DLA renewal refused - just got the "Statement of Reasons" and I'm FUMING

[tallulah]

DS2 has ADHD and has been getting DLA since he was about 8. He is now 21. Our latest renewal was refused. He has now phoned them 3 times to ask for a statement of reasons and it has taken them almost 3 weeks to send it (bearing in mind you have a deadline of 4 weeks to appeal ). We got it today, dated yesterday.

Firstly they have included part of our surname as part of our address. Next they have got his name wrong. The letter itself reads like it has been written by a trained monkey. Some of the highlights are:

"The fact that he is at university shows a reasonable level of intelligence and therefore it is considered the level of supervision is unreasonable"

Yes the fact that he has to be supervised like a child is why we are claiming DLA, because he isn't NT. Do they think we and other people supervise him for fun

"Most students live a relaxed lifestyle with no real structured time to do anything."

WTF?!

If he wanders off, then there is no reason why he can't find his way back to where he started".

It continues in that vein. I am absolutely incandescent with rage. He is just about to start his 3rd year and is having to go back to Halls because the housemates who supervised him last year have all finished, and the Disability Unit he is attached to feel he isn't safe to be left unsupervised. (he will be contacting them tomorrow)

He gets lost really easily and then panics. He tells me he can't actually retrace his steps- his brain doesn't work like that.

What has intelligence got to do with disability? I never said he wasn't intelligent. Where would that leave Stephen Hawkins?

I am going to appeal plus send a complaint about this letter. I have just noticed they say we had the initial refusal on July 18th (I'm sure we didn't wait 2 weeks to ring them..) so we are conveniently at the month's deadline already.

I've found lots of help on how to appeal. Anyone got any thoughts on what to write in my complaint and who else to contact? Presumably they are sending this sort of crap to people who they think won't fight back.

Unfortunately if the case is processed by someone without much experience, you do end up with patently non-sensical decisions like this. From my experience of appealing a decision, I referred to each of their points in turn and underneath pointed out why that point was illogical/not based on the evidence supplied, referring to evidence that supported my case where appropriate. Eg: they said ds needed no help with eating. I pointed out that while physically able to feed himself, he has a well-documented history of refusing to eat at times of stress, refusal to enter canteen if very busy, getting confused by too much choice, so he does still need support.

You may be able to get advice support from other forums like adders or mind. Also there is more passing traffic on special needs children - you would be likely to get more replies if you re-post over there.

Update to this thread. I appealed, and complained about the letter. DS spoke to the DWP because they wanted more information, and his university also spoke to them. His DLA has been reinstated

So now they need to back-pay him from May..