Domiciilary hearing

It would eventually get made into a TV series, they’ve done midwives , vets doctors, probation officers ,district nurses - it’ll be us next.

No hard and fast rules on domiciliary hearings. Over the years I’ve never had the same set of circumstances repeat twice. Tribunal often arrive early. Clerk even earlier but sometimes not at all. Tribunal never made decision in the house unless it was a “Yes, award!” going through “on the nod” i.e. they all agreed it was a win for us and required no further discussion. Decisions are either immediate like that; done via post or done outside or back in someones car.

Tribunal prefer to locate round a table if one is available but will huddle on a sofa if that’s all there is. I have had tribunals either completely rearrange the furniture or the appellant, although I did have a long-standing run in with a certain North Walian barrister/chair who persisted in rearranging entire rooms in claimants houses to suit but left everyone else to put it all back at the end of the hearing! Galling at the best of times but especially so when you have just lost.

Gained myself a bit of a reputation with said Chair when I appeared at my next hearing with them and proceeded to move the table for appellant, rep and PO to a different position in the tribunal room before sitting down and explaining to 2 rather bemused members and an angry chair that that’s how it must feel to be an appellant at that specific chairs domiciliary cases!!! He thought MY behavious outrageous :) At my next appeal with him I didn’t rearrange the furniture but spent the whole appeal edging my table ever closer to the panel with a glorious scraping across the floor noise (wooden floor in a community centre).

Best pets in a domiciliary? The 2 foot tall parakeet in a cage that was open above the chairs head. Bird did great football chants and drank its owners beer from a pint glass. “You don’t know what you doing!” was never more priceless or indeed menacing.

Then there was the dog that came in with the clerk. Had what might politely be described as a loose bowel movement (and lots of it) in front of the fireplace. Eeveryone mucked in to clear it up before we started. At the end the client asked the clerk why she wasn’t taking the dog with her. Clerk spluttered “... but I thought it was your dog!”

“Arf!” as they say :)