LL v Chief Appeals Officer & Ors (Approved)

1.������ These judicial review applications raise an issue of whether it is fundamental to a claim for benefit or assistance under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) that the claimant be entitled to that benefit or assistance at the time when the claim is made.��

2.������ Changes in circumstances may result in a person becoming entitled to a benefit which was previously claimed at a time when that person was ineligible to receive it. If that happens, is it necessary to make a fresh claim or can an old claim which has been rejected be revived, using the revision provisions in ss.301(1) and 317(1) of the 2005 Act?�

3.������ The applications relate to determinations by appeals officers to refuse to revise earlier decisions of appeals officers which declined to allow claims by the applicants for payment of domiciliary care allowance. The applicants assert that these decisions were made without jurisdiction.�

4.������ Counsel for the applicants invites me to conclude that, on the correct interpretation of provisions of the 2005 Act, it is sufficient for a claimant� for benefit to establish that the statutory conditions of entitlement first exist at some point of time� later than the date of the claim for that benefit.

5.������ The applicants argue that appeals officers who were asked to review previous appeal decisions to refuse domiciliary care allowance under Chapter 8A of Part 3 of the 2005 Act acted incorrectly in determining that any new fact or evidence provided in an application to review a decision of an appeals officer must bear on establishing the right of the claimant at the time of the claim for that benefit, and not at some later time. The Chief Appeals Officer disagrees with the applicants� interpretation of the statutory provisions.