The DLA and AA forms have been reissued with the usual very minor changes, with one exception. There is now a separate 'consent' page in section 1, requiring a signature for consent or a signature for refusal of consent to contact outside parties for medical information. This has always been swallowed up in the multiple sentences contained in the declaration to confirm the claim.

It would be very dangerous to advise a client to refuse consent, but I wonder how this change could perhaps deal with a persistent problem (or, at least, a problem perceived by me).

On the form the claimant has five (in total) options for giving names of potential sources of future infromation: the 'person who knows the claimant best', the GP, the hospital specialist, and in the case of a child, the school.

In my opinion there is a tendency for the DWP to write to the GP for adults and the school for children, because in general these are the least supportive, no matter what has been written in the box 'the person who knows you best'.

Where there is a very good source of information in 'the person who knows you best', such as a paediatrician or CPN, this is extremely frustrating.

I wonder if in such cases the consent part could be doctored to say something like: "I consent to you writing to my CPN, but I do not consent to you writing to my GP. He has only seen me for coughs and colds in the last three years whilst I have been under the care of Community Mental Health Team and is not up to date with my condition or its effects on me." (there is a lot of room under the signature parts - this is only a suggestion and I can see many potential problems with it)

In the past I have written on the part of the form giving the details something along the lines of "PLEASE write to my CPN". That is just a request. Changing the consent part though implies more than a request. If the DWP go on to contact the GP they will be doing it without the claimant's consent. If unsupportive I wonder if it is even possible to have the evidence excised from any subsequent appeal papers, if a formal complaint was made.