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warning from the tribunal re :
i have a client who was awarded high rate mob. and low rate care d.l.a from 03/08/09 and i appealed this decision because i felt cl. should receive mid. rate care d.l.a.
now, tribunal has adjourned cl. appeal and issued cl. a warning re : d.l.a award of high rate mob. that seems to say they do not feel cl. should be awarded high rate mob. because the specialists report does not indicate that cl. mobility is as restricted as he states it is on his appl. form.
the medical report was written 11/09/08 and cl. award of d.l.a was from the date of above.
i have never experienced this so if anybody has got any ideas as to whet would occur if cl. lost the appeal at the subsequent tribunal that would be much appreciated.
thankyou for your time.
This does sometimes happen. The line between LC and MC entitlment is very thin/non-existent although the amount of money the cleint will get is much more especially if MC will push up means-tested benefits. I suspect the Tribunal is hinting that you should go away and evidence gather…and then evidence gather again. Then if you are going to proceed you can be confident that the case is really solid or on the other hand if you are going to advise the client to withdraw the appeal you can explain why.
I would hesitate to continue in a case such as this if you do not have good medical evidence that client meets the criteria for an award of the HRM comp.
The client at least, needs to be made fully aware that they could lose the entitlement to the HRM and any decision to continue to appeal should be theirs and well documented as such.
The problem now is that as the hearing has started the appeal can only be withdrawn with the tribunal’s permssion. I understand that the guidance given to tribunals is that permission will not be unreasonably withheld and should only be refused where there is compelling evidence that an awarded component might be inappropriate.
You can always ask for the hearing to be postponed for a while to allow you to build up a more persuasive body of evidence