Hi all, this is for the people awaiting on a renewal.
My renewal date was the 20th May. My scan date for the renewal paperwork was the 22nd February.
I called them today (just under an hour wait) and they said that the decision had been made on the 18th May (so 2 days before the renewal date). They also said that that the renewal had changed and that he was now on higher rate care and lower rate mobility, great for us as he was previously on the middle rate.
They said they put a payment request through to cover the extra bit he has been awarded until the next payment day. This was put though on the 19th May and after checking it hit my bank account yesterday (23rd May). They said that my future payments will just continue to be on a Wednesday every 4 weeks like they have always been and I won't have a gap in payments.
Unfortunately, I forgot to ask how long he has been rewarded for, but I can let you know once I get the letter. Previously it has always been for 2 years.
I never received a text and the letter is on it's way apparently. I think that they are leaving renewals to the last minute at the moment.
After reading the thread I'll try and answer the questions that have come up.
I live in the West Midlands.
My son is 13 years old and had Austim and ADHD. This is my 2nd renewal and on both previous occasions he got 2 years of payments. We also previously had middle rate care and low mobility.
On his first claim he was undiagnosed, but had referral letters to the children's unit and also speech and language.
On the second application he had got his ADHD diagnosis and was on medication for the ADHD.
This last one, he is no longer in the ADHD medication (it didn't really work for him) but he did have his autism diagnosis at that point too.
I have never got anyone else to fill in the support statement part as to be honest I've been to embarrassed to ask. I just write in there 'see attached letters'.
The evidence for this last renewal I sent was his diagnosis letter for the autism and also printed off his school 'passport' (that's what the school call thier senco notes that are on the school system for teachers to read).
Hope this helps others. I'm just trying to show that the diagnosis and gettng the form filled in by a 'professional' is not a deal braker because I've never had the support part filled in by a teacher or other professional. Also, the first DLA claim we were successful at getting without a diagnosis, just the letter to say we'd been refered. With the second DLA renewal, I just included the copies of the teachers reports that were completed for his referral to go through.
Good luck everyone and happy to answer any questions.