Mike Robinson
Profile
Biography
Background
Mike Robinson is a part time PhD student whose PhD concentrates on the assessment and adjudication of Personal Independence Payment from the perspective of Disabled claimants.
He was born in the UK but spent most of this childhood in East and Central Africa. He currently lives in the North East of the UK.
He is currently at roughly the mid point of his PhD.
Practice
Mike has worked for Citizens Advice around the country since graduating with a BA from (the then) North Staffordshire Polytechnic in 1985. His main field of work has always been Welfare Rights and he remains a specialist caseworker and supervisor in welfare benefits law. He has undertaken a number of cases in the Upper Tribunal which have helped develop legal precedent including one reported case (BM v SSWP Reported as [2015] AACR 29)
Academic Background
Though graduating from North Staffordshire Polytechnic (now Staffordshire University) with a Geography degree Mike studied at Leicester University, obtaining a MA in Social Welfare Law in 2007. He has also obtained a Diploma in Independent Advocacy with Management in 2016.
About his thesis
He argues that many of the current models of administrative justice do not adequately take into account the perspective of disabled clients or effectively describe micro-level procedural justice in connection with disability benefit assessment and adjudication.
In response, his thesis will seek to identify criteria derived from Disability Legal Studies to complement the existing models.
He is currently undertaking empirical investigation into the process of adjudication and assessment using Tribunal bundles with collated from the evidence and decisions leading up to benefit appeals.
Tribunal bundles provide a useful and comparable structure and narrative of unsuccessful applications which can be interrogated as part of an analysis of Personal Independence Payment from the point of view of disabled claimant.
It is hoped that the research will lead to recommendations for the improvement of the PIP assessment and adjudication process.
Publications
Selected publications
Academic Writing
Mike has one published academic article to date: