DLA panic!! please help

anj_S

Please help, here is a brief history

march 12 - i applied for dla for my 13 year old who has severe complicated epilepsy

It was refused in april and i asked for a reconsideration which was also refused.

In june 2012 i asked for an appeal and i noted when they sent the paperwork to me that the consultants report was very brief and had missed out lots of info

In august the cab advised me it would be worth putting in a new application as well as my daughter was worse. I did this, and ut was refused again at the end of september.

Bynow she was under a different specialist and her new epilepsy nurse wrote a letter giving info about her condition and also backing up info i had given in the original (march) application. I sent it in asking for a reconsideration of the latest application.

Within about 3 days i had a phone call from a decision maker who said clearly now they could see they had made a wrong decision and that they awarded hrc and lrm and it was being backdated to march. They also said that they would now withdraw my appeal.

Later in october i received notice of a tribunal date, so i rang the tribunal body and explained that the appeal had been cancelled, and they said ok they would cancel it there end.

Today i received a letter saying that my appeal had been heard (!!!!) and that it was refused, saying my daughter is not entitled to DLA from march 2012.

Please help.

merlin68

DLa is nothing to do with the illness, it is to do with care and mobility needs.
Also doctors can only put in what is on their notes, if it's not on the notes, they can't use the info this is what my gp told me.
With epilepsy what care needs have you got? my friends son gets high and high but he has severe epilepsy along with bipolar and a mental age of 3.

rogerblack

anj_S wrote: »

Please help, here is a brief history

march 12 - i applied for dla ...
refused in april and i asked for a reconsideration which was also refused.

In june 2012 i asked for an appeal ...
In august the cab advised me it would be worth putting in a new application as well as my daughter was worse. I did this, and ut was refused again at the end of september.

Within about 3 days i had a phone call from a decision maker who said clearly now they could see they had made a wrong decision and that they awarded hrc and lrm and it was being backdated to march. They also said that they would now withdraw my appeal.

Later in october i received notice of a tribunal date,...

Today i received a letter saying that my appeal had been heard (!!!!) and that it was refused, saying my daughter is not entitled to DLA from march 2012.

Please help.

Overlapping appeals always complicate things.

The later DLA application - 'They also said that they would now withdraw my appeal.' - this would _NOT_ usually automatically cancel the first appeal already running since your application in March.

This is a complex situation.
As I understand it 'worst case' - the tribunal have now determined that your daughter was fit as of March, and this decision will be in force till the next application was made.
I am unsure however, if the later decision to backdate the existing DLA claim will effectively extinguish this tribunal decision, and make it meaningless.

Secondly, there may be errors in tribunal procedure that have lead to an unfair hearing, and you can get this verdict setaside.

First thing to do is to write to the tribunal, request a written statement of reasons, and the record of proceedings, and an explanation of why the tribunal went ahead.

What letters prior to this have you had from the tribunals service?
You would normally have had a first letter saying 'we have had notice you're appealing, and how do you want this to occur, in person or on paper'.
Then a seperate copy of the DWPs case against you.
Then a third letter with an appointment for a tribunal, if you chose to see them in person.
Did you respond initially that you wanted the appeal to be heard on paper?
Are you sure you diddn't say on the phone something like 'I don't want to attend' - but made it very clear that the DWP had changed their decision?

anj_S

Hi

Thanks so much for your sensible advice roger. I did indeed get the paperwork from the tribunal service and then sent it back saying i would go in person (as at that time i hadnt heard about the new award). Then after the dla decision maker told me they would cancel the appeal (he definately said that) i didnt do anything else til i got a letter through with the date of the appeal.. I rang the tribunal people that same day and explained that i had now been awarded and it had been backdated and that this appeal should have been cancelled as it was no longer reqd.

Roger from what you say, and i hope to god it wont come to it, worst case scenario is that they would say i wasnt entitled to the backpay from march up until when i made second application. Is that right?

Though my current award letter just says from march 2012 to october 2013? (ie 18 month award)

Just worried this means i could lose everything. Since getting dla i have changed my hours at work for a 12 month period so that i am at home much more with my dd to help look after her. This has meant a significant drop in my income, so if the dla were cancelled we would be in dire straits.