I only normally deal with Housing and Council Tax Benefit, so please excuse my ignorance in this area.

I'm helping out a claimant who has 'failed' the Personal Capability Assessment test, so her Incapacity Benefit has ceased.

From what I can gather about Incapacity Benefit, prior to the assessment the claimant would have been sent a IB50 form.

The claimant is adamant she has not completed such a form. She states had she received it, it would have been passed to her daughter, and the daughter is also certain one was not issued.

Are such forms issued in all circumstances, or is it possible one was not requested by the DWP??

In my experience IB 50's are always issued prior to medicals yes. Never had anyone who's been refused IB who's not had an IB50 before the PCA.

I have recently seen someone who didn't complete IB50 before the PCA. DWP say they sent one out (client doesn't remember receiving it) and it wasn't returned. As client has mental health problems they went straight to PCA rather than withdrawing benefit for non-return. This is the only time I've ever seen them do a PCA without an IB50.

In my experience the IB50 is always sent for completion first because it's the self assessment part of the PCA, without a form they can't decide whether to send the cl for a medical.

It does happen that IB50's don't always arrive at their destination and when the form isnt received back at the office they write out to the cl, if there is no response to this letter they take the decision to stop benefit.

I would check with the JCP Office to find out what's going on.

I have been to appeals where an IB50 has not been with the papers, however the grounds for appeal were solely attacking the electronic IB85 medical report, and the department's submission only included the validity of the electronic IB50, the appeal was adjourned for the Department to produce a copy of the IB50 to the parties to the proceedings

It would probably be best to lodge your appeal and await your schedule of evidence as this is will claify matters i.e. it should have an ib50 included or explain why not. If it doesn't, clearly the new decision is faulty and should be reversed as the DWP have not followed proper proceedure.

Coincidentally i have just returned from discussing an IB Appeal with a client who has no recollection at all of completing an IB50. although we don't yet have the full submission we have do have a copy of the EMP report which is ticked 'customers choice not clear' all the way through. I can't help but wonder if the IB50 was ever issued. we await the full submission with interest.

pete

although it is the norm for the IB50 to be sent out, the actual wording of Reg 6 of the SS(Incapacity for Work) regs is that the Secretary of State MAY request in the form of a questionnaire this information. So it's at the SoS's whim. In your case there will not be a MED 4 either (GP's opinion of client's capability). To my mind that means the EMP may not have asked the correct questions: they could have been asking about carrying shopping bags and taking blood pressure when they should have been asking about being scared for no reason. The problem here is procedural rather than legal, and I believe it plays into the appellant's hands for a tribunal hearing. When you get the appeal papers look at the time taken for the examination. I guess 25 minutes or less. That wont be enough time to cover all physical and mental descriptors.

If an IB50 had been sent out and not returned your client would not have got as far as the PCA, because they would have been disallowed on failure to provide information within the time limit.

......and anyway, when did you last come across a DM who took a blind bit of notice what the client's put on the IB50?

Until recently I would have agreed that the IB50 was always issued however I have just done an appeal where there was no IB50 there was an IB85( medical report) with 'customers choices unclear'

Previously if the client has said they had no form it tended to turn up in the papers.

At the tribunal the chair mention it was the second time in a month he had seen the same but previously none.

The client was adamant that no form had been received but had just rung the ICB section to say they had got Industrial Injuries benefit and thought the second medical was due to this