DLA appeal advice please

Cat72

Hi
I appleied for dla in march and after them dragging everything on for a while they turned me down about two weeks ago. I took some advice and out in an appeal. I was told thet when I put in a request for an appeal I would get a form sent which i would fill in and get an appeal date. HOWEVER I got a reply from the DLA saying that " thanks for the appeal request they would review the information they have and contact me within 11 weeks " .
Help I thought i was to get an appeal hearing and instead this implies they are going to drag things out again and then what ? What is usual in these caes , can anyone shed some light on how appeals usuallly work. OH !! I am sooooo fed up ! I am worried I will be losing money from my original claim date plus cant afford for them to keep dragging things on .Are they trying to make me lose claiming more money ??

Ted_Hutchinson

If you think our decision is wrong (GL24) (308KB)
Is the form for requesting an appeal.
It is standard practice for the DBU to look at a decision again before preparing appeal papers.
You need to be certain that they have not misinterpreted your request simply as a claimant's request for a reconsideration otherwise they will be repeating the process of appearing to look at the award again before preparing the appeal papers. It happens sometimes that they can waste up to five months looking at the award again for the customer than then repeat the process for another 3 months before preparing the appeal papers.

However you won't lose any money as if and when you win your appeal your benefits will be reinstated and backdated to the date of the original award.

It would however be worth ensuring there has been no misunderstanding and that they are proceeding to appeal as soon as possible. It would be worth ensuring you have a copy of the medical evidence on which the decision was based and a written statement of reasons for the decision. So when you write to then to clarify the position you could also request this information to enable you to properly address the reasons why their current decision is wrong in your appeal submission.

Cat72

Hi, thanks ted again ! I have filled in the GL form and as you said am concerned that they are not proceeding to appeal and just hoovering. I think I will phonethem as I have nothing to lose anyway and dont trust them in the slightest. The whole thing is a total farce ! and luckily im having a good week to chase them up.

Ted_Hutchinson

Cat72 wrote:

Hi, thanks ted again ! I have filled in the GL form and as you said am concerned that they are not proceeding to appeal and just hoovering. I think I will phonethem as I have nothing to lose anyway and dont trust them in the slightest. The whole thing is a total farce ! and luckily im having a good week to chase them up.

A letter would be better as you can retain a copy.
They may not be just "hovering" as it is standard practice to reconsider before preparing appeal papers. The doubt arises if they reconsider at your instigation. If they interpreted your reply as a reconsideration request then if the reconsideration is refused (as is likely) and then you appeal they repeat the reconsideration.
If you return the form detailing your grounds for appeal and making it clear you wish to present your case directly to an independent panel this will make it clear you are not asking for a reconsideration.

aliasojo

Try not to worry too much. My son (who has been in receipt of DLA for some time now) had his DLA amount changed at his last renewal. The payment dropped by a substantial amount and we appealed immediately.

Like you , we got a similar letter but it was beneficial for us as they reassessed their decision without it having to go all the way to appeal and his higher rate was reinstated.

I'm told that many cases/renewals are reassessed in this way and they prefer to try to sort things out before appeal stage if at all possible.

Good luck, I hope you get the news you're after.