Dla appeals how long

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Back About Us Turn2us helps people in financial need gain access to welfare benefits, charitable grants and other financial help — online, by phone and face to face through our partner organisations. Further information on Challenges and complaints Updated February What you were doing? What would you like to report? Security code. Thank you If you would like to tell us more please visit our contact page Close. But remember the hearing is your opportunity to explain how your child is affected by their condition and why they should get DLA.

You can get help to prepare for the hearing from your nearest Citizens Advice. The hearing panel will be a legally qualified judge and up to 2 other independent people, including a doctor. The panel are generally easy to talk to. Remember it is your appeal.

If you get upset or need time out - for example, to go to the toilet - you can ask for a short break. The DWP will also have to pay you everything they should have been paying you from the date of your claim.

It normally takes 4 to 6 weeks for this money to come through. Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer. Top links Housing benefit. Top links Template letter to raise a grievance at work. Top links Our pensions advice Write a letter to your creditors. Top links If you want a refund because of coronavirus Contact the consumer helpline Report to Trading Standards Problems with a used car Return faulty goods Buying a used car Your energy supply View all.

Housing Coronavirus - if you have problems with renting Renting privately Renting from the council or a housing association Homelessness Repairs in rented housing Renting a home Mortgage problems Discrimination in housing View all in Housing. If this happens, try to keep calm. Don't take it personally. Stick to what you wanted to say, and answer their questions fully.

It is ok to tell them that you feel they are going too fast, or making you anxious, or you feel you are not getting an opportunity to explain. The DWP has a right to send somebody to your appeal to explain why they made their decision. Don't worry about this though.

If they do send someone, it will not be the person that made the original decision about your claim. In the unlikely event that the panel are considering reducing your existing award for example because you appealed the decision not to give you the high rate of care and the panel feel that you may only be entitled to the lower rate or no award at all , the judge will give you warning and ask if you want a few minutes to consider your options.

This is very rare. But if it does happen to you, ask for the hearing to be stopped and explain that you wish to withdraw the appeal. If you do this, the Tribunal is very unlikely to take away the benefit you get at the moment.

In some areas, hearings are often postponed. Usually, if this has happened, you will get a phone call earlier in the day to warn you not to go. Hopefully this won't happen to you, but it is possible that you will arrive to find that you have had a wasted journey. At other times appeals are delayed in order to get more evidence. This can be frustrating, but it is often better in the long run as the tribunal will have more information to base their decision on. Sometimes it also means that the Tribunal will pay for expensive medical reports that you have not been able to afford.

The panel will usually make the decision that day. You will be asked to go to the waiting room while the panel discusses your case. This usually takes between minutes.

You will then be asked back into the room and told the decision. They will give you a written outline of their decision as well. Sometimes the panel will not be able to make a decision quickly. If this happens, they will post it to you instead. It should arrive within a week. It was quite a long wait but once it got started it was all right. They introduced themselves and explained what was going to happen. They were quite friendly.

They asked me what help Suzy had needed this morning. I explained she had been really tired because she was up half the night. She has night terrors and takes a long time to calm down. I explained the help she needs to have breakfast and what a battle it is sometimes to get her to eat anything. I tried to remember to explain why that was more than most nine year olds need.

When I had, they asked me to go back to the waiting room. When they called me back in, they told me that they had given me high rate care and low rate mobility. We went out for pizza and a new toy to celebrate! If social distancing measures are in place as a result of the coronavirus, most of the advice below will still apply. Before the hearing, sit down with your friend and write a list of all the help their child needs. Take it with you on the day and tick them off as they are said. If at the end of the hearing there are still things that haven't been said - you can remind them.

Try not to answer questions on your friend's behalf. If you realise that your friend has left bits out when answering a question - try to remind them, rather than say it for them. However, if they are finding it difficult or becoming very emotional you can answer the question yourself although it is best to ask the Tribunal Judge if it is OK first, just to be polite. If they get upset or stressed you can try to calm them down.

If this doesn't work, ask them if they want a short break. Read through this guide particularly the sections about the hearing and what to do on the day.

This will help you to know what will happen so that you can help your friend. If you were successful, the DWP will work out how much they owe you. You will start receiving the new amount every month, and a sum covering the amount they should have been paying you all along.

You will usually receive your money in about 4 - 6 weeks. If you already receive Universal Credit, the amount you recieve may go up as you will now be entitled to the disabled child element. For some parents, these additional benefits are worth more than the DLA. Check if you are entitled to any extra benefits now by speaking to an adviser see How to find an adviser or by using the benefits calculator on the Turn2Us website. If you weren't successful, you will be sent a leaflet to explain your options.

Sometimes you might be able to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. This is like a higher court. However, this can only be done if the panel did something wrong with the law. It is very complicated, and very few people can do this without an experienced adviser. The DWP also has the right to appeal to the Upper Tribunal if they think the tribunal panel did something wrong. This rarely happens. If it does happen, they will write and tell you. This is a benefit expert who can give you advice about your claim.

They may also be able to help you prepare for the hearing. If you are lucky, you may be able to find an adviser to be your representative at the hearing see below. This means a panel of three experts who do not work for the DWP will look at your claim and see if the right decision was made.

If they think the wrong decision was made, they will change it. This can be physical help such as spoon-feeding a child or doing buttons up if they are old enough for other children of the same age to be able to do this without help.

Or it can be non-physical help such as prompting a child though the stages of getting dressed, or encouraging a child to eat or stay focussed. This is anything to do with the body and how it works, for example eating, drinking, washing, dressing, going to the toilet, sleeping, thinking and communicating.

This is the person who organises the hearing and deals with the paper work. This means anything that you reasonably need to do every day or most days. This includes things like eating, washing, dressing, taking medication, sleeping and so on, and also learning, communicating, and having fun.

We have used this phrase because we think it is more easily understood. This is the government department that deals with most benefits, including Disability Living Allowance. This is the name for the panel of three experts who do not work for the DWP who will hear your appeal to see if the DWP made the right decision. This is when your appeal is looked at by the Tribunal. We strongly advise you to go to a hearing in person.

You have a much better chance of success if you do. This means the DWP will look at their decision again. You must ask for a mandatory reconsideration before you can appeal a decision. See How to ask the DWP to look at their decision again. You will have received two copies. You must include a copy of the mandatory reconsideration decision notice with your appeal form. During the coronavirus crisis, some cases may be looked at by a judge who, on the basis of the papers alone, thinks that you are entitled to a higher amount.

Both the claimant and the DWP will be asked if they accept the preliminary view. This is an expert in benefits who might help you prepare for the hearing and may be able to come with you to help you put your case. At the time of writing, this is the form you use to ask for an appeal. See How to ask for an appeal for advice on how to fill it in.

This means where the child needs someone with them to avoid substantial danger. This could be because the child might need to be physically restrained to stop something from happening for example, running into a road or where they need to be watched in case something happens for example, a seizure and they need help afterwards.

All children need some degree of supervision, so to entitle a child to DLA the child must need a lot more supervision than other children their age. This is the person that sits in the middle of the panel who will make a decision on your case.

They are legally qualified. If you weren't successful in your appeal, you might be able to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, but you can only do this if the panel made a mistake with the law. You can find both the latest form to use and the online system when that is launched on GOV.

You can find details about appeal venues and how to get to them, how to reclaim expenses, and information about the appeal process on GOV.

Contact is a charity working with and for families with disabled children. They have some really useful information about claiming DLA for children and how to cope with the trickiest bits of the form which may help with your appeal. They can also help with other problems you might have with DLA.

This page is written for doctors, social workers, support workers, paid carers, teachers, occupational therapists, and other professionals who might be able to tell the appeal panel what they need to know. It explains how to write helpful evidence for this kind of benefit appeal. Evidence from doctors and other professionals helps the tribunal to come to the right decision more than anything else.

Your evidence doesn't need to be long or typed, but it would be most useful if it included everything you are aware the child concerned needs help with. Whether a child is entitled to DLA is decided by how much help they need.

They may not get this help, many people 'manage', but these benefits are based on help they should have in an ideal world. If you are a medical professional, start by confirming any diagnosis and any treatment that they receive. Then you need to go into the detail.

If they cannot walk even short distances without discomfort, or if they are very slow, please say so. If they need help to walk around school for example, please explain what difficulty they have and what help they need. Equally, if they need more help than another child their age to go further afield to places that are unfamiliar, please say that.

This might be help to stay safe or encouragement, prompting or soothing. Next, look at the help they need in the home or at school. As far as you know, do they need extra physical help, prompting, or encouragement to:.

If they can do any of these things on their own but it takes them a very long time, causes them pain, or may put them or somebody else in danger the law sees this as needing help. Do they need help overnight, to stay in bed, go to the toilet, calm down if they get distressed, etc? If you are aware that they often have difficulty sleeping it will be useful to say that. If you are aware that they have been hurt, or could have been hurt, as a result of their condition, you should say so.

Perhaps they have fallen, had violent seizures, or self-harmed. If you are aware of a time when they have hurt or posed a danger to somebody else, it would be most useful to include this. Lastly, does their condition fluctuate? If it is bad on some days but better on others, it would be useful to make that clear.

On the left is information to help you write your statement to the panel. It tells you all the things you should try to put in your statement and how to begin. I am writing to you to explain my reason for appealing the decision to award my son Alfie Nowak only the lower rate of care of DLA. Tell them what rate you think your child should be entitled to.

Go to page x for more information about the different rates. I am appealing the decision as I believe that Alfie is entitled to the high rate of care and low rate of mobility. Alfie gets very distressed and finds it impossible to follow rules. He is sometimes violent and destructive. He can be so impulsive that he can put himself and others in danger.

If your child has physical difficulty walking, it is most useful to talk about distances in terms that mean something to you. Alfie can get very angry about going places, for example, going to school. It is only a 5 minute walk but it is a huge battle every day. In order to get him to go and to keep moving without difficulty I have to soothe and calm him constantly. I hold his hand because this helps keep him calm and means I can restrain him if he starts to get angry or panic.

When he gets angry or panics he will impulsively run away, including into the road. Alfie also panics at the sound of unexpected noises - dogs barking, a loud motorbike, a scream or siren. By contrast, most of his peers now walk to and from school on their own.

Alfie often feels overwhelmed and needs prompting, encouragement and soothing to get up, get dressed, eat his breakfast and get washed and ready for school. He will often refuse to go upstairs and brush his teeth, for example, unless I go with him.

This is because he is scared to be on his own. He also needs supervision - without it most days he would either eat far too much or get distracted and eat nothing at all. Without supervision he would not wash his face or brush his teeth or hair either. Alfie is scared of baths and showers and will avoid them at all costs.

He has a bath and a hair wash twice a week and we have to go through a whole rigmarole of calming and encouraging and soothing to make that happen. Even then, sometimes he will get aggressive and cross about it and physically prevent it from happening. When we get to school Alfie often refuses to go in. He needs help from both me and his support worker to calm down and get into the classroom without running away or hurting anybody. At school he needs extra help and supervision to keep him engaged, soothed, and prevent him from getting excited and destructive or violent.

He needs extra help to learn and to communicate confidently with his peers and teachers. Alfie particularly struggles with transitions - for example when one activity ends and another begins. He needs extra help from his TA to cope with this and keep calm, and he is escorted round the school at these times.

Similarly he finds the beginning and ending of school very hard and needs a lot of support from both me and his TA. Alfie finds it hard to go to sleep and wakes frequently. He requires a lot of reassurance and soothing to go to sleep and I am often still doing this at midnight.

If he wakes in the night, he panics and anything can happen. Tell them if your child has ever been hurt or might have been hurt , because of their illness or condition. Alfie can act impulsively and make poor decisions that put him in danger. He can and has ran into the road when he was angry, he has climbed on to the school roof and attempted to jump off, and he has climbed over the fence and tried to run away.

He needs to be supervised at all times so that he can be restrained if necessary. He can also be very verbally aggressive to others and shout and threaten them. He has only very rarely actually hurt anyone but it has happened. Alfie is a keen swimmer and is very good at it, but I cannot take him swimming as I have hurt my leg. If not getting the help you need causes other problems, it is very useful to say so. If he could have help from other people to engage in swimming and other activities this would improve.

It is important that they understand how often you need help. So try to make sure you have said how often each thing happens. Getting him to take his medication can take 2 minutes or it can take Calming him and getting him to his therapy appointment takes 60 minutes to get there, 30 minutes back. If you disagree with anything in the papers they sent you, you need to tell them what was wrong and why this isn't right.

When you have finished writing the statement, read it back through more than once.