Anyone been to dla tribunal with their child?

[elliejjtiny]

Just wondering if they will want to talk to ds? He's 10 and I'm worried they will upset him. So far we have managed to keep from ds that the dwp think that he isn't disabled, has meltdowns for attention etc. I have to be able to carry on protecting him. They keep asking for more evidence for the 2nd mandatory reconsideration (they didn't give us the right information the first time) so hopefully it won't come to that but the deadline for the tribunal is tomorrow so I have to get the ball rolling with that too. Tbh the whole thing has been a nightmare and we've been given another child's details, asked to provide results of tests he has never had and I'm so close to giving up. But up until April this year, he was getting middle rate care and high rate mobility and his needs haven't changed so I have to keep fighting.

This must be so stressful for you and I hope you don't have to go as far as tribunal.
The Citizens' Advice page on DLA tribunals says that children are not expected to attend. It would be highly unusual for them to want to talk to a child.
Good luck!

Thankyou, that's a big relief. Ds is very sensitive about his disability because he is a wheelchair user but he can walk a bit so he gets lots of comments about faking it, mostly from children at school but from random adults too if they see him get out.

Dd is in the same situation although she hasn't had any direct comments that I know of although as she uses sticks to walk that may prevent the comments.
It is tough to deal with others lack of knowledge especially when you are only 10.

You don't need to take your child. As ds's appointee we went to Tribunal for PIP without him. The panel was compassionate and considerate, we went without representation. DWP had no case and no knowledge tbh I think they were relying on us being unable to represent ds well. We went from no award of PIP (had been getting HRC and HRM on DLA) to ERC and ERM so equivalent to what he had been receiving.

Thankyou. I was so worried they would ask him about his disability. He would probably either burst into tears or just shrug and say he was fine. The dwp have said that when he collapses on the floor or cries with exhaustion then he is doing it for attention and not for a physical reason. He is 10 and doesn't have learning difficulties so he is obviously very embarrassed when he collapses on the floor or bursts into tears in front of all the other children in his class. The dwp are also saying that because he doesn't get 1 to 1 support at school then he doesn't need dla. He gets some extra support in the classroom as they use his funding and the pupil premium money from some other children to keep child to staff ratios higher than average (23 children in the class with a teacher and a full time teaching assistant which is quite high ratios for year 6 I think). Also he gets 1 to 1 support on school trips because he needs someone to push his wheelchair. The senco wrote all this down in a very long letter (a full sheet of a4 in a tiny font) but the dwp have said this isn't enough and he doesn't meet the criteria.