Unsure whether to ask for increase to Industrial Injuries Benefit?

kslyp

Higet diabetes with the weight gain. everyone 
I receive Industrial Injuries Benefit from way back in 2004/5 when I fell at work and injured my lower back.
This resulted in agonising sciatic pain and as time went on caused me to stop moving it was agony.
After a length of time my specialist eventually said he would perform a spinal fusion to my lower vertebrae, which stopped the sciatic pain but instead I suffered from chronic lower back pain.  I began putting on weight and my doctor prescribed Orlistat a drug meant to help me lose some of the weight I had put on due to my back pain and inability to move around and also because my parents had diabetes and he was worried I would get diabetes with the weight gain.
This tablet caused me to have acute kidney failure and I was admitted to ICU and given hours to live. I was put on dialysis and thankfully I survived but still have the kidney problem.
Recently, I had a fall and felt my back crack and suddenly I have acute pain and weakness in my legs.  I have had an X-ray and one of my vertebrae at the fusion point has slipped forward which I guess is causing the pain, and one at the top is degenerative.
I would like to ask for my Industrial Injuries Benefit to be increased because the disability is causing me to need more care, but I have read that having a reassessment  could end up with IIB being disallowed.
I would be most grateful to hear from anyone who has had a similar situation.
Thank you 

Alex_Alumni

Hello there @kslyp and welcome to the community. Thanks for joining, and reaching out with your query today.

To help our members share their thoughts, I've just edited the title of your post and moved it over into our Benefits category. 

Thanks for explaining everything for us, that's very helpful, and it sounds like you've really gone through an awful lot. 

Do you feel like your receiving enough support at the moment for pain management after your recent fall? 

Are the changes in your care needs something you've talked about with your GP at all?

I think one suggestion I can recommend would be to find a professional adviser, using either Advice Local or Turn2Us's 'Find an Adviser' tool. 

Turn2Us also provides information on Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB), if it's helpful to have a read:

How is it assessed?

A doctor will assess how your disability affects you. The extent of your disablement will be stated as a percentage. Only the level of disability directly attributable to the accident or disease is taken into account. If you have an unrelated or pre-existing condition, the doctor will not include the effects of that in your percentage disablement. 

Depending on the extent of your disability, this assessment will last:

• For a fixed period

• For life.

You can be reassessed if the level of disability caused by your accident or disease worsens or when a fixed period assessment comes to an end.

Just so that I understand fully, can I ask where you read about this:

but I have read that having a reassessment  could end up with IIB being disallowed.

If you feel we've missed anything please do say, and let us know if we can help further

Alex

kslyp

Hi Alex
Thank you for responding.

I am living in France at the moment and their healthcare is excellent, I am about to have a CT scan so I should know more when I get the results.

I got a letter with my form when I asked about my situation getting worse and it states at the bottom of that letter that the benefit can be stopped, reduced or increased.

Also, on the government website it has a PDF that advises people who are assessing the claims.  It states that they have to asses whether the claim is due to "a normal person aged the same as the claimant" degree of degenerative body function i.e. normal wear and tear of a joint would not be classed as a claim.

@kslyp
 

Sue_Alumni

Hello @kslyp

First, I want to apologise for the delay in replying to your post.  I do not have much information available about the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit process  over and above what you have already found out but I do know this is quite a specific area and you may need to speak to a specialist adviser.

When you last posted you mentioned that you were about to have a CT scan and that this would help you decide what to do.  Have you had the results of the scan and has this helped you make a decision about what you want to do next?

For any benefit here is always the risk that the assessment could mean that the award could be lower or higher and possibly be reduced to nil. I don’t know the level of disablement you have been assessed as having and the risk factors you have to weigh up in making your decision but I appreciate that any decision will not be an easy one.   I think you will need to speak to your doctors to see that they will support your case and provide supporting evidence that the deterioration in your health conditions and the further health conditions you have are attributable to the effects of the accident at work . The risk is that the DWP may argue that the further conditions are not attributable to your accident at work.

Please keep in touch and let us know hoe you get on and what you decide to do. 

Take care