duty of care - claim and attendance

its Friday afternoon so time to be entertained by the DWP.

UC sanction case (failure to attend WFI). DWP response to tribunal:

“Mr X refers to the main reason him forgetting and not attending is the tablets he is taking make him have side effects. Mr X states he has poor memory loss; however a claimant has a duty of care in matters relating to to his claim and attendance. A person with known memory problems is expected to put in place a method to ensure they are reminded of their next appointment - e.g. a calender, a reminder on his mobile phone, message on a notice board at home, reminder by a family memebr/friend etc.”

It has been referrenced in other threads but there does seem to be an increasing tendancy for DM’s and appeal writers for UC/ESA/PIP to produce arguments based on the ‘barrack room lawyer’ principle of reasoning and submission.

Agreed - they refused to drop a sanction against one of my clients even though she had a medical note - because she did not actually have the note on the day she missed the appointment. It may have been backdated to cover the date of the appointment but she didn’t have it there and then so it didn’t exist so there nyaaaahhhhh.

Appealed.
Appeal lapsed.
Wonder why.