Forum Home → Discussion → Disability benefits → Thread
IIDB Case Law
I have a client who is having to appeal a DWP decision to stop her lifetime award for IIDB.
The client has been vague about why the DWP have stopped her award, she claims that she was seeking a private litigation against her employers and this was the rationale given in her decision notice. I have never heard of a lifetime award being stopped for such a reason.
Does anyone know of any caselaw on this particular issue?
Why is she in litigation with her former employer?
From the little information I was able to obtain, I believe that someone advised her that she could seek a separate litigation. The employer treated her very badly after her accident and she feels like she deserved to have some compensation.
Well, as you say, litigating your employer is not in itself a ground for stopping the benefit. Can you ascertain the real reason, as no idea how to discuss this in any practical sense without it?
Unfortunately, I cannot.
I was just hoping if anyone knew of any list of caselaw I could look at to find out how and why IIDB can be stopped. Other than change in condition.
I don’t think that stumbling around in the dark for reasons why the benefit might have stopped is either in your client’s interests or your own. The decision letter should identify why it has stopped. If you can’t get either a copy of it or a clear explanation of what it says, then I don’t think you can advise her.
If you want to learn more generally about the system of industrial injuries benefits, there is a lot of info in the CPAG book and the decision makers guide identifying the conditions of entitlement. As is typically the case, the legislation is generally a more important starting point than the caselaw.
While not disagreeing with Elliot .. if you are wanting to do a deep dive into the caselaw, here’s our archive of summaries of cases:
https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/caselaw/category/industrial-injuries
We also have hard copies of some earlier cases if you have a specific reference number:
https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/resources/industrial-injuries-disablement-benefit
NB - there still an old copy of the index to the DWP’s Digest of Commissioners’ Decisions online which also might be of help in identifying specific reference numbers of older cases:
I can’t see this as a reason. R(I)1/93 for example, is a case which decided that a site meeting to discuss litigation against an employer, at which an accident took place, was in the course of employment.