IS overpayment

Hi everyone, could anyone steer me in the right direction with this one?

- Cl is a Dutch national born in Somalia with a history of depression and possibly bipolar. He was claiming IS on basis of incapacity when he left for Somalia Dec 2010, initially for a short break. He didn’t notify DWP he was leaving UK. Cl was admitted to Psychiatric hospital in Somaliland, originally in 2010. The details are patchy but from what I understand he continued to visit the hospital as an outpatient until November 2013 and was prescribed antidepressant tablets. He returned to the UK in Dec 2013 and was met with notification of overpayment of over £15k.

- Looking at CPAG, cl general duty to disclose change of circumstances could be challenged if cl too ill to have realised benefits could be affected. The only caselaw quoted is CIB/3823/2008 which doesn’t appear to be massively relevant. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of relevant caselaw, or had experience challenging similar decisions?

- The bigger challenge will be establishing entitlement going forward - ESA looks unlikely on basis of HRT - but that’s a different story..

Many thanks

Simon

Have a look here for some of the issues.  “B” is a court of appeal decision.

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/5605/

Thanks nevip, lots of useful and relevant stuff covered here :)