DLA knockback what now?

lil_me

~You could resubmit further evidence from other health care proffesionals asking for a reconsideration whilst waiting for the appeal papers. Medical evidence is the key with these things, put it this way they consider the reports from medical professionals to be 'factual reports' as they actually put it so shows how much they believe claim forms. It is usually best to ask for a copy of evidence they used in the claim decision which they will send you.

astralbee

Remember that the word "appeal" refers to a very specific process that you may not want to go down.

If you think that the Benefits Agency have made a mistake, you can ask them to look at your claim again. This used to be called a review, but new terminology means you can just say in plain English "look at it again", and they are obliged to. However, you need to tell them exactly why it is wrong. ie "you said that I can walk 100m, but I cannot."

Asking to appeal means you want the claim taken out of their hands and sent to an independant tribunal. These tribunals provide a great service, but it must be stressed that they cannot make a 'fairer' decision than the Benefits Agency can. If you think that the decision is unfair but the law says it is correct, the tribunal service cannot overturn it. Actually sometimes they try to, but the Benefits Agency don't act on it. Basically, its long and drawn out and pointless unless you are certain that the Benefits Agency are wrong on a point of law.

Rememeber that DLA claims are different from income related or means-tested benefits in that they also rely on medical reports. If they have made a decision based on a doctors report, you may not be able to get the claim reviewed unless the doctor admits the report was wrong or you can get a new report.

If you think your medical condition has got worse since your claimed, you could claim again and state this. You may then get sent for a new doctors report.

Hope this helps.

D

sandraroffey

my claim for DLA went on for over 18 months. when they first turned me down, i went straight to the citizens advice people. they have a person who deals with appeals, and he dealt with everything. filling in al the forms, chasing up evidence that they had forgotten to ask for etc etc. yes it took 18 months, mainly because the tribunal people forgot to keep asking other bodies for medical evidence. but in the end we won and they had to back date it to the date of the first claim. the CAB person drove me to, and spoke for me, at all the appeals tribunals. he was amazing and they do help. they know their way around these things like magic. give them a try. its well worth it. good luck.xx

astralbee

sandraroffey wrote: »

my claim for DLA went on for over 18 months. when they first turned me down, i went straight to the citizens advice people. they have a person who deals with appeals, and he dealt with everything. filling in al the forms, chasing up evidence that they had forgotten to ask for etc etc. yes it took 18 months, mainly because the tribunal people forgot to keep asking other bodies for medical evidence. but in the end we won and they had to back date it to the date of the first claim. the CAB person drove me to, and spoke for me, at all the appeals tribunals. he was amazing and they do help. they know their way around these things like magic. give them a try. its well worth it. good luck.xx

I was a bit down on the Tribunal Service in my last post. I don't want anyone thinking they should never use them, but really only as a last resort. If Benefits Agency are doing their job properly when you ask for an appeal they will double check to see if it can be reviewed locally first anyway, so many requests could turn out favourable without ever going to tribunal. However in my 8 years working for BA I saw thousands of claims sent to tribunal and only a minority rule in favour of the claimant. And, as I alluded to before, of that minority only a few get changed!! See, the tribunal is made up of welfare rights type people who, bless em, aren't fully conversant with benefit regulations. Sometimes they make a favourable decision that isn't in line with benefit law, and then the whole 3 months (if you're lucky) has been a huge waste of everyone's time. That said they will get the rule books out and should be expert at understanding and interpreting them, which really helps in unusual cases where perhaps the Benefits Agency have misunderstood an obscure regulation that they don't use often themselves.

I love tribunal hearings. There are usually 3 on the panel. Nice, ordinary people that represent the general public. Just your completely average cross-section of retired colonels, puritans, saints, nuns, loonies etc.
They will often get quite excitable and refer to benefit regulations as "draconian". One tribunal chair amused me no end when he added that "such a comparison is slightly unfair to Draco, who's harsh code of 620BC was at least coherent".

If you find this sort of thing amusing and have 3 months to wait for your money then demand an appeal. Otherwise exhaust other possibilities first, then set the tribunal on them as a last resort.

D :j

deafpaul

i too was turned down then i appeal then i went and sat in front on a jugde,carer,and doctor and they said yes i was allowed it

glossgal

Ok OP, first thing you need to do is focus. From the points you've made I would say:

1) You mention problems walking and problems with needing someone to go with you when you're outside. These problems are reflected in different levels of mobility componant so basically -you can't have both! benefit agency will have to determine which of the two eg physical or mental you struggle with more. By all means mention everything but if the appeal progresses you need to be quite ruthless I'm afraid and focus on which of the two you're more likely to get.
2) Help with cooking is usually not too hard to be awarded if you have arthritis so I would definately try to get evidence about this.
3) Re: help brushing hair/medication. To be honest I don't feel this would make you eligible for the Middle Rate of Care as its not really frequent enough. Also, why do you need help with medicine? do you have memory problems? is it life threatening for you not to take your medicine etc. Bear in mind too that 'help at night' refers to help after you've gone to bed so unless you wake in the night to take tablets (or for some other reason) this isn't relevant.

I would say generally anxiety and DLA do not go together all that often unless it's quite extreme and certainly you'll need medical back up for a mental health award. Agree with others, you should try to get some specialist help as they'll be able to tell you if you've got a strong case or not.

jetcat

for my twopenneth - as there is a fairly strict time limit on submitting an appeal, i would put in the appeal straight away. As a previous poster has said, you could always just ask for your claim to be "reconsidered" - ie. looked at again, but i seem to recollect the figures for success at reconsideration are only about 10%! In any case, when you ask for an appeal, the case is automatically reconsidered anyway.

but, as always, advice on here is no way as helpful to your specific case as that of a face to face welfare rights person (no offence intended to anyone)

healy

astralbee wrote: »

I was a bit down on the Tribunal Service in my last post. I don't want anyone thinking they should never use them, but really only as a last resort. If Benefits Agency are doing their job properly when you ask for an appeal they will double check to see if it can be reviewed locally first anyway, so many requests could turn out favourable without ever going to tribunal. However in my 8 years working for BA I saw thousands of claims sent to tribunal and only a minority rule in favour of the claimant. And, as I alluded to before, of that minority only a few get changed!! See, the tribunal is made up of welfare rights type people who, bless em, aren't fully conversant with benefit regulations. Sometimes they make a favourable decision that isn't in line with benefit law, and then the whole 3 months (if you're lucky) has been a huge waste of everyone's time. That said they will get the rule books out and should be expert at understanding and interpreting them, which really helps in unusual cases where perhaps the Benefits Agency have misunderstood an obscure regulation that they don't use often themselves.

I love tribunal hearings. There are usually 3 on the panel. Nice, ordinary people that represent the general public. Just your completely average cross-section of retired colonels, puritans, saints, nuns, loonies etc.
They will often get quite excitable and refer to benefit regulations as "draconian". One tribunal chair amused me no end when he added that "such a comparison is slightly unfair to Draco, who's harsh code of 620BC was at least coherent".

If you find this sort of thing amusing and have 3 months to wait for your money then demand an appeal. Otherwise exhaust other possibilities first, then set the tribunal on them as a last resort.

D :j

As said above the success rate for reconsiderations is only 10%. It is NOT the minority of appeals that rule in favour of the claimant. Between 50 and 60% of appeals are successful so it is worth appealing.

The appeal panel for DLA appeals has a chairman who is Legally qualified and trained in the Benefits law that is used as are the other panel members. The other panel members are a Doctor and a Disability Qualified member. There can be people who have been involved in Welfare Rights on the panel but that is rare.

robpw2

i have made a claim and also been turned down i rang to get it reviewd and they have sent me an enevelop asking me for any further information i would like to give. What would i need or could i put in here to claim

Titch89

robpw2 wrote: »

i have made a claim and also been turned down i rang to get it reviewd and they have sent me an enevelop asking me for any further information i would like to give. What would i need or could i put in here to claim

Have they asked you for anything in particular? When they sent me that letter, they said: 'we spoke to your GP, who talked about your vision. Please explain what devices you use to help you.'