DLA wait times 76

[HeartyGuide]

New Thread as previously one nearly full.

So it stated on the professional reports physical violence towards staff and peers ect? Restraint policy in place ( well it would say positive handling in place) is there examples of violence like the child threw a chair, the child kicked a door, the child push or hit a teacher, the child hurt themselves trying to escape a situation, this is for smi..

For VUW is there professional reports stating the child refused to walk any futher, the child won't leave the house, the child runs into the road, the child has episodes of unable to regulate their emotions so won't walk any futher and it is very hard to overcome these episodes, the child won't get on public transport, the child runs off, the child lays on the floor, the child gets anxious and turns back towards home, ect ect..

Has the child been suspended from school for violence, damage to property, health and safety breaches?

Is the child at risk of permanent exclusion

Does the child have a risk assessment in place at school, medium or high risk for dysregualtion, hitting, violence is there a plan to follow in the event the child shows trigger signs for these things, has the parent signed a risk assessment for physical restraint as a last resort to prevent harm to the child and others ect.

These are the kind of describers the DMs look for when assessing HRM through both smi and VUW along with severe behavioural problems obviously these aren't the only describers and schools and senco and eps word things differently.. Does the child have interventions in place and referrals to not just neurodevelopmental ( obviously the child's been diagnosed so has been through this route, but other referrals for the behaviour side like managing behaviours, anger management, protective behaviours, referrals into child mental health services sometimes called rise for mental health..

DMs once they have evidence of diagnosis they look for descriptive behaviours and describing words and sentences and real world explanations of how the child operates in the real world and what daily living care, supervision, intervention and restraint the child needs from the parent and school staff to enable the child to remain safe it's these things that make up the rates as it's all based on the time another person spends supervising intervening and directing the child..

I'm sure you already know all or most of this but sometimes we get so caught up on evidence from as many professionals as possible that we don't look at how the evidence is describing the child and even if you have statements from non professionals like grandparents and neighbours and sisters ect that describe the child and describe what the child needs and why it really helps.. The DMs aren't medically trained they don't understand hospital appointment or CAMHS appointments ect..

I bet they declined cause the child is kind or smiles or kicked a football once or some other irrelevant reason 🤔😒😑

The email was from the hm courts and tribunal service saying that Dwp have responded to my appeal 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m still waiting for the letter so hopefully it comes this week

I still haven’t had the letter so not a clue 😒 hopefully it comes in the post this week

Hopefully it arrives soon but you know what they are like with letters takes like two weeks.. You can call DLA tomorrow and just say I've lost some paperwork and can't remember my child rates can you check for me please.
And you will know if the rates have changed and been overturned.
The dwp do respond to appeals stating the reasons why they disagree and uphold their decision and respond with reasons why. Or they respond and overturn and change the rates.. The fact they've responded sooner rather than later is a good sign as some people don't even get a response and it goes weeks and months past the deadline but you just don't know.. The only way to be sure is obviously await the letter but if it was me I'd call DLA and say what I've said above tomorrow and see what the current rates are 🤞🏼

That is actually really helpful. Thank you.

Do you mind if i send some of that to his aspirations support lady? As i feel i want them to include some of that as that does apply to him(some of it).

For Smi Myself, and my mum stated what you said, the Senco at school, who is amazing stated he cant use public transport, he has tried to climb out windows, runs off, has to have full 121 because of his very dysregulated behaviour. Hurting himself and others. Throwing things at people etc. He got detention(not a full on one but made to stand with head of year for his break) as he hit someone in the back. Not quite as detailed as you put it i dont think but an amazing letter neither the less.

VUW O.T wrote a very detailed letter stating most of what you said..

He has a risk assessment in school yes.. Not really for Violence more as he is a flight risk and tries to run away, leave the premises esp when hes dysregulated.

No suspensions or risk of exclusions. They are very understanding and helpful of his needs. And how young minded he is. Due to the Global developmental delay.

He was declined because he can read!!!!! Wtaf.. excuse me.. sorry upsets me so much..
He is hyperlexic yes, but taking it all in and understanding, not a change. It even states on NHS website that they cant take it in, understand it and it comes with Echolia, speech and language delay and learning difficulties which he has all off..

Yes you can send it to whoever you need to.. Please bare in mind most of this is my personal and professional opinion combined but it isn't set in stone, just describers that help along with all other evidence.. Most of what I've written here for smi is to satisfy the point of " severe behavioural issues"

And for VUW it's for describers for how and why the child is virtually unable to walk and what behaviour the child displays in real world situations..

It's basically just to explain that most of the time you need to expand on issues and not just state a one line fact with professional evidence to back up your fact..

Example ( not relevant to HRM) but to explain night need some claimants will write my child gets up 4 times a night for an hour and here the prescription for melatonin to back that up.
The above is not enough as it doesn't contain descriptive behaviour..

So you would say give my child melatonin at 9pm this sometimes helps my child fall asleep but my child wakes after an hour and gets up I have to put my child back to bed, I then go to bed at 11pm my child wakes again at 2am because said child is anxious to nervous or worried and I have to sit with my child for 30 minutes my child then wakes again at 5am and wakes his / her brother makes noise is unable to fall back to sleep as the child is dysregulated jumping around and lashing out I manage to get my child back to sleep at 5.30am but my child wakes again at 7am so we just get up for the day.. My child has constant interruptions through the night needing reassurance, prompting, physically putting back to bed, soothing ect ect..

You see the difference between the first and second examples of night needs..

Ones basic but backed by prescription the second is descriptive

It's the descriptives the DM looks for and time it takes the adult.

Same applies for smi and the criteria..

Give descriptives of each point with real world situations and make sure your evidence from professionals is also descriptive..

Although the DMs will take any positive language written by professionals and use it as a way to decline even with other evidence stacked against it..

In your case using a child that's able to read as a reason to decline especially on the mobility side is wild, especially if the evidence also suggest the child is way behind peers at age related level reading and if they've used that to say the child didn't meet the criteria for impaired intelligence is even more wild because a child may well be able to read but can not use their intelligence in real world situations when it comes to safety and applying that intelligence or once dysregulated all sense and intelligence goes out the window due to overwhelm and panic..

This all boils down to the DMs not being medically trained or trained in disabilities.. They have to refer medical questions to the dwp health care professionals.. I mean it's good they don't do medicals on children as that would be wrong and intrusive to the child and parents but we just have to remember we aren't here to prove the child has a disability we are here to prove the care the child needs and the time it takes and any children who are severely mentally impaired the DMs need the describers satisfied..

I think we all need a degree in filling in forms to even get the correct awards. Which is abserd..

All everyone can do is try their best and if they don't award correct follow the process of MR and tribunal and reiterate that you feel they haven't understood or they've overlooked and not taken into account the actual care and mobility needs of the child and the time it takes the parents to do or overcome certain things and situations for the child...

Good luck and keep us all updated on your progress..

Keep fighting for the child 🤞🏼🫶

I agree!! I liked the last thread :p

This may be helpful for anyone at tribunal it's two cases that went to a hearing.

Tribubal case study for DM training HRM smi.

Example case study 1:
Seb is 8 years old and has ADHD and ASD. He has some behavioural issues and can find it hard to
concentrate at school. His difficulties with concentration mean that he is sometimes disruptive in
lessons. His teacher reports that with the right support, such as talking therapies and breaking
tasks down into more manageable chunks, Seb’s behaviour at school is improving. He has a close
group of friends. At home, Seb’s parents report that he often displays hyperactive behaviour and
needs prompting to complete everyday tasks such as brushing his teeth or dressing himself. He
has difficulty sleeping and suffers from enuresis, often needing his parents to resettle him and
change his bedding during the night. Seb enjoys playing outside with his siblings and his parents
allow him to do this without the need to constantly watch over him. They rarely need to physically
restrain him. There is no evidence that Seb requires physical restraint at school. It has already
been established that Seb satisfies the conditions for the highest rate of the care component. As
Seb has ADHD and ASD, a DM determines that he satisfies the initial part of the first condition of the SMI
criteria: to be suffering from a state of arrested development or incomplete physical
development of the brain. The DM also decides that there is no evidence that this state of
arrested development or incomplete physical development of the brain is resulting in severe
impairment of Seb’s intelligence and social functioning. They also determine that while Seb does
have some behavioural difficulties, he is not exhibiting disruptive behaviour which is extreme,
regularly requires physical restraint and is so unpredictable that he requires another person to be
present and watching over him whenever he is awake. Seb therefore only satisfies the initial part
of the first condition of the SMI criteria. As the other limbs are not met, he does not satisfy the
SMI test overall, and therefore Seb is not entitled to the higher rate mobility component via the
SMI route.

Example 2 case study :
Daisy is 5 years old and has recently been diagnosed with ADHD and ASD. She also has learning difficulties,
a speech and language delay and displays pica tendencies. If left unattended, she will often try to
consume substances such as her own hair and skin, rainwater from puddles and soil. She can
become easily dysregulated and screams and bites herself or others. She regularly requires
physical restraint to prevent causing harm to herself and those around her. It has already been
established that Daisy satisfies the conditions for the highest rate of the care component. As
Daisy has ADHD and ASD, a DM determines that she satisfies the initial part of the first condition of the
SMI criteria: to be suffering from a state of arrested development or incomplete physical
development of the brain. They also determine that her other difficulties demonstrate that the
second part of the test is met: that this state of arrested development or incomplete physicaldevelopment of the brain results in severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning.
Finally, the DM determines that Daisy is exhibiting disruptive behaviour which is extreme,
regularly requires physical restraint and is so unpredictable that she requires another person to
be present and watching over her whenever she is awake. She therefore satisfies all limbs of the
SMI criteria and can be awarded the higher rate mobility component. The DM also considers that
a shorter award is appropriate to review Daisy’s circumstances given that ongoing medical
involvement may lead to improvements in her condition.

Sorry to anyone else for the long posts on the thread.. But it's Sunday and it's quite quiet over here today.. Promise no long posts tomorrow 🤣

Thank you!

@PositivityRipples Thank you for those, they are very helpful

Im confused on that though, the motability scheme is a charity the government fonnt pay anymore money that the high rate mobility that theyd be paying you anyways?

Motability get massive discounts on the cars thats why cars are constantly added and took off the scheme and why the APs change quarterly dependant on the discounts that the manufacturers offer. They also work in partnership with direct line, RAC, and quick fit for all the other things and they get huge discounts from them. The scheme isnt a government run scheme?

Anyhow I hope everyone gets good news this week. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

I.am.hoping my sons date is 21/3 nc

The motability scheme is not a charity..

Theres two parts to it which are the motability operations which is a registered company it's a limited company with commercial organisations that delivers the Motability Scheme which is helping claimants of HRM to access independent mobility.
So you exchange your qualifying mobility allowance to choose a vehicle as part of an all-inclusive package. Everyone benefits from insurance, servicing, tyres and breakdown cover as part of the all-inclusive leasing package. Which overall costs way more than the £75 a week.. But if the operations side can keep the UK numbers under 1.5 million people leasing vehicles under the scheme they can afford it.. There's 860k customers as of April 2025 once the numbers hit 1.5 million it's not sustainable at £75 a week per customer The motability operations are governed by the Motability Foundation, which is a charity they set the Motability Scheme’s direction and oversee performance, and provides charitable grants to support disabled people accessing the scheme. They also commission research to better understand the needs of disabled people in relation to transport, they also liase with HMRC, the secretary of state, the dwp and governing bodies to set targets and numbers of customers that the scheme can take on for the following year.. Dwp have to tell the motability operations and the motability foundation there projected number of claimants who will be awarded HRM so they can keep providing the services at the affordable rates of an average £75 a week for this reason the dwp hate giving HRM if it's going to put there numbers above the projected numbers.

Ohhh see that makes much more sense. I apologise i thought it was all a charity.

No but you are correct that the motability foundation is the charity side of the scheme they do have a massive imput and provide charitable grants ect i believe this is for if you need to put deposits down on a vehicle and can't afford it they help with deposits they also do lease the scooters but the actual vehicles insurance breakdown cover servicing tyres ect is all run by the motability operations they aren't a charity but obviously they work with dealerships and get discounts so you're also right about that.

My initial comment was basically just to say they hate giving the HRM if they've projected that say 50 thousand new claimants this year may join the scheme and they hit the 50 thousand HRM awards they then have to change the projections and the operations then have to go back to dealerships to try and get bigger discounts of vehicles and be insurance to make it sustainable for the motabity operations to be able to keep offering the all inclusive packages at £75 a week.. But they can't put the price up as it has to be the same money as the HRM award..

They are just juggling numbers really.

But tribunals don't care about their numbers they care about legislation that's why 90 per cent of smi route HRM claimants win.. And that's why anyone who feels their child qualifies should take it to tribunal as nearly all win 🤞🏼🫶

@PositivityRipples you are a fountain of knowledge, it’s great having someone like you on here to explain everything in simple terms for the rest of us, your input over the last however many months has been a huge help, thank you 👏🏻

Aww you're welcome I'm glad it's helping some people.. I try and word things in ways people understand.. I could copy and paste legistlation or post links but I'm totally aware that people can Google things themselves and still not understand what DM handbooks or guides or legistlation and criteria mean.

I also now through my own claim for my child fully understand that the whole system is a complete joke.. Imagine my job role is above the dwp and my children's father is a DM and i filled in my claim form fully knowing my child qualifies for HRC and LRM and the DM awarded LRC only.. I was actually gobsmacked like are you joking me 🤣🤣🤣 all my evidence even shows it word for word... And I've had to take this claim to MR, so what hope does everyone else have to get awarded what they deserve.

I believe there is around 100 DMs that are new in the last year and don't have the experience of the rest and are giving lower awards just because it says the child smiled or is friendly or is kind or kicked a football ect even if the rest of the evidence says the child is bouncing off the walls slapping everyone kicking nans teeth out playing chicken with the traffic and can't concentrate at school for longer than 3.5 seconds.. The DM is like but the child smiled 😑🫠🫣 I joke but seriously some of the reasons for declines and lower awards is astonishing.. I'm learning myself on these threads and have learnt alot over the year. 🫶

Hi can anyone tell me if this report will be enough evidence for HRM my son has other reports too - ADHD, O.T sensory diet stating can’t be left on his own ect but am just not sure if this risk assessment/ safe guarding assessment will be enough he has absconded from school resulting in him jumping over two 14ft fences and school losing him! I have the incident report that I have attached too thank you for any help given x

I always wondered why they hated giving out HRM more than HRC which is more money, Definitely all makes sense now. I know ill be going to tribunal if my daughters MR isnt accepted, its a long old time wait/fight

'Kicking nans teeth out' almost made me choke 🤣🤣 my child was only giving mrc no mobility even though all her reports (which are all dated within the last 6-8 months) state she cannt walk, communicate, has complex needs, needs 1:1 supervision and care at all times and they all stated about her severe sleep issues ect. I was honestly so shocked and angry when I got the letter I burst out crying.

Hi, What diagnosis does your child have? Is it ADHD only or ASD aswell.. Also do school have to restraint your child also, does your child need restraint at home? Do any other reports evidence extreme behaviour issues...
This report is great and worded great as they've used the terms " unable to" the rather than "chose to" I mean the reports great as evidence as shows school follow from afar and don't leave child unsupervised once left school and site unsupervised... Any evidence of damage to school property ect..
Also if you are going for HRM under smi you also need to give examples of all behaviour that meets the criteria at home aswell obviously reiterated the need for supervision at home that the child can't be left alone, if you need to intervene at home or restrain give examples..
This is a teenager right? So secondary school reports.. Has the child ever been suspended if so send the suspension letters to that give reasons for the suspensions

Poor nan 😂😢🤣 it's terrible that they are giving the wrong awards isn't it.. Are you at MR or tribunal I've wrote to so many people on here i forget who's waiting for what outcomes.. Sorry 🥹

I know this isn’t Dla related but i think someone on here may be able to advise me on this. I’m worried about my daughter, her talking and interacting has decreased massively this last 3 month and I’m wondering if speech regression can happen at 4 years 8months? She used to be very talkative mostly copying words because of echolalia and was very sociable but it’s completely gone, nursery wondered if her being sociable was her way of masking. Any advice?

Were st the MR stage atm ive got everything crossed we wont need to go to tribunal as I dont think my anxiety would cope 😂