dla turnaround time

boltonangel

hi all

i currently claim middle rate care for my 8 yr old son who has suspected autism.
without going into too much detail (i would never stop!) his needs have increased significantly which has meant that i have had to give up work. i was advised to get his dla award reviewed, which i have done.
i posted it just over two weeks ago (1 day before all the cutbacks were announced :eek:)
i received a letter saying the current turnaround is 11 weeks, is this an accurate time would you say in your experience.

when i first put the claim in last year i heard back after 1 week :T but understandably because this is a review it will take longer and also there are more professionals involved with him this time.

TOBRUK

Hi boltonangel, I don't think anyone can give you a definite answer for an accurate time frame.

When an application for DLA is made you usually get a letter acknowledging your claim, and it states at the bottom that if you don't hear anything within 8 weeks you may call regarding your claim. When I re-applied this year it took just over 8 weeks.

I take that the letter you received is also an acknowledgement of your review letter which also advises the time to expect an answer. With a review as with a fresh application it all depends whether they contact health professionals to request more information and also how long they take to send them the information.

I imagine that the 11 weeks they have stated is the time they think it may take. However, in my own experience in April this year, I sent a letter asking for a reconsideration on the award they decided upon as I disagreed with their decision. It took 4 weeks (almost to the day) that I received their decision from when I posted the letter.

formaldehyde_perfume

My letter said if I don't hear from them in 10 weeks I should get in contact, so I would say thats a standard response

harveybobbles

We put in a change of circumstances in March 2010. We've still not had a decision... Had a letter last week saying it is going to Tribunal, but due to the high volume in cases it wont be held until AFTER April 2011...

Silly thing is, the DLA is up for renewal in June 2011 anyway!

MrsManda

My application (1st app, not a review) took 12 weeks. Their acknowledgement letter said to call if I'd not heard in 8 weeks but they contacted me before then to ask for more information and also to say they were contacting my consultant and if I hadn't heard in 4 weeks to contact them again.

As its a review I'd expect they'd contact your son's specialists for an update on his condition and care needs so it may be worth contacting them yourself to let them know. That way they'll be expecting the request and hopefully deal with it quickly so waiting for the reports doesn't hold the process up.

gingerbread45

Our sons circumstances changed early last year so we informed DLA and they told us to review our claim ( we were already on middle rate). It took from December to April, so 16 weeks from start to finish but during this time our middle rate didnt stop, it continued until they had made a decision based on the evidence we supplied. My son has autism and severe learning disability and we sent everything in, copies of pyschology reports, clinical reports, MRI reports, information from school, a detailed report specifically for the claim from my sons community paeditrician. DLA got in touch with my sons school who also confirmed that his needs were now greater. After 16 weeks we got a letter confirming that his award had been changed to high rate with mobility component too, and we got 16 weeks backpay to boot. It can take a long time, be patient. If you dont hear back after about 10 weeks then give them a call, ask them if there is anything else you can supply to help the claim, or if there is a hold up because something additional is needed. Because your son is 8 they will normally contact the school to get information and clarification from them too, sometimes schools can take a while to get around to filling their part of the report in! it can hold a claim up!

southantrim3

11/12 weeks is about right.

shegar

My husbands review forms were sent to them on 05/08/10.....we had letter within a week to say it will take 13 weeks for a decision to be made....

Within 3 weeks they said they needed more info so they would write to his GP,,,we then had a decision which I knew wasnt the correct award so I writ to them and asked them to re consider his award.... on some new information that I didnt give on the review forms ...........

They said they would re consider his award and this would take up to 11 weeks, we then heard the next week from them and got the award that he should have got in the first place......so in our experience it was approx 7 weeks.....

All cases are very different depending alot on what info they need from gp s, consultants ,etc.....

stassy23

my 1st app for my son we got refused took 7 weeks so i asked for reconsideration and they said it could take another 11 weeks but after 4 weeks we were awarded

Peanuckle

MY eldest son's renewal claim (he turns 18 at the end of the month which is when it was due for renewal) was received by them on 27th September and he got the award letter today so just shy of 6 weeks turn around. He has dropped to middle rate care, but I expected that to be honest, as his night care needs are still there but less than when his last award was issued. On the plus side he has got an indefinite award, so at least we can get his bus pass sorted which removes the main thing he was stressing about. He has Asperger's, sight problems and a few other conditions which require medical assistance from me regularly.