To send off dad's attendance allowance form

[Orangeblossom78]

With no medical evidence apart from a prescription?

GP is saying DWP will contact them about it, and not giving anything else.The only other option then is to formally request medical records which can take a month and delay the form.

The form says not to wait if you don't have any more evidence. But could I trust the DWP?

Has it got a date stamp? If so it will be backdated to that date.
Have you had assistance with the form? Age uk and carers uk are brilliant at knowing the right language to use and how to give examples of worst case situations. Would strongly advise you ask advice if you think it could be refused.

I used to complete attendance allowance forms as part of my job. Sending it in without medical forms is fine but would strongly advise you get it looked over by an experienced benefits advisor first

Yes the council welfare place is doing it. They said if I want to could ask for the records, so not sure what to do. Yes it has a date but still needs returned by a certain date also.

I do have couple of other things

Form from housing warden (sheltered housing) for the 'person who knows you well' mentioning his conditions

SS just did an assessment and giving two care visits a day for meds, meals

Would those help? Should I send the SS info? Thanks

I have done both of my parents forms and apart from filling out all the questions I didn't add any accompanying paper work. I'd send a copy of the social care assessment definitely.

Send SS assessment yes and be as detailed as possible on the forms. Medical records are unnecessary. Getting it checked over by welfare rights or similar can be the difference between getting higher or lower rate. They know what to put (at least they did in mums case, which was a few years ago now).

Just spoke to Dad's GP and he says can get the records or a factual summary but needs Dad to write for them in a letter. Still not sure whether to wait or not.

Will try and ask for the SS assessment then, hopefully they will give me a copy. I think the issue is with giving stuff to relatives for confidentiality

For my mum I got the social worker to help complete it. You need to state worse case scenario. She got it for personal care. We just submitted the completed form. And it was backdated.

I got dad to sign a form that the doctor provided, allowing us to speak to them as an advocate. Once this was done, I asked for a summary. It was printed immediately. I sent the relevant parts of this with the forms and a copy of his meds list.
Dwp said 10 weeks from receipt but they did it in eight.

Oh and once it is allowed, if he lives alone, ask the council about severe mental impairment discount from council tax. Some do it, some do not.

On the forms there is a place where your Dad signs to agree for his GP, and other health professionals,to be contacted for further info so no need for him to write to GP. Yes include SS documentation. Also make sure information on form relates to how he is impacted on a bad day as Celticrose has said. Also can I encourage you to apply for Lasting Power of Attorney both for health and finance if your Dad agrees. Although a minefield can be done without legal input. I and my brother did this for our Dad but never had to activate it but gave us peace of mind to know they were in place.

I sent the form and medication list, given to me by the chemist they use, for both my parents, they called for both and asked one question then the letter saying they qualify arrived 3-4 days later. It was back dated 3 months so they got just over £1K each. Was remarkably simple and quick.

You're right not to trust the DWP. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/ might be a good place to look.

Otherwise, if there's no date stamp on the form I'd send it off, making it clear there was additional medical evidence to follow, as the payment will only be backdated to when they received the form.

If there's a date stamp on the form you normally have a month to return it, so either explicitly ask them for longer to return it or return it incomplete saying additional medical evidence will follow.

Thanks for the replies

Have you had the professional's page filled in? If so then send it off with the documents you have mentioned.

Do you mean the 'someone who knows you well' page? Yes we got the sheltered housing warden to do that. She isn't a medic though but sees him often, she wrote his conditions and decline etc