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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Disability benefits  →  Thread

Claimant with appointee - who has to attend assessment?

seand
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Welfare rights officer - Wheatley Homes

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I have a client whose mother is his appointee. Both parents help him and his father does the driving about, attending appointments etc as his mother has poor health as well.

Can anyone tell me if the appointee has to attend the medical assessment? She’s called ATOS and been told she must or claim will be ended/cancelled/refused

thanks

1964
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Deputy Manager, Reading Community Welfare Rights Unit

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Sounds like someone is reading from a script to me. What I suggest is that if mum can’t attend she provides letter (as client’s appointee) giving permission for client’s father to act on her behalf. I can’t see that this would present a problem…

stevenmcavoy
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Welfare rights officer - Enable Scotland

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let us know how you get on with this.

a huge number of my clients have an appointee so would be interested to find out.  so far there have been no issues with both going in our cases but no doubt a case will come where it will be inappropriate for the claimant to attend.

Mike Hughes
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Senior welfare rights officer - Salford City Council Welfare Rights Service

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It’s a strange reading of the rights and responsibilities of an appointee, which would ordinarily be focused around mental capacity to handle benefit issues. Not sure how that squares with them having to go places with the claimant.

As the mother is in poor health I would start by querying whether she carries out the responsibilities of an appointee or whether it’s really the husband if only because this is the sort of stupid situation where DWP might well query it if she doesn’t attend. I’d then start citing the legislation around appointees to focus a few minds.

Dan_Manville
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Mental health & welfare rights service - Wolverhampton City Council

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I’d probably throw in S19, 20 and 149 of the Equality Act too.

seand
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Welfare rights officer - Wheatley Homes

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Thanks for the replies - The reason his mother is his appointee is that she helps him with paperwork/bills so she would always be the one contacting the DWP on his behalf.

The first assessment offered was in Dunfermline at 9 am, my client is in Edinburgh, on the opposite side of town to there. His mother lives in a town even further south so , she was very concerned about making it. It’s been rearranged to a later appointment, in Edinburgh so might be easier for her to get to.

I like the suggestion of getting her to write to give authorisation for the father to act. I suspect she will just struggle and make it to the appointment though