Hi I am preparing an appeal as client was found fir for work, he does suffer from depression and he also takes drugs. He was admited in hospital after overdose and he was seen by the Home mental health team / or something like this/ and he was told that he needs help with the drugs, this was in November 2009. Social worker found him a placement which he is due to attend, but I am not sure how to word the appeal and I am not sure wheter the dependancy on drugs will be seen as "Personal Choice".

HELP

Thanks

hi antonina

i think you could use R(DLA) 6/06 as a starting point -

'Rather than a clear-cut distinction between dependence and choice, in our judgment it is more helpful to think in terms of the degree of self-control that is realistically attainable in the light of all of the circumstances, including the claimant's history and steps that are available to him to address his dependence. A person who cannot realistically stop drinking to excess because of a medical condition and cannot function properly as a result can reasonably be said both to be suffering from disablement and to require any attention, supervision or other help contemplated by the legislation that is necessary as a consequence of his drinking.'

Thank you Ros, I was trying to look at Reg. 27/old/ as I feel that his depression as a result from loosing his job has had a great impact on his lfe. He is also been Looked After by social services from a young age.
I really cant mess this appeal up. and hope more suggestions to follow.

Thank you Ros for sure I will be using your link.

Regards,
Antonina

Is he getting care from secondary mental health services? If so then reg 10 should apply for IB and reg 35 for ESA.
The mental health descriptors are intended for those who only receive care from primary services

When he was admited at the A&E he received some care by the Mental Heath team but this stopped in few weeks and the doctor adviced him to look for Drug & Alcohol support in the area.According to that doctor he was fine and just needed to look at misuse support ervices.

Dont know how to even start the appeal OOOOOOO

Thanks

Sorry Steve, but Reg 35 provides for certain claimants to be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity.

Reg 20 provides for certain claimants to be treated as having limited capability for work, but the list is much reduced compared to the old IfW Regs reg 10. This was quite deliberate and in line with the Government's view that the vast majority of claimants are capable of some work and should be given the opportunity to engage in work-related activity. For example ESA Regs reg 20 contains no provisions analogous to the 'treated as incapable' provision for claimants receiving DLA HRCC, are registered blind, have dementia, are paraplegic or have a severe mental illness, by which IB case law included people in secondary mental health care.

Wed 10-Feb-10 12:41 PM by ros.white

Hi again Antonina

Perhaps you could let us know what stage the appeal is at. Is the appeal submitted yet and, if so, have you got the DWP appeal bundle? Also, is it an IB or ESA appeal?

I'm just thinking that the key to most incapacity appeals is medical evidence, medical evidence and more medical evidence so you might want to think about contacting GP or getting client registered with one if he hasn't got one. Often it's worth seeing what's in the DWP BAMS doctor's report before requesting medical evidence from the cl's GP (or any other doctor he's seeing) so that you can try and counteract any unhelpful assertions.

If you can't get him exempted from the pca or wct then you need to go through the relevant descriptors with him and then try and get medical evidence to back up what he says. Often that's as much as you can do
in my experience.

cheers Ros

Hi Ros,
I have received the medical assessment report and was amused to find that it lasted 14min. and the report was writen 3min after it finished. we are in the very begining of the appeal I am sending them my report tomorrow, we are seeing the GP on Friday and then hope to have a report from her as well. Also social worker will write one as well.

Well I have a big headache as was writting the appeal from 9am and just finished it.

Thanks for your support and I will keep you updated.