DLA appeal and new claim dates

Client was awarded DLA (on appeal to tribunal) for the period up to 11th June. Renewal returned in April, no award, appeal sent. Client then obtained a new claim form, which was date-stamped 11/6/12. This second claim has been refused on grounds that previous award still in place [by one day.. ], and “there is nothing to show that the amount of DLA you are getting should be changed”.

Is it worth appealing this new decision with an argument about the date when it should take effect to, rather than just the level of the award? Can it be used as evidence for the first appeal, i.e. DCS appear to have accepted that - on 11th June at least - cl was entitled to Middle Rate Care? We kept a copy of the second claim form, is it worth amending the date on the front to today, say and post it off again??

Thanks Tony.

We’ve seen a further submission from DWP added to the bundle, which shows that two decisions were made in response to the new claim:

Decision 1 - “Duplicate claim”, outcome code Y15 - DWP can’t make a decision on the DLA claim made on the 11th June, because claim already in place for the period from 12/1/11 to 11/6/12.

Decision 2 - “New claim disallowed from the day after the effective date of the renewal decision”. The new claim “indicates no relevant change since January 2011. Recent medical evidence from the recent renewal decision shows that [client has not enough care/mobility needs].”

I’ve never run into this “duplicate claim” thing before. Anyway, it seems they also looked at the new claim on its merits as of the day after the old claim ended. I find it slightly odd that they have added this second decision to the current tribunal paperwork, am I right in thinking that the tribunal is still only concerned with circs at the effective date of the original decision, and that in theory the second claim could be the subject of an appeal?

Is there a chance that this second decision renders the appeal we have in pointless, because any decision will only run to the date of decision 2?

(As you may have guessed, I generally don’t advise people to make new claims while waiting appeals. Is this sort of complication common?)

Tony Bowman - 07 August 2012 08:28 AM

Is this complication common? I’ll say yes, but the level of complexity created depends on the claimant, the adviser and the decision maker.

Hm, I was thinking it was perhaps the regulations that were the problem, not the people who operate within them. The claimant didn’t do much wrong, I don’t think. I.e. “My DLA has stopped. An appeal could take months. In the meantime, there’s nothing to stop me trying to reapply from the day my last award ended”.

Whether the decision-maker could have made a different decision was really the point of this thread, because if not then there is nothing to appeal. I do think their decision letter failed to explain their decisions clearly. “There is nothing to show that the amount of DLA you are getting should be changed.” Indeed, so why you stopping it then?

As for whether the advisor is over-complicating things is perhaps not for me to say, but in this case I haven’t actually done anything yet apart from try to figure out what is going on :).