UC/ESA Tribunal for work capability

Hi Mike,.
I am glad that you are finding B&W useful and have been making progress with your tribunal case. You have mentioned IBS, yes this is important. Under descriptor 9 if you have incontinence issues and soil yourself, enough to warrant a change of clothing you will score 15 pts which of itself is sufficient to have limited capability for work. If the soiling occurs just once a week you have limited capability for work activity. (Support Group equivalent. )Soiling is much easier to prove than migraines not allowing you to learn a task, or tiredness making you unsafe to work etc.
Likewise, (and I do appreciate that it is very embarrassing talking about IBS problems ) tell the Court Service that you would not be able to do Jury Service because you have IBS. I suspect you may need to be near a toilet, and potentially need to go there at short notice. Maybe several times? If what I've said is on anyway true then you can no doubt explain how awful your toilet problems might be, and that alone would hopefully suggest you wouldn't be suitable on a jury! Also, presumably bright lights of a courtroom (many have little natural light) together with having to read documents on white paper, (most cases involve some printed material,) will be migraine inducing which wouldn't be suitable as a juror either!
You might need to get your GP to confirm this, but whilst I am sure you would wish to do your public duty, sadly your health precludes this.
( I represented a PIP claimant who was called for jury service- he had a back tumour and couldn't sit longer than 10 minutes without having to stand up and shuffle about. He was excused because it was disruptive. You could argue the same!)
I hope this helps.
Good luck with everything.
LL26

Just a reminder to everybody that ESA assumes the use of aids even if the claimant does not actually use them, so in addition to the criteria that LL has mentioned above you will need to show that the leakage, which must be extensive, occurs despite the use of appropriate aids such as incontinence pads.

Gordon

Just to clarify in regard to the ESA Descriptors.

Claimants can only score for Descriptors 11-17 if the cause of their issues is a mental health one, they cannot score if the issue is the result of a physical problem, such as Sleep Apnea.

Also, there is Case Law that states that Sleep Apnea cannot be considered in regard to Descriptor 10 - Staying conscious when
awake.

That said, you may be suffering from mental health issues such as Depression or Cognitive Dysfunction that are exacerbated by your lack of sleep, if this is the case then you should make arguments in these areas in preference.

Gordon