DLA / AA Decision Maker - CLOSED - REFERENCE ONLY

Ames

I had an increase in my award but it was paid from the end of my previous award, which was later than the date of the decision, are you saying the new award should have started when the decision was made? As it was quite a substantial amount of money.

Thanatos

Ames wrote: »

I had an increase in my award but it was paid from the end of my previous award, which was later than the date of the decision, are you saying the new award should have started when the decision was made? As it was quite a substantial amount of money.

There are times it doesnt apply, but in general, yes. A renewal claim turns into a supersession (a decision that superseeds the previous decison) if there is an increase in the level of DLA/AA payable.

The reason behind it is that if at the point of renewal it is recognised there is an increase in needs at the time we recieved the renewal, by the same token had the customer asked for a supersession, the same decision would have been reached and would have been payable with imediate effect.

Also, its not the date of decision it should be payable from, its the date the form was recieved by us in the DLA. We de-register the renewal and re-register it as a supersession.

Like I say, this is only a general rule of thumb (9 out of 10 times) there are exceptions like with the 3 month/6 months rules I mentioned earlier.



Normally i would suggest asking for a reconsideration - if its over the 4 week period in which a recon is allowed you will have to explain that you could not have possibly known that the date of the decision was wrong and ask for them to accept it as late. Any DM worth his/her salt will know it was our mistake and accept it.

Aplogies for the error - its one of the areas that is incredibly easy to overlook when making a decision, fortunetly its one of the easier ones to fix.

Chrysalis

Hi Thanatos, first off thanks for spending time to do this and confirming what I thought that decisions made depend heavily on diagnosis.

My question I hope is a simple one, how should claimants who dont have a diagnosis proceed with a claim?

annamc75

Thanatos wrote: »

Hmmm... this is a tricky one, firstly you mention she is reluctant to speak to the doctor about this - well from a DLA point of view, if you are thinking about asking to get the claim looked at again it is imperitive the doctor knows all about this aspect of her condition as if we write to him and ask, and he replys he is not aware of the problem, it will not help the claim one little bit.

As far as the spells are concerned, it would be very dependent on how often they occur and how much danger is she is when they do occur. It is very unlikely she would get any extra mobility component, as regardless of how much supervision she requires outside its only lower rate. The only thing she could fall under is "The act of walking causes her harm" but I think it very unlikely this could be proved to be the case most of the time...

And its most of the time that causes a problem with the care side too. It might be possible in conjunction with her other ailments too, but without the full details I cant really advise much more than that - I suggest giving it a go and applying for more. If she is only on lower rate mobility at the moment, I would think it unlikely that would be taken from her based on what you have told me so far.

Sorry, that wasnt much help was it...

That is helpful to know - it is along the lines of what I expected tbh. We dont know how often the vacant spells are as she lives alone and doesnt often notice when she has them (or at least doesnt admit to knowing). You can be having a conversation with her on the phone and she will go quiet and then repeat a part of the conversation she has just had (a bit like a jumping record). I will ask her to report it to the GP - I dont think that he will be suprised by this as she has been back and foward for treatment because of the brain tumour.

Thank you so much for sparing your time and I wish you well :A

Anna x

Thanatos

Chrysalis wrote: »

Hi Thanatos, first off thanks for spending time to do this and confirming what I thought that decisions made depend heavily on diagnosis.

My question I hope is a simple one, how should claimants who dont have a diagnosis proceed with a claim?

Hi, actually no, the decisions made do not rely heavily on the diagnosis, but on the needs of the customer. To try explain myself a little clearer here is an example:

Two men travelling in a car have an accident. Both men are left paralysed below the waist. One man looks at this as the end of his life and sits around watching tv. His muscles waste and he is unable to transfer from his wheel chair to the toilet, or bed. He requires someone to help him wash because he has not motivation to do it himself. The other man looks at his predicament as a challenge. He excersises his upper limbs and even takes up wheelchair basket ball. He gets the occupational health in to adapt his bathroom so he can manage himself and is insistant he does anything he can himself without help.

In this senario, both men have an identical diagnosis, however the level of help needed is totally different. As a result of this, one man will be on a different level of DLA to the other irrelevent of the fact they have the same physical problems as each other.

Hope that explains how we look at it a little better. ...and on that basis, if you do not have a diagnosis, it really does not matter providing you have some evidence from a medical proffesional of the needs you have. I myself see about 3 or 4 cases a week where a diagnosis has not yet been decided upon, some short term, some long term.

Hope that helps

alexcross

Id just like to say thank you for all your help.
If it weren't for the very patient people who have helpped with the DLA applications I would not have got extra help for my Son.
From the moment he was born things were not right and it took me till he was 8 to fight tooth and nail for him to be asseses for a few things (my doctor where I live now was the one who pushed for these tests.) I often thought it was my parenting skills at fault and the fact that I had bed post natal depression when DS was born.
This is an amazing thing you are doing and I can not thank you enough.
keep up the good work.

Thanatos

Out of curiosity - how did this thread get stickified?

somebody_else

As a DLA claimant, could I back up what Thanatos has just posted?

I've been in receipt of DLA since around 2002 - although I don't actually have what I would call a definitive diagnosis of what is wrong with me.

Fortunately after many years of hitting a brick wall of "we can't find anything physically wrong with you", from a variety of both GPs and specialists of one kind or another, I ended up with a new GP and a Rheumatologist who both wanted to get to the bottom of my abnormal blood tests. They are also adamant that there is something physical going on, because they've both said I couldn't possibly 'imagine' the blood results. Even if they can't pin it to 1 specific cause.

Obviously, if you've got certain diagnoses, it's easier for the DMs to know how your condition is going to affect you, but if you can give them plenty of information about your symptoms and how they affect you then a decision can be made in your favour.

altocumulus

Hi Thanatos, may I thank you for joining MSE and putting answers to many questions. I am sure most people here will appreciate your guidance and patience.

It has been mentioned on an earlier post, but may I ask what the official line is with deafness and DLA.

My sister is a trained social worker and maintains that I am eligible for DLA, but my own interpretation of the info on the directgov website begs to differ.

My hearing loss is severe enough that my employer chose to offer me ill-health early retirement, and also not to offer me a different posting. It is also severe enough for me to be able to get a Disabled bus pass for Scotland buses, where the criteria was a minimum bilateral hearing loss of 82db. For medical reasons I am unable, any longer, to wear hearing aids....

angelheart-xx

hi sorry for adding to this


but my 10year old daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD and dsylexia she is on ritialin she is also getting reffered to speach therapy for she has a lack of understanding some things thats are asked of her,i get a lot of help from the learning centre,the school and department of child and family phsycarity (excuse my spelling) its was a docotr at dcfp who says to me that i should be able to claim dla as my child has these learning diffuctlies ,i wasnt going to until someone says why dont you ,you are intitled to it as she is hard work,and i go to play therapy which is a bus run every week with her and have appointments to attend too which i dont mind fought long enough for them
so i went along to my local representaion unit to get help with form which we sent away with everything i thought was needed
but sadly it was refused on grounds that she can walk and clean herself ,yes she can walk but i need to make sure she is where she should be also make sure she isnt putting herself in danger as she sometimes doesnt know when enoughs enough.getting hersalf ready is a nightmare too as need to keep going on and on to get stuff then when she gets to school and forgets something she gets herself upset as she has forgotten whatever.


but i am appealing desicion just was wondering what you thought my chances would be with an appeal and should i get letters from the doctors myself as all the dla ppl seemed to ask questions to was her school and the learning centre but when she attends there she is on medication and when she gets home the medication as worn of..... sorry this is long winded but some ppl get dla no bother for there kids and some dont