DLA WAITING TIME THREAD 67

[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.

It's really frustrating and they are just reading off a 25 week script! It looks like for new claims atm it's around the 18-20 week mark for most but some do look as though they're taking the 25 weeks. I think it is a bit of a lottery and depends which decision makers queue you end up in and how fast they work though their pile. It's a stupid system and it shouldn't be this difficult. They could employ more DMs and less call handlers if they set up an online tracking system I'm sure!

NC SD 11th Dec. Anxiety is ripe right now 🤣 I see quite a few end of November dates waking up to money in their banks, which tells me that these ones had decisions around a week ago so if end of Novembers are already receiving their back pays then my mind is telling me they could also be well into the beginning of December and December dates could have eyes on them right now. I have also seen December dates receive their decisions too but not sure where in the country these are as I know Scotland is quick with turnarounds. I’m in midlands and the wait is killing me.

my son has dyspraxia, hyper mobility, suspected adhd/asd, home educated due to struggling in school, Achilles tendon, also eats and chews non edible things (suspected pica) extremely impulsive and sensory sensitivities.

Yh I completely agree the system just a mess specially when you can't get no help at all till you have dla n dla is the only proof your child is disabled

Hi everyone just called up and was told my son's renewal is with a decision maker. They says it got assigned to one on Monday, does anyone know how long it can be with a decision maker for. My son's old claim is due to run out on the 20th April x

That's great news, whenever I've spoken to anyone they have always said you will get a decision before the claim ends, maybe try calling again on Monday?

I had this in my UC journal this morning. Does anyone know how long it will be before backpay now? Thank you

Yeah definitely gonna call them back Monday and fingers crossed they've made a decision. I had only just called on Monday aswell to chase up evidence that I had sent weeks ago, I hadn't put my son's reference number on but had put my national insurance number on so they had to chase it up and the extra evidence only went to my son's claim on Monday so am glad I called with it being assigned to someone on Monday x

I need to chase some additional evidence too, only arrived yesterday though, but I did put his name and reference number on all pieces of paper but I'm thinking it's worth calling just to let them know there is more evidence!

Yeah I would give them a call to let them know you've sent it, coz when I first rang them they put a note on to say that I had sent extra evidence in. I think with you putting your son's reference number it will scan straight onto his claim once they scan it, but mine was just sitting their lol, I had sent it over 3 weeks ago aswell. I know now to include his reference number at all times lol it's so hard trying to think of everything, I still think their is so much more I could of worte on the forms. I'm hoping my son gets accepted again, he gets mrc and lrm now but I think he should be on hrc and lrm, fingers crossed like🤞🏼 I am hoping for a longer award. He was originally awarded for 2 years x

Some of us are still waiting on October dates 😑

I have wrote bk jus didn't know how to tagg u 😅

Hi all just got off phone from lady at dwp for the uc element. I dont know if anyone knows this because I didn't but apparently I will receive the disabled child element at the higher rate because of hrc dla award but there's also another element that she said carers element because I look after dd for 35hours or more a week. I thought she meant the carers payment that that is payed weekly and deducted from uc and I said i didn't want that but she said no that's a different benefit completely. Can't remember what she called it now. So anyway she's sending backpayment through should be with me by the 8th and then I'll be able to see in my monthly payment breakdown with the two extra elements added on.
Thought might be worth mentioning on here cos I had no idea about this so thinking some of you might not know about it either. Or it might just be me being dim 😅 x

It’s called carers element atm it’s 198 extra a month

Sorry for that rambling last post from me 😅 Just had a quick look and I understand it now. So 'Carers Allowence' is the separate benefit that gets paid weekly but gets taken off UC. 'Carers Element' is an extra payment in UC on top of disabled child element and it's an extra £198.31 per month that goes onto your UC not off.
I had no idea about this so I'm pretty shocked tbh. So if you are on UC and you out in for disabled child element make sure you also put in that you are their carer too.
I think for me this means I might actually be able to reduce some hours in work which will help out massively!

Thanks I'm obviously just dim cos I had no idea about it, I just thought there was the disabled child element and then the carers allowence. I'd just looked it up now before saw your post x

Oh and just to add, the phonecall was to check if was ok for it to be paid in a lump sum x

* Question *

Has anyone done the career allowance application & backpay at the same time as their universal credit one. If so were you award the bacnpay for career first and if so did this affect your backpay from universal credit?

I'm just worried with how long Universal credit can take that waiting to apply for career allowance would be bad. What I mean to say is will you still recieve what is owed under UC even if you get the back payment from careers?

Many thanks

NC
SD 24/12/24

I thought there on nc around end of November start of Dec? Anyone still waiting in October my advice is to call them

my case accidentally got closed to sent straight to decision maker but it’s a 25 week wait

I'm on carers my sons original award started 21/03/×4 I had no idea I could claim carers element aswell as the dla ..the dla comes straight out of my uc so I don't get any paymnet for caring basically x

Oh gosh I didn’t realise. I thought they had got through Octobers NC, apart from COC and MR. Hopefully you get yours very soon. The wait is awful 😞

Yeah I’m October too and still waiting it’s awful especially seeing so many November and December dates going

Do you mean you're on carers allowence and not getting uc cares element? If so go into your uc and go into report a change and you can put in that you care for your child 35+ hours a week and that should start off the process for the uc carers element. From what I've read you can claim both the carers allowance and the uc carers element at the same time but the carers allowance still gets deducted from uc monthly x

Aw no. I honestly thought they had caught up and flying through Novembers and not any Octobers left. I guess it also depends whether the dm’s desk it lands on is on holiday, off sick, or works part time as to how quick they work through their pile. It would be so much better as others have said previously if we could track the progress online. Good luck with yours and I have everything crossed you hear something very soon.