Have just picked up the following case, bear with my description because it is truly mind boggling.
Client reports diagnosis of Encephalpathy and Subacute combined degeneration which affects balance and has caused partial paralysis of the lower half her body.
Clients entitlement started 12/02/91 (very relevant in this case).
Client notify's DBC - Blackpool July 2004 that she is moving to France to live permanently Sept 2004. Then just a day before she boards the ferry, the payments of her high care component and her Motability car are withdrawn/repossessed summarily?
It appears when she notified them that in early July 2004 of the above move to France, the DM reviewing the case in the late Sept 2004 realised that there had been a clerical error by the DBC concerning a decision by a tribunal 20/04/95 to award high care and mob from 06/04/94 to 05/04/97 had been inputted into the DBC computer system as a life time award.So she was not invited to make a renewal claim Nov 96.
Above DM STOPS DLA PAYMENTS FROM 15/09/2004.
(Incidentally, the above is further compounded by further official error - letter dated 13/01/98 states High care awarded from 06/04/92 for life and High mob awarded from 06/04/94 for life).
Anyway, letter dated mid oct 2004 admits to error, and says sorry and we will deal with your enquiry etc?;letter dated end of March 2005 sorry we haven't done anything yet scenario.
letter dated early April 2005 "awfully sorry etc" and errrrrrrr a explanation along the lines of DM looked at papers found mistake, passes (sept 2004) it to specialist section to check decision and to ask advice on what to do.
So specialist section advise DM to obtain "fresh medical evidence in the form of a medical report", however it drags on and on and at that stage April a EMP visit was predicted as end of May 2005 (apparently it's all the fault of the French?)says letter.
09/09/2005 - DBC letter - initially repeats admission of error.
then states the following " Normally where the award on the DLA computer system does not match the legal decision, a decision maker will advise the customer and offer to reconsider the decision that was incorrectly put in. Because your decision to award benefit was made by the Tribunal Service (i.e. a tribunal not commissioners) the decision maker cannot do a reconsideration of this. This is because the Tribunal Service is a higher adjudicating authority than a decision maker. We have sought advice from our guidance section and they have told us that we need to obtain further grounds to change the tribunal service's decision.The decision maker cannot make any further decisions about your entitlement to benefit without establishing your care and mobility needs from 06/04/97. we requested a medical report from a visiting doctor in NOV 2004. Unfortunately due to a major re-organisation by the French authorities the medical report was only completed 27/07/2005. In the meantime, the decision maker obtained a report from your French doctor, but this report did not give the decision maker enough information to make a new decision".
Anyway to paraphrase the next paragraph blah blah blah decision maker can't make a decision as we have not got the medical report translated into English (incidentally French doctor didn't appear to know anything about DLA according to client).
Next DBC letter 30/09/2005 - from special payments team again acknowledgement of error - errrrrrrrr ???? titled "claim for misdirection"
Basically, goes along the lines of!
i have been asked to see if you can get ex-statutory payments of DLA from mid Sept 2004 and whether we can pay you whilst you live in France.Well your entitlement to DLA ended 1997, and that there is no legal requirement to make special payments, but hey we will this time. From Sept 2004 to Oct 2005 and in the DM'S opinion you meet the criteria for an award of the low care component and High Mob between 2004 to 2005.
Sorry for the long explanation, but they appear to be treating her entitlement to DLA ending 1997; between 1997 and Sept 2004 as unrecoverable overpayments; and Sept 2004 to Oct 2005 as glorified ex gratia payments for their bungling with no right to appeal.
Any thoughts, observations, ideas, tactics and strategies anyone would like to share with what's left of my addled brain
andy
|