WRAG to Support Group Using Reg 35.

Pauly

I am afraid the Black Triangle site make it sound an awful lot easier to qualify under Reg.55 than it actually is.

As it appears to have been 18 months since the last Decision on your claim, you can only ask to be re-assessed early because of a deterioration in your condition or that you have a new condition that would meet one or more of the Support Group Descriptors, this includes Regulation 35.

The deterioration must be medically documented or you run the risk of the DWP throwing out the request because no change has occurred.

Concentrating solely on Reg. 35, I will be candid and say that I think it very unlikely that the BT letter will be sufficient on it's own to place you in the SG.

First you must show that any risk of harm is the result of a "specific disease or bodily or mental disablement", this means you must identify the condition that leads to your meeting Regulation 35.

You must show that there is a risk of harm to you or others if you are not placed in the Support Group, it can be difficult to quantify risk, but the risk must be substantial, this means it must be

of considerable importance, size, or worth

This is far more than the usual standard of the majority of the time.

You must identify what the harm to yours or another's "mental or physical health" would be if not placed in the SG. You must be specific, you cannot allude to a problem or problems and these problems must relate to the condition that you identified above.

Finally you should try and identify the identify the Work Related Activities that the risk of harm is associated with. Remember this is not your working or any of the activities normally associated with working such as travelling to and from work as these are related to the WRAG and not the SG, also you should bear in mind that some of these activities may be achievable with you doing them at home or over the phone, so you need to cover this as well.

Gordon