Dla tribunal adjournment

charlieboy321

Morning long time lurker first post, this is for my friend. all help appreciated.
Background Information

My friend applied for DLA last Jan and was awarded low care, she asked for a reconsideration but this was refused and she appealed. She has rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, anxiety and panic attacks. The arthritis affects her knees, back,feet,and especially her hands. the fibromyalgia affects everywhere and leaves her very drained and exhausted.
Her hands have become very deformed with her fingers on both hands turning inwards, this happened extremely quickly as the arthritis has been very aggressive. She now takes medication to try and halt the deformity getting worse.

She works part time from home and she will continue as long as she can. She has had help from occupational therapy who have provided her with 3 different splints, day time when shes not working,night time to prevent her hands from moving and work splints to help her do her job these are for both hands. She also had a lot of help from access to work, the assessment for that was done by CAPITA.They have provided her with lots of adaptive items to help her in work, a ergonomic chair which can move up and down,computer programs so she dont have to type when she does her ordering,books etc plus they gave her a large sum of money to either adapt her car to suit her needs or to put towards a car to purchase that will meet her needs. this was awarded due to her hands aswell as her mobility.

Her anxiety is such that going to places that she dont know will cause a panic attack, and various other things that can affect her out of the blue. this is ongoing and has been going on for over 15 years, she was under the care of a psychiatrist after an overdose and has been to counselling again in the past. she is now under the care of her gp.

She has a representative from a law centre who havent been very helpful, they havent requested to meet her, and keep changing her adviser and passing the paperwork over to someone else. Her tribunal was last friday and the rep that they were going to use was only given her case on thursday. all this messing about has left her in a right state and last week she was constantly having panic attacks and she advised her rep that she didnt know whether she would be able to attend on friday and the rep told her that it was ok and if that happened it would bee dealt with that day as a paper hearing.
friday morning came andd she set off to go tribunal had major panic attack was sick all over herself and had to be taken back home, The rep managed to get the case adjourned due to the panic attack.
Im sorry for the long winded post but i wanted you to have as much information as possible now i will explain aa few points further.

on speaking to her rep on friday there is a sticking point with her case due to her job she is a hairdresser, well she is of sorts due to the deformities in her hands she no longer offers a full service, she cant do perms, sets or wash hair her clients either come with their hair already washed or they wash it at hers,or use a pair of
scissors.she cant take on new clients as she dont offer the full service her clients have been with her for over 20 years and are very supportive and understand that she dont do everything now and if she is not well enough they rearrange for another day. Access to work have provided adaptive hairdressing equipment and she has used a cutting comb for awhile now as this means she can cut hair just not in the standard way. On friday her rep told her that the panal wanted to know how she can cut hair (see above) but not peel a potato, she has explained to her rep that cutting and peeling a potato is a different thing to using a comb as it is a different motion and its the pressure needed to peel and cut a vegetable.

so my questions:
1) is the low care only for cutting and peeling vegetables only or can it include the getting food in and out of oven, heavy pans etc. there is an article on disabilityrights.org regarding a test case in the exact same situation that the preparing and cooking a main meal does not have to involve peeling of vegtables as they can be cooked and eaten with the peel still on and the upper tier tribunal accepted this and awarded low care on that basis, can this test case be used if so how would you present it.

2) she has now received the adjournment notice and the judge adjourned on the basis of the panic attack, but has also asked her if she wishes to have a domiciliary tribunal to ring the tribunal services and arrange one within 14 days.

she spoke to her rep yesterday and her rep has told her that the adjournment notice is not accurate and the judge is not offering her a domiciliary tribunal and that the law centre that she works for does not offer that service and she will put forward for a paper hearing. her rep hasnt read her notes fully as she seemed unaware of the documented anxiety backed up with doctors evidence or that she had fibromyalgia also backed up with medical evidence.

My friend is not feeling very confident with this rep or law centre, as they really have messed her about. and although she knows last weeks situation is not the reps fault having only being given her case on thursday. she feels that she wishes to have the hearing at her home as she will hopefully feel more relaxed there,even if that means going ahead without her rep.

has anyone got any advice on any of the above any advice iss appreciated, sorry for the very long post

Thank you in advance for any help or advise given

rogerblack

Low rate care is granted for being unable to prepare a cooked meal for one.
The basic idea is not to test the claimants cooking ability as such - but to use the cooking test as a sort of barometer for the whole life of the person.
If they are unable to safely cook, then many aspects of personal life are affected.

http://disabilityrightsuk.org/how-we-can-help/benefits-information/law-pages/case-law-summaries/attendance-allowance-and
http://disabilityrightsuk.org/how-we-can-help/benefits-information/law-pages/case-law-summaries/attendance-allowance-and#Cooking

charlieboy321

thank you rogerblack for posting

ive just read those links you posted, so with the panel specifically asking about peeling and cutting veg, should they have not asked this as it is irrelevant to the cooking test as a whole thing.

as she has anxiety can this be used to be granted low care, or is it solely about the cooking test.

when she requested a reconsideration on her original award it was primarily regarding the mobility component as she was awarded nothing for that. her anxiety and mobility issues are well documented in her own doctors report,consultant report,OT and physio and the capita report from access to work.

the only evidence that does not support her claim for either low mobility or high is the medical services report, the doctor that performed the medical was more concerned with my friends cat that was sleeping on the sofa on the opposite side of the room.

on the judge mentioning the domiciliary hearing do you have any advise on that.

once again RogerBlack for your response

Indie_Kid

You can receive lower rate care if you need an hour of care per day or because of the cooking test. The cooking test is meant to be the easiest way to get DLA.

Does she have any paperwork in relation to the access to work assessment? It could be relevant. But only if it was done around the time of the DLA assessment.

charlieboy321

thank you INDIE KID for your reply.

yes she has full report from capita that was done on behalf of access to work. The report list everything that has been provided to her and for what reasons. she was provided with a lot of equipment to try and help her stay in work and they also provided money for her car.

the report lists everything that the examiner observed and what he felt was needed, it also documents her medical conditions.

The visit was around the same time as the medical services visit so is relevant to her case and has been sent to the tribuanal service as evidence.