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Appealing DLA decision Child under 2 years old

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abdulsaid
abdulsaid Community member Posts: 1 Listener
in Benefits and financial support
Hi Team,I am new here and hope we can find support .

I have made DLA application for my son who needs looked at most of the time due to his skin conditions( ECZEMA,and multiple food allergies (Nuts,Wheat,Oats,Milk,Eggs,Lentils and Soya) my daughter  (5YRS) was awarded with the same condition unfortunately my son was turned down due to age as he is under 2 years although DLA can starts as soon as they turn 3 months.
They copy paste the information for care during the date and night and said because he has a diet he is unlikely to get anaphylaxis as well as due to age,child of the same age needs same observation.
Now they asked me to go to the tribunal and have never given me chance to mandatory reconsideration, they said when I made call to ask for update, it counts as mandatory consideration,although I made call before the decision was awarded,
CAB have looked into the decision they also found it strange, there is only one decision but the letter explain if you or anyone else make calls to provide information,it counts as mandatory reconsideration, the information we provided was only residence status .
Because they ignore dermatologist letter and took the consultant letter who deals with only Allergies and not skin, do you think I should ask an official letter from Dermatologist? or if I ask SCR from my GP will do?

Any one with similar situation? please advice.

Thanks
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Comments

  • Liam_Alumni
    Liam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 1,101 Pioneering
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    Hi @abdulsaid,

    Welcome to Scope's online community!

    I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you've been having with DLA. I've moved this discussion to our Ask a Benefits advisor category, where @BenefitsTrainingCo may be able to help.

    If you have any other questions, please do get in touch!
    Liam
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  • marty1971
    marty1971 Community member Posts: 4 Listener
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    Hi, I had this with my daughter, when younger, they said there has to be an assessment process, as all small children need support and help and that is a parent role, when she reached 10 then they said, it now shows that she was not going to be able to do those things, as by 10, she should be able to.
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  • Nystagmite
    Nystagmite Community member Posts: 596 Pioneering
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    DLA can start when the child reaches 3 months old. But you have to prove that your child has greater needs than a child of the same age. At that age, (and under 2 still) it's almost always medical care. 
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  • BenefitsTrainingCo
    BenefitsTrainingCo Community member Posts: 2,621 Pioneering
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    Hi @abdulsaid

    As others have said, there is an element here of showing how much additional care you are providing to your 2 year old because of their illness / disability. The law says that the additional needs have to be more than a 2 year old who hasn't got this illness / disability ....
    If you are progressing with the appeal, then you will need as much medical evidence as possible. In relation to your child's eczema, do you have to apply creams, if so, to which parts of the body and how many times a day? Do you have to avoid certain clothing / toiletries etc which may aggravate the condition?

    In relation to food allergy, do you have any instances of allergic reaction or are you managing the condition well? Are you still in the process of discovering what you child can / can't eat and are therefore having to take more time over food prep / meal times because of the potential risks? Having said that the DWP could argue that a lot of parents have to watch their child at this age as it is not known what they could / couldn't have a reaction to and watch them when they are eating because of risk of choking.

    In terms of the Mandatory Reconsideration not taking place 'properly', I'm afraid I am hearing from a lot of people that a telephone call to the DWP is being taken as having 'discussed' the case and therefore classed as the Mandatory Reconsideration taking place. If you already have the Mandatory Reconsideration Notice, then this will not upset your opportunity to get it to appeal, however, if the DWP have not sent your the Mandatory Reconsideration Notice then the appeal will not be progressed and you will have to insist that the DWP issue this for you. This may allow you to discuss the case with a Decision Maker again which may be worth it if you have need to gather more medical evidence.

    Good luck.

    Laura
    The Benefits Training Co:

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