Before i ask for your input into the following i thought i had better introduce myself. My name is Shelley and i am an Advice Sesssion Superviser and a faily new benefits caseworker. I have posted 3 or 4 times on this site lately but it suddenly occured to me that i should have at least said Hi.

Disability Living Allowance - I am certain that i read somewhere once that the reason why DLA was introduced was to provide extra income not only to financially support care needs but also because a disabled person does not always have the opportunity to obtain income as that of an abled bodied person.

The reason i ask is because i have a client (28 years old Police Man) who had ambitions within the police force but has now had to resign to a part time desk job within the force because he has ME.

I am to put a submission together and i was wondering if this loss of career fact is just as important to argue as the qualifying conditions are.

Many thanks

Hi Shelley,

I don't think that you do need to address these issues.

It is true that the stated policy intention policy behind DLA was to address the fact that disabled people are financially disadvantaged(both in terms of reduced income and increased costs).

However, the legal tests for entitlement are SOLELY concerned with the effects of the claimant's impairment on their daily life, in terms of attention, supervision, mobility and as measured by the cooking test.

The Tribunal will only be concerned with these aspects of your client's disablement, and if anything are likely to take your submission less seriously if you dwell on other matters too much.

This can be difficult, especially if these questions are important to your client. For this reason it may be useful to mention these matters briefly in a 'pen portrait' at the start of the submission. In this case, it is also possible that the emotional effects of his career going 'down the pan' add to his need for support and encouragement at work or elswehere, and it would be reaonsable to mention them in this context.

Hi Shelley,

Just to add to what Paul says above. You might find our factsheet useful, in terms of framing your submission with relation to the qualifying conditions for DLA. Disability Living Allowance

Thanks very much for your replies.

I have included a small paragraph at the beginning of my submission just to provide the Tribunal with an insight of how his condition has affected his whole life including his career opportunities.

And the factsheet is extremely helpful. Many thanks

Shelley