DLA appeal refused using ESA medical

Hello
I am hoping that some one can offer me some help/ideas with this situation.  My client has had his DLA appeal refused.  He was unable to attend as he was in hospital.  He is extremely unwell and wanted the hearing to go ahead in his absence as we believed he had a very good case. The appeal against the decision not to award him ESA was revised a few days before that hearing a month or so ago which made us think that the case for the DLA would be as robust allowing for the differences in the benefits he is extremely unwell and thought this was clear enough.
The panel refused his DLA and became quite fixated on the original ESA medical which they kept saying wasn’t in dispute.  I made it clear that is was in dispute but this seemed to fall on deaf ears.  The ESA medical could have been written about a different person.  The panel did not seem to like that the decision had been revised and that there was no decision notice outlining the points that the cl would have been awarded. 
The lawyer made it clear when giving the decision that the ESA report had been the basis of their decision and that it had not been disputed - surely what was said in the hearing by me counts?
There was a PO from the DWP who seemed equally reliant on the medical despite my submission.
Further evidence was provided by my client’s GP.
I have written to request written reasons and we are putting in a new claim.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.  This client is very vulnerable and has just had his third stroke in the last twelve months.  He is struggling to live on the ESA alone and things are horribly difficult.
Many thanks

You need to get hold of the revised decision then compare and contrast those findings of the tribunal with those parts of the medical report which have now been deemed as unreliable by the DWP and argue that the tribunal’s decision is highly unsound as it is based on flawed evidence.  Second, once the tribunal was aware of the revised ESA decision it should have, at the very least, adjourned to get hold of that revised decision and the reasons why it was revised which pointed to the flaws in the original report.  Two errors of law in my view off the top of my head.

I wouldn’t argue with Paul’s advice at all, but what about the situation when an iffy Healthcare Professional’s Report is the sole evidence used to support non award of DLA HRMC, but the client actually scored in excess of 15 points on the LCWA and hence had no grounds to challenge the report by appeal?

Our client scored on several descriptors but was only awarded 9 points for “Cannot walk more than 100 metres ...” on the “Walking” activity. This has been twisted into a DWP interpretation that “She can walk up to 100m ...” which isn’t the same thing at all.  The first she knew about the LCWA Report was when it appeared in a DLA submission.  The Report also contains other misleading info and seriously understates our clients difficulties.  I guess this means that at the DLA appeal we will need to challenge both the LCWA medical and the DLA criteria.

Thanks to both of you.  Have a clearer idea of where to go with this now.
Fingers crossed!

My client passed a WCA, but when he submitted a claim for DLA his recent ESA medical was NOT even considered, and his claim was refused. Damn if you do, damn if you don’t!

We won the appeal though…