DLA help: huge sum deposited in account

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We applied for DLA for my AuADHD son back in December. I wasn’t too sure if he’d get it as he’s quite independent, but I thought we might have a stab at the lowest rate as we do have to be more hands on with him than most people need to be for a pre teen his age. More supervision, but he’s medicated. I filled in the form honestly, based on our ‘worst day’ as advised, I didn’t even bother with additional evidence beyond his diagnosis reports as I didn’t want to bother the teachers for supplementary evidence.

This morning I’ve had over £2300 deposited into my account from DLA, no letter yet (I know the letter can be delayed).

I don’t understand this sum, it’s huge. I can’t even work out what rate it would be, they must be including mobility? It should be for approx 18 weeks, I’m surprised how quickly it’s even been done as I know it can take 25 weeks currently.

I am so scared I have done the form wrong, sorry I know absolutely no one here can tell me if it’s right or wrong and I need the letter, I suppose I’m just curious of other people’s experience?

I’m speechless at this ignorant poorly judged comment.

its called Disability Living Allowance for a reason - presumably you’d like your children to be entitled to it

Wtf is wrong with you? I did not start a thread to enable someone to spout ableist crap, shame on you.

Likely a troll.

Absolutely disgusting isn’t it? Why come on a thread like this when you haven’t got a fucking clue what you’re talking about.

Reported. Absolutely shockingly ignorant.

That’s the point. High care and supervision needs are considered normal for babies and young toddlers so most of us with autistic kids did not receive DLA at that point.

It is when your child’s care needs start to go over and beyond typical children the same age.

Sorry I didn’t realise that would go down badly. What I mean is, yes I am surprised somebody whose child doesn’t seem to have many extra needs compared to typical children is entitled to benefits, because the impression I got on here is that DLA and so on is very hard to get and needs lots of evidence. That’s all, but I’ll leave the thread now.

@Peony1897 I didn’t see your now deleted post, but it is about quality of evidence, not quantity. For some, diagnostic reports will be sufficient because they evidence needs/support required adequately. In order to be awarded DLA a child has to need care and supervision in excess of what is typically expected of peers the same age.

It doesn’t actually sound like this is what the OP did anyway, but while you should explain what a worst day looks like and how often that occurs, you shouldn’t make out every day is a worst day if that isn’t the case. If you need more space to write, you can use additional sheets.

You are dismissing the diagnosis report as not lots of evidence. When it is lots of robust evidence.

What other evidence do you feel is as robust or as ample as a multidisciplinary, multi page report. My sons diagnosis report runs to 30 odd pages and has contributions from a peadetrician, a clinical psychiatrists, a speech and language therapist, an occupational therapist and teacher observations. It also has two other clinician reports within it but I can't remember thier titles.

I cant work out what other definition of lots of evidence you are using than 7 professionals.

Seems about right if backdated

Peony1897 - the DLA application form is 40 pages long. Thats before you include additional information to the extensive questions and attach any supplemental evidence. My childs EHCP without the appendixes is 27 pages long, 55 pages all in. So her application would have been close to 100 pages.
How much more evidence would you like?

The system working appropriately for the Op in no way negates other people's experiences for applying (for something else!) - suggesting otherwise indicates a profound ignorance.

People should not have to be put through the emotional wringer for onlookers to feel like they are getting their money's worth.

I was just about to say the same

Yes, the SENCO at my son's school said to fill in the form thinking about DS's worst day. The fact is that you are dealing with those days.

I had the same with my daughter except it was over £3k - first thing I bought for her was the best possible headphones with noise cancelling etc they were over £500 but worth it - also some flares ear buds. She has issues with sound and gets overwhelmed really quickly so has been an absolute joy to be able to buy her when she needs to help cope

The Op, like many many parents, has probably completely normalised how much care her child needs. A bit more supervision is likely a lot more.

I hadn't realised just how much extra work e do for my youngest DD until her first full two days in respite.

Things that are day-to-day normal for the OP will be beyond the care given to the average child of their child's age.

I think people are taking the worst day meaning differently to me. To me, a worst day is an outlier day.

I cant find this guidance that everyone says that you must fill the whole form in as if it were their worst day.

The guidance I followed which was the cereba guide, citizens advice and the dwp themselves all said to think about worse and better days for fluctuating conditions and to write about this giving ideas of frequency/duration of worse and better moments. They suggest a 2 week diary to help with this. The dla form itself even gives an example with some wording for a condition that varies. I get that for some people worse days are more frequent than better days so worse is thier average and that would be the basis of the form.

But i dont think that thinking about worse days in a fluctuating condition is the same as only writing about the worst day.

Which I think is how I've ended up with a different conclusion on this to others.

I also think worse days thing is subjective. We have got things in sync in that everyday is set up to avoid the worse day situation. But this takes a lot of time, effort and thinking ahead.
This means avoiding triggers.

This means that worse day outcomes can be avoided but isn't without effort. It's also a fragile tower of playing cards that can crash at any minute.

We had a couple of weeks of what I would call calm but this wasn't easy and took effort and planning to achieve. Much more than would be expected with other children their age.
It also completely fell apart by a minor issue that led to worse day outcome. And because of this outcome we faced days of worse day where even our best approaches weren't effective.

I don't think families outside of this life have a clue. I'm sure they see a snapshot of our life and would question why we get DLA but they have no idea of how hard it is day to day for the whole family.
How hard it is waiting for the next worse day l, when even the good days are so hard

It’s backpay, they pay on Tuesdays. My letter took about a week to come. If you’re trying to work out the rates, remember the rates changed at the beginning of April and it should include the £10 Christmas bonus.

Yes, caring for a disabled young person is a dynamic situation and I would think that most people who apply for DLA, unless they are outright looking to defraud the DWP, do deserve it. Caring for a disabled young person often means that you can’t hold a full-time job because you may be called by school to pick-up because they are not coping, my child was distressed and overwhelmed when I tried to use breakfast and after-school clubs because the day was too long for him to cope. When they come home they are often over-stimulated and need space and calming strategies. The impact on household earnings income simply because of parents having to adapt their lives to meet their children’s needs probably justify the benefit payment amount in itself.

I came to say this too.

You are surprised at the band awarded your DC based on your entries on the form, but this is the water in which you swim -you don't see how it compares to the 'normal' which most people luckily take for granted.

Like you, I made an application thinking we might have a chance at a lower band following a discussion with a professional involved in DC's care. He was astonished we were not already claiming DLA for her as our costs were considerable and made more palpable through loss of earnings owing to caring responsibilities (we've both needed to change work to fit around DC's needs, with a significant drop in salaries as a result). When filling in the form, I felt I had to pre-empt a referral to social services by stating pretty much what ByBoldOP has said in their post (and we already have a very lovely social worker): our 'worst day' is what can happen when we don't keep meticulously on top of DC's protocol. This protocol is now the very fabric of our family life, to the exclusion of many of the things my friends whose children are not disabled are able to do but which are still lightyears away for us.

We were also awarded lower rate mobility which felt quite emotional: Preparation for Adulthood provision in DC's EHCP have felt unattainable on account of difficulties with access and travel, and it was nice to see some kind of acknowledgement of our challenges: like someone saying: "You really are not expected to accept as 'DC's lot' that their opportunities to access travel will be forever limited -here, see if this makes a difference." And it really has.

Edited to define 'travel' for anyone not versed in this vernacular: definitely not referring to 'travelling' as in 'going on holiday' -this is something we can only dream of- but instead accessing public transport and transport to off-site educational provision.

Well done you!

We get middle rate care and low rate mobility for our youngest who has ASD. Like many I thought we maybe had a shot at low rate care. I filled in the forms honestly (but tried to write clearly and not ramble on 😂). I provided his diagnosis report, Speech and Language Assessment and reports that his nursery had provided over the last few months and it came back as as MRC and LRM and o was shocked.

However, as it is our life I don’t think I take into consideration how much his ASD does affect us because it’s just normal to us.

Your child deserves it, use it to make their life a bit better

Only claim carers allowance if your not on UC or UC will take it Carrers element if you are on uc

Carers allowance also gives Class 1 National Insurance Credits, which contribute to your pension and other benefits. So you're better off claiming Carers Allowance and the carers element of UC and let them deduct the Carers Allowance amount from the UC award.