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MR for DLA in NI

I was hoping someone could give me some advice on doing an MR in Northern Ireland I have recieved the statement of reasons and wrote a letter arguing with the points and referring back to the evidence I supplied but I dont know if I can just send that letter along with a copy of the statement of reasons or do I need to send off a particular form as well. I tried checking online but just see conflicting advice...any help is appreciated
Thank you
Thank you
Replies
I am sorry you are going through such a challenging time applying for DLA. It can be an exhausting process so no wonder you feel at your wits end. I hope you are looking after yourself as well as you can throughout this.
I wondered if you had ever thought about applying for a charity grant to help replace some of the furniture? This link takes you to the National Autistic Society N.I. website who might be able to help with that https://www.autism.org.uk/services/ni.aspx I know its not an ideal solution though and I have my fingers crossed for your DLA claim.
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1. I did give real world examples how else would I be able to explain what he is like daily? When I say I wrote down everything in great detail, I mean every thing that I do for him that is more than a typical child of his age.
2. With regards to key words, I mean words such as prompting, encouragement, unpredictability, overwhelmed etc instead of words or phrases such as, without me telling him, cant, wont, gets upset etc.
For example instead of saying "he cant use a spoon without me telling him to" i wrote "he is unable to use a spoon without constant prompting and encouragement"
Although this may seem like a red flag to you, after looking into the actual dla decision makers guide and many others i have seen that it is important how you word things because you need them to understand that these are issues he struggles with due to lack of understanding and not something that he's choosing not to do because he doesn't want to.
Hope that clears up what i meant.
I only asked a simple question in regards to MR as I was unsure if a specific form was used and I wanted a little advice and support. I wasn't expecting to be ridiculed for how I filled in the form and the decision I made to reapply whilst waiting on tribunal. Now maybe it wasn't supposed to come across that way but that is how the majority of replies have made me feel.
Honestly the amount of conflicting advice I have recieved from people who work in welfare rights has made me a little skeptical, for example here im being told anecdotal evidence is best, a different organisation is saying base it on his worst day (which I found out can be considered fraud), another says that its about explaining care needs etc. so you can see my frustration. I havent "assumed" anything I have stated that I cant understand the decision because of everything that was recorded and wrote in the form, including real life examples with evidence from medical professionals, education psychology and speech and language to back it all up. All I want is help but everywhere I turn it just seems that people like to tell me what I've done wrong instead of advising the me of the right things to do and so this makes me a little defensive. I apologise if I've come across as a hater or a know it all, I am just exhausted and don't know where to turn next.
Have you tried speaking to Law Centre NI tel: 028 9024:4401, they have a good reputation in Welfare Rights circles.
I find the more face to face advice you can get the better (though in these times it will by phone).
Also check out YouTube for Law Centre NI videos on how Appeals, are conducted.
Please let us know if we can assist further.
Stay kind and be safe.
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deebronny said: I think what you've said here is very important and is good for us all to remember. It can be very disheartening to be told you've done something 'wrong' or 'incorrectly' without being offered a solution.
Hopefully you now have a better idea of what it is you need to do. The best of luck with your MR and please don't hesitate if there's anything we can do to support you with the further process.
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1 - the conflicting advice you’ve been given is absolutely the difference between good advice and terrible advice. You should be in no doubt that the advice to base a claim on the worst day is appalling, dangerous advice. There have been, to the best of my knowledge, 2 fraud prosecutions on the basis of this approach. 1 succeeded. It’s never been clear what happened on the other one. I’m afraid there’s a little piece of me that wants it to have succeeded. It’s one of those things that has gone around for years a bit like the myth that HCPs get bonuses for taking you off benefit but it’s not just dangerous it’s also illogical. If you base a claim on a worst day then you’re literally arguing there’s no variation at all, which is clearly nonsense, but also it’s the variations which help you get DLA in particular. Behaviour which is predictable day in day out is hardly likely to give rise to a need for supervision in the way that unpredictable behaviour would. Celebrate and illustrate those variations. That’s a winning strategy.
3 - less is often more with disability benefits and you need to view your medical reports with a dispassionate eye and ask yourself whether they talked explicitly about your child; their bodily functions and have real world examples. Ed Psych reports for example often detail what ought to be happening but if you read them fully they’re often telling you how little input there is rather than how much. Medical reports which have phrases like “she tells me that” are never going to be given the full weight of medical evidence because, well, because they’re not. A report which repeats what the person has been told certainly adds credibility (it’s a medical professional committing to paper and essentially saying “well I believe her”) but that’s not the same as a report based on test results etc. It’s the equivalent of your mate next door who happens to be a social worker writing a supporting letter.
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