Appeal victory for Gateshead man

Aug 29 2010 Sunday Sun

BENEFITS loser David Stanton has been turned into a winner after beating the Department of Works and Pensions.

I told earlier this year how the DWP stopped his incapacity benefit worth £140 per week.

Now I can reveal that David won his appeal against the decision.

The benefit will be reinstated and backdated to May when payments had stopped.

David, who injured his back and legs in an accident, said he was delighted at the victory.

One of the first things he did after the appeal hearing was to let me know what happened.

He said: “I attended my appeal hearing this morning and won. Thank you for your help in highlighting my problem, which undoubtedly helped. The DWP may regard it as interference but I’m pleased you were there for me.”

David, 60, of Gateshead, had feared losing out in the Government’s bid to cut costs.

He said the DWP had passed him as fit for work under tough new mobility tests.

But workers for the Citizens Advice Bureau, who carried out the same tests, had said he was not fit for work. I have helped David through all the twists and turns of his story after doctors reassessed his disability on a points system.

It began when he outlined how his benefit was taken away.

He said: “My incapacity benefit has been withdrawn because I did not have enough points.

“Then, adding insult to injury, I was further informed that because I have a private pension I am not entitled to jobseekers’ allowance.

“I do not smoke, I do not drink, I do not play bingo. My wife and I live a pretty basic lifestyle and it is about to get worse.”

At the time the DWP confirmed David had lost his benefits under new rules. They said: “We have given Mr Stanton a full explanation of the decision for disallowing his claim for Incapacity Benefit.

“We have referred his appeal to the independent Tribunals and Appeal Service, which will aim to deal with his case as quickly as possible.”

It wasn’t as simple as that, of course, and David told me the tribunal warned him it could take months to get an appeal date.

I took up this aspect of his complaint and the hearing was brought forward.

The service admitted they had to bring in extra staff after a sharp increase in the number of appeals.

I was told: “We received 40% more Social Security appeals in 2009-2010 than during the previous year and this affects how quickly we are able to deal with them.

“We are working hard to increase our ability to manage the continuing high workloads, both through increasing our own capacity and through working with other Government departments to improve the quality of their decision-making.

“In the North East we have we have recruited additional staff, increased our hearing capacity in Sunderland, Durham and South Shields, and have increased the number of sessions to maximum capacity in all venues including Newcastle.”

There was a further twist when I won an apology for David when the tribunals service send him another person’s medical details in support of his appeal.

Bosses blamed a mistake and said they were looking at their internal procedures to make sure it never happened again.

David said the original DWP assessment at Arden House, Newcastle, had given him three points when he needed 15 to qualify for continued incapacity benefit. The appeal assessed him at 20 points.

I decided to see what the DWP had to say for themselves now.

A spokeswoman said: “We decide on eligibility for incapacity benefit on the evidence provided by the customer and on the medical assessment.

“If a customer is found capable of work and they are unhappy with this, they can submit an appeal.

“The medical evidence, including any new information, is then reconsidered.”