DLA MR for night care

[Velaris92]

Hi all,

my daughter has just been awarded MRC and LM but she needs supervision day and night. I did state on the forms she wakes up in the night for around an hour and will scream, jump on the bed and wander around if I don’t stay with her until she’s asleep again. Is it worth doing a MR? I sent off quite a bit of evidence but I have none for nighttime care. She never seems tired at school if she’s had a bad night because she gets more hyperactive when she’s tired. Thank you

No. One hour a night isn't enough.

I think the words they want are frequent or prolonged night time care. So, frequent not occasional and at least 20 mins each time. Even then, they may not award you. They seem to focus on hygiene care rather than supervising.

If your child needs any extra help and supervision at night please tick yes at the top of the page under
question 70 of your DLA claim pack. Only tick no if you have read the boxes and examples on the form
and have looked at the table below and decided they don’t have such problems.
This is the only place to record night-time needs, and that can make the difference between getting
DLA Care at the middle or higher rate. The rule of thumb is that the night-time care needs to be of at
least 20 minutes duration or be needed at least twice a night (preferably 3 times).
Use information from your ‘daytime’ answers that applies equally to night-time. Don’t assume that
because you’ve answered about toileting, going to sleep, fits, medication etc in the earlier questions,
you don’t need to mention it again!
Explain if the child needs more supervision at night than during the day. If the child only needs
attention at night, you get DLA Care Middle rate.
During the night – When everyone in the house is in bed e.g. once the carer has gone to bed.

From https://cerebra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DLA-guide-2023.pdf

So Its not an hour! It can be once for 20 mins or at least twice for how ever many.

I have just done a renewal for my 12 year old, he cant be on his own at all at night time.
I have to wake him up to use the toliet after 11 every night to stop him wetting the bed.
Then I have to re settle him which takes ages!
Then he wakes up if his comforters move even slightly so awake settling him again.
Then he normally wakes up another 2 times a night.

If he is in his own bed he wakes up (after settling) every 30 mins if we are lucky!
He will wonder round the house screaming and hurting my other children so have no choice.

He has melatonin which I have to crush for him to be able to take at night otherwise he wont sleep untill the early hours.
He is up for the day at 6am.

We got meduim rate, I will be appealing.

I did say it’s every single night (maybe one night every few weeks she will sleep through) I don’t know if it’s lack of evidence. I have brought it up with the doctor before but they didn’t seem bothered

You need to be explicit about what happens, why you need to be up with her, what would happen if you don't get up, what steps you have to take to settle her, and how long you have to stay awake for after she's settled to make sure she's actually asleep.

The other thing to consider is what is your daytime evidence? Does she have 1:1 at school, for instance? To qualify for high rate care the criteria has two parts. There is also the day time criterion which is frequent care throughout the day in connection to bodily functions, or constant supervision to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others. So if she satisfied the night criterion but not the day criterion, it would still only result in a MRC award.

I sent of a lot of day time evidence, the senco wrote a long letter explaining that she needs 1-1 supervision at all times for her own and others safety along with all the paperwork they have for her at school

Im going to do a 2 week chart on nights, also have paediatrician in a couple of weeks so going to talk to them which I was going to do anyway.

My child is the same, he goes to a specialist school and still has a 1 to 1 with him.
I had his EHCP,paediatrician letters ,a two year provision timetable,costing map,OT.

I know people that send little evidence and get HRC, imo it depends who's table the forms end at.

Mid rate care is for frequent help &/or constant supervision during the day, prolonged &/or repeated help during the night, prolonged or frequent supervision at night, or someone to help when on dialysis. High rate care is for help or supervision both day and night - you have to satisfy one of the day criteria and one of the night criteria (or claims under the special rules).

For night needs that means you either need to show DD requires prolonged (typically considered 20mins+) or repeated (typically means 2+) support with bodily functions during the night or someone needs to be awake for a prolonged period or at frequent intervals (typically considered more than twice) to watch over her to prevent substantial danger to DD/others. And remember it is compared to typical DC the same age.

Nighttime is typically considered from when the house shuts down for the night. This is normally considered to be from 11pm-7am, but can be different in some circumstances.