Should i try for DLA for my daughter

janninew

I have a friend who's Daughter has epilepsy who a few weeks had her claim for DLA denied. Her Daughter's epilepsy is not well controlled and she has several episodes a month and does require a lot of extra care.

Then I know another lady who claimed for her Daughter who has diabetes which her Daughter manages very well who was awarded it!

I'm not sure how they come to their decisions, but apply anyway, they can only say no and you haven't lost anything. The form is a pain to fill out and a lot won't be relevant, but put as much detail as you can. I have recently been awarded DLA for my baby Daughter and I spent 7 hours on the form, I started at 2.00pm and just finished it at 9.00pm!!

Good luck.

skipsmum

DS has epileptic and non-epileptic convulsions. He does have other health and behaviour issues that probably contribute to his DLA award.
He has no warning of seizures (but some things definitely set it off), and fits every night, and once or twice a week in the day. He gets high rate care and low rate mobility.
He was turned down for DLA originally, but when I asked for a statement of reasons he was awarded it (about 12 years ago).
Children often have bouts of more frequent/intense fits, and it is incredibly hard looking after night-fitters (constantly changing them in the night does your back in!) You should definitely apply.

shackalak

My son is 12 now but was diagnosed diabetic aged 2. His diabetic nurse advised us to apply for dla and his consultant completed a section of the form in support of this. Initially, he was awarded higher rate care but this reduced to middle rate care when he turned 10 and was starting to do his own injections.

At our clinic, the same consultant treats the children with epilepsy and encourages their parents to apply as they do need extra care.

I personally would put in a claim and don't forget to also claim for Carers Allowance if you or anyone else who cares for your daughter qualifies.

SuziQ

I personally would put in a claim and don't forget to also claim for Carers Allowance if you or anyone else who cares for your daughter qualifies.

She will only be able to claim Carer's allowance if her daughter is awarded DLA at middle of higher rate care, and depending on any income she already has.

anj_S

Well it's not going well so far. Initial claim was batted back inside 2 weeks with a no and so I asked for a reconsideration this came back about 7 weeks ago with another no. I then asked for an appeal and provided more information as my daughters epilepsy has definitely got worse. Basically she is now having up to 10 partial seizures most nights which even changing and increasing her meds hasn't helped with. I have sent them a letter showing that she Has been awarded an epilepsy Bed alarm and also I sent them a copy of a weeks worth of a diary which I have been keeping for her specialist. It literally showed that some sort of seizure activity happened every hour or so. Anything from her just jerking for a few seconds to her leaping up screaming. I also put in the diary how tired and exhausted she is I. The day (the seizures affect her deep sleep) and how on 2 days that week she fell asleep in class.

Last night was one of the worst she has ever had and I think I got about an hours sleep in total. So I rang the DLA today to see where they were up to and they told my claim had been looked at again and they were not changing the decision so they will send papers to a tribunal which apparently can take a year.

I'm so so gutted as I thought due to how bad things have got now they couldn't fail to see how much care she needs at night.

nannytone_2

tour problem is that it doesnt matter how bad things have got SUNCE the claim, as they will only reach a decision based on how things were at the time.

if you have evidence that things have gotton noticably worse since ... it may be worth with drawing your appeal and reclaiming.

if you win the appeal, the claim will be backdated, but if you lose, you get nothing and will need to reapply anyway.

it all depends on how strong your evidence is for the initial claim ( forget any evidence you have after this time.

ineed

Did you send anything from the doctor? Like prescription list copy, assessments etc? Seems strange to be turned down if she's that severe but as nannytone suggested you might want to make a new claim with all relevant information.

anj_S

Hi thanks so much for that advice. I rang them again today to see if anyone could explain the reason for the decision for the refusal to me. Well the guy i spoke to today gave me completely different info. So totally confused!

Yesterday the woman told me that my documents have gone to repro (apparently thats for copying) and that they only do this when the decision has not been changed on appeal and then it goes straight to the tribunal.

Today the guy said they are copying it so they can have a look at it again and its not yet been decided if it will go to tribunal

I also asked the guy about it all being based on how things were at the time of my original application and not on how much worse my daughters epilepsy has got, (which i told them about in my appeal letter, sent copy of new prescription, letter about bed monitor being awarded and the diary) and he said no these would be looked at so i shouldnt make a new application at present. He did offer to get a decision maker to call me back in the next few days so i have asked for this.

Dont know which one of them to believe now.

Any opinions most greatfully received.

Thanks

On the upside i got a few hours sleep last night, only 6 seizures!

Spamfree_2

What would the DLA money be spent on to make you or your daughter's life easier?

Would it buy you a carer so you can sleep more at night?

anj_S

Spamfree wrote: »

What would the DLA money be spent on to make you or your daughter's life easier?

Would it buy you a carer so you can sleep more at night?[/

i would get a home morning babysitter so instead of me having to spend an hour trying to get my daughter up starting at 6.30am so i can drop her at my mums before i head to work she could stay asleep til almost 8am then the babysitter could drive her to school. This would also mean i could probably sleep an extra hour in the morning as i go quite away out of my route to work to drop her currently


Additionally if i got da my tax credits would increase quite a bit which maybe would mean i could drop a day a week at work or something. Which would make trying to hospital appts so mch easier. - i currently use my annual leave everytime i need to take her to the childrens hospital