Home > Publications > Selected cases— Parliamentary > Selected Cases and Summaries of Completed Investigations: April 2001 to September 2001 > Case No.C.517/01 and C.1029/01
Selected Cases and Summaries of Completed Investigations
PCA 6th Report – Session 2001-2002
Chapter 2
DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS
Appeals Service and Benefits Agency: delays and mishandling
Mr V complained that when he first claimed mobility allowance (the predecessor of disability living allowance) the Benefits Agency (BA) failed to investigate fully whether he satisfied the residence and presence conditions for that benefit. He complained of delays in hearing his appeal and in paying arrears due to him as a result of the appeal hearing.
The Ombudsman criticised BA for their initial failure and for flaws in several of their later decision letters on Mr V’s entitlement to disability living allowance. He found that BA had incorrectly suspended payment of Mr V’s incapacity benefit for a period of three months, but concluded that BA had noticed and corrected that error within a reasonable period of time. The Ombudsman found that BA had considered appealing to the Social Security Commissioner about the tribunal’s decision, and deciding not to do so, had been slow to implement the tribunal’s decision. He acknowledged that some of that delay had been a necessary consequence of BA addressing enquiries made in the course of the Ombudsman’s investigation.
The Ombudsman upheld Mr V’s complaint of delay by the Appeals Service; they had made mistakes in their listing of Mr V’s appeal for a hearing, initially putting his appeal before the wrong tribunal and later, asking a tribunal chairman, sitting alone, to determine a question which required a three-person tribunal.
The Appeals Service and BA apologised for their poor handling of Mr V’s case. BA paid Mr V £200 for inconvenience and agreed to consider compensating him for any bank charges he had incurred as a result of their maladministration. They also paid Mr V the £15,612.42 arrears arising from the tribunal’s decision, together with interest of £275.98. The Appeals Service reimbursed Mr V for the legal costs which he had incurred as a result of their errors and made him a consolatory payment of £100 for inconvenience. The Appeals Service and BA made Mr V a joint award of £250 for severe distress.
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Appeals Service and Benefits Agency: mishandling of appeal
The Ombudsman found that both the Benefits Agency (BA) and the Appeals Service had mishandled Mrs H’s appeal in relation to her claim to invalid care allowance. BA’s submissions to the appeal tribunal had contained discrepancies and anomalies which the tribunal was unable to resolve, causing it to adjourn Mrs H’s appeal on two occasions. BA had failed to send a presenting officer to two of the adjourned hearings despite the tribunal’s directions that they do so. BA had written to Mrs H requesting that she repay an overpayment of invalid care allowance before her appeal had been decided. The Appeals Service had failed to acknowledge Mrs H’s correspondence, failed to keep her informed of their efforts to obtain from the tribunal chairman a statement of the tribunal’s findings of facts and reasons for their decision, sent to her former address the chairman’s decision granting her leave to appeal, and temporarily mislaid her file. BA awarded Mrs H consolatory payments totalling £150 in respect of gross inconvenience and severe distress. The Appeals Service awarded consolatory payments totalling £250 plus £10 for Mrs H’s telephone costs. The Chief Executives of both agencies apologised to Mrs H for the poor performance and BA put steps in place to prevent a recurrence of the errors which occurred in her case.
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