DLA I know someone lying on form - advise pliz

[Deleted User]

tibawo wrote: »

I am not sure what to do. I was asked today to fill in the support I give to a child at school. I answered truthfully but noted that the mother had blatantly lied about other things in order to get the higher rate.

E.g not being able to walk more than 200m yet the girl will go up and down stairs and takes a full active part in pe.
Saying she can't dress herself etc.

Do I ignore it?

What would you do?

me?i`d mind my own business tbh,you cannot be aware of all the facts in full,nothing in life(or dla)is ever quite so black and white
my advice close your net curtains :eek::eek:

kazzah60

I am astounded at the OP's lack of integrity

the section she filled in clearly states;


"you do not need to look at their answers on this form"

so quite why she felt this did NOT apply to her is beyond me

I am NOT condoning benefit fraud - however some children need MORE help than is available to them at school and in my experience of working within a support group setting, a lot of school staff are under pressure from management to write the bare minimum of help the child receives in case the parents "use" the information against the school for not providing the required help.

this is precisely why when advising families on getting this section completed by someone, I always tell them to get this done BEFORE completing the form - so that the information on the form ( which may be more sensitive than expected) remains confidential

I have heard of cases where "auxiliary" staff have read forms and then the next thing the parent is aware of is that their child and it's difficulties are being discussed in inappropriate places ( such as playground etc)

I am sure if the person concerned has overexagerated the childs needs then it will be picked up by the decision maker - the OP has no business reading the rest of the form, let alone discussing it on a forum.

Own_My_Own

princessdon wrote: »

In all honesty (benefits or not benefit related) it is often a school v home enviroment.

We see things like.

X cannot dress themselves, please do it for them. - They most certainly can dress themselves just at 4/5 years old takes longer than mum/dad would like.

They won't eat X or Y - Erm yes they do!

They can't walk long distances so can't do the trip - Erm yes they walked over 1 mile from the Metro just fine, thank you very much.

Even without the issue of benefits, parents will often underestimate their childrens capabilities, add benefits to the mix and it's a whole other issue.

That is why we "give chance for consideration" after our opinion. I'm not suggesting all are fraudulent, some just have a severe case of parent blinkers and not allowing child to develop.

I have seen this only the other way. When my son was at school I always made sure I could help on school trips. In my group I also always had the daughter of one of my sisters friends. The mother always asked the school for her daughter to be in my group as I let her take part in all the activities, where as members of the school always said she couldn't do it.

Once we went to a small wildlife centre (Creepy crawly small), where we had to walk over a small log bridge. The teacher advised me to take my group around the long way. Did we ? No we did not. It took us longer than all the other groups but that young girl got across that bridge and the smile on her face was magical.

I know this is of no relevance to the thread, I just wanted to share it.:o

dori2o

kazzah60 wrote: »

I am astounded at the OP's lack of integrity

the section she filled in clearly states;


"you do not need to look at their answers on this form"

so quite why she felt this did NOT apply to her is beyond me

I am NOT condoning benefit fraud - however some children need MORE help than is available to them at school and in my experience of working within a support group setting, a lot of school staff are under pressure from management to write the bare minimum of help the child receives in case the parents "use" the information against the school for not providing the required help.

this is precisely why when advising families on getting this section completed by someone, I always tell them to get this done BEFORE completing the form - so that the information on the form ( which may be more sensitive than expected) remains confidential

I have heard of cases where "auxiliary" staff have read forms and then the next thing the parent is aware of is that their child and it's difficulties are being discussed in inappropriate places ( such as playground etc)

I am sure if the person concerned has overexagerated the childs needs then it will be picked up by the decision maker - the OP has no business reading the rest of the form, let alone discussing it on a forum.

Thats why when I was filling in my form, I printed out another copy of that page (a few actually) and gave them to the people I thought may be able to provide some evidence.

That way they did not see what was in my form (which included some quite private information- bank details for one) and I could attach the completed statement to the claim form.

I would recommend this to anyone asking an employer/colleague/friend/ school to provide a statement on the DLA form.

Confuseddot

Thats a bit harsh on the OP is it not. They came on here asking for some advice rather than chat about it in the staffroom I imagine its a very difficult situation.

It doesn't say DONT look at the answers does it ? So if you had seen an answer to yes/no question that you know for a fact is incorrect just ignore and hope the right outcome is given.

So you see someone stealing money but just ignore and hope that someone else does something...

SuziQ

I filled in full forms or part of forms many times when I was a health visitor, and would just put what I knew to be true on the part that was relevant to my knowledge of the child.

The part that they usually ask a professional to fill in is actually a separate sheet, and many people completing that would have no idea what is on the rest of the form. As others have said, if what you have written clashes with what the mum has written they will in any case see the discrepancy and will also be noting what the GP or specialist/ paediatrician has to say about the child.

Having said all that, when I complete my son's form, his SENCO would have no idea what problems I have with him at night etc and I wouldn't expect her to comment on what she knows nothing about.

On the other hand there are things she has highlighted as problems that you do have some knowledge about and all you can do is answer as honestly and accurately as you can.

I never reported anyone in this sort of situation, and I never actually knew of anyone on my caseload that managed to get more than they should have done- I do know of one case where a claim was thrown out completely, when in fact in my opinion the child should have been entitled to low rate care/mobility. The parents had over-egged the pudding and were too scared to apply again!

bestpud

I'd speak to my manager, or whoever you are asked to speak with about any concerns you may have about children/families.

Otherwise, just write what you know about the child and let the assessor unpick it.

I do think children (girls especially can be good at this) are capable of holding a lot in at school and conforming despite it causing them pain or upset.

It can really take it out of them though and they may well spend their time out of school catching up, so to speak.

It wouldn't explain the dressing so much but it could explain how she copes with short bursts of activity in school but can't easily walk 200m.

joanne79

princessdon wrote: »

That is not good advice. It's best to be honest, anything else is not accurate and may be deemed fraudulent.

There is nothing wrong with saying on a good day x on a bad day Y. Out of 28 days I'd say 20 are good and 8 are bad.

for example only, but you get my drift.

Yes I see what your saying ....well this is the advice my local citizens advice is giving out...or a least it was when Partner applied

mucklebones

Thought I would mention that depending on the reason they are applying for DLA some conditions that might require children to have a statement at school mainly thinking here of ASD could mean that the child has difficulty generalizing. They may be appear to possess some skills at school perhaps like dressing but can struggle in other environments like home, this can apply to all sorts of things. But without knowing why they are applying it would be difficult to decide whether it is a lie or if the disability has conditions which could fluctuate or be more complex.

sunnyone

joanne79 wrote: »

This is exactly how we where told to fill our form out by cab...base the whole form on your very worst days ...nothing about good days in there

The very worst advice, anyone can see why this is wrong, for example if you say you cant do something at all then get caught doing it you can end up on the wrong side of a judge, if you say you can do something some of the time then you cant be accused of lying.

dori2o wrote: »

Thats why when I was filling in my form, I printed out another copy of that page (a few actually) and gave them to the people I thought may be able to provide some evidence.

That way they did not see what was in my form (which included some quite private information- bank details for one) and I could attach the completed statement to the claim form.

I would recommend this to anyone asking an employer/colleague/friend/ school to provide a statement on the DLA form.

So you did a Q&A exercise to get the best supporting statement for your claim?

Thats unbeliveable, anyone can ask a random selection of the public to support a benefit claim, people who are entitled to benefits normally dont have to scrape around for supporting evidence to support their claims.