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DLA/ESA crossover
12 years 9 months ago #91272 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic Re:DLA/ESA crossover
Elaine
You are certainly correct that being unable to repeatably and reliably able to complete one of the ESA physical activities means that the activity should be constrained to what you can do.
Picking up on the comment that you can walk 100m once a week, it would seem reasonable to me, given the "doctors" opinion, that this means that you cannot walk 100m 6 days a week, and therefore, for the majority of the time, you cannot walk 100m.
Remember the ESA test is for mobilising which includes your covering a similar distance in a wheelchair, irrelevant of your using or even owning a wheelchair.
The mobility test for DLA is in some ways far more complicated than the ESA one, as the Decision Maker must take account of your speed of walking, your gait, whether you need to stop, etc., so I would not assume that issues such as reliably and repeatably are excluded from the DLA assessment.
Unlike ESA, as the length of the award is part of the DLA Decision, it is also appealable, although it is rare to here of any appealing purely on this basis.
It is in princpiple possible to appeal just the mobility component of your DLA award, however, the Tribunal are not restricted from also looking at your Care component, although they should give you notice of this.
The decision you face, that whilst being moved to the Support Group on the basis of your mobility would be supportive of an HRM award for DLA (the ESA test is more strict), until such a Decision is made, you are disadvantaged in appealing the DLA award.
As awlays, please be aware that there is a risk to your existing award when asking for it to be looked at again.
I hope the above makes sense
Gordon
You are certainly correct that being unable to repeatably and reliably able to complete one of the ESA physical activities means that the activity should be constrained to what you can do.
Picking up on the comment that you can walk 100m once a week, it would seem reasonable to me, given the "doctors" opinion, that this means that you cannot walk 100m 6 days a week, and therefore, for the majority of the time, you cannot walk 100m.
Remember the ESA test is for mobilising which includes your covering a similar distance in a wheelchair, irrelevant of your using or even owning a wheelchair.
The mobility test for DLA is in some ways far more complicated than the ESA one, as the Decision Maker must take account of your speed of walking, your gait, whether you need to stop, etc., so I would not assume that issues such as reliably and repeatably are excluded from the DLA assessment.
Unlike ESA, as the length of the award is part of the DLA Decision, it is also appealable, although it is rare to here of any appealing purely on this basis.
It is in princpiple possible to appeal just the mobility component of your DLA award, however, the Tribunal are not restricted from also looking at your Care component, although they should give you notice of this.
The decision you face, that whilst being moved to the Support Group on the basis of your mobility would be supportive of an HRM award for DLA (the ESA test is more strict), until such a Decision is made, you are disadvantaged in appealing the DLA award.
As awlays, please be aware that there is a risk to your existing award when asking for it to be looked at again.
I hope the above makes sense
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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