Does anyone have any information that I may use for an appeal I am attending. I have applied for a posthumous appeal for a client who died within 6 months of her application for AA. Reg 66 (SSC & B ACT 1992) (1) states if a terminally ill person makes a claim expressly on the ground that he is such a person etc etc.

It there any cases that can be used to state thnat the SoS can decide that a person is to be dealt with under special rules without the applicant expressly indicating on the application form etc. The applicant applied only 3 month prior to the last claim and was refused applied again and dies within the 6 month period if she had applied under Special rules I could agrue the decision maker was incorrect as a matter of fact due to the applicants death within 6 months etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kev

The problem appears to lie with the way that the DWP interprets the wording of the legislation. As you say Section 66 of the SSC&B Act 1992 states “If a terminally ill patient makes a claim expressly on the ground that he is such a person then – he shall be taken to satisfy” etc, etc. Section 72(5) (DLA) is similarly worded.

A colleague of mine who works largely from the hospitals and does DS1500 claims regularly has persistent problems with the local DBC who will not treat the claim as a special rules case unless the box is ticked on the claim form. He has been repeatedly re-assured when he has challenged this practice at a higher level that this practice is wrong, but it still persists.

I think the DBC are interpreting the above wording of the section as a requirement to state terminal illness, or ticking of the special rules box, on the claim form itself. To my mind the section requires no such thing. Information in support of the claim (an accompanying DS1500, for instance) should suffice. The claim includes information in support of it. Reg 4(1) of the Claims and Payment Regs allows the SoS flexibility as to the manner of claim.

Don’t know of any case law on the subject I’m afraid

Regards
Paul

Thanks Paul