UK Social Security and Child Support Commissioners' Decisions

[2001] UKSSCSC CSDLA_860_2000 (18 July 2001)

 


THE SOCIAL SECURITY COMMISSIONERS

Commissioner's Case No: CSDLA/860/00

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ACT 1992

SOCIAL SECURITY ACT 1998

APPEAL FROM THE APPEAL TRIBUNAL UPON A QUESTION OF LAW

COMMISSIONER: D J MAY QC

Oral Hearing

DECISION OF SOCIAL SECURITY COMMISSIONER

1. My decision is that the decision of the appeal tribunal given at Irvine on 25 January 2000 is erroneous upon a point of law. I set it aside. I remit the case to a freshly constituted appeal tribunal for a rehearing.
2. The case came before me for an oral hearing on 10 July 2001. The claimant was represented by Miss Kelly, a Welfare Rights Officer of the North Ayrshire Council. The Secretary of State was represented by Miss Stirling, Advocate instructed by Miss Cairns, Solicitor of the Office of the Solicitor to the Advocate General.
3. The claimant in this case was born on 11 November 1986. He mother is his appointee. The tribunal found that he suffered from dyspraxia and Asperger's Syndrome. In respect of the latter condition, the tribunal appeared to have accepted the evidence of the claimant's mother in that regard. There was no definite medical diagnosis of this within the papers. Dyspraxia is defined in Dorland's Medical Dictionary as being:-

"Partial loss of ability to perform co-ordinated acts."

Asperger's Syndrome is defined in the same dictionary as being:-

"Over development of one mental faculty or skill in an otherwise autistic person, see also idiot savant".

Idiot savant is defined as:-

"Learned idiot, a person who is severely mentally retarded in some respects, yet has a particular mental faculty that is developed to an unusually high degree as memory, mathematics or music."

Autism is defined as:-

"Autistic thinking, preoccupation with inner thoughts, day dreams, fantasies, delusion, hallucinations; egocentric, subjective thinking, lacking objectivity and connection with reality. The self often predominates to the total exclusion of that which is not self, seen in schizophrenia, some forms of depression and a variety of other mental disorders….. autistic disorder".

4. The claimant has appealed to the Commissioner against the decision of the tribunal referred to in paragraph 1 which awarded the claimant the lower rate of the mobility component from 23 March 1999 to 28 March 2003. The tribunal also found that the claimant was not entitled to the care component of disability living allowance.
5. I am satisfied that the decision of the tribunal erred in law and must be set aside. I am not satisfied that in relation to the care component the tribunal either analysed the issues in the case adequately or correctly. I am also not satisfied that they applied the law correctly to the statutory conditions in the context of the facts found. Miss Stirling appeared to accept that but submitted that their decision was the correct one when the tests were properly applied.
6. There is no doubt that in respect of dyspraxia in relation to the attention conditions, the tribunal's position was straightforward. The tribunal found:-

"6. He has poor grip causing him having difficulty in holding a toothbrush/sponge. This causes him problems with buttons and zips."

and then

"20. He is able to attend to bodily functions of getting up, toileting, washing, dressing. There are no physical problems other than occasional difficulties with communicating his hands via his brain causing problems with zips and occasional cutting up of food."

The difficulty arose in respect of Asperger's Syndrome where the tribunal found:-

"3. The effect of his illness is symptomatic of automatism and difficulty in communicating.

"4. The bodily function claimed was lack of ability to communicate through malfunction of brain."

There are then a number of findings in respect of the difficulties that his disablement causes him in particular:-

9. He spends long leisure hours working with a computer which he can do himself.

10. He does not speak or communicate easily with people.

11. He attends a child and educational psychologist only with speech, and occupational therapist.

12. He is awkward at school and does not attend full-time. He has refused to attend school and is supervised at school formerly by his mother but now by older pupils.

13. There is a history of bullying and he does not wish to mix with other pupils.

14. He has difficulty in understanding emotion and does not empathise well with other people.

15. Mother runs him to school. He is unable to take a bus as he would get confused and get lost."

In their reasons they said:-

"We noted the claim that the child needed prompting at home to wash and undertake housework. Whilst we agreed the appellant did have poor communication and did need some prompting we did not consider that argument as being frequent enough in a day to qualify."

7. In my view the tribunal have failed to adequately address the issue as to what a bodily function actually is and whether his bodily functions are actually impaired by the claimant's disability of Asperger's Syndrome. This contrasts with the disablement of dyspraxia in respect of which the tribunal made such adequate findings. It was also accepted by both sides that following what I said in paragraphs 17 to 22 of CSDLA/867/97 that communication is not a bodily function for the reasons set out therein. It is simply an activity.
8. It was also Miss Kelly's submission that the tribunal did not adequately address the day time supervision condition. In that connection the tribunal said:-

"We considered supervision to avoid danger but no evidence was led by the appellant to show that he was in danger at home. Indeed it has been stated that he had not suffered any harm to himself at home and we could not see how he needed more supervision than any child of his age. We thought that his mother no wishing to leave him alone was perhaps overreaction."

9. It is clear from that that the tribunal reached a conclusion which was based that on any view, even if there were supervision requirements, they were not such as to be continual which the statute requires. Miss Kelly did not persuade me that this analysis was wrong. She did however raise a number of points in relation to the issue of supervision. The first was that there was some evidence that the claimant passed out on occasions because of noise. There is reference to that in the record of proceedings. There was also evidence in the claim pack at page 34 that the claimant suffered four to five blackouts a year. It was her submission that these issues were not adequately dealt with by the tribunal. There is substance in that in respect that this evidence is not specifically addressed either in the findings or reasons.
10. Miss Kelly also indicated that supervision was required in respect that the claimant reasonably required supervision in respect that he received one to one teaching. Further the tribunal made a finding that there was a history of bullying and the claimant did not wish to mix with other pupils. It was said that this was borne out by the information to teachers of the claimant from the learning/behaviour support department of Irvine Royal Academy where staff were asked to be particularly vigilant for any verbal or physical harassment of the claimant by other pupils when he returns to classes. It was submitted that this also was a reasonable requirement for supervision. As a matter of law I do not consider that there is any substance in either of these submissions. The statutory condition for the day time supervision condition is that a claimant is so severely physically or mentally disabled that by day he requires from another person continual supervision throughout the day in order to avoid substantial danger to himself or others. It is clear to me that the treatment of the claimant by other pupils or children does not fall within that statutory parameter. The fact that the claimant may be picked upon or bullied by other pupils because he is either vulnerable or different from other pupils at the school by virtue of his disability does not in my view provide the necessary connection between disability and the requirement for supervision. This is because it is the behaviour of others for which protection is required rather than that of the claimant himself. It is the behaviour of the claimant himself with which the statutory conditions are concerned. One to one teaching is not related to the prevention of danger to the claimant or himself and accordingly individual arrangements for educational purposes would not fall within the scope of the statutory scheme in respect of supervision.
11. The case goes before a freshly constituted tribunal and it is to the directions which I require to give to the new tribunal that I now direct myself. The case is not a simple one and the first direction I give the freshly constituted tribunal is to determine as a matter of fact the disabilities suffered by the claimant. That tribunal may have no difficulty in determining that the claimant suffers from dyspraxia but there is an issue as to whether the claimant suffers from Asperger's Syndrome. Whilst the tribunal whose decision I have set aside may have been entitled to reach that conclusion on the evidence which was before them it seems to me that if the matter is being looked at afresh then there ought to be some medical evidence obtained in relation to that matter so that the diagnosis can be confirmed or not as the case may be . It is also important that the tribunal should fully understand the nature of the disabilities. Asperger's Syndrome and autism as can be seen from the definitions I have set out above are not simple disabilities such as blindness or deafness or arthritis. Unless the tribunal have a proper understanding as to the nature of the disabilities then it is impossible for them to apply the statutory tests.
12. In relation to the day time attention conditions the second question which the tribunal require to determine is the nature of the bodily function impaired. What bodily functions are was a matter of consideration in Cockburn v. Chief Adjudication Officer and Another 1977 3 All ER at 844. I attempted to analyse the effect of that decision in respect of that question in CSDLA/867/97 at paragraphs 17 to 22. This is printed as an appendix. The difficulty in this case is that with the exception of the effect of the disability suffered from dyspraxia the impairment of bodily functions, if any, is difficult to identify. The nearest the tribunal whose decision I set aside came to such an identification was in their reasons when they said:-

"We noted the claim that the child needed prompting at home to wash and undertake housework. Whilst we agreed the appellant did have poor communication and did need some prompting we did not consider that argument as being frequent enough in a day to qualify."

13. However, as was pointed out by Miss Stirling, prompting or encouragement would not constitute attention. She referred me to what I said in CSDLA/503/99 in paragraph 14:-

"As activities, such as getting in and out of bed, dressing and undressing can no longer in the light of the case of Cockburn be regarded as bodily functions then it is difficult to see how encouragement and motivation which appeared to be the foundation of the assertion of satisfaction of the attention conditions can be the foundation of a satisfaction of the conditions."

Miss Stirling also referred me to CSDLA/683/99 and paragraphs 12, 15 and 16.

The freshly constituted tribunal should follow these authorities.

14. The other issue that will arise before the freshly constituted tribunal is whether the impairment the claimant suffers from is one of a bodily function as opposed to something else such as a cognitive dysfunction. Miss Kelly in her submission indicated that the asserted impairment of bodily function in respect of which the claimant suffered was a lack of imagination, a lack of perception, complex conversation and an inability to initiate play and play itself. The attention which was said to be required was the encouragement of participation and taking part in normal life, the adoption of a different way of speaking and the initiation of play for the claimant. The poor communication skills and social skills of the claimant were also said to be tied up with this issue. The evidence before the tribunal whose decision I have set aside on these issues focused in a latter by a child psychologist recorded at pages 73 to 74. I do not wish to pre-empt the fact finding tasks of the tribunal to whom this case has now been referred for they hopefully will have rather clearer evidence with which to make findings in fact and apply the law as directed. However I direct the fresh tribunal that cognitive functions are distinct and separate from bodily functions and do not fall within the attention conditions for the allowance. Miss Kelly sought to persuade me that thought processes were part of the operation of the organ the body, namely the brain and in respect of which attention could provide a substitute. I am not persuaded by that and I adhere to the views I expressed in paragraphs 28-30 of CSDLA/867/97 which took into account the authorities referred to therein. I have had paragraphs 28 to 30 printed as an appendix to this decision. The views expressed there were supported as was pointed out by Miss Stirling, by Commissioner Walker QC in paragraph 11 of CSDLA/832/99. Commissioner Parker in CSA/721/00 expressed disagreement with the approach taken by myself and Commissioner Walker QC in CSDLA/867/97 and CSDLA/389/97. She said in paragraph 27:-

"With great respect to the two learned Commissioners in *3/99 and CSDLA/832/99. They interpret the statutory provision as if the words "in connection with" were omitted."

As pointed out by Miss Stirling Commissioner Parker took too great a leap from an impairment of hearing and speech which are bodily functions to also include reading which is an intellectual and cognitive function. With that I agree. I do not accept her analysis of the approach taken by myself, Commissioner Walker QC and other Commissioners including Commissioner Howell QC whose decisions we took into account in formulating our views.

Put simply the attention what the statute concerns itself with is not that of thinking for someone else or substituting the social skills of someone else where a claimant is either bereft of them or they are impaired. The words "in connection with" can only be applied when the bodily function is defined. The flaw in the approach of Commissioner Parker, as I see it, in the case she was deciding, was to include cognitive functions within the ambit of the definition because of a perception that they were impaired by virtue of the physical disablement the claimant suffered from.

15. If the supervision conditions are placed in issue the tribunal will require to take account and follow what I have said above in relation to the exclusion of bullying and one to one teaching as factors to be taken into account. If the issue of blackouts and passing out are placed in issue, the tribunal should make appropriate findings in the context of what is said in RA1/83. The freshly constituted tribunal will note, both in relation to the attention and supervision conditions, the provisions of section 72(6) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 as the claimant is under the age of 16 years.
16. The appeal succeeds.

(signed)

D J MAY QC

Commissioner

Date: 18 July 2001