Hi everyone,

My clients are predominatley from the South East Asian communities. when claiming dla/cooking test. I am very careful to state the clients difficulties (as related by them)on the cooking test, but am not sure decion makers are aware of the process. to give an example the staple diet would be chappaties. the process involved in making these involves a lot of physical activity. e.g kneading the dough, with a lot of force with both hands, rolling it out with a rolling pin, flattening it further with a clapping motion etc etc.

so how do i know DM's acknowledge the process when applying the decisions? is it enough for it to be in the claim form? are there are specific case law on the different methods of cooking perhaps? or DWP guidance?

any ideas much appreciated!!

Javid

The definitive case law appears to be Moyna, and thanks to our american visitor, here's a handy quote. (see below)

-a notional thought experiment.

i would think that if you say something like - "I would be unable to/have difficulty with...<insert culinary activities> because of ...<insert effect of disablement>" it should cover it.

"My Lords, there are two points to be made about the "cooking test" in section 72(1)(a)(ii). The first is that its purpose is not to ascertain whether the applicant can survive, or enjoy a reasonable diet, without assistance. It is a notional test, a thought-experiment, to calibrate the severity of the disability. It does not matter whether the applicant actually needs to cook. As the form DLA 1 said, "try to imagine how much help you would need if you tried to do this." No doubt some people (disabled or otherwise) do need to cook or prefer to do so, although home cooking seems to be fighting a losing battle against convenience foods and ready-cooked meals. Not for nothing is the notional meal contemplated by the cooking test described in the authorities as "traditional". It must be remembered that disability living allowance is a non-contributory, non-means tested benefit. A person who cannot cook for himself is entitled to the allowance, now £14.90 a week, whether he solves the eating problem by obtaining help, having a wife, buying television dinners or dining at the Savoy. On the other hand, even if a person needs to cook and has the motor skills to do so, he may still need assistance; to obtain the ingredients which the test assumes him to have, or because he is culinarily incompetent. So in my view the Court of Appeal was wrong to lay such emphasis upon the fact that unless the applicant could cook more or less every day, she would not enjoy a reasonable quality of life."

The House of Lords decision in Moyna, now R(DLA)7/03, is available here via the osscsc.gov.uk website.

There are also currently twelve summaries of subsequent commissioner decisions (with links to the full decisions themselves) relating to the cooking test in the briefcase area of rightsnet.

They can be located by an 'exact' briefcase word search for the phrase 'cooking test'.

See R(DLA)2/95 - "a question of fact to be determined by what is reasonable for a member of the community to which the claimant belongs eg a vegetarian meal as opposed to one whih is not ...".

This decision also refers to the objective/notional nature of the test, so this was clearly in the mind of the Comish. when making this statement.