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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> UK Social Security and Child Support Commissioners' Decisions >> [2007] UKSSCSC CDLA_4351_2006 (24 April 2007) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSSCSC/2007/CDLA_4351_2006.html Cite as: [2007] UKSSCSC CDLA_4351_2006 |
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[2007] UKSSCSC CDLA_4351_2006 (24 April 2007)
CDLA/4351/2006
"11.In paragraph 8 of R(DLA)2/95, Commissioner Heggs refers to the meal as being "a labour intensive reasonable main daily meal freshly cooked on a traditional cooker." However, section 72(1)(a)(ii) does not specify how the meal is to be cooked. There are now a number of commissioners' decisions that it can be cooked in a microwave oven provided it is prepared and cooked and not simply a pre-prepared meal which is heated up. Thus, in CDLA/2367/2004, Commissioner Jupp said that the claimant's ground of appeal that the use of the microwave in preparing a cooked main meal should be disregarded was an oversimplification of the position. The test is whether a claimant "cannot prepare a cooked main meal for himself if he has the ingredients". After quoting from Lord Hoffmann's judgment in Moyna, she continued:
"Thus we have moved from the position where a claimant might satisfy the criteria if s/he could not, most of the time, prepare a cooked main meal for one on a traditional cooker. The better view now is that it is more a question of what the claimant does with the microwave most of the time which will enable the appropriate decision to be made as to whether s/he satisfies the criteria for an award. It is clear that if the only activity that a claimant carries out with the microwave is to pierce a plastic lid, place the item in the microwave and adjust the controls, this will not equate to the preparation of a cooked main meal for one. If, however, the range of activities conducted by the claimant is, in broad terms, much the same whether or not the meal is then cooked in or on a traditional cooker or in a microwave, there is no reason why the use of the microwave should not be taken into account. It will be borne in mind that it has long been held that it is not necessary for a claimant to be able to bend to the oven nor hold heavy pans to prepare a cooked main meal for one."
13. This approach accords with the wording of the section, and I follow it, although it does mean that the calibration of the severity of the disability by reference to this test may vary as cooking methods and kitchen equipment change. The tribunal was entitled to take into account the use of microwave ovens and heatproof pan handles even though the claimant did not have them, its approach was correct and there was no error of law. It was not concerned with how the claimant actually cooked, but with the hypothetical question of whether he could in a general sense safely prepare a cooked main meal for himself given the ingredients."
(signed on the original) Michael Mark
Deputy Commissioner
24 April 2007.