Appealing WRAG to place in support group

A bit long winded this one so bear with me folks! I have a client who has been on IB for years due to severe Mental health issues. His MH issues cause him to feel extremely anxious with dealing with any authority figure and also strangers in general.He responds to these situations with extreme loss of temper which then leads to threatening, aggressive and abusive behaviour. He has already been barred from his local Jobcentre when he lost his temper and after another loss of temper with his psychiatrist he was told to leave and not come back.
His PCAs were always done at home as the thought of going out to a medical terrified him.
He has now been placed in the WRAG of ESA and told he will have to attend work focussed interviews. His GP has wrote that being forced to attend these will be a risk to his health and i have appealed to put him in the support group.
He has now been told to go to his job centre for a work focussed interview and is beside himself with panic. He needs good cause not to attend. As i have put an appeal in citing that he should not be considered for having limited capacity for work does he still need to attend Jobcentre plus? Another client of mine attended Jobcentre plus and as soon as he mentioned he was appealing to be put in the support group he was sent straight home. Is this JC+ policy during appeals or was the JC+ worker acting on his own about sending him home?
Any help would be appreciated.

Unfortunately I can’t offer any substantive help.  But based on my own experiences, you don’t necessarily need mental health issues to be driven to losing your temper with the DWP / LAs et al :-).

As far as i am aware, these work foccussed interviews can be postponed, also within 5 working days of non attendance, you can demonstrate “good cause” and avoid a sanction. Quote Regulation 61(1) of the ESA Regs when providing evidence of good cause as the DWP will otherwise state that there is no such provision. “good cause” can include:

* A disability that makes attendence impractical.

A letter from the GP and if he has it, the letter banning him from the Job Centre would be perfect to demonstrate this.

I had a client in exactly the same position - appeal now done and they’re in the support group - i contacted JC+ and spoke to a contact we have, they have a list of potentially violent people (PVP list) so your client should be on that if your jobcentre have the same. The appointment at the jobcentre for my client was cancelled, after i rang, pending the appeal.

Thanks to everyone for your support and advice. Just found a decision makers guide after trawling google for Reg 61 which says good cause can be considered on “mental or physical health condition that makes attendance impracticable” , as noted by Splurge.
DMG guide 53042, section 9 seems to cover it. Will ring DWP this afternoon to postpone/prevent attendance. The guy is 60 years of age and will qualify for Pension Credit next September anyway. Surely the dwp should be offering targeted support to people who are more employable than a 60 year old guy with severe mental health issues.

Ah, but no-one is written off.

Agreed Robbo, however some common sense should be in place. Surely there are other people out there who are more suited to getting the support they need than this guy. Resources are limited and the DWPs actions seem random and arbitary.

Update : Just spoke to Jobcentre Plus and they say they have no power to stop a work focussed interview, however they have deferred it for 3 months, by which time the appeal may have placed him in the support group. The deferral was agreed by a lovely Jobcentre plus member of staff who told me she is one of many members of staff who are facing the chop this week due to cuts.
She has no love for her employer and i wonder if i would have got the same result from a different JC+ employee.

Work Focussed interviews can also be conducted over the telephone.  Home visits can also be arranged to conduct work focussed interviews (although in practice I think it might be difficult to get the jobcentre to agree to a home visit).

“work focussed interviews can be done at home via phone or home visits” Who on earth thought that one up?
The Jobcentre is obviously full of jobs for people who are so disabled that they can never leave the house.

benefitsadviser - 19 October 2011 09:19 AM

“work focussed interviews can be done at home via phone or home visits” Who on earth thought that one up?
The Jobcentre is obviously full of jobs for people who are so disabled that they can never leave the house.

It seems crazy, if the person can’t even get to the jobcentre, there does not seem to be many viable jobs to talk about during the work focussed interviews ................................................................................ However, them conducting the interviews over the phone could be a way for clients to avoid being sanctioned. I know a Disability Employment Adviser who has done this with some clients, including someone who was agoraphobic.