El-Hazzouri; Secretary, Department of Social Services and (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr El-Hazzouri against a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to cancel his Disability Support Pension (DSP). The dispute arose because the Secretary was satisfied that Mr El-Hazzouri's impairments did not total 20 points or more under the relevant Impairment Tables, meaning he was no longer qualified for the DSP. The appeal was heard by Dr I Alexander, a Member of the Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr El-Hazzouri qualified for the DSP as at 5 August 2016, the date his pension was cancelled. This required determining if his impairments met the threshold of 20 points or more under the Impairment Tables, as stipulated by section 94(1)(b) of the Social Security Act 1991. The Tribunal also considered the requirements for assigning an impairment rating, specifically that the condition causing the impairment must be "permanent" as defined in paragraph 6(4) of the Impairment Determination, and that self-reported symptoms alone are insufficient without corroborating evidence.

The Tribunal acknowledged that Mr El-Hazzouri suffered from various medical conditions, including Type 1 diabetes, depression, and back pain, which satisfied the requirement of having a physical, intellectual, or psychiatric impairment under section 94(1)(a) of the Act. However, the Tribunal found that there was insufficient evidence before it to make a reasonable assessment of the severity of these impairments for the purposes of the Impairment Determination. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that Mr El-Hazzouri did not satisfy the requirement of having an impairment rating of 20 points or more.

Therefore, the Tribunal set aside the decision under review and substituted a decision that on 5 August 2016, Mr El-Hazzouri did not qualify for the Disability Support Pension.