DLA, Appealing and the effects on WTC/CTC

poppycat_3

Up until now, my 10 year old daughter has been getting the high care rate of DLA.(no mobility) I have been getting Carers Allowance. Now the DLA has been dropped to the low rate and awarded for 4 years instead of the previous 2.

So i have 2 questions. Firstly, is it worth appealing? If I'm totally honest, i feel we were lucky to get the high rate of DLA originally, but I think the low rate is wrong, I feel the middle rate is appropriate to her circumstances. When I phoned up to get the reasons for the decision, the woman basically said I was lucky to get the low rate, despite me telling her about the care my daughter needs - she basically dismissed everything I said about night time care and challenged the day time care she needs. She left me with the feeling that if I was to appeal, there is a chance I would lose the low rate and end up with nothing. So now I don't know what to do, £16 a week for 4 years is better than nothing, even though I feel it's wrong.

And secondly, how will this affect my tax credits? I will lose the carers allowance so should get a bit back from the tax credits for that but we do get the disability element of CTC so will the drop from high to low DLA affect that?

Thanks in advance for any help!

hjb123

You should appeal - if you think that being on the low rate is wrong then appeal!

Get some help from someone like the Citizens Advice Bureau or Welfare Rights who will be able to help and support you through the appeals process and go to a tribunal too.

Have you got medical evidence and support from GPs or consultants etc?

The CAB should be able to calculate what tax credits etc you would be entitled to - I would go and see them and take all the documents etc with you.

bamberbamboo

Hi Poopycat, I've just had mine reduced from high to middle and I was just wondering the same, hasve you decided to do anything??

cattie

You don't say what your daughter's disability is & it may be worth seeing if you can get advice from an organisation that specialises in your daughter's condition & who has experience of dla claims.

Yes if you appeal you do run the risk of losing the award altogether, so it's important to ensure you have good medical evidence to back up your claim & the help of a welfare rights advisor to assist with the appeal.

As children get older the DWP assume that to a certain extent children become less dependent on their parents & are able to do more things for themselves, so you need to show them that your daughter still needs a lot of care on a day to day basis.

Good luck.

lil_me

Give your local welfare rights a shout, they will probably suggest asking for a reconsideration first, usually by finding out where they have requested information from and submitting further evidence, then if unsuccessful an appeal.

Explaination on care component

The care component can be paid once a child is three months old.

In addition to the first five tests you must show that your child has needs that are "substantially in excess of the normal requirements of persons of the same age"

or

that those needs are substantial and which "younger persons may in normal physical or mental health may also have but which persons of the same age and in normal physical health would not have".

This means that as well as showing that your child has care needs arising from a disability, you must be able to demonstrate that these needs are substantially more than those of healthy children of the same age.

care needs can be either "attention" or "supervision"

"attention" is about needing help from someone else to do personal things that your child cannot do for him or herself

"supervision" is about needing someone else around to ensure that the risk of substantial danger is reduced.

Your child will be awarded the higher rate if his or her care needs require supervision or attention through the day and the night.

The middle rate is awarded to children whose needs occur either during the day or the night

The lower rate is awarded to those children whose needs occur at certain times of the day.

It is important to remember that your child will only be awarded DLA if you can show that his or her needs are much greater than other children of the same age and that those needs require substantially more supervision or attention


Given that and you still feel the decision is incorrect then I'd say do something about it. Usually when it is dropped from higher to middle rate the amount of care required at night (compared to a child without special needs the same age) has reduced or hasn't been explained properly on the form.

beanielou

You will loose the disability element of Tax credits as no longer receiving high rate care.Also any carers allowance as well.

donnalove

beanielou wrote:

You will loose the disability element of Tax credits as no longer receiving high rate care.Also any carers allowance as well.

you will only lose the severe dissability element(or enhanced premium) but keep the dissability element(if that makes sense) for ctc.

Turning_into_scrooge

poppycat wrote:

Up until now, my 10 year old daughter has been getting the high care rate of DLA.(no mobility) I have been getting Carers Allowance. Now the DLA has been dropped to the low rate and awarded for 4 years instead of the previous 2.

So i have 2 questions. Firstly, is it worth appealing? If I'm totally honest, i feel we were lucky to get the high rate of DLA originally, but I think the low rate is wrong, I feel the middle rate is appropriate to her circumstances. When I phoned up to get the reasons for the decision, the woman basically said I was lucky to get the low rate, despite me telling her about the care my daughter needs - she basically dismissed everything I said about night time care and challenged the day time care she needs. She left me with the feeling that if I was to appeal, there is a chance I would lose the low rate and end up with nothing. So now I don't know what to do, £16 a week for 4 years is better than nothing, even though I feel it's wrong.

And secondly, how will this affect my tax credits? I will lose the carers allowance so should get a bit back from the tax credits for that but we do get the disability element of CTC so will the drop from high to low DLA affect that?

Thanks in advance for any help!

DLA have done the same to me last week, only they knocked me down from middle rate to low rate. When i phoned up to challenge the decision the woman i spoke to was a right B@tch with me so I sent an email to my local Welfare Rights. A very nice lady from WR phoned me the following morning and when i told her what had happened and the fact that i had been given middle rate for 4 years and dropped to low her words were we have to go to appeal so she is coming to see me here tomorrow to go through it all with me. I had a doctor come out to me who i felt at the time was being paid off deliberately to give a bad review as well as that my son applied for carers allowance at the same time my re newal was going through which unless i get the middle rate back he cant have the allowance which is grossly unfair as he has been caring for me for 4 years. To be honest i feel the odds where stacked against me from the day i sent back the forms as they lost them for 6 weeks and when i queried it they sent another pack out and suddenly the forms turned up, draw your own conclusion to this, i know what mine is.

Contact welfare rights and appeal.

ohreally

beanielou wrote:

You will loose the disability element of Tax credits as no longer receiving high rate care.

That is incorrect, only the severe element will be dropped.

poppycat_3

Hi all and thanks for all your replies!

I have decided to appeal, but I'm cutting it fine because I don't have much time left. I have asked them to send me the statement so will get an extra couple of weeks.

My child has type 1 Diabetes. I have seen arguments on this board before where people have the opinion that DLA shouldn't be awarded for Diabetic children but we'll leave that to one side.

She was awarded the high rate 2 years ago when she was first diagnosed which to be honest surprised me, but I still feel that the low rate is wrong.

We have alot of night time care with her, she tends to have hypos during the night however well we manage her blood sugar levels. At the other end of the scale, if her levels are particularly high at night (which can result from trying to prevent night time hypos) then she wets the bed.

Her blood sugar levels can be excellent before bed but sometimes we end up with either one of the two extremes during the night.

We do everything we can to keep her levels stable, she just had her long term results which were 7.5 (those of you familiar with that test will know that that result is pretty good!) But she does have a tendency to be up and down a hell of a lot.

The woman on the phone from the DLA who i spoke to was also a total witch, basically her opinion was that her blood sugar tests and insulin injections (which i supervise or administer) take less than 1 hour a day so i was lucky to get the low rate which is for 1 hours care a day.

As far as she was concerned, that is all the extra care she needs - if only!!!

I spoke to my daughters Diabetes Specialist Nurse yesterday who encouraged me to appeal and will support me throughout the appeal process. She said that all the nurses were recently discussing how eratic the awards are for Diabetic children, there are toddlers being awarded the low rate and 15 year olds getting the high rate!!!

Just one question - if we appeal and the award is moved up to the middle rate, that would mean i would be entitled to carers allowance again wouldn't it? So in that case, would the carers allowance be backdated as well as the DLA?

Obviously there is a considerable amount of money involved but my OH and I have spent time going over our finances and will be able to get by just about Ok after the drop in benefits and I'd pretty much resigned myself to it but after speaking to the nurse yesterday I feel its the injustice that is the main reason for the appeal. Only my family know what day to day life is like, even other families with a Diabetic child may have a very different experience but I feel that the extra care that my daughter needs, over and above my two other children deserves a damn sight more that low rate DLA.

Ted_Hutchinson

poppycat wrote:

I spoke to my daughters Diabetes Specialist Nurse yesterday who encouraged me to appeal and will support me throughout the appeal process. She said that all the nurses were recently discussing how eratic the awards are for Diabetic children, there are toddlers being awarded the low rate and 15 year olds getting the high rate!!! .

I am sure if your DSN supports your appeal you need have no concern for other opinions which may have been expressed.

poppycat wrote:

Just one question - if we appeal and the award is moved up to the middle rate, that would mean i would be entitled to carers allowance again wouldn't it? So in that case, would the carers allowance be backdated as well as the DLA?

Providing your reclaim the CA asp and assuming you continue to meet the criteria.