How to nag/nudge complain against the DLA?

poggs

My father in law has had mobility benefit for 5 years. For some inexplicable reason a new locum doctor made a complete mess of his renewal or reassessment form and he lost his DLA.

So we did the appeal and that has been successful with full DLA returned.

However. That appeal was nine weeks ago and still no trace of the benefit returning.

He has phoned the benefits agency numerous times and they initially told him that his file had gone to archive and they were requesting it.

Form yesterdays phone call the lady told him that there are 9 (nine) archive requests for the file on his record but no trace of the file. She guessed that every time he phoned, the operator just put another request for the file from archive in but did nothing else. She thought it was probably lost but there was nothing to be done until the file turned up!

My FIL has now lost his motability car owning to the initial loss of the DLA. His rent etc has gone up and he is struggling a little having to rely on taxis to get to ADSA for shopping and the like.

How do I go about getting his benefit returned? Is there a complaints procedure for this sort of farce?

thanks

rogerblack

Does he have the official decision letter from the tribunal?
Request a callback from a decision maker.
Do not simply talk to the front line staff, they are not in a position to make decisions.

The tribunal result has happened, and they cannot simply ignore this.
Ask that if they cannot find the file, they contact the tribunal service to confirm the award, and pay.
Also, if extra costs have occurred due to this delay, ask for compensation for maladministration.

poggs

Thanks for the reply. The final tribunal hearing was nine weeks ago Monday and the letter confirming their decision came about four days later.

Thanks for the tip regarding the decision maker. I will follow that instruction on Monday.

poggs

UPDATE:

Called again today. They have accepted that the file is lost and have agreed to start a new file. This new file will take another six weeks to process the claim and issue the award letter and back pay.

So, DLA lost due to an incompetent faulty doctor in Feb. DLA payments not returned until November.

You couldn't make it up!

Poppie68

poggs wrote: »

UPDATE:

So, DLA lost due to an incompetent faulty doctor in Feb. DLA payments not returned until November.


In all fairness, a locum dcotor may not know all the details. They can only go on what is written on the screen.
Most gps' don't know the full extent of some of their patients care needs and mobility problems as some patients don't discuss this with them.
Some patients forewarn the gp that they will be recieving a form from DLA and could they please be informed so they can go in and they can complete it together.

If it was the patients own gp that they have seen on a regular basis over a length of time they would have more idea than a locum. I don't think its fair to push all the blame onto the locum.

rogerblack

The way the report is supposed to work is that any GP in the practice can complete it on the basis of your notes.
Needless to say, this can be somewhat less than ideal, compared to a doctor that actually knows you.

poggs

rogerblack wrote: »

The way the report is supposed to work is that any GP in the practice can complete it on the basis of your notes.
Needless to say, this can be somewhat less than ideal, compared to a doctor that actually knows you.

Yep. What happened was that the locum doctor claimed to have never seen a DLA form before and only filled in pages 1,3,5,7,9 etc and failed to notice that the form had a front and back. Thus missing almost all of the questions relating to my FIL's heath.

But, the system worked in so much as we appealed, the panel were appalled and returned the benefit. Its the subsequent 15 week delay at the benefit agency that's the real issue to me.

benefitbaby

If you have not already done so you need to make a formal complaint in writing (enclosing a copy of the tribunal decision notice) and say what you are not happy about and ask for consideration of a special payment due to the maladministration of the claim and unecessary delays. If the dela has caused financial hardship you should detail this too.