Woman wrongly denied incapacity profit for with the ability to do up her bra | EUROtoday

A lady was wrongly denied incapacity advantages value over £3,800 a yr for with the ability to do up her bra backwards, a tribunal has dominated.

The nameless applicant narrowly missed out on being awarded the private independence cost (PIP) after assessors stated “doing a bra up at the front and then swivelling it to the back” was proof that she had no bother dressing herself.

This meant she missed out on the 2 factors wanted to be awarded the bottom entitlement of the profit, for individuals who battle with every day residing actions. These made the distinction between £295.60 a month – or £3,842.80 a yr – and nothing.

The lady, who suffers from arthritic ache and numbness within the wrists and hand, had her evaluation over the phone, submitting proof orally.

After being refused permission attraction on the first-tier tribunal, she escalated her case to the higher tier tribunal, the place it was heard by decide Mark West.

The first-tier tribunal erred in legislation, he stated, as a result of it “simply concluded that the appellant should avoid clothing, and change their way of dressing by ‘swivelling’,” ignoring the limiting results of her incapacity.

Judge West referred to a 2015 case by which the higher tribunal discovered it might not be honest to evaluate a PIP applicant who can’t handle buttons or laces by their skill to lock velcro, as this defeats the aim of the check.

He set the unique tribunal listening to apart, which means the attraction will now be heard once more.

Claimed by 3.8 million folks, PIP is a health-linked profit designed to assist with additional prices incurred by residing with an sickness or incapacity. Earlier this yr, it was on the coronary heart of Labour’s proposed welfare reforms earlier than ministers had been compelled to make a harmful U-turn over the plans.

The PIP evaluation has lengthy been criticised by incapacity rights campaigners as a tough and inconsistent course of. According to polling by incapacity charity Sense, greater than half (51 per cent) of disabled folks with advanced wants report feeling humiliated by their evaluation. An extra 45 per cent stated the method made their signs worse.

Around half of PIP assessments resulted in a reward within the 5 years to March 2025, with solely 19 per cent of appeals to the DWP leading to a modified resolution. In the identical interval, choices had been overturned at tribunal at a charge of 66 per cent.

This generally is a prolonged course of, with the watch for a listening to on the first-tier tribunal lasting as much as six months. The closing stage is the higher tribunal, a authorized course of that may take as much as 18 months in all.

Amid the federal government’s withdrawal of its proposal to make PIP successfully tougher to say, it was introduced that incapacity minister Sir Stephen Timms would conduct a overview of the profit.

This can be a “wider review of the PIP assessment as a whole,” the federal government has stated, “to make sure it is fair and fit for the future.” The overview is predicted to conclude in Autumn 2026.

A DWP spokesperson stated: “This is a very recent decision, and we are currently reviewing it.

“We recognise issues in the current system which is why we have launched a ministerial review of PIP, in co-production with disabled people and the organisations that represent them, to ensure it is fit and fair for the future.”