose disability payment is cut
The council
Every council member is an original fictional character. None represents, quotes or is endorsed by a real person.
Dr Lena Mathers
occupational therapist
Practical; describes daily life accurately
Kerry-Ann Doyle
tribunal representative
Experienced; knows what panels ask
How the story moves
From the cut to the tribunal over eight months; her daily-living diary becomes the decisive evidence, and the welfare-rights office becomes her community.
What readers take away
- How disability-benefit eligibility works
- Gathering medical and daily-living evidence
- Requesting a redetermination
- Tribunal process
- Preparing a statement
- Other support available
- Deadlines and time limits
- Getting free advice
- Use descriptor-based evidence
- Prepare for a tribunal hearing
- Know backdating rules
- Combine benefits correctly
The books
- 1The letter Planned
- 2Redetermination Planned
- 3Tribunal Planned
Book titles are working titles and may change before publication. No book is on sale until the complete series is finished, checked and released.