ESA, Alcohol Abuse & Community Service Order

Just attended an ESA appeal with a client yesterday.
Client was looking to score points on mental health descriptors and informed the Tribunal that following his arrest for possession of cannabis he was given a Community Service Order.  Client breached the CSO and was subsequently arrested at 7.30am in the morning and taken to court where he was given the option of completing the CSO or serving 3 months - client agreed to complete CSO but is an alcoholic .... the outcome of his appeal was that due to him completing his CSO he failed in his appeal.  Has anybody come across this type of situation???

surely the CSO came after the decision was made so was inadmissible?

even so what was the demands of the court order, to attend group once/twice a week for a couple of hours?, to meet with a probation or CJIT worker weekly? what i am suggesting is that while the client may have been sober and co-operative, during the CSO requirements they may still have been displaying issues around their Mental health, just not been arrested!

while it is not sufficient to say i am an alcoholic therefore i can not work. it should be possible to show how even if they have completed a CSO that they still have profound limits to their ability. it is always worth looking at Reg.29

We were looking at Reg 35 for the client as he does not leave the house he has an erratic sleep pattern, won’t go near shops due to being assaulted a number of times by teenagers because he wouldn’t buy them drink.
The CSO was before his assessment and he was only going once per week