Budgeting

Hello, I am at a loss ... I am looking at representing at FTT next week and needing some guidance regarding Budgeting descriptor

My client has severe depression and has no forward though for bills etc - Him and his sister have set up a separate bank account for the bills and she has him put a set amount in each fortnight.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

I’ve had some routine success on first claims with CPIP/721/2016 which was a case in which the claimant had diabetes, dyslexia and anxiety and was invited to claim PIP. A FTT awarded standard rate mobility component and enhanced rate daily living component awarding points under descriptors including 2 points for requiring prompting or assistance to make complex budgeting decisions (descriptor 10(b)), because of dyslexia.

The Secretary of State appealed to UT who looked at whether managing medication and monitoring a health condition amount to therapy but also whether difficulties making budgeting decisions need to arise from intellectual or cognitive issues alone.

In relation to descriptor 10(b) the Secretary of State said the descriptor should only cover situations where help is needed with decision making itself. The UT considered it arguable that assistance and prompting to put a claimant with sight or other problems into a position to make decisions can be relevant.

“… A person who is blind and cannot read Braille… with no cognitive impairment as such, (might find)… it difficult to have accurate and confident recall and retention of the details of documents and has to have them read out again or be reminded of the details of their contents or, say, of comparative figures? Or what … if a claimant becomes distressed or flustered or confused in the effort to recall and retain information without being able to refer to written documents and needs prompting?”

The UT did not decide if the claimant satisfied a descriptor under activity 10 because the FTT had not made adequate findings of fact. However, they remade the decision and awarded enhanced rate daily living component.

NB - Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green stated in February 2017 that this case is being appealed.

Whilst I’ve had routine success with sensory impairment cases it has wider applicability. The point of all this being that DWP routinely impose a very narrow view on who can score budgeting points but FTTs and UT read the reg. as is and take a much wider perspective.

In your case I think it’s just a case of explaining those incidents which occurred in the past before the current arrangement was put into place.