DLA WAITING TIMES THREAD 65

[zoeybrooks45]

Please feel free to add your scan date and whether it's a new claim/mandatory reconsideration/change of circumstances or renewal.
New claims (NC) - people are being told the wait time has increased to 25 weeks! I would say most are done before this though around the 20 week mark?
Mandatory reconsideration (MC) and Change of circumstances (COC) is around 20-25 weeks.
Renewals tend to be between 15-20 weeks.
If you disagree with the outcome of an MR you can appeal and go to court (tribunal)
Scan date is the date DLA scan your application forms on to their system, if you downloaded your application forms then this will be from when your award will be backdated from. If you called up for forms then the date on those is the date yours will be backdated from.
If successful and claiming universal credit (UC) please update them as this will entitle you to disabled child element adding extra to your award.

@PositivityRipples I didn't say "I don't think that's advice is right" I said.. "I don't think that's right". It wasn't meant to offend you, I didn't actually say anything about advice but I do apologise. Melatonin is a very common prescription for sleep disorders so I'd like to think they have knowledge behind prescriptions or could even google it 😂 regardless of how long it take to actually give the medication, there may be side effects etc to deal with and regardless of that it's still a care need.

I understand what you're saying that it could be a risk mentioning it but you could also risk not mentioning it and they speak to the paediatrician and find out that it's been prescribed and that she hasn't actually done a change of circumstances on the claim to update it. So it could go either way really!

Again,. Didn't meant to offend you @PositivityRipples.. it's good to get different opinions as it helps to think outside the box x

@flutterbye99 I wasn't offended just though you was referring to my advice when you said you didn't think that's right...
We are both right in a sense.. But the DM is not by any means medically trained.. They aren't allowed to research or Google anything they have to follow legislation and guides and write down exactly how they have came to the decision for rates and length of award.. Along side the DM guide they have a medical handbook that they refer to in the medical handbook it lists medication for different disabilities, medical conditions and pain.. Melatonin is listed in the medical handbook and states

"Melatonin can but not always significantly help a child to settle and sleep and can help regulate the circadian rhythm, it is a hormone based medication that influences sleep and wake times and can also interact with other hormones and help regulate them also has a positive affect on the immune system and moods causing an overall positive influence on behaviour and regulation cycles in the brain " should only be prescribed by a qualified doctor and the child must be monitored during the initial period of taking melatonin"

This is what the DM can see about melatonin they can also refer to the dwp HCP for further advice.

So if melatonin wasn't prescribed at the time of doing the self assessment of the child on the form and evidence was also sent of sleep issues the DM would award based on that, adding melatonin now without a change of circumstance form and so the claimant can explain that it is helping or isn't helping sometimes confuses the DM as all they know is it's been prescribed so are the night care needs listed on the original claim form still present or are they rapidly going to get better over the next few months this is why they lower award length and or rates so the claimant can give more precise information on the renewal.

If they contacted the child's pead and they said its now prescribed that's fine but the claimant hasn't done anything wrong as the claim form is correct at time of filling it out and not their fault the wait times are 25 weeks.

I'm trained in legislation and dwp guides I work for HMRC I over see some of the dwp and my ex partner is a dla decision maker, not saying i know everything or my opinion is the correct one because I've learnt alot from these threads.. Sometimes what's supposed to happen with claims and what actually happens is worlds apart.
I have a claim in for my own child waiting outcome, he may be prescribed melatonin in the very near future if my claim isn't awarded by then I won't be sending further evidence of the prescription.. I will wait until my child has been on the med for atleast 3 months to see if it helps or doesn't help and how and if it affects the care and sleep and then I will do a COC if I feel necessary but that's just my personal perspective on it 🤞🏼💫

Hello , just wanted to say my older boy is one of the children that melatonin didn't work for it actually made his sleep worse . Didn't actually think his sleep could get any worse but it did !

It doesn't work for every child unfortunately.

@Frankadoodle I'm guessing you've filled in your claim form and stated that, and also stated the child is no longer on melatonin or being prescribed it

Oh this isn't account this claim . This is a claim that was dealt with ages ago regarding a different child .

I had to do 2 coc on it . One to say he was receiving melatonin and then one to say he was no longer taking it 😂

He still doesn't sleep 5 years later

@Frankadoodle so did the child's day and night care needs stay exactly the same through all 3 and award rates stay the same for original claim then COC on melatonin and then COC off melatonin 😅

That is the same as my older child, melatonin doesn’t send him to sleep and he gets violent when on it. I was not giving it him regularly as within a few weeks it was not working properly for him or helping with sleep. His paediatrician told us to give him lots of breaks from it then at his last appointment they advised us to not give it to him at all anymore which I will be sending when we do his renewal.

I had read so many good outcomes from
melatonin for children that struggle with sleep due to ADHD/Autism but it just didn’t work for him :( his sleep is terrible, I’m up all hours with him then still need to wake up at 5.30am to start getting ready for work and get the kids ready for breakfast club. It’s exhausting.

@PositivityRipples the original coc was to add the melatonin prescription on to the already awarded claim. The second coc was to let them know he would no longer be taking them .

The only thing that changed was the duration of the award .

He was first awarded HRC , LRM for 1 year
Then renewed 12 months later and he was awarded a 2 year award
Then I did a coc, it changed to 1 year presuming to see how he got on with it .
9 months in to that I did the other coc to let them know he wouldn't be taking it , by the time it was looked at it was due a renewal anyway . We were then awarded till he was 16. It's hard to say if the melatonin affected that renewal because his care needs in different situations not regarding his sleep had increased and he was older so that probably contributed to the long award.

@TheZippyMintHedgehog yes I know of people whose children it's been amazing for . That's one of the reasons I enquired about it for my older son . Unfortunately it just had the opposite effect on him

@PositivityRipples I wasn't questioning what you were saying about whether the lady should send the evidence in or not regarding the melatonin.

I was just saying it didn't work for my son :(

@Frankadoodle Ahh okay so the only thing that was evident is that adding melatonin to the claim reduced the award to 1 year... Which may help others on thee thread to know this 💫

@Frankadoodle I know hun.. Just wanted you to add your own personal experience with the claim and melatonin and how it affected rates or length as may help others.. Personal experience is usually better than opinion or advice 😁😊

Yes pretty much . I'm presuming they couldn't change the rate to MRC or LRC because they didn't know how it would affect him, If it would benefit or change his care needs. If that makes sense. But lowering the duration would mean I would have to renew and update them on all of this so they could make a new decision .

This was going back a few years it might have changed now :)

@Frankadoodle yes that makes sense and that was my understanding aswell after they had lowered it to a year and you would have done the renewal after the year if it would have helped the night and day needs they probably would have lowered to MRC but because you done the COC after 9 months and said it didn't help and made child worse and child no longer on the meds they kept the same award but lengthed it to child's 16 birthday which is good 💫👏

I was so relieved when they awarded to 16. Absolutely hate renewals and the stress of it all . So it's given me peace of mind .

Unless care needs change of course and il be doing coc before then .

Just need to get the little one's claim sorted now . 29/10 SD NC . Surely can't be waiting much longer 😂

Ive just rang hun my claims with a DM now so call and ask them as were the same date x

@Glitzxx il ring now x

Good luck beaut ❤️

I had a lovely young lady answer, I'm currently at 20wks MR sd 17/10/24 .... it's been allocated to a case manager woooo!!!(i know pinch of salt) when I called last in February it hadn't been assigned so fingers crossed ey 🙏

How long does it take for them to receive extra evidence by free post? I feel like I may I have sent it abit late looking at these dates 😬my scan date is 4/11 COC

Get next day recorded they will get it tomoz then free post will take im gonna say 4 days

@Glitzxx

Got through pretty quick .

He is was awarded this morning , I burst into tears on the phone . HRC (no mobility) due to his age , awarded till 2026 .

Then a renewal . Which is understandable due to him just turning 4 .

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted , this is going to mean the world to my little boy going forward

Il stick around to see how everyone gets on

That’s fantastic @Frankadoodle really pleased for you and your little boy x do u mind if I ask what evidence you sent as my little boy is only 3 x

My little boy was 3.5years when I sent the forms off , I have sent in since sending the forms .

His autism pathway acceptance letter
A letter stating he receives speech and language therapy and a letter from his nursery teacher outlining his extra care needs in nursery and relevant information .

I also gave them phone numbers for everyone involved but as far as I'm aware they didn't contact them and they didn't ring me to ask any questions .

Good luck with your claim .