Proving a negative

Rather unusual one. Cl has asked for a backdated SDP ( they are on old style ESA)  but DWP records show that there is another person living in the household. The person concerned was living in the Cl’s household but left in 2022 to live at an unknown address. It seems clear that the other person has not told anyone that they have moved and may not have had to tell DWP anyway if they were not claiming benefit in their own right.

Cl has reported that they live alone (more than once) and it appears that ESA are refusing to give them the SDP (never mind backdating it) .

The cl cannot realistically do any more than say that they live alone and have done since 2022. They have no follow up address for the other person and there don’t seem to be any mutual friends who might know their whereabouts.

I can see this going to appeal and I was wondering what anyone thought of invoking the DWP responsibility (as per Kerr) to check their own records for this person (who may be making a fraudulent claim for CA?). We would of course submit that it is impossible for our cl. to do any more to prove that the person has left than has already been done and that to deny our cl’s assertions the DWP should surely have to produce some cogent evidence ( other than that they are listed as living their on a benefit claim) that the other person still lives there

Hello Pete,

Did your client receive single adult discount on their Council Tax from 2022. If they did, that may support the contention that the client did report this other person leaving their home and the local authority acted upon it and the DWP didn’t.

Just a thought.

Best Regards

Chris

Good thought, they didn’t at the time but they have now.

Might be worth a complaint to the ICO to back up your assertion that the other person has moved out. CIS is a joke/badly out of date, no effort to keep it up to date and this problem keeps coming up.