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Terminally ill claimant - absence rules

SamW
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Lambeth Every Pound Counts

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Total Posts: 430

Joined: 26 July 2012

Hi all,

I have a client who sadly has recently been diagnosed with cancer with a very poor prognosis. He is currently in hospital and the feedback from his palliative care nurse is that if he is well enough to leave hospital he will move into hospice care.

Client’s Housing Benefit is currently suspended as the DWP in their wisdom found him fit for work in June and he hasn’t responded to RFFIs enquiring as to his income since his ESA stopped.

I am confident that I will be able to get the ESA and in turn the HB reinstated up to the date that client received his diagnosis.

But what happens from that point? As far as I can tell the only argument to keep the HB running would be that his move into the hospice is as a trial period and that if he was not happy there he would be moved back to get palliative care at home (obviously I’d need his doctors to agree that this is a possibility).

Does anybody else have any other ideas/experience with situations like this? I do not deal with people with terminal illness very often.

chacha
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Benefits dept - Hertsmere Borough Council

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Unfortunately there has to be a realistic intention to return home, you will have to convince the LA that this is possible. (From what you have said I really don’t think this is impossible)

I assume the claimant lives alone? If not there are other avenues to keep HB going.

SamW
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Lambeth Every Pound Counts

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Thanks chacha. The palliative care nurse says that whilst client’s prognosis is very poor they do occasionally see people improve unexpectedly (I actually have another client who in his early 20s was receiving hospice care for lymphoma I believe and recovered all the way to remission). Also she said that patients sometimes chose to return to their home rather than receive hospice care. So I will run this argument.

Claimant lives alone.

ninja9girl
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Derbyshire County Council

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They should be ok as an in patient or a hospital or similar institution for 52 weeks.  If they are terminally ill do have they have a DS1500 which should move their ESA claim up to a special rules claim