DLA School report appeal

tali · 15 May 2007 at 10:23PM

my son has had his DLA renewal rejected due to a school report the DLA Office requested and hence i am appealing.
Trouble is the school report becomes a very grey area, firstly the DLA office did notify me that they would contact my sons school- fair enough, but was i allowed to contact the school first to discuss the report?

i didn't because i feared it might be considered that doing so would be "trying to influence" the school for a favourable report, secondly the school at no time contacted me either , i thought they might have said "we have recieved request from DLA office regarding your son"

Once i appealed in writing the DLA office sent all copies of paperwork relating to my sons renewal some of which i had not seen , everything......apart from the conspicuous abscence of ........the school report

Any thoughts ,opinions. advice would be welcomed

welshcakes · 16 May 2007 at 10:43AM

Hi tali

My personal opinion (as a parent) would be that you probably have a legal right to have sight of the school report or any other that has had a direct impact on determining 1) your son's physical or mental capacity and 2) the finanical entitlement your household has on statutory state benefits.

I would suspect that the school may be relieved of an obligation to supply you with their report requested by the DWP so I would instruct the DWP in writing that you want a copy of all documentary evidence that has been supplied to them relating to your son.

D&DD · 16 May 2007 at 11:47AM

Hi Tali if it was evidence they considered it should be there in the pack so do request it specifically.My boys school was 'superhelpful' too stating that he joined in at games and football...neglecting to state he sat on a special chair as the referee...Going to appeal actually helped us to answer their questions as I suppose it must have looked dodgy on paper.I was able to explain everything and my son also attended so they could see what his difficulties were.I know with kids its not always possible to take them (this one has physical disabilties so we just about managed but my youngest is autistic and to be honest would have freaked at everything to do with getting there let alone the actual appeal room etc:eek: )Best of luck its hard enough with special kids without all the fighting for everything that comes with it!!!!

N71 · 16 May 2007 at 12:53PM

D&DD wrote: »

Best of luck its hard enough with special kids without all the fighting for everything that comes with it!!!!

Never a true word spoken (or written!)!!!

I had my DS first application for DLA rejected because of the doctors report.
The doctors surgery gave the report to a new doctor at the surgery who'd never met/seen Joe - and he just filled it in (somehow!).

We appealed, a doctor who knew him submitted an accurate report, and we were successful!!!

Good look - sadly i think it's quite usual to be rejected at first!

justontime · 16 May 2007 at 5:49PM

Don't give up! My son's claim for DLA was rejected last year on the basis of the school report, I appealed and worked very hard to get clued up on commissioners decisions, etc. I provided lots of supporting evidence, from childminder, private tutor, parents of school friends, family members, etc. I was terrified about the appeal but it was very civilised and son was awarded high care and low mobility so it was worth the hard work. By the way there is no need to take your child to the appeal, they can't make you do so (another commissioners decision) and I simply stated that it would be detrimental to my son to have to listen to the detailed discussions about his disability and nobody questioned it.

The school report seems designed to 'trick' the teacher into stating that the child has no care needs. It is mostly yes/no answers and is very subjective. In a very protected primary environment the child may cope more or less because there is no scope for things to go wrong, but that doesn't mean the child has no care needs, it means they have adequate care/boundaries at school! One of the questions asked if the child could cross a road safely, his teacher wrote "as far as I know, we have discussed road safety in circle time". It was on the strength of that answer and one other "as far as I know" that they decided he had no care needs! She had never seen him cross a road. I used copies of all my correspondence with the school to prove not only that the difficulties were long standing but also the school were well aware of them. If you have not kept copies you can request them from the school.

I will willingly share the info I used. I have sent you a pm

tali · 16 May 2007 at 6:05PM

thanks for all replies, the surprising thing is that i forwarded all education authority paperwork relating to my son - so all his psychological/physical needs were there in black and white,(so this was all independant testimony and not my interpretations) in fact i had sent the same paperwork in his previous renewal which was accepted
the current updated paperwork said pretty much what was in the previous ones
the dla state that he can cleanse himself for toilet needs - but he forced to modify his behaviour in this school enviroment anyway as teachers are not going to cleanse him no matter what- its not their job, besides he very rarely goes to toilet at school so they could'nt be aware ,and my son would never ever inform them due to his lack of confidence.
Also they say he is now aware of danger but thats difficult to percieve in a controlled enviroment such as school.
Since my son prefers to be left alone "to avoid a fuss and attention" it can give false impression that everything his fine

DLA School report appeal

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