DLA forms and ASD

[countdowntoxmas]

Filling out my forms and how on earth do you quantify the amount of minutes/ hours' help they need for care etc each day?

I found this really hard to do aswell but tried to be as accurate as possible taking the worst day as an example. Good Luck !

I wrote 'constantly', 'freqently', 'repeatedly' etc. I found it impossible to quantify the minutes...

me too countdown. by the way, if you are wondering how long it will take them to make a decision, DLA said they received my form on 1st Feb. Just had a phone call from them today and they said I should hear something within the next 7 -10 days, so will have taken around a month for the decision. Not sure what that is yet though!

Did send every bit of paperwork I had though, must have taken some reading

They wanted more information on minutes/hours spent during the night with my son, as I found this difficult to quantify on the form.

I was able to be fairly specific on some of the question, such as DS's care needs for washing/dressing, meal times, physio etc but I left it blank on the the sections for communication and mental health issues but wrote a note on page 26 stating that it was impossible to quantify a specific time for these issues and my reasons why.

We were awarded the DLA without a fight, based on what I'd written and the various reports I sent off, so leaving some of those boxes blank doesn't appear to have hindered anything.

Good luck, it's a horrible form to fill in - I made sure I photocopied it before I sent it off too, in case it went missing in the post.

The benefits advisor I saw told me the minutes were more important than the text for many questions.

The minutes need to add up to a certain number per day to qualify, so be generous in your estimation.

Yes I think lower rate care is awarded if the care needs take roughly at least an hour throughout the day? This link is quite helpful:

www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/disabilitybenefits/Pages/DisabilityLivingAllowance.aspx

I entered minutes where I could, otherwise I used either constantly or frequently...I only sent in his dx letter, I fully expected to be turned down so saved everthing else to send later.

I did write quite a lot of additional notes, along with a typical daily diary...copied it all for reference. They received my forms on the 27th January, and even though we have not received letter confirming my sons award, money went into our bank account yesterday, so only taken around 4 weeks, was pretty shocked really, as had truly expected a fight.

For things that had to be done all the time I put "throughout".

If it related to specific tasks, eg changing wet bedding and pyjamas in the night, I put the number of minutes it took each time.

Thankyou for this thread countdown....this has been helpful for me, as i am currently trying to fill these forms in myself.
I am very lucky to have help from a local ASD charity group, and one of the women from there is looking through it at the moment to see if there is anything i have missed etc.

i will be certain to use this information to help me, and good luck to everyone awaiting a decision xxx