CABLive - South Hams CAB [1] - a specialist's week

[nickd]

The South Hams is a beautiful part of South Devon





But just like everywhere else it has its fair share of problems; some of which require the help of the region's Citizens Advice Bureau specialists


For the last 15 years I've had the pleasure of working with the Citizens Advice Bureau, for the last 12 years that's involved running a Community Legal Service specialist unit which has helped thousands of people with complex welfare benefit & debt enquiries. We currently serve under a 'consortium' arrangement not only the South Hams area but also Torbay & Teignbridge regions; a mainly rural expanse stretching 644 square miles. My trusty team of caseworkers Viv, Linda, Alan (not forgetting myself!) and administrators Christine & Sarah work tirelessly with the rest of the South Hams Bureau based in Totnes to help people sort out the more complicated cases which require the intervention of a fully trained specialist. The role of a specialist is often only appreciated by those who have had the need of one; welfare benefit and debt enquiries often throw up a whole array of legal issues which need untangling by fully trained experts in their field, our knowledge is founded upon intensive training and years of experience. You can read more about the work of the Bureau in our 2010/2011 annual report entitled 'Behind the Beauty'.


Regrettably with cuts in government expenditure our Community Legal Service funding has already been dramatically cut back placing the future provision of specialist social welfare legal aid in serious jeopardy; these cut backs follow the passing of recent legislation which takes full effect next year when social welfare legal aid almost disappears. This didn't receive much publicity but the effects will be felt by many people as illustrated in the ilegal network campaign paper 'Shush'. To promote the work of Citizens Advice Bureau a Twitter campaign is being run using the 'hashtag' #CABLive where around 40 different bureaux will be 'tweeting' many examples from around the country of the kind of enquiries which we are dealing with on a daily basis. For the next week South Hams CAB will be tweeting links to this post which will tell you about the work the CAB specialists carry out during the week.


One of the most common areas we are currently helping people with are appeals for Employment & Support Allowance & Disability Living Allowance appeals as well as those connected with complex overpayments of benefits, these include cases in both the lower and upper tribunals. On the debt side we commonly assist our clients with negotiating with bailiffs, dealing with court applications and helping people needing specialist advice on debt relief orders, bankruptcy and a whole host of other issues; we never know what the day will bring!


We hope you find our #CABLive specialist week interesting and remember if you think you could do with some of our specialist help and you live in the area we cover then please do give us a call on [phone]

[nickd]

Monday 18th June


The day starts with an all important cup of tea!, it's a good chance to chat about the day ahead as we acquaint ourselves with the diary to see what's booked in as face to face to face appointments and telephone calls. It's almost straight down to business as we go through our in - boxes to see what needs dealing with in the way of replies. As we are not all full - time there's just myself, Christine and Linda in today. Christine gets the files sorted out and scans for emails which we've received over the weekend. As we work as part of a team we don't really need to work to orders, we all know what needs to be done. Generally speaking we allow around an hour for a first interview as it involves taking instructions, completing legal aid forms, diagnosing often complex problems and all too importantly gaining the trust of the client.


We have a couple of no shows today but we quickly fill the time with catching up on paperwork including putting notes on our computerised case management system 'CASETRACK' which today needs updating with the latest downloads. I'm pleased to note a Tribunal judgment confirming a complicated overpayment case which we won last week has been decided in our client's favour. The case has been going on since 2008 for our client and was referred to us because of its complexity; it's already been the subject of three different hearings and hinged on a point of law which the judge said was the most complicated one he had dealt with when I addressed the Tribunal last week. It's great to get a result and only right that we highlight where the authorities get it wrong.

There are more pleasing moments as I see an application to set aside a judgment and high court warrant was successful after arguing it in court last week. The short hearing raised an issue of law as to whether a debt relating to fuel supply could be included up to the date of the supplier's invoice rather than the date a debt relief order was granted to our client. The judge remarked to 'the other side' that incurring High Court enforcement fees of £600 on a £400 debt was like using a 'sledgehammer to crack a nut'; he hoped with the 'excellent help of the CAB' that our client could resolve the dispute without the other side making further applications to court.

It must be a good day as I see an appeal for Disability Living Allowance has been awarded upon the basis of our appeal - averting the need for a costly hearing.

A telephone interview follows with a client who has been declined housing benefit - it concerns a dispute over whether the tenancy is a commercial one; we say it is regardless of it being rented out by a close relative - we've firmed up the argument and now await a response.

Time is spent sorting out a mountain or paperwork from last week; this extends to speed reading through appeal submissions relating to forthcoming ESA hearings to be prepared by next week.

An interview sees a worried mother coming in on behalf of her 18 year old son who can't come in because he has a rare severe disability which means he is on very potent painkillers which 'knock him out'. He's been granted higher rate mobility on his DLA as well as lower rate care but the strength of the medical evidence from a specialist in a London hospital tells me we will be gunning for middle rate care so the mother can get Carer's Allowance. I forewarn her that her son may face an ESA assessment and urge her to come and see me if this happens, she assures me she will and she expresses gratitude for making her feel confident she is now getting the help she needs. It's a long story; these cases always are. Some of the issues include care in the community & direct payments, the mother wants her son to be independent but is in a quandary because she wants to care for him and at the same time needs to work because the benefit doesn't pay the bills.

Another call to a client we are already assisting with complex mental health issues and a case for increasing her DLA, she's been sent an ESA 50 form and doesn't know what to do. I tell her that as it is a conversion case from the older incapacity benefit we are making legal challenges over the process and an appointment is arranged for her to come in.

I check over an application for leave to appeal to the upper tribunal in a submission which I've got to get dispatched sooner rather than later. It's dotting the i's and crossing the t's which takes the time.

I speak to Christine about other cases coming in and advise one of our volunteers over the issues flagged up by a pensioner whose husband has gone into care. There's capital so I explain how this works in care home cases and explain the pros and cons.

My colleague Linda has had a similar day and over a late lunch we discuss the way we will approach IB to ESA cases, we also discuss a particular case which throws up a preponderance of mental health issues experienced by someone who has had his ESA refused.

In the afternoon it's mainly letter writing, although I'm reminded that an important application needs to go in by this Wednesday. I usually drink Tea but this afternoon I need a strong coffee; I dismiss the jar marked de-decaffeinated - that would never do the trick. There's more but it's now getting late - (don't be fooled by the time of this this post). It's been a quiet Monday and the rest of the week is yet to come.

See you tomorrow!

[nickd]

Tuesday 19th June


The day starts earlier than you think. Although my work on mylegal is remote from what I do within the office, it is none the less an important part of raising awareness of our funding plight and the work we do. I've also spent time reading a string of emails & parliamentary updates over new and proposed legislation - we have to keep up to date. It's a cracking sunny day out there; who knows what the day will bring.

[vivo]

After a busy morning we had a working lunch where we discussed some of the cases we had seen during the morning. My main concern was a client who is living in a shared ownership property. The client has lost his job as a lorry driver mainly because of his health issues as he cannot do the job properly. He is awaiting an operation and his income is currently Employment & Support Allowance. We are assisting him with a Disability Living Allowance application and further maximisation of his income. His wife has left him and he finds he cannot maintain the mortgage which is part repayment and part interest only. The client is very distressed and worried about keeping his home in the circumstances. He also has a number of non-priority debts which are pressing him for payments. We advised our client to apply for Mortgage Interest Payments and contacted all his creditors to ask them to hold action. We contacted the mortgage provided who have agreed to hold action also. Our client left the bureau feeling much more reassured that he was receiving support and advice with his problems. Just another day at the office! Lets see what tomorrow will bring!

[nickd]

We don't just fill in forms...





In fact we hate filling in forms!


We enjoyed some good banter as we went about our busy Tuesday, it helps to keep a good sense of humour in this line of work; it helps to stop the often truly harrowing problems we hear about getting to you. What you get to appreciate is how some life event inflicted upon the people we help can turn their whole life upside down. My humour at times hides a hidden anger as I recall the recent legal aid debates when some of those opposing our legal aid funding said we 'just fill in benefit forms'; nothing could be further from the truth and today was no exception. I wish I could tell you all in graphic detail about the full extent of two truly disturbing case histories which I recorded in my carefully recorded notes today. It is necessary to conduct a full exploration of the 'facts' relating to our client's problems (be they physical or mental or a combination of both) to work out whether they meet the 'LCFWA' scoring criteria contained within the Employment & Support Regulations and to consider if any other legal issues arise. In both of these cases I sought to ascertain just how two separate people with obvious limitations had scored zero points in the ESA/ATOS assessments. It was clear the assessments had not been conducted properly and thus I was happy to take these cases on. Naturally, our rules of confidentiality mean we cannot disclose details which may reveal our client's identities. What I can tell you is that one suffered from the most appalling effects of being attacked by a vicious gang many years ago, after which our client was wrongfully accused of murder. There was never any prosecution because innocence was completely accepted but s/he lost all confidence as people made up their own minds as to their judgemental presumption of guilt. There were clearly many unresolved mental health issues in this troubled life but the ATOS healthcare professional concluded 'no problems' because our client had simply said they 'didn't want to talk about their problems". Given the way these assessments are reported to me I'm hardly surprised that our clients have next to no trust in the healthcare professional and thus become unwilling to share their private lives in often rushed examinations.

The other case involved someone who had never got over losing their child who was cruelly knocked down by a car driven by a drunken driver; the story which followed become even worse. One tragic event often has a domino effect as other troubles be-siege them. These are real stories - the empty Kleenex tissue box spoke of the tears absorbed in an interview which has to be carefully conducted to gently prise from the client an account over how these tragedies impacts upon their day to day life; what you find is people remain scarred by these events but can distract themselves until something else goes wrong. Each event has a cumulative effect until one day people just get tipped over the edge. In these cases it is true to say that the ATOS healthcare professional had not so much as even started to scratch the surface in finding out what the problems were. In both of these cases I am going to guarantee a favourable result, it may take months but I know we will get the right outcome. In both cases the right decision is to get these very deserving cases the support they need to help them rebuild their broken lives - that is after all what Employment & 'Support Allowance' is meant to be all about - it cannot be working when we continue to see far too many cases like these.

A quick sandwich from the nearby canteen is munched over a lunch break where we end up having to talk 'shop'; it is inevitable that we exchange accounts of the cases we've all dealt with. However, we still manage to keep up the banter. I learn how Linda has dealt with two more ESA appeals and Viv has unravelled an array of debts (see above post) bought in by a person who is clearly struggling. The objective is to preserve the client's home from repossession; I rather suspect the case will end up in us having to appeal for the both the client's ESA and DLA; it's very much the norm to see so many decisions being made against the client; yet we overturn around 80% on appeal. Viv's a modest soul and her account doesn't really give the full picture of how full her desk was over-run with the client's paperwork; - much of it relating to threatening final warning letters demanding money our client simply doesn't have.

After lunch we have a meeting with Emma the manager and advice session supervisor Lynne who looks after our front-line volunteers. We talk of ways of improving the throughput of cases and on our agenda we explain that as the jobcentres send more and more people to our excellent general advice team for help with filling in DLA/ESA forms (we have a special team of volunteers who do this) we need to be all too aware that the correct legal issues are being identified and flagged up as referrals to us. These are becoming more frequent as welfare reform takes hold.

Christine holds the office administrative functions together today, she makes it look easy but let me tell you how looks can be very deceptive. It's more scrutiny of forthcoming appeals in the remainder of the afternoon. Linda gloats with glee at another victory in overturning a DLA dis-allowance decision without having to go to Tribunal; I remind her of my major victory last week - we're a competitive lot us welfare benefit specialists! - because we believe in getting our clients what is lawfully theirs. There are so many things going on within our office; but for me these are the 'highlights' of the day. Despite the intensity it's been an enjoyable day and as we pack all those files away into their cabinets for the night, I quietly reflect over how each one represents a chunk of someone's life. As some get closed, other come in. Our clients are a little like patients in and out of hospital for a bit of surgery. Today I feel pleased because I feel we've helped our 'patients' regain a bit of their lost faith as they realise they are not alone in this relentless battle which the State appears to be inflicting upon those least able to handle all that's being thrown at them. Let's be clear, our patients are suffering injury has a result of this hammering....

More tomorrow folks!.....

[nickd]

Wednesday 20th June


Today brings its difficulties are we are all in different locations. Linda in Newton Abbot, myself over in Torbay area and Viv & Christine back at Totnes. So it's mobiles to the ready, no internet connection today!

More later on folks...

[nickd]

Wednesday 20th June

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

'Living in Fear'





This is what we're seeing everyday


The bulk of my morning was taken up with just two clients, doesn't sound much does it? In an era where there is so much emphasis on dealing with large numbers of people, meeting targets and quick problem solving I dare say two people doesn't fit the bill, I had three on my list between 10am and 1pm but one didn't turn up; I'm glad they didn't in a way because I needed the time to deal with the issues flagged up by the two people I saw . In many ways it's the issue of the time we need to spend with clients which sets the work of the specialist apart from the work of our front line team of advisers. We use a system of front-line gateway assessors who for most clients will be their first point of contact with the bureau via our 'Advice Line' telephone number, it improves the number of calls we can handle and means clients don't need to wait for so long before we can deal with their enquiries. From the advice-line our clients are referred in most cases to our general advice team which is mainly staffed by dedicated volunteers, some clients are assisted by 'self - help' information which enables them to resolve their problems by pointing them in the direction of the vast array of information which we hold to help those who can help themselves.

There are however, other clients who need more intensive support, we can provide this via a number of individual projects we are working on where clients can be seen by staff who assist them in different areas. Our annual report tells you more about our projects. The clients who end up being referred to us in the specialist help unit are like the two clients I saw before biting in to my tasty BLT sandwich and cup of tea at lunchtime. Today is a day where I would like to highlight the plight of those who live in fear; it's something I'm seeing a lot of these days.

My first of two clients was a lady who had proudly worked all of her life and in her 50's had experienced two heart attacks, she'd also been left saddled with debts from a failed marriage - the majority of which she's paid off but the remnants had become unmanageable with her failing health, she has also become badly affected by osteoarthritis and had obvious mobility difficulties. It was good to see her being supported by a housing support worker - it always helps to have one on board to provide the support so we can focus on the legal issues. At first it seemed to be a relatively straightforward case of a debt relief order being the most appropriate remedy - we are able to do these because we are duly authorised by the Insolvency Service as 'approved intermediaries'. However, I detected that fixed glare of fear I see in my clients all too often and decided to probe things a little bit further.

I checked on my client's benefits and quickly became aware that she was in a state of significant distress at a forthcoming medical examination arranged at her home to reassess what she thought was a 'life-time' award of Disability Living Allowance. I also had to pre-warn her over the inevitable reassessment of her Incapacity related claim as the DWP moves towards converting claimants over to the all too familiar and much feared Employment & Support Allowance. What struck me was how I could see her literally go all tense and asked if it was okay if I could go on, I assured her we were here to help and reminded her that she shouldn't feel bad about having to use her GTN spray if she needed it, she looked like she did. We also discussed how we would approach the bailiffs who were on the scene over some unpaid parking fines which had escalated to an amount she couldn't afford. It wasn't so much a question of burying her head in the sand - it was more a question of being too ill to cope; that's why the support worker had been allocated. It was good to see her obvious anxiety lessened as I prepared her for the worst and told her we would help her appeal if need be. Far too many sit in judgment over the people I see, I just wish they were in the room when their respective life stories unfold. Sorting problems out like this isn't stuff you can do over the phone and nor is possible to hurry it up - the complexities demand the appropriate time to fix them and that's what we'll do. I briefed the support worker on what would happen next, we'll sort this one out just as we do in so many of these cases.

My next client was what the Daily Mail would probably call a fraudster, it doesn't seem to matter that no charges have yet been brought - it's almost as though being on benefits has in itself become a crime. I obviously can't divulge any details but what I can tell you is the case involves many thousands of pounds. I also detect early signs of departmental error and I warn my client a prosecution is possible. What many people won't realise if how us benefit specialists often work on complex overpayment cases alongside defence solicitors who leave it to us to work our way through the civil side of an appeal concerning overpayments of benefit. It's my specialist area and what you'll never get to read is how so many of these allegations are based on cases which transpire to be brought erroneously by departments who capitalise on the current tough stance shown towards the benefit recipient. I know this case will flag up a preponderance of complex legal issues which need sorting out in order to establish whether the case has been brought according to law; - in many case they haven't been correctly executed. It's also not at all unusual for the authorities to over calculate the sum alleged to have been wrongfully claimed. For what it's worth I believe my client; it's not that I'm naive it's just that as a specialist I'm all too familiar with how easily folk fall technically foul of the complex rules of entitlement. My guess is we'll be fighting this out for some time yet - my hope is our funding remains in place to allow us to help these people in fear; they need someone on their side.

My BLT sandwich duly consumed I spend the afternoon drafting a complicated legal argument in a forthcoming ESA appeal in which I am going to challenge the 'conversion' process which currently sees tens of thousands of claimant being transferred from the older Incapacity Benefit over to the more recently introduced ESA. My question is have the decision-maker's correctly executed the conversion process. How any one can say these aren't legal issues being dealt with in our first - tier social security tribunals is well and truly beyond me; anyone who does my job will say much the same thing. Citing legal grounds means having to look up case law and interpret the somewhat ambiguous wording contained within the Employment & Support Allowance (Transitional Provisions, Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit) (Existing Awards) (No 2) Regulations 2010 / as well as amendments to the relevant Welfare Reform Act 2007; I think I'm on to something and I won't give up on it until its had an airing in court.

I don't get to speak to my team until later, well into the evening. We've had a number of no shows but none the less they've worked their way through a plethora of debt cases, several of which have involved the bailiffs and trying to save people from getting into being at risk of losing their own. In one case it's involved having to renegotiate with the council tax bailiffs because paying them meant our client was unable to meet their mortgage payments. I didn't get to see the clients seen by my team today but my guess is that same look of fear will have been seen on the those faces just as it was on those I saw this morning; it's almost haunting you know.

More tomorrow folks - Thursday is nearly always busy!

[nickd]

Thursday 21st June

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


'The welfare wilderness'





Allowed to wither in a lost generation - but now condemned by those who choose to judge.


An overgrown garden which is not tended and cared for will all too soon will wither away and become barren in its neglect. Do you blame the garden, the gardener or those who should perhaps have lent a hand and helped cut the overgrown grass down down to size? You may wonder what on earth I'm on about, what an overgrown garden has to do with our work on this rather gloomy Thursday as we got to grips with this little glimpse into the work of CAB specialists during 'CAB Live' week? Well today's 'key note' case was to me not a stunningly legally complex benefit appeal case or an urgent enquiry requiring some immediate legal remedy to be found within the civil procedure rules; it was about a married couple in their late thirties who came to see me about yet another ESA appeal. It was one of quite a few we saw today, indeed in the afternoon I drafted four 'GL24' appeal forms in less than an hour. It's almost become a production line process as I dictate 'open' letters to Sarah and the wording to go in our appeal templates to Christine. On top of which we had all the usual bureaucracy which goes with running a legal aid office, more file reviews and a check on how well our case numbers are performing according to our contract schedule - a task which you have to keep a careful eye on when we as an organisation are only paid from £150 to £180 as a fixed fee on a case regardless of how long we have to spend on it. For me today was a poignant reminder of something few of us have any hope of understanding; why our couple had been left out in the welfare wilderness for what some would say was far too long? - for around the last 10 years in-fact.

Yes more tears flowed from the mother of four children as I passed tissues from our freshly stocked supply of Kleenex; her husband awkwardly trying to fill the silent gaps as I asked searching questions whilst probing the lost lives of two people who had been plunged into what they expressed as desperate 'despair'. This was a married couple who have had their Incapacity Benefit terminated after yet another ATOS examination had assisted the decision - maker in determining that there was no entitlement to Employment & Support Allowance; what I sought to establish was if they had a case for appeal. It's part of our job to search and challenge, but we need to tread carefully so as not appear as though we are judging our clients in the way society does in this era of 'survival of the fittest'.

Part of our expertise is in pinpointing what the ATOS healthcare & DWP decision - maker has overlooked; establishing the reason why our clients have been on benefit for the last decade, it requires a special skill in my view. I never make the mistake of scoring them against the relevant physical & mental, intellectual function & cognitive impairment descriptors contained within schedule 2 of the ESA regulations (as amended). To do so would in my view be merely duplicating the mistakes made by the healthcare professional who are guided into believing you can assess limitation by simply using the 'Lima Logic' computer software scoring system used by computer technology form ATOS in their assessments of our clients; if the 'computer says no' you lose your benefits. I always start with a blank piece of paper rather than a pro-forma questionnaire - people's lives don't always fit the neat little questions contained within tick box forms; human life is too complicated to assess it in a completely impersonal scoring process.

Looking at how my client has completed her ESA claim forms I see far more mention of comment attached to physical limitation than there is mental health, the medical evidence she brings with her is suggestive of a combination of both. People will much more readily admit to having a physical limitation, there are still too many people who feel shamed at using the word 'mental health' to describe their condition - despite all the good work done by mental health organisations the stigma and shame remains when it comes to a subject few want to discuss. My client tries to describe what has been diagnosed as fibromyalgia - it's a complex condition where it's almost impossible to distinguish between what is 'physical' and what is 'mental'. I know we are in for an uphill struggle with this appeal because it's one of those conditions some 'traditionalist' medical members of a tribunal panel struggles to accept even exists as a modern day illness. I can almost see their eyes roll in sceptical disbelief as they see the word ' fibromyalgia', you would be forgiven for thinking they almost scoff over the diagnosis as if more modern day doctors shouldn't be telling their patients they are suffering from the illness. By and large fibromyalgia is an illness which didn't 'exist' in the days when many tribunal medical panel members were in practice. Of course some are more accepting of it but in reality there is scepticism which surrounds the illness from within the DWP to ATOS and in the Tribunal room too. Even some of my client's own doctors struggle to comprehend the condition; it makes for hard work in proving the case when the illness is in itself subject to too much disbelief.

It's one of those cases where I will find myself reminding the Tribunal that the diagnosis is irrelevant, we are here establish if my client has a limitation and needs support. This is what these new breed of Employment and Support Allowance appeals are all about; they are no longer about establishing whether claimants are no longer incapable of work they are about seeking to establish whether they have a degree of limitation and require 'support'. The clue is in the name 'Employment' and 'Support Allowance'. It's a concept which few understand, far too many still think it's just about proving people are 'fit for work'. It's a fundamental failing which is denying thousands the support they need if we are now saying they should be supported back into work. Little is said in the media about the greater number than expected who are being placed in the 'support' groups where there is an acceptance that the claimant is simply too unwell to do any work. My client will however fall into the 'work related activity group' where she should be able to get some support to help her back into employment; she tells me she would like to work. Her husband had to stop work to care for his wife and I explain the way welfare has changed. There is now an expectation that those who can do some work should do some work - but let's not be forgetting they will need support to help them find it.

Let's also not forget that for the last ten years our client has effectively been told she is not fit for work and therefore was entitled to benefit. Initially this would have been confirmed by her own doctor but after that it would have been by the DWP after attending the previous 'personal capability assessments' where perversely ATOS assessors would have been confirming entitlement. How is it that we now blame the claimant when they were merely accepting what they were being told under a system which was introduced back in 1995 when Incapacity Benefit was first introduced? It's obvious that when people have been on welfare for long periods they will have lost a sense of confidence, lost social skills, lost assertiveness, lost sense of purpose; surely they can be forgiven for thinking they were unfit for work because that is after all what they were being told? It's the DWP who would have written to them and reminded them ' you are unfit for work and remain entitled to Incapacity Benefit'; should we now blame the claimant for simply accepting what they were being told?

What has changed is the way people are assessed, it's not that people are being caught out as scroungers at all - they are being reassessed under a completely different set of rules. Let's be clear that if society was prepared to leave people out in the welfare wilderness for a decade, the least we can do is give them support to help those that can get back on their feet - and that's what these appeals are all about - some support in getting back into some form of work; that's why we are winning around 80% of Employment & Support Allowance appeals. We are winning the cases because we understand the welfare system and the way the Incapacity Benefit regulations differ so greatly from those relating to Employment & Support Allowance.

More tomorrow as we come to the end of our specialist week, tomorrow I will tell you why I think we are an essential element in assisting welfare reform.

[nickd]

'Friday - Finale' 22nd June

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Value for money?






Yes - we bring financial value into our community...[/i][/b][/color]


And so Friday marks the end of another week, it all goes so quickly and to be honest by this time it feels as though it has taken its toll. I've had a 'non-client' day which is necessary in order to devote some time to the practical side of drafting appeal submissions, looking up case law and catching up with the people you don't get the chance to speak to during the week. Linda has been seeing clients and unsurprisingly yet more appeals have been lodged, she's also been dealing with more debts cases. I've had a look at the 'CABLive' time line on Twitter and it's worth noting that a number of tweets refer to cases being referred by different bureau to us specialists; it's a system which is deployed in many CAB up and down the country. I can see from my own organisation's time line that there are a number of potential problems which require a legal fix. What is absolutely apparent to me is that the work we and other similar specialist units carry out is precisely what it says on the tin - it is 'specialist'. It is with some frustration that the recent legal aid debates were tainted with an argument that CAB and other advice agencies just provide 'general advice'. Frankly, I find such a statement to be insulting as it undermines the level of professionalism we work to and the value of what we do. The Ministry of Justice made a great deal over how only 15% of our funding is derived from legal aid, in my view this is completely understandable as our work accounts for probably a similar percentage of what the overall service has to offer; the fact that only a percentage of the work is specialist is simply because it is specialist! In our case the degree of our legal aid funding is much higher because we cover other areas that have no legal aid provision; that's why we cover Teignbridge and Torbay as neither of those districts have a legal aid contract in welfare benefits.

Our work extends way beyond what our clients see, it is the hours when they aren't with us which gets taken up with all the real work. The current welfare reforms are throwing up all manner of legal issues and fast paced decision-making is a breeding ground for far too many mistakes. I wish our Ministry of Justice ministers had been been with me last week in a first tier tribunal hearing an overpayment case. In my view the departments concerned had jumped to all the wrong conclusions, they had disallowed my client both Disability Living Allowance and Employment & Support Allowance as a 'sideline' to the bigger case before the tribunal. We won both the ESA & DLA appeals some time ago but the bigger case has been dragging on for ages. It has already been before three separate adjourned hearings both of which were subject to complex directions and required intensive submissions from three different parties as the case involved a number of sub decisions relating to alleged non-entitlement of Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Housing & Council Tax Benefit, there was also a risk of criminal prosecution and thousands of pounds were at stake. The long and short of it was that I applied for the decisions to be set aside by the Tribunal because they did not meet the statutory requirements contained within very complex overpayment regulations. I reminded the tribunal that its function was to decide the case according to law, it involved quoting commissioner decisions and upper tribunal judgements which I read out from a laptop which saves me having to leaf through hundreds of pages of documents which my clients helps me take into the hearing. On two previous occasions my client had attended the hearing with her witnesses, they were there at last weeks hearing as well. It meant witnesses having to take time off work and having to claim their expenses from the tribunal for loss of earnings. I would guess that the costs incurred by the departments & tribunal would have run to a fair few thousand pounds. We haven't been paid a penny yet and when we submit our case as an exceptional fixed fee (which means we get paid the value of the work rather than a derisory fixed fee of just £150 - which is what we are usually paid) I believe the costs will run to around £1400, that doesn't include the representation costs at the hearing, it covers the preparation costs which run to a fair few hours, when you see the work on the multiple lever - arch files you would see how much work is entailed.


Cases like this....







Can't be resolved...







By our front - line advisers


It's just not the way we work, our front-line advisers deal with a vast array of problems which they are excellent at resolving but there has to be an acceptance that it would be asking too much of our volunteers to do the work we do; most of them volunteer their time for one day a week - it is impossible to centre specialist casework around anything less than a paid 9 to 5 commitment. It's worth mentioning that as specialists many of us work well beyond our paid hours anyway; it's more of the 'hidden' work we do behind the scenes in the same way as our manager and other project staff do. Working with the CAB is a commitment which goes well beyond the normal working day. Our work also requires a depth of knowledge which is only acquired with experience and ongoing training.

I would hazard that last week's more intensive case cost the state well over £10,000 against our costs at £1400, it's highly likely that yet more red tape will result in our costs being knocked back by £200 or so reducing what we get to say £1,200, it's a fraction of the cost incurred by the state and let's not forget who's in the right here; we showed the State to have been in error in their decision - making process, they often get it wrong. Taking away our help isn't the answer, what we need to see is a dramatic improvement in standards of decision - making. We constantly draw attention to this in our submissions and in attending focus and tribunal user group meetings, not to mention the invaluable contribution we make to social policy at national and local levels by campaigning for change. Next week I find myself delivering an awareness session for Devon CAB over the forthcoming welfare reforms, I await the usual jaw dropping as I tell people what is just round the corner. It's like preparing people for a bad landing and yes it strikes real fear in to the lives of those in the community.

We also have a vital role to play in arguing the case on behalf our disabled & incapacitated clients; some of whom complain they have been left out in the wilderness for too long. The vast majority of the clients I see don't want to be reliant on benefits, they don't want to be incapacitated or disabled, they want to be fit and well and to have money upon which they are able to survive. I marvel at how some of our clients manage to live their lives on the £71 a week they get in their weekly entitlement; how many of us could do the same?

We've seen a variety of clients these week, on average they tend to be in their late forties but we see anyone from those in their late teens to those well into their retirement; these problems affect everyone. This week illustrates our current emphasis is on Employment & Support Allowance in what I recently expressed as an 'explosion' of appeals. What I'll tell you is we will see much the same with Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit; we sort out the problems thrown up by reforms which require specialist solutions.


An 'explosion' of appeals...







We try and get people the support they need ...


It's clients like Hester who these reforms hit hardest, we won her appeal but I wonder how she is getting on? It perplexes we that we win so many appeals and yet research shows that few individuals are being attached to the Government's Work programme. We're on borrowed time now as our contract runs out in April of next year. From then on people will be on their own or relying on limited resources in dealing with thousands upon thousands of appeals, the state won't be held to account for its errant decision-making and ultimately people won't be getting the support they need to help them (if they are within the bracket of claimants who can do some work with appropriate support) in finding work. Ultimately we are all about helping our clients get their little share of justice; it's something we specialists do rather well as shown by our results. Yes of course a specialist advice service is more expensive to run but our overall savings to the state surely outweigh the much greater costs incurred by the authorities who all too often get it wrong? I hope this article gives you some insight into the work we do and helps you in your understanding of how CAB and Law Centre's have a vital role to play in helping to turn around the lives of the individuals we've helped this week by providing them with essential social welfare legal solutions.


For every £1 spent on welfare benefits advice - £8.80 is saved and that's a fact anyone has yet to dispute.

[nickd]

South Hams CAB Specialists go live


Click on the link to see what we get up to in September!


Second time around commencing 24th September! .....

[richyper]

The welfare wilderness topic, struck a real chord with me. as i am going through exactly that
scenario right now, being on incapacity benefit for 20yrs, because of a severe mental health
condition, I now find myself being assessed for esa, I am 61 yrs old, I am living in sheer terror
at what is going to happen to me, and i do not have a clue who to turn to for help. your forum
has allready given me some hope.



kind regards, triumphrp.

[jjclarkejenny]

The wilderness struck a real chord with me..but even worse the fibromyalgia...I suffer from this , chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetic neuropathy , depression ,panci attacks , PTSD. I've received my migration letter from ICB to ESA I have had no answers to questions to DWP have emailed my MP still not response ..I live in constant pain , fatigue and stress ..my mental health nurse has to take me medical appointments, my friends feed and wash me and have not left my house in years to what people call a life..I now lay here in constant dread and waiting for that lets face it the fit for work assessment..I see myself after 33 yrs of full time employment paying in to a system that is meant to protect the vulnerable has instead turned to hate and die system...your standing on the ledge..is all too true..if I could stand for more than 3 minutes without falling over ...my friends that help me..will one day not be able to ...I will be probably found weeks later decomposed but still fit to work....

[nickd]

Many thanks to you both; Richyper and JJClarkeJenny for taking the time and trouble to let me know how much of a devastating effect this had upon you both.

It is disgusting how we are wrapping this whole thing up as welfare reform, it's sheer wickedness. I see more and more examples of this every single day. I am noting your comments; both of which strengthen my resolve to carry on doing all I can to fight this injustice and with your kind permission would like to use your comments if that's okay?

Best regards

Nick

[jjclarkejenny]

You are more than welcome..only just had an email back from the DWP to some questions I've asked..5 weeks and finally half them not replied to and two half answers..I've emailed my MP and copied him into the response to DWP but I doubt I will receive a reply or the request for them to answer the questions..basically my rights are not to be written and not to be discussed so they can deny deny deny..I'm at a loss to think how could I after 30 yrs paying more tax than average joe and higher NI contributions be treated like an imbecile and worse despite proven medical evidence from experts be treated like a sponger and told to go die...

[richyper]

Having just started the migration from incapacity b to esa, I am totally astonished by the stories that i am reading on forums, sutch as this site, I had no idea just how mutch legal
knowlege is needed to fill in a ESA 50 form, thank god people like yourselves do what you
do, I am so glad that i had the sense to contact forums like this before i filled in my esa50
form. I do not want to burden you too mutch with my mental health condition, having read
other peoples stories,i feel humbled, Just knowing you are here makes me feel less fearfull.
I will go through the process more prepared now, be in toutch,



kind regards triumphrp