Risk and mental illness

Please forgive me if the answer to this is staring me in the face in the guides.

If you are awarded nighttime care DLA on the basis of risk, and you have mental health problems, how serious does the risk have to be?

I know that's a bit piece of string-ish, but what I'm trying to ask is, do you have to be at risk of death, or is it enough to be at risk of severe distress and inappropriate behaviour?

Can anyone refer me to an explanation of this so that I can try to assess whether my level of needs still meet the criteria?

Survivor wrote:

Please forgive me if the answer to this is staring me in the face in the guides.

If you are awarded nighttime care DLA on the basis of risk, and you have mental health problems, how serious does the risk have to be?

I know that's a bit piece of string-ish, but what I'm trying to ask is, do you have to be at risk of death, or is it enough to be at risk of severe distress and inappropriate behaviour?

Can anyone refer me to an explanation of this so that I can try to assess whether my level of needs still meet the criteria?

There is a very good Commissioner's Decision produced by the very experienced Commissioner Howell, which deals with mental distress and potential night needs arising from mental health problems.

The decision in question is CDLA/12912/1996. It is a word file and can be obtained by scrolling down to the appropriate decision in this link HERE.

Crazydiamond - you are wonderful! It's exactly what I was looking for.

When I was awarded my DLA, they said risk at night and I phoned and said I'd thought they would say bodily functions and they said it didn't matter so long as I was entitled, but I haven't tried to kill myself for a while now, so I was wondering if I had to tell them.

This case makes it perfectly clear that I am still entitled. Indeed, if the government moves on from SAS spies, bounty hunters and credit reference agencies to monitoring emails and internet use, they'll soon find out how appalling my sleep patterns and nighttime distress are.

Thanks a million. With one appeal decision to explain the law, you've just saved me anguish and money.