nevip
welfare rights adviser, sefton metropolitan borough council, liverpool.
Member since
22nd Jan 2004
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RE: arguing client notified of change in circumstances by telephone
Thu 07-May-09 09:59 AM |
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Then, this is an extract from a sub' I use in such cases.
"Could you please provide us of copies of all Departmental documentation used to record all contact between yourselves and Mr.....
There is no such documentation included in the appeal papers. It is no defence to say that there was no such contact. In CSIS/345/04 (copy enclosed) at paragraph 17 the claimant’s representative argued that “it was necessary for the adjudication officer to lodge details of the administrative arrangements whereby information from claimants was recorded and attached to their case files and later retrieved; secondly, the officer concerned with the claimant’s case should confirm that such instructions had been carried out yet there was no record of the relevant disclosure”.
At paragraph 18 the commissioner states, “I agree with the above comments. However, they specifically relate to a recoverable overpayment based on failure to disclose where the DM bears the burden of proof to establish that there has been no relevant disclosure. It is not enough for a DM to regard it as conclusive that there is no record of the same. It will be necessary for the DM to produce some evidence that the system employed is sufficiently sound such that, if there is no disclosure recorded, it is an appropriate inference that the claimant never in fact disclosed. If no such evidence as to an efficient system is produced, the tribunal is likely to conclude that the claimant’s evidence is to be believed although this is not inevitable. At the end of the day, it is a matter of analysis of all the evidence, having regard to the legal and evidential burdens of proof”."
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