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tribunal summons and no bowel control

  • lisa
  • Topic Author
14 years 1 week ago - 14 years 1 week ago #36629 by lisa
Help,
can anyone advise, had a tribunal letter to fill in for attending tribunal, even though got 15 points.
been put in the employment group where according to the news if you dont get to job centre appt or an interview found for you you will get struck off and loose 3months benefit, and then maybe 3 years. appealed due to conditions for support group, dwp/job centre said no, have to appeal and go to tribunal - letter received today which has to be sent back within 14 days.

problems are; crumbling spine,degenerating discs, tinnitus from chemotherapy, gallbladder complications resulting in diarea uncontrollable and 10-15 times in 24hrs extreme pain, all supported by xrays medical letters.

i cannot get to appt when they send it as i will be pooing in a taxi, get to the interview and be covered in poo, and then no taxi is going to let me in it like this due to diarea and smell.

i would have thought this would be against health and safety allowing or making someone travel turn up in this condition, besides who is going to clean me up or the floor/seats in the dwp ?

please advise, this has got to be a case of making someone endure more than is allowed re personal dignity. do the dwp staff have no idea what it is like to just have your bowels open and with spine issues it is impossible to move with speed to get to a toilet, most of the time it is a case of lie on the bed with towels and let it happen yet they want to make me go into the publiclike this, even on a bus if they wont get me a taxi.

help please

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Last edit: 14 years 1 week ago by .

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14 years 1 week ago #36631 by
You say you have appealed and the jobcentre has said no, so I assume that this means that you have asked them to review their decision and they have done so and said that they will not overturn it.

Unfortunately, at this stage the only way to get the decision changed is to go to appeal. You can get someone to go to the appeal for you or you can ask for a paper appeal.

In the meantime, you can still be asked to go to work-focussed interviews, but it is possible to ask for these to be deferred.

My brother's approach to interviews was to insist that they send an ambulance in which he could lie down. For some reason, the DWP changed their mind about wanting him to attend interviews.

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  • Catherine
14 years 1 week ago #36634 by Catherine
Replied by Catherine on topic Re: tribunal summons and no bowel control
Lisa.

I cannot see how you do not meet the support group criteria based on your incontinence alone.

Why has the decision-maker not taken this into account in a reconsideration to save you from further distress and loss of dignity if put in a position where you feel you have to attend an interview?

Years ago i was told there was no limtit to how many reconsiderations can take place - perhaps it would be worth asking a support person to ring on your behalf and focus on the issue(s) that make you eligible for the support group.

Best wishes

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  • originaldave
14 years 1 week ago #36641 by originaldave
Replied by originaldave on topic Re:tribunal summons and no bowel control
lisa wrote:

Help,
can anyone advise, had a tribunal letter to fill in for attending tribunal, even though got 15 points.
been put in the employment group where according to the news if you dont get to job centre appt or an interview found for you you will get struck off and loose 3months benefit, and then maybe 3 years. appealed due to conditions for support group, dwp/job centre said no, have to appeal and go to tribunal - letter received today which has to be sent back within 14 days.

problems are; crumbling spine,degenerating discs, tinnitus from chemotherapy, gallbladder complications resulting in diarea uncontrollable and 10-15 times in 24hrs extreme pain, all supported by xrays medical letters.

i cannot get to appt when they send it as i will be pooing in a taxi, get to the interview and be covered in poo, and then no taxi is going to let me in it like this due to diarea and smell.

i would have thought this would be against health and safety allowing or making someone travel turn up in this condition, besides who is going to clean me up or the floor/seats in the dwp ?

please advise, this has got to be a case of making someone endure more than is allowed re personal dignity. do the dwp staff have no idea what it is like to just have your bowels open and with spine issues it is impossible to move with speed to get to a toilet, most of the time it is a case of lie on the bed with towels and let it happen yet they want to make me go into the publiclike this, even on a bus if they wont get me a taxi.

help please

(Minor edit - please see our faqs if you are unsure why the phrase has been deleted.)


Lisa your local PCT that runs the Gps you see, should have a service on bladder bowel problems you can refer yourself.

they can have tests done to see what changes can be done to help you with your problem once tests done they can supply all sorts of things to help.

Not just pads


if the problem was caused by cancer treatment the hospital that treated you have a duty to try and help and they have the experiance too.


as for degenerating discs, if you had pain and tests found the discs, thats useful but if you had never asked for treatment but tests for bowel problems found discs problems and your in 40s onwards they will try to put that down to ware and tare

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14 years 1 week ago #36646 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Re:tribunal summons and no bowel control
Lisa

The Support Group conditions for Continence are listed on this page.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/794/schedule/3/made

Do you have any supporting evidence from your GP or a Consultant that confirms the level of incontinence that you suffer from that could be presented to the DWP?

With regards to the meetings, assuming that the letter is from Job Centre Plus then you should contact them, there will be a phone number on the letter, and explain your circumstances. Work Focused Interviews can be carried out over the phone and I would press for this.

If they still inist on your attendance then I would be perfectly frank with them and say if they wish you to attend then they will need to provide you with facilities to clean yourself on arrival, and that you cannot guarantee that you will not need to use them during the interview. I would not hesitate to be descriptive of your problems. :)

Let us know how you get on.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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14 years 1 week ago #36648 by DRAGON2009
Replied by DRAGON2009 on topic Re:tribunal summons and no bowel control
I agree with Gordan.

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