Can anyone help with an IS overpayment appeal?

I have an IS overpayment appeal caused by a client not informing DWP she was in mental hospital. No agent or appointee was awarded and there is a year and a half overpayment before the hospital told DWP.
Does anyone have a useful argument or any commissioners decisions that may assist? otherwise I’ll just have to wing it and try and get medical evidence for a waiver if we lose the appeal.

Thanks

Duncan - 23 September 2011 11:23 AM

You can argue that your client was not in a fit state to inform income support plus the hospital social worker failed to tell income support of client’s admission.
Commissioners decision CIS/734/1992 covers the lack od capacity due to mental illness.

Thanks.

And of course go right back to basics and make sure that the decisions are in place at right time and made in the right way and meet requirements of s71 (5A). There’s a load of case law around that which can be helpful. Tribunals in (y)our area are used to those arguments being advanced.