KDR has supported a client to win a case that will help others who make mistakes on their PIP questionnaires, as well as those who require prompting to take nutrition and get it, following a case brought by Kester Disability Rights with legal representation from Edward Arash Abedian of Landmark Chambers.
The UT decided that it is not acceptable for tribunals to rely on mistakes by a claimant when filling in forms to rule out points for any particular activity. It also confirmed that a need for prompting to take nutrition does not have to be unmet to score. This means that the routine search for evidence of weight loss and nutritional supplements prescriptions by the DWP and tribunals, even when claimants are getting support to avoid weight loss, will hopefully decrease.
It has been difficult to get points for activity 2 (taking nutrition) when mental health needs result in failure to eat enough requiring another person to encourage sufficient food intake. This case should help.
the Upper Tribunal found [22], “The Tribunal struck out the claimant’s appeal because it considered the SoS Decision contained no official error. The basis for that conclusion was “the Appellant or those who dealt with the application on her behalf did not list an eating disorder as being one of her conditions in her application” (per the Tribunal’s decision notice). In essence, the Tribunal considered that the responses to the tick boxes in the PIP questionnaire justified the SoS Decision and precluded a finding of official error”.
And [28], “For these reasons it is important that a decision maker considers the evidence in the round, and a claimant is not denied a benefit to which they are entitled because they lack insight into their condition or have misunderstood the questions in the form”.
You can read the full judgement here.