Representative at an ESA apeal

Hi hoping someone can help, my partner as been transfered over to work related ESA from IB and we need to appeal the decision as due to mental health issues,one of which is Agraphobia he needs to be in the support group.I filled the original form in for him with help from the guides on here and the decision was made without a medical thankfully as like in previous cases we had asked for a home visit from the doctor as obviously he cannot attend a medical centre anyway my question is can he ask for me to represent him at an appeal hearing? He obviously cant go himself, but it seems it is looked upon more favourably if someone attends.Or is there the option to have the hearing in our home this would still be incredibly distressing for him but better than loosing the appeal
Thanks

Hi,

You can represent your partner if you feel qualified to do so.

Whilst it is possible to have what's called 'a domiciliary hearing in your home, these are extremely rare, and would need compelling evidence of support from a Consultant.

I've no experience of ESA appeals, but I sat on DLA Appeals for 10 years and in that time, I personally only sat on 3 domiciliary hearings during that period, but sat on
DLA Tribunals into thousands at a Tribunal venue.

This demonstrates how rare domiciliary Tribunals are.

Jim

Thanks Jim for your reply with regards to be "qualified" to represent my partner would you be meaning I have to be a welfare right advisor or in the legal proffesion as neither of those are the case.I understand fully that there as to be a very good reason for my partner not to attend or for the hearing to be conducted in our home but Im at a loss as to how he would be expected to attend when he doesnt/cant go past the end of our drive and certainly couldnt under any circumstances sit in a room full of strangers who are asking him questions and this is also the reason for his appeal so there would be counter productive to even consider he could do any of the above it makes me so annoyed because he really doesnt want to spend his life within the confinds of our home at the age of 44 and the DWP thinking that just because they say so he can do it is ridiculous unless they have some magic wand they can wave over him to make him better its not going to happen!!

No, you don't need to be a WRO or a lawyer.

You can represent him if your partner can't attend.

The only other option is to request a 'paper hearing' where no one attends and the Tribunal hear the appeal based on your partner's case files alone. Not something I'd personally recommend due to it's low success rate.