Dla Nightmare!

Verianna

Why is it not honest? To say it is not honest is to imply that the claimant is lying which they are not, they are reporting the worse case scenario, they're hardly going to put the best days down are they :rotfl:

Even the DLA advisors on the helpline advise you to put the worst case scenario down

krisskross

Verianna wrote: »

Why is it not honest? To say it is not honest is to imply that the claimant is lying which they are not, they are reporting the worse case scenario, they're hardly going to put the best days down are they :rotfl:

Even the DLA advisors on the helpline advise you to put the worst case scenario down

You cannot say that every day is like the worst day ever. It would be like me claiming on the basis of my migraines. When i have one I am completely prostrated for at least a day, can do nothing more than lie in a dark room vomiting. Dizziness is so bad I need help to get out of bed, have a drink, go to the loo etc.

This happens perhaps once a month. Should I be saying it is the norm once a month or should I be trying to make out this is what my life is usually like?

healy

jobbingmusician wrote: »

As someone who used to run an advice centre (like a CAB), although I am not an adviser myself, perhaps I could contribute. All the points I am going to make have also been made by other people, but it might be helpful to join them together.

1. I think it is fair to say that the advisers I used to manage believed that nearly all DLA claims are refused nowadays. This seems to be regardless of merit, and is patently unfair.

2. AFAIK (and my information is about a year out of date) most DLA appeals are successful. BUT you have a far greater chance of success with your appeal if you involve someone like a CAB or welfare rights adviser - someone who is used to (as another poster put it) the Kafkaesque world of DLA - someone who speaks their language.

3. Appeal NOW - the timescale for appeal is fairly limited. (I would advise everyone on this thread who feels they have been refused or downgraded unfairly to appeal).

4. Anyone who really HAS to fill in their DLA form themselves - base your answers on what happens on one of your worst days.

HTH - JM

If someone appeals a DLA decision and attends the tribunal they have about a 50% chance of success, if someone attends with a representative there is a small increase to about a 60% chance of success.

When filling in a DLA form you should detail your good and bad days and how many of each. You should not just detail what happens on your worst days. If there are few "worst" days this would give a very false impression.

fraoch

My friend was due a DLA review in Sept, we filled his forms in and to our surprise they raised his DLA from lower rate of care to higher rate and also low rate mobility component, Given that his circumstances have not changed and we filled the last one in with the same details, it was a nice surpise to find he is now getting what he is entitled to.

He was refused DLA on his initial application.

Verianna

krisskross wrote: »

You cannot say that every day is like the worst day ever. It would be like me claiming on the basis of my migraines. When i have one I am completely prostrated for at least a day, can do nothing more than lie in a dark room vomiting. Dizziness is so bad I need help to get out of bed, have a drink, go to the loo etc.

This happens perhaps once a month. Should I be saying it is the norm once a month or should I be trying to make out this is what my life is usually like?

But you cannot say that a person is being dishonest by stating their worst days as they are NOT lying.

I think taking something that happens once a month is very different to someone who has, say 5 bad days out of 7.

lilac_lady

Some people exaggerate their symptoms to enable them to get money, that is a fact. Others who have genuine needs get turned down. The system is open to abuse and the people who suffer are the ones who are genuine. When someone says "fill out the form as if every day is your worst day", it isn't the truth no matter how it's dressed up.

qwertyuiop12345

The way to fill in the form honestly is the way that I always do it; describe all of your days from best to worse and with estimates of how often each once occurs.

Any other way is dishonest and doesn't give a full and accurate picture of your situation.