DLA form giving me a headache

[Isabeller]

Aaaaagh I have got to finish this bloody thing.

I am absolutely struggling to concentrate or write another sentence.

I feel so bloody unreasonable I am reaching for any distraction or excuse to waste time.

I need more mental stamina. I usually don’t even swear. Hmm quite therapeutic getting all that out.

Please vote. A vote in any direction will encourage me to get on with it. As the Youtubers say “Give this video ten thousand likes and I’ll make another one”.

Give me 10 votes of any sort and I’ll answer another bloody question.

(Kid’s DLA renewal in case your wondering)

Aaaaaagh again 😫

Sent my sons renewal off - the DLA received it on 14 jan, 15 jan they sent letter saying no change in award - despite submitting 100 pages of evidence as looking to get high rate mobility. It took them not even One day to review all of the evidence I sent through- have now put in for mandatory consideration, but it makes me so mad that they didn't have decency to review us properly !

They are soul destroying.

Someone from the Council came to help with mine. They do loads and know how to phrase things. It was a godsend.

To the person who just said it isn’t shorter maybes it’s different for everything but is shorter and no where near 70 questions like
Up suggested ours was sent about 4 weeks ago to us.

Sorry if this has been mentioned as I haven't read the full thread but one thing I found really helpful whilst doing my sons was a support website for his condition, it had extra info on how to fill it out and the language to use. May be worth a search? Also I photocopy my forms every time so I can remember what I said and whether anything has changed. If not I just write the same thing as the last form!

Whattheactual20201

The one I have been sent is just the usual form from last time. So it must be different for different people, I wonder how they decide it!

@Isabeller

4 more down 4 to go.

It really is horrible isn’t it.

“Is it bad, is it really bad, is it far worse than any typical child the same age, how bad is it exactly, how often is it that bad, how long does this difficult thing take, and that one and that one, how difficult is it for your child to communicate with other people, how bad are they at school, how bad are they at home...
behave without thinking about dangers, aggressive, destructive, harm, distress, difficulty making friends...
How bad is their life, your life, how bad a parent are you?”

Why wouldn’t this form make me feel tearful even though we need this help, if it wasn’t there I don’t know how we’d manage, we are lucky to live somewhere that help exists.

Think I’ll go and worry about Covid for a few minutes as light relief.

They haven't got to your sense of humor yet at least

Solidarity OP. They're bloody crap and make you feel crap! I was in tears doing my sons first one. 'How much do you struggle and how much does your child suffer...'

I feel your pain OP. I am dreading the thud on the carpet when the renewal arrives soon

@Happycat1212 I wonder how they decide it!

Eeny meeny miney mo I reckon! A family friend used to support people filling them in and one client had twins with exactly the same conditions and needs. Forms were word for word identical except first name. One got DLA the other was declined! Of course that was appealed and both awarded eventually. This was years ago so I'd like to think they'd got their act together but I imagine it's just got worse

I hate the bloody miserable things, I completed a first claim for ds2 in November , just as i got to the last couple of questions, i recieved ds1s renwal form in the post - huff and sigh! ds2s came back within 11 days , i was astounded! Ds1s then came back in about 3-4 weeks (it had been over Christmas too.) Both were the usual forms with 70 questions.
I too always save and print a copy .
All the best op !

No need to photocopy!

Download Adobe Scan on your phone - uses your phone camera to scan and saves as PDFs that are searchable.

Now every time I get letter or report I take five seconds to scan it and save it, so they’re all there ready when I need to send latest evidence for anything. Great for DLA forms too! You can print the scans if needed or just keep as PDFs on your phone

Keep going! Or well done if you've finished it

Agree it's soul destroyingly depressing to have to admit and record all the ways in which our children need extra care and support due to their additional needs (then repeat it all again x years later on the off chance that their disabilities have magically vanished )

I finished the detailed questions and all that’s left is the list of additional clinicians which will be more legible and accurate done in the morning.

I need to double check I haven’t missed anything and reread my answers to make sure they are coherent. There’s gonna be a bit of variability there...

I ate an extra 2000 calories of sugar during the day just in case. I think if I eat anything else to celebrate stopping I’ll explode but I might have a cup of tea. Oh my God I’m exhausted. I might just celebrate by getting some sleep and hoping I get a couple of hours before being woken up. I swear if I had a full night’s sleep even twice a week I’d be a different person.

I really can’t thank you enough for pushing and pulling me through the last few hours. The cerebra guide was invaluable. Obviously you all know I was getting constantly interrupted and all the things I was writing on the form were still happening so I haven’t been writing solidly for 7 hours.

Hahaha night terrors 🙄 . Virtual will do.

Solidarity ! It’s like writing a phd in how crap your children are and what a crap parent you are.

@Happycat1212 it might be depending on when your original renewal was due.
Ours was September but was extended by 6 months because of Covid. We originally for a longer form ( I misplaced )
When I rang in at Xmas she told me the form was shorter due to covid

The form asked me the normal
Questions like national insurance etc

But other wise was very short and sweet, I do also think it depends on condition as to how much evidence you have to send. I think some a few letter from doctors backing up night time care ( so for example we have 24 hour tube feeding and cpap machines at night plus catheters ) one hospital clinic letter proves that rather than
Needing evidence from school about educational / behaviour / sensory issues.
Mind field.

I had an early morning and did the list. Now all that remains is reading through and checking I’ve signed, included all the right bits etc.

It’s fantastic that, under pressure, a new simpler system was invented Whattheactual20201 and I’m so glad you got the extension. We’ve all got enough to cope with.

I’ve been as thorough as I can. Nothing has magically got better in the last 2 years but managing some things gets more challenging as children grow bigger and stronger.

I feel I can’t count on anything at the moment so I half expect the renewal to fail. I’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.

I don’t know how I would have got to this point without the solidarity and encouragement of all you lovely posters. Thank you 💐💐💐