Dla refused twice Need help

Hello

Im looking for help and advice on behalf of a dear friend of mine.

She was initialy refused disability living allownce when she sent in her renewel and has just been refused again after it going to reconsideration. proir to this she was getting high rate mobility and care and her conditon has got worse since her last award.

I will give you a quick run down of her disability

She has chronic arthritus and her hip joints are severly effected, meaning any form of walking or bending is extremely painfull and difficult.

Regarding the mobility component of DLA, she stated on her form that she is unable to walk any distance at all without experiencing sever pain and discomfort due to the sever pain in both of her hips.

She has two written reports one from her GP and also another report from her hospital consultant, both reports state very clearly she has pain at all times when walking and that she needs help getting dressed and undressed and in and out of the bath etc.

From what i undestand the criteria for the mobility component as stated on the benifitsforwork website is

The distance over which you can walk without experiencing severe discomfort

now she has clealry stated she is unable to walk anydistace at all without experiencing sever discomfort and has 2 health care proffesionals clearly stating the exact same thing, yet she has been refused twice now.

I have the dession letter infront of me and this is what they have written

You can walk slowly in a resonable mannor, using suitable aids you are not unable or vitualy unable to walk.

The only thing i can think we have missed out on her form is mentioning any aids, they are saying "using suitable aids" well we didnt mention the use of any aids on the forms so how could they possibley judge this?

The use of walking sticks or a frame, do not reduce the pain she would be in when walking, she can not bare any weight on her legs without experianceing pain so a stick or frame would not reduce the weight load on her hips it would only help a little with balance, so evern with the use of aids she is unable to walk any distance without sever discomfort.


She was awarded low rate care where i belive she should be on high rate care. her doctor wrote a letter stating she needs help getting dressed, in and out of the bath etc

Below is what the wrote for the day care

You need help to:

Wash and dry youself

Use a bath or shower

Dress and undress

Taking your time you can safley:

Get in and out of bed

Manage your toilet needs

Get up and down stairs

Get in and out of a chair

Move about in doors


Using suitable aids, although you need somebody to help you, this is not needed several times right through the day.

Again is this a case of them throwing " you could use suitable aids" at her again? as wedidnt mention using any aids for the care section of the forms either.

But again we could give lots of reasons why using aids would not reduce the difficulty or impose their own difficultys

for example

if she had a stair lift she would still need help getting on and off of it

if she had steps got get in the bath, she is unable to climb steps due to the pain in her hips

if she had a bath lift she would need help getting in and out of that.

she would need help getting in and out of a commode and also she cant stand to use a bottle etc.

Is the fact they have acknolaged she needs help a good sign? isit a case of down explaning why using aids would not solve her problems and she would still need help?

As i has its already been for a reconsideration, isit possible that when you appeal they will reconsider once more before tribunal?...she has no self confidence and huge anxiety issues which are so sever she will not got and talk to her doctor, she has only ever left her home less than 10 times in the past 4 or so years. I honestly see no way of convincing her to go to the tribunal her self.

Jox wrote:

Hello

Im looking for help and advice on behalf of a dear friend of mine.

She was initialy refused disability living allownce when she sent in her renewel and has just been refused again after it going to reconsideration. proir to this she was getting high rate mobility and care and her conditon has got worse since her last award.

I will give you a quick run down of her disability

She has chronic arthritus and her hip joints are severly effected, meaning any form of walking or bending is extremely painfull and difficult.

Regarding the mobility component of DLA, she stated on her form that she is unable to walk any distance at all without experiencing sever pain and discomfort due to the sever pain in both of her hips.

She has two written reports one from her GP and also another report from her hospital consultant, both reports state very clearly she has pain at all times when walking and that she needs help getting dressed and undressed and in and out of the bath etc.

From what i undestand the criteria for the mobility component as stated on the benifitsforwork website is

The distance over which you can walk without experiencing severe discomfort

now she has clealry stated she is unable to walk anydistace at all without experiencing sever discomfort and has 2 health care proffesionals clearly stating the exact same thing, yet she has been refused twice now.

I have the dession letter infront of me and this is what they have written

You can walk slowly in a resonable mannor, using suitable aids you are not unable or vitualy unable to walk.

The only thing i can think we have missed out on her form is mentioning any aids, they are saying "using suitable aids" well we didnt mention the use of any aids on the forms so how could they possibley judge this?

The use of walking sticks or a frame, do not reduce the pain she would be in when walking, she can not bare any weight on her legs without experianceing pain so a stick or frame would not reduce the weight load on her hips it would only help a little with balance, so evern with the use of aids she is unable to walk any distance without sever discomfort.


She was awarded low rate care where i belive she should be on high rate care. her doctor wrote a letter stating she needs help getting dressed, in and out of the bath etc

Below is what the wrote for the day care

You need help to:

Wash and dry youself

Use a bath or shower

Dress and undress

Taking your time you can safley:

Get in and out of bed

Manage your toilet needs

Get up and down stairs

Get in and out of a chair

Move about in doors


Using suitable aids, although you need somebody to help you, this is not needed several times right through the day.

Again is this a case of them throwing " you could use suitable aids" at her again? as wedidnt mention using any aids for the care section of the forms either.

But again we could give lots of reasons why using aids would not reduce the difficulty or impose their own difficultys

for example

if she had a stair lift she would still need help getting on and off of it

if she had steps got get in the bath, she is unable to climb steps due to the pain in her hips

if she had a bath lift she would need help getting in and out of that.

she would need help getting in and out of a commode and also she cant stand to use a bottle etc.

Is the fact they have acknolaged she needs help a good sign? isit a case of down explaning why using aids would not solve her problems and she would still need help?

As i has its already been for a reconsideration, isit possible that when you appeal they will reconsider once more before tribunal?...she has no self confidence and huge anxiety issues which are so sever she will not got and talk to her doctor, she has only ever left her home less than 10 times in the past 4 or so years. I honestly see no way of convincing her to go to the tribunal her self.

Hi,

Although we cannot give individual advice, some of the reasons you state could be partly the reason for the low care only award.

Also in stating the claimant has only been out less than 10 times in 4 years could actually work against the claimant as the claimant has to show that they do go out and thus need the help.

As a reconsideration has already been carried out, another one will not be done. The case forms will be sent to The Tribunals Service.

The friend could ask for a 'on paper Tribunal' where the appeal panel go through the case forms, but obviously cannot speak with or see the claimant. It is this often this questioning with the claimant that results in an increased award, thus Oral Tribunals have a much higher success rate than tribunals 'on Paper', particularly if they have an experienced representation.

It would be beneficial to obtain some face to face Welfare Rights help and if possible representation at the Tribunal from such as CAB, CLS etc.

Pete

Would it be possible for me to speak with somebody from welfare rights on her behalf? i know i wont stand a chance with convincing her to go,it brings on panic attacks just talking to her about it. she had sever mental health problems imo but she will not speak to her gp about this and its something iv left out of the dla forms through fear of them thinking she is trying it on.

I guess it will have to be a written appeal, i would like to say i could try and convince her to go but iv know her for over 20 years there is no way she will do it.

What is the next step other than speaking with somebody at welfare rights . she recived the last refusal letter yesterday, i told her to hang on ringing dla untill we do a little more reaseach over this weed end.