Apparently lost DLA appeal - help?

Pollycat

rogerblack wrote: »

The first thing you need is a 'written statement of reasons' on the decision.
This is more than the simple decision, it is a personalised document explaining how the decision was taken, what evidence was used, and the relevant law that applies.
You can (and should) request this by phone, in the first place, along with a request for copies of all documents used to make the decision.
You then have at least 6 weeks after the decision (assuming you have made the above request) to appeal it.

The statement of reasons will tell you the reasons that you need to concentrate on.

I'm not sure if DLA is the same but we applied for AA for my Mum and the claim was rejected.

I phoned up to rquest a 'statement of reasons' as per the letter and was told that the reasons were now included in the rejection letter.

They weren't 'statement of reasons' at all (IMHO), just sentences contradicting everything we'd said.

We decided to go ahead and appeal the decision based on what we'd already said and DWP's disagreement, rather than waiting for something that might never have been sent by DWP.

We did get a copy of the GP's report direct from the surgery and used the content of this to further reiterate entitlement to AA.

They reconsidered their decision and started paying AA.

Good luck on fighting this, Emma.

rogerblack

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/vol01.pdf

Does it fulfill the requirements to be a statement of reasons?
See 01131 in the above.

pmlindyloo

I am very concerned that you do not seem to have asked for some help with an outside agency for your appeal despite the many links and suggestions on who can help.

Please tell me that you are going to do this once you have all the documentation?

While I admire you for what you are doing/what you have done so far, CAB Welfare and Benefit Specialists etc are very used to dealing with these appeals and I would urge you to get some help.

The other thing I wanted to say was have you been back to the doctor about your mother?

I think it is totally unfair that you should be neglecting your own life and ambitions besides worrying about the financial side of things (are you still getting the CA?)

Your doctor should be able to help you/refer you to support groups. Also he should be addressing your mother's medical and alcohol problems. If things carry on the way they are you will be looking after your mother for many years to come.

You can not do this alone. Perhaps you have become used to your mother's problems and 'just get on with it'. You must not continue like this. Get some help pronto.

emma18x

Thank you for all of your replies.

rogerblack wrote: »

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/vol01.pdf

Does it fulfill the requirements to be a statement of reasons?
See 01131 in the above.

Yes it does seem to meet all of those requirements. Also thank you for your previous post of advice. I shall get a letter sent as soon as I can.

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I am very concerned that you do not seem to have asked for some help with an outside agency for your appeal despite the many links and suggestions on who can help.

Please tell me that you are going to do this once you have all the documentation?

While I admire you for what you are doing/what you have done so far, CAB Welfare and Benefit Specialists etc are very used to dealing with these appeals and I would urge you to get some help.

The other thing I wanted to say was have you been back to the doctor about your mother?

I think it is totally unfair that you should be neglecting your own life and ambitions besides worrying about the financial side of things (are you still getting the CA?)

Your doctor should be able to help you/refer you to support groups. Also he should be addressing your mother's medical and alcohol problems. If things carry on the way they are you will be looking after your mother for many years to come.

You can not do this alone. Perhaps you have become used to your mother's problems and 'just get on with it'. You must not continue like this. Get some help pronto.

Yes I will seek help from CAB once I have gathered all of the documentation and no I am no longer in receipt of CA and haven't been for the past 4 or so months.

We haven't been back to the doctor yet but I am thinking about making her an appointment as the swelling in her ankles has become worse recently. Although when she has been to see him in the past, he's had a tendency to 'fob her off' especially concerning the alcoholism.

You are right when you say that I could be in the position of having to care for her for many years and that worries me. I don't know how much longer I will have the emotional and physical energy to continue to care for her the way I am currently. I was hoping to move in with my partner over the next couple of months but all of this is likely to put a stop to that (as it does everything else). There are times when I feel like just giving up on the claim all together. However, the reasons that they give for making their decision are untrue and ridiculous, and this is what keeps me motivated.

Thankfully I have my partner who supports me and helps me wherever possible so I am not totally on my own.

pmlindyloo

emma18x wrote: »

Thank you for all of your replies.



Yes it does seem to meet all of those requirements. Also thank you for your previous post of advice. I shall get a letter sent as soon as I can.



Yes I will seek help from CAB once I have gathered all of the documentation and no I am no longer in receipt of CA and haven't been for the past 4 or so months.

We haven't been back to the doctor yet but I am thinking about making her an appointment as the swelling in her ankles has become worse recently. Although when she has been to see him in the past, he's had a tendency to 'fob her off' especially concerning the alcoholism.

You are right when you say that I could be in the position of having to care for her for many years and that worries me. I don't know how much longer I will have the emotional and physical energy to continue to care for her the way I am currently. I was hoping to move in with my partner over the next couple of months but all of this is likely to put a stop to that (as it does everything else). There are times when I feel like just giving up on the claim all together. However, the reasons that they give for making their decision are untrue and ridiculous, and this is what keeps me motivated.

Thankfully I have my partner who supports me and helps me wherever possible so I am not totally on my own.

I would query the fact that your CA has been stopped.

I cannot find a link but I thought if the DLA claim was still going through appeal then it was still 'alive' and you would be entitled to CA.

How was it stopped? Did you receive a letter about it or did you inform them?

As regards the doctor, you need to be 'forceful' - you seem very sensible and I am glad that you have a partner for support - but you must explain to the doctor that you are not coping and are feeling very depressed etc (even if you aren't!) to get the help you deserve.

Can anyone help about the CA?

shegirl

emma18x wrote: »

No she's not currently receiving treatment for alcoholism. She has received some counselling in the past, but that had little affect.

Regarding the having fits if she doesn't have a drink in the morning,what medication is she on?I ask as my sister is an alcoholic and became epileptic a couple of years ago.I done some research after hearing that and discovered that with many medications for epilepsy,if you drink alcohol it can increase seizures and often it's a case of the fits occurring upon the alcohol leaving the body- can't remember why the reaction is that way though.

emma18x

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I would query the fact that your CA has been stopped.

I cannot find a link but I thought if the DLA claim was still going through appeal then it was still 'alive' and you would be entitled to CA.

How was it stopped? Did you receive a letter about it or did you inform them?

As regards the doctor, you need to be 'forceful' - you seem very sensible and I am glad that you have a partner for support - but you must explain to the doctor that you are not coping and are feeling very depressed etc (even if you aren't!) to get the help you deserve.

Can anyone help about the CA?

I received a letter about CA not long after my mother was notified about the DLA being stopped. I have never really questioned the CA decision as I presumed that it would be stopped anyway as soon as we heard about DLA. I will have to look into that though as it does make sense to query it if we're appealing the DLA decision.

I definitely will take your advice regarding the doctor as I have been depressed for quite some time now.

Thank you for your supportive posts and advice

shegirl wrote: »

Regarding the having fits if she doesn't have a drink in the morning,what medication is she on?I ask as my sister is an alcoholic and became epileptic a couple of years ago.I done some research after hearing that and discovered that with many medications for epilepsy,if you drink alcohol it can increase seizures and often it's a case of the fits occurring upon the alcohol leaving the body- can't remember why the reaction is that way though.

My mother has been epileptic since she was 13 I believe. I remember when I was a child, way before she turned to alcohol, she fitted regularly then too. However, since becoming alcohol dependant, I noticed that she fits (without fail) within 24 hours of not consuming any alcohol at all, so what you said about 'fits occurring upon alcohol leaving the body' definitely makes sense.

She takes Tegretol and I believe she was prescribed this years ago when she was first diagnosed with epilepsy.

pmlindyloo

More on the CA decision.

My apologies. After some further reading I have discovered that if DLA is stopped and then you appeal the DLA does not continue to be paid. So therefore, no DLA - no CA.

DLA continues to be paid (and therefore CA) if you are appealing about an award, eg. awarded low mobility and you think it should high mobility.

My apologies again. The good news is that if you are granted the appeal the DLA and CA will be backdated.

emma18x

Hi All, Just wanted to update the thread as we've now received the medical report from the atos doctor who visited.

Turns out, the majority of the form hasn't even been filled in and a lot of what he's said is incorrect, such as 'she has never attempted self harm' despite her telling him different on the day of the visit.
He has also made out that my mothers fits are purely down to alcoholism which is not true at all. To add to this he has not even filled out the 'epilepsy questionaire' part of the form which asks questions such as a description of seizures and how frequent they occur etc.

Other sections of the form such as 'account of a typical day', upper and lower limb function, mobility, mental health and learning dissabilities have been left completely blank.

In the section of 'prognosis of functional effects' the doctor has stated that the examination had been terminated due to my mother being under the influence of alcohol and that although he had offered to return, "mother drinks throughout the 24 hours and if alcohol suddenly ceases, she will have a seizure through alcohol withdrawl". He has finished this with the words "your advice please".

To me, there is no where near enough information on the form to make a decision and it shocks me that they have based their decision on this report.

Anyway, I think it's time now to get in some professional help, so I'll seek that tomorrow.

Muttleythefrog

emma have you got an appeal in.... I'm conscious that many weeks has passed since the apparent DWP reconsideration failed. It does sound like the report they've relied on to reject her for DLA is going to be vulnerable to challenge at appeal. Assuming you have appealed then obviously the DWP will be forwarding paperwork to tribunals service who will be in touch. You can add evidence, such as comment to the medical report, by sending that to the tribunals service to add to the papers.

As general point.. for DLA there does seem to be an approach of burden of proof is on claimant and they'll use whatever minimum evidence they can to reject claim. So a dodgy medical report or GP completed form will more than suffice for their purposes.