Dla application

[Jesslouisep]

Hi, my almost 14 yo daughter has had severe anxiety surrounding school for a considerable amount of time. Despite my every effort and help from her school she simply refuses to attend. She gets entirely worked up about it, even when she has been she won’t even go to the toilet for fear of seeing people, she had to be in a remote area of the school with other children who suffer with various conditions. Unfortunately this was only for a 6 week period of time and didn’t help “correct” her for want of a better phrase. Since then she again won’t attend. She’s been to the drs before, and we are going again next week: the school and social services want her medically signed off. My question is, am I likely to be able to apply for dla for her? If this continues and no solution is found I’m likely going to have to give up work and attempt to home school her, which isn’t ideal but she needs an education of some description. If this is the case and my application was successful for her would I likely get carers allowance too? As I’d be spending a good portion of the day essentially looking after her due to the fact she’s too anxious to go to school? I’m trying to weigh up my options as this is turning into a very stressful situation where I’m currently at risk of huge fines and prosecution if she doesn’t return to school which even social services have said is out of the question.

We receive Dla for my DD 14, who was in a very similar situation to yours, it ended up with her mental heath getting bad and being taken out of school to home educate, since leaving school she has had mental health counselling and we’ve been told she needs a autism assessment because it seems like she had a autism burnout from not being able to mask any longer. She is so much happier at home, it’s taken over a year to get her to a somewhat good place but we are getting there. What I will say is don’t push her to much because I have seen how bad it can get but my biggest regret is not doing a EHCNA with her because if she had that when leaving school then the LA would be providing her online lessons. But definitely apply for Dla it helps us to be able to home educate her and provide the right support in her recovery. You would be able to claim carers allowance if not working or earning up to I think it’s £151 a week and on universal credits carers and disability elements get added which is abit extra.

DLA is based on needs, not diagnosis. You can apply for DLA. Cerebra has a helpful guide for completing the form.

If DD gets at least middle rate care DLA, you care for her for 35+ hours and you earn below the threshold (currently £151pw but will be going up in April) you would be able to claim carer’s allowance.

DD’s absences should be authorised, therefore you wouldn’t be fined/prosecuted. Your mention of them suggests DD’s absences may not be being authorised. You need to check this and post back here if they are being recorded as unauthorised.

If DD is unable to attend school, is alternative provision in place? If not, IPSEA has a model letter you can use to request such provision. Personally, I wouldn’t electively home educate. It is easier, although not easy, to get support when DC remain in the system. Crudely, at the moment, DD is someone’s ‘problem’. If you deregister and EHE, it is easier for professionals to sweep DD’s needs under the carpet and the LA does not have a duty to provide alternative provision.

Has an EHCNA been requested? If not, IPSEA also has a model letter for this.

Literally nothing has been done! Other than the school reporting us to social services which I do understand and they have somewhat helped. The school haven’t even applied for an EHCP for her apparently they don’t have enough evidence. Surely no attendance is enough! But apparently not. Social services agree with me thankfully that this is something that should have been in place a long time ago.
we have a meeting once a time has been scheduled with the school and the family practitioner from social services to discuss what more can be done. In my opinion her current school have washed their hands of her , she’s just a statistic to them and she’s dragging down their own statistics. The lady that runs the 6 week unit she was in was convinced there’s more than just anxiety going on, so we were referred to CAHMS who came back and said she is fine aside from obvious anxiety and there was no autism or adhd, this was based of a 10 question long questionnaire from the GP. All of her absences are unauthorised despite the school knowing the extent of the issues so I am unfortunately currently liable for fines and prosecution.
because she doesn’t have the ehcp there are no alternative provisions available to her, despite the fact that the lady who runs the unit she was in feeling that an alternative provision is the exact type of place she should be in! They’ve never suggested let alone provided any form of online learning for her to do from home so she’s literally just sitting round at home all day which only depletes her mental health further! I’m going to apply for whatever I can, we have the doctors a week Monday so I’m hoping she can help, it’s the same lady we have seen before and she’s usually quite sympathetic.

because she doesn’t have the ehcp there are no alternative provisions available to her

This is not true. Whoever has told you this is lying to you. The LA has a statutory duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure CSA DC unable to attend school receive a suitable full-time education. This is separate from the EHCP process. You can request alternative provision using one of IPSEA’s model letters they have on their website. If the LA refuses to provide provision, ignores you or delay, you need a pre-action letter. If that doesn’t work, judicial review proceedings themselves will work. Ultimately, it is the LA with the legal duty to ensure DC unable to attend school still receive a suitable full-time education, not the school.

Alongside this, request an EHCNA yourself using another of the model letter on IPSEA’s website. For an EHCNA, the only lawful threshold is a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need special educational provision to be made via an EHCP. Any other test is unlawful.

You need to challenge the unauthorised absences. If DD is absent due to ill health, the absences must be authorised. The Regulations (School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024) make it clear where a pupil is absent because they are unable to attend due to sickness the absence must be regarded as authorised. DfE’s statutory attendance guidance also states absence due to illness must be coded as I.

Wow! You’re far more knowledgeable than I am regarding this! I’m sure because you’ve had no choice but to be! Which is a shame in itself. Thankyou though for the information!