Anybody here familiar with DLA who could help?

[bluesign]

My DS is due to turn 5 end of April. He doesn't receive any mobility component at the moment, I rang them today to change our address and the man on the phone said forms would be sent out.

A few questions which I forgot to ask which I'm hoping somebody with experience knows here -

1. How long before his birthday will we receive the forms?

1. Is it likely he could be rejected for a mobility component? He is autistic, has no sense of danger and is a runner.

1. Is there a wait before a decision is made? We waited 16 weeks for his initial decision for the care component and his claim is due to end this October anyway, so what happens?

Hoping somebody here can help!

I worked helping people with DLA and PIP claims until fairly ecently. But not atm so I can't help with time frames.

Just regarding the mobility component, it can be difficult to get for very young children because their abilities are compared to a non disabled child of the same age, and all small children need assistance in a lot what is considered for the mobility element. So when you fill in the form think about how his needs are greater than another 5 year old.

But if your DS doesn't qualify for it now, he may well in the future as other children his age become more independent, so it's important to remember that being turned down now could be a short term decision, and it would still be worth reapplying when he's a bit older.

The thing is they look at the whole award when assessing for mobility component when a child because eligible t to apply so it can change the care award

*becomes eligible

Our DSs are both autistic and qualified for lower rate mobility once they became eligible. Similar issues to you. Also niw have a blue badge.

So there is a risk of losing the whole award?

Thanks. Did you have to send evidence when applying for mobility?

I would imagine that your ds wouldn't qualify for high rate mobility but would qualify for low rate when he is 5.

He will probably only be eligible for low rate mobility, due to his age. It's incredibly hard to get HRM for children with autism. And if you do, they're usually a lot older and you still have to fight for it at tribunals.

My son is 10 and has severe autism, non verbal, attends a special school. Have evidence of all of this, plus chaperone to school letters saying he needs restraining on the way majority of the time, uses a McLaren stroller from the mobility service, yet I'm still having to go through tribunal as they said because he has a visual time table at school, he's not meeting the SMI criteria (although he meets it, they're being difficult)

Once your son gets his mobility, apply for a blue badge as it will make your life a lot easier.

Also once you apply for mobility they look at the whole claim again and can change your care rate.

Sorry so many questions!

Is applying for mobility considered a change of circumstance? I've heard they take ages so just wondering what happens with his renewal come October.

Are the forms as long as the initial new claim ones?

Is there a chance they could adjust the award length?

There is a risk of it. When DD turned 5 I applied for mobility for her, she was on middle rate care. They awarded lower rate mobility but reduced us to lower rate care apparently on the basis that the "bolting" was documented to have reduced somewhat which it had (from "every time you let go of her" to "a few times a week"). I asked them to review on the basis that it had reduced but not stopped and it meant she needed the same amount of watching as before since the bolting was unpredictable - if she had predictably bolted every Tuesday at 4pm she'd only need extra supervision then, but it was completely unpredictable and so she had to have the extra supervision regardless. The middle rate care was reinstated without the need for a full appeal. The reason for reduction seemed a bit bonkers so I do wonder whether there's a policy of trying to reduce care rate when mobility is applied for, or whether we just had a bit of a bonkers reviewer.

Yes, it's a change of circumstance. You could just wait for the renewal in October and do it then.

When we did it, it was essentially the same form which was a pain in the tits.

BUT once we finally got it sorted out it was awarded for a far longer period than the previous award had been, so it all worked out well in the end. So if you apply now they shouldn't just adjust it til October, it will be a further period of award. Assuming that nothing has changed since 2021, which it might have done.

Maybe I should just wait until October then?

I fear you'd just find the same thing happened in October - I'm out of date as our last one was a few years ago and thank goodness our award doesn't turn into a pumpkin until 2026. It's probably worth asking on this thread where there are others dealing with the same https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/childcare/4981079-dla-wait-times-part-26

My son has non Verbal autism, brain age if 1 despite being 5. We sent the whole dla form off again as tbats what I was told to do. It took 26 weeks to hear as classed as a change and they prioritise new claims. My son qualifies for HRC and LRM (despite also having a hip disease that on times leaves him unable to bare any weight). Unsurprisingly I am appealing that decision. It is very hard to be awarded high rate mobility based on autism alone.

I got the forms six months before the birthday. Took about 3-6 months the for the award.

Ds got both higher rates from 5. He was at a SEN nursery

My autistic DD who is 5 is also a runner with no sense of danger etc and got lower rate mobility, meltdowns in public can’t be bothered to fight it

I'm thinking I should have changed our address sooner then maybe I would have had the forms quicker.

I'm lost on what to do really, I didn't realise it would take that long for a decision and it's up in October anyway so I'm assuming we will receive forms in a few months for that. I really would rather avoid doing 2 lots of forms 😫

We got MRC/LRM at that age. Ds hadn't yet had diagnosis of autism (that came later), but had no sense of danger- road danger & also stranger danger (he would talk to anybody & potentially go off with them and stroke any dogs he saw even if they were aggressive).

The post suggested will help with wait times for DLA. I'm surprised you haven't has your renewal forms for October yet. My PIP runs out in March 24. The renewal forms arrived and had to be returned in March 23, still no sign of an assessment or decision.

If there's been no major changes you should be OK. My sons renewed in the summer. They were really quite sensible about it (!) And automatically added LRM when he turned 5 about 6 months later (i updated them just before the decision came through that hedbeen issued a blue badge, not sure if this affected things). He also increased from MRC to HRC which I wasn't expecting buy I assume is because he never sleeps

I'm panicking now. Should I have received them already?

Our renewal forms have never arrived that far in advance. Though we fill out the online form rather than paper as you can copy and paste from previous application, then alter as necessary.

As far as evidence of mobility need, we mainly at that age had EHCP evidence which we sent.

Didn't realise there was an online form, are you in England?

i sent a CoC off in March last year and it was decided in October - this was only a month before his renewal was due and the decision overrode his old dates, so his new allowance began from the date the CoC decision was made and didn’t need to be renewed again. That said,‘I still had to complete the renewal during the wait. So all that work was for nothing as it didn’t get looked at.