So I've successful won an IS appeal for a client of mine, although it took us 8 months to get there. Now she's phoned me up to let me know that they're doing another PCA. Checking the dates, it's about 12 months since the last decision, although only 4 since the tribunal.

Is there any time limit on how often or how soon after an appeal the PCA can be redone? CPAG, the Disability Handbook seem to be silent on the matter of PCA frequency.

I note that this appears to be permissible under the SS Contributions and Beneftis Act 1992 s 171C(5), which says that the DWP can re-assess when they want according to my reading of it. Is there any case law relating to this.

From my experience of people with long claims, the normal gap between assessments seems to be anything between one and two years.

IIRC, the review period has a maximum of 3 years between PCA's although some people are exempt. With ESA, it seems that the intention is to ensure retesting at a maximum period of 2 years with the new WCA. The minimum period between assessment and reassessment is something that I must admit to being unsure of, but I have 6 months in my head for some reason.

I had a client having a PCA review a week after a tribunal found in his favour! This was six months after the original decision. What made it worse was the appeal was won under the exceptional circumstances of suffering a severe and life threatening that was not responding to treatment.

The concensus on here was that there was nothing I could do. I rang up the Incapacity Benefit department which was adamant that the review would have to go ahead but suggested putting in the medical evidence that I had used to win the appeal with a covering letter.

Bear in mind that the Tribunal was considering what the client was like at the time of the PCA not the hearing. If it’s been six months since then there could easily be a change in a client circumstances.

If you look at the IB85 medical report produced during the PCA it informs you, towards the end of the report under the heading “Expected Change”, when the client will be called again. Usually there will be a phrase similar to “I advise the claimant’s condition should improve significantly within X months”, new PCA action will start however many months it is from the date of the report.

Despite the fact that a successful appeal cast doubts on the accuracy of the report the Department still uses this date as a control.

Your client who was called up for a new exam a week after winning an appeal - the Department may not yet have got the Tribunal's decision by the date the invitation went out, or at least it may not have filtered through the system yet. Not necessarily malevolence, just inertia. The people who deal with sending out refs to PCA medicals are not the same people, probably not in the same building even, as the person who gets the decision though from the Tribunal, maybe a couple of days after the hearing.

Thu 27-Nov-08 07:30 PM by iut044

ariadne2

I did not realise that. If that situation happens again, is there anybody I can write to so the immedidate review can be avoided?