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Compensation for wrongful detention
Dear All
We have a client who has been awarded £32,000.00 in compensation form the HO for wrongful detention - is this disregarded as a PI payment for 52 weeks or is it disregarded for a longer period?
Any specific regs or UT decisions would be appreciated
Best wishes
Dear All
We have a client who has been awarded £32,000.00 in compensation form the HO for wrongful detention - is this disregarded as a PI payment for 52 weeks or is it disregarded for a longer period?
Any specific regs or UT decisions would be appreciated
Best wishes
wrongful detention isn’t a personal injury.
schedule 10 of the income support etc regs, i think, sets out the list of capital sums that can be disregarded.
not sure this can be disregarded….
Many thanks Claire
Not the answer hoped for, but at least it clarifies things
Cheers :-)
I had a similar case some time ago, where the HO made a large compensation pay out for wrongful detention (35,000). This affected my client’s entitlement to means tested benefits as it was treated as capital.
My client had a history of a mental disorder and this exacerbated his condition when he was in detention which made me wonder if there was an element of a personal injury within the compensation pay out.
I decided to investigate and contacted the lawyer’s firm that assisted and settled the compensation . I was very grateful for their input and they did confirm that it was difficult to give a breakdown of the compensation as it usually settled as a ‘global non - specific settlement’ . However, he did point out that it did include an element of personal injury as psychiatric reports were taken into account which confirmed that during the detention period his MH was damaged due to multiple imprisonments/detentions which led to severe dehydration and acute renal failure . The lawyer kindly forwarded me the counsel’s paperwork which gave instructions that they were seeking above 35,000 for personal injury.
This and the psychiatric report was forwarded the DWP but they concluded not to revise the decision as there was no amount given for the personal injury. The matter went before tribunal and we argued that it should be disregarded in accordance with Schedule 9 (7) (ESA purposes ) as there is an element of PI . The DWP were given a direction to provide a further submission to state how much they consider to be disregarded within this provision based on the information from lawyer . The DWP could not give an amount and left the matter for tribunal to consider. The judge allowed the appeal and decided that the all the amount was to be disregarded .
So, Roecab , I think it would be worth finding out more details about the compensation payout to see if any or whole amount can be disregarded.
that’s a good thought….