DLA post 16?

madhouse

A friend told me today that her son (who's 12) has had his DLA renewed until he is 18. I thought at 16 you had to reclaim as an adult. Does anyone know if the system has changed?

kazzah

Hi
My son's last renewal when he was 14 was also for 4 years, so i am now waiting for his 1st ADULT form to complete
as I understand it, the decision maker can renew the claim for as long as they feel appropriate, so this would explain the discrepancies in the length of awards.

What your friend will find is that when her son is approaching 16 the DWP will send an officer out to assess whether or not her son can manage his own affairs and if so, the money will be paid to him from the age of 16 rather than to his mother

HTH
Kaz

madhouse

Thank you that makes sense. We have to renew my son's when he is 16 but I cannot see him being anywhere near to being able to cope as an adult.

mealone

The sad fact is most children lose there DLA when they get the adults form, the last published data from the DWP is from 1994 and more than half lost there awards because the criteria is so diffrent.

Trasthmatic

mealone wrote: »

The sad fact is most children lose there DLA when they get the adults form, the last published data from the DWP is from 1994 and more than half lost there awards because the criteria is so diffrent.

i think that it's more likely to be down to the fact that DLA only started in 1992 and in 1994 neither the customers or the DM's would have been 100% sure of what should have got an award.

Part of the problem with people getting their first adult claim pack after been awarded as a child, is that the claimant themselves fill in the claim pack without any help. Some of the younger adults simply dont have the vocabulary or the insight to describe their needs.