I won DLA at tribunal for my child - AMA

[Iwon]

Hi all.
I have after more than 2 years of waiting secured higher rate mobility under the SMI rules for my child at DLA tribunal.
I couldn't find much about tribunal itself when i was waiting, so if you are interested AMA.

Thank you, I just worry about the school because when they did a letter for another department they wrote he doesn't experience headbanging all the time, but he does, so it's contradicting. I'm worried the school are too positive because they know how much progress means to me but deep down I can see that he isn't progressing at all
Schools speaks highly of pupils so they don't seen incapable of taking care of children, I don't know what to do x

Well done OP! No questions but just wanted to say how glad I am for you and your child. My initial claim was rejected as the DWP were saying my son had no extra needs...I prepared a fuck tonne of evidence ready for tribunal and was waiting for a court date. Got a call saying they'd reassessed and he was being awarded LRM and High rate for care needs so no need for court. How they could have originally said 'no needs' then jumped to that is beyond me, but thank goodness they did. I'm dreading putting in the claim for my daughter who has similar needs, as I know what a slog it will likely be, and it just shouldn't be like this. Why should we have to battle for what our children are entitled to and what their carers need in order to help them? Bloody ridiculous and cruel 😡 But anyway I digress... Congratulations!

If I had my time again I would not provide school details. You don't have to.
The DWP took what school said and used it as reason to say no.
I had private assessments & reports done for my MR which at tribunal the judge accepted no probs.

Thanks.
Yes it is a huge slog isn't it. Glad yours was accepted at MR!
Good luck for your daughters claim!

Yes it's the school that does damage! My son only goes there for two hours. Sometimes only an hour.
So what happens if I don't provide school details? How do I explain or make it look like I'm not hiding anything ?
I have an NHS ot who is very supportive and sees my son for exactly the help he needs.
I think she will help me

Who did you use for your private reports? If you could message me privately I'd love all the help x

Also the school reports are all I really have
They show the 1:1 need for the social and intelligence impairment

What would I use instead?
I'm hoping for a letter from NHS support, which should detail enough
I have a nanny too who wrote a letter about his needs and they put their number on the statement

The school applied for the ehcp and they may want details from them, I was going to send the ehcp costing to show them the needs he has but it's written by school , but I don't trust their positive spin on things

You can send school reports - bit to k the do not contact box.
They sound helpful if they state 1:1, ehcp and reduced timetable.
I contacted my local ed psych, and private OT and they assessed my child.
If you have local Sen FB group ask on there for recommendations.
Good luck

Thank you
I may provide a statement as to why I don't want the school contacted because the manager breaches data protection and I don't want them aware if my personal claims for their weekly gossip discussions

I have a meeting plan record and it states his needs and how they help him but also states he 'seems' to be understanding makaton he doesn't in my opinion and we try to sign a lot.
They also write he is trying to say numbers like 1 2 3 and says bye.
Do you think given he's trying to speak they will say no to smi?

My child can talk and make themselves understood.
Talking doesn't seem to come into smi criteria.
If your child has severe delays you can evidence this - by using makaton that is good evidence of his need 👍🏻

Thank you I just know how they can be dwp: 'makes vocal sounds' therefore has no disabilities.

Are you happy to share how your child met the criteria?
For the extreme test, my son self injures himself and at a young age knows no concenquence which is why I'm hopeful to achieve the high mobility aspect

This is the criteria.
I looked at each point and provided evidence - eg for severe impairment of social functioning I provided an OT report saying they could not play appropriately with peers, cannot bear loud sounds so cannot shop in a supermarket or eat out etc.
Message me if you need more help.

The FB group is good too - DLA for children: advice and support.

And sorry it's a bit blurry...the original given by DWP is 🙄

Reading all of these and just want to say I'm so sorry for all of the shit you've had to wade through (or currently wading through) for your precious children. Best of luck everyone. X

Thanks @SphincterSaysWhat

Hi

I am currently waiting for my sons tribunal date. In DWPs response they stated that they do consider him to be entitled to LRM but will not implement it untill the tribunal decides whether he will be entitled to care element, does anyone know why this is x

@Iwon resurrecting this as we have been turned down HRM based on SMI even though we spelt it out to them, twice, how he met the criteria. When do you get the reasons for the decline. I only received the decline letter today and not the MR notice for the tribunal. Do they send reasons for decline with that or do you have to ask.

My son's consultant is going to write a letter explaining how he meets the criteria and I will ask her to use the flowchart and state hoe he meets each criteria. Any other advice. We sent a fuck tonne of evidence - EP reposts stating he is low functioning. Letters from school. Other reports. The first decline was because a report said 'DC likes to run and climb' and no mention of SMI. Yes he does like to run and climb, he also likes to run into traffic too, try to pull hot food down from the hob and eat snails and stones. If we weren't with him he'd be dead in 20 minutes.

They are fucking idiots.

Anyone know how we would find out what training and meducal qualifications the assessor has? I hear some people say you can complain to their governing body if they are not doing their job properly, but i'm not sure how that would work in this capacity.

Two years is a heck of a wait for a tribunal!

@Soukmyfalafel is your child diagnosed? If so may I ask is he autistic?
I'm in the same boat as you, they do keep declining this particular criteria so I don't understand why they offer it.
How old is your child x

Having a diagnosis of autism only meets the arrested or incomplete development of the brain component on the SMI flow chart
The spectrum is huge and most people with autism will not have severe mental impairment
For context my son gets HRM under SMI he has a diagnosis of autism and learning disabilities
He's 14 completely non verbal, can only communicate in a very basic way ,attends a special school for children with severe and profound learning disabilities heszworking at pre school levels
His behaviour is very challenging and he requires 1:1 support in school
He will never live independently and will always need a high level of support.

@x2boys yes that award is deserving due to age x I think its being applied for more from age 3 especially families who feel they meet the criteria and can show evidence of it x

It's not impossible ,but it's very difficult at 3 because of the young age anyway but also children can make massive leap, s in development at that age ,the older a child gets the more tha gap can widen
And the disability becomes more apparent.

My son is 5, but he is non verbal and is due to go to SS in September. He has a diagnosis of severe global developmental delay, ASD and is hyperactive. Needs restraint veey frquently at home, school when out. He is sometime violent, but it is his inability to understand danger that is more of the issue. He needs us with him all of the time when out, at school and we need to be in the same room as him at home and be close. He can't be left alone. He is functioning probably at a 18 month old level. An EP report says low functioning, bottom 1%. They didn't read that though! They just read a nursery report on first EHCP, and because he takes us to an object and seeks affection his social functioning is not severely impaired (even though if he ran off he would run off with potential murderers or hit out at them and wouldn't be able to tell anyone his name or where he lived) 🙄 Because he sits down at a table to eat when he sees food he doesn't have impaired intelligence. They literally looked for a really shit reason not to award it., either that, or the have no idea about what they are doing.

I am asking via an FOI for the qualifications of the decision makers and what training they have and their professional PINs if they have one, as we directed them to evidence and they have clearly ignored it. It states in the letter what they read and they did not read what we directed them to.

I'm looking forward to the tribunal now as I can highlight all of this.

That's what pissed me off about this. My son is now in school and we supplied additional info from the school, EP and consultant and they read what the nursery wrote over 18 months ago in our EHCP, who are not qualified health professionals or educational psychologists. I despair. Who are these people?!

Tbh if you have that much info take itct8 tribunal ,the People who read your form ate just following guidelines ,not all tribunsls take two years I think mine took a,few months ,I wouldn't bother pursing complaints against the decision makers it would take to much time and effort
I know its a PITA but you will get it all paid back.

Thanks x2boys. You are always very helpful with this stuff. I think it is worth trying. We have paediatric consultant behind us who is more qualified than a nursey manager (no disrespect there as it is a hard job, but they are trained in normal development and consultants are more aware of what isn't normal). They basically looked to find anything they thought could give them an excuse to say no (the oldest evidence in the bundle where the gap in development is less apparent) rather than the mounds of expert evidence to say yes.

I have a lot of arguement against them in terms of what they selected to use and what they ignored, and I think they are going to look pretty stupid if it goes as far as having the actual tribunal. It's just such a ball ache and frustrating that it has been done so badly. If they had a reasonable explanation i would understand and accept it. They are just hoping we are too busy and inexperienced to argue against it.

It's annoying to have yet another tribunal. Just had to go through this for a school placement. It really isn't on.