DLA Claim now at 18 weeks for daughter

[bazaar]

Hello All, I would like some advise if possible, sorry in advance if this is a little long winded.
Our Daughter is 20, she has special needs, 5 years ago we moved to USA, and obviously DLA stopped for her. ( She had FULL amount) We are now back in the UK and intend to stay here now. THe DLA dept have been dragging their feet with her case. IE, needed to get her NI number re-activated. Doctors letters etc etc.
This isnt really a new case, but just a continuance. They state that it takes up to 12 weeks ( So why has it taken 18??) I understand that they need to sort things out because she is now over 16. I telephoned the 'team' today to make an official complaint against the individuals who are causing extreme hardship, now the phone hasnt stopped ringing. ( did I hit a nerve?). Does anyone here have a template letter I can issue in regards to this and what is the avenue for litigation, ( Sorry we have just returned from USA after all). We have sort of lost track of how things are here. Oh and by the way, we are British. any help would be gratefully received

[bazaar]

OK. I am looking at Disability discrimination act 1995 (c.50)
Part 1 / 2 past disabilities, of which this is.
Section 19: sub 3 (h) Services of any profession or trade or any local or other public authority.
If they are taking so long and have treated other people in a quicker time, I believe that they are discriminating against our daughter.
Section 20 sub 1 (a) Treats less favourably than he treats others.
Now this would imply that ( according to recent papers etc. ) that if we were of Eastern European or asian desent we may be treated more favourably. Now please do not go off at me, I am merely testing the waters here, because we have been told as much by someone in the authorities (strictly off the record of course). I dont really want to go the litigation route, but just want to gee the lazy gits up a bit. any advise?

[GlasweJen]

Whoa hold on with the Eastern European thing, there are factors here that need considering. You can't jet off and expect everything to be the same upon return. DLA claims can take months to process but they will be backdated to the initial application date.

You must remember that this is NOT a continuance as
1.your daughter has become an adult now and
2. your daughter jumped off radar for 5 years.

The DWP will have new criteria to assess her against now that she is over 16 and this takes time. If you have any concerns about how the application is progressing then call and ask. Don't be surprised if she bumps down a category as well, this can happen when people turn 16. If you do this and you feel your daughter is still in need of the highest care (that's need, not want) then you can appeal their descision. You can find out more at your local welfare rights or CAB.

[sandraroff]

hang in there. my claim for dla TOOK ALMOST 18 MONTHS!! god knows how many times they came to medicals and tribunals without the right paperwork and had to send me away again. it was bloody inbelievable. on one occasion, it took them almost 6 months to get a previous medical about me, from a department in their same building. can you believe that?

when they finally agreed to it at the lower rate for both parts, they owed me nearly 2.5k

have to say though that i couldnt have done it without my local citizens advice bureau. they ferried me back and forth to all the tribunal stuff and came to every meeting with me. marvellous people.

[bazaar]

Thanks for the replies, Jens I wasnt trying to be racist, but we were told as much by these idiots at DWP. They are abusing this process and as such should be liable for prosecution. I know eventually they will have to pay out, so why delay the inevitable. Its against their own guidelines, I want to test the waters with prosecution. We have a doctor from DWP now contacting us today, so I will suggest we go to see him / her today otherwise they will be named in the court paperwork. I know I seem angry, ( I am Very ) they have given my wife the run around for weeks, and all the while our daughter is missing out. The government were certainly quick enough taking the DLA when we left the country, so now its my turn. ( I have very little patience with little hitlers in local authorities). Wish me luck

[GlasweJen]

I'm afraid I can't. While I fully appreciate that you are struggling without these payments you are not appreciating that the DWP does have a lot of applications and these take time. Do remember that your daughter does not have UK medical records for the last 5 years for them to check up on, corresponding with America will take additional time and they wont reaward without rechecking - I know of a woman with Downs who was told to prove that she still had it! So good luck with the claim but I do not at all support a law suit against the DWP over this, and any claim that you'd be treated better if you were Eastern European would probably have your case thrown out anyway.

[Kerrie78]

I must admit, that we are in the middle of a claim for my husband, it was filed in January but we also havent heard a thing (we were told 12 weeks).
It seems that they dont rush themselves, and we have been told that on first try 95% of these applications are automatically declined, so that they can drag it out longer through an appeals procedure.
It is disgraceful in a way that all of these governemtn buildings seem to have the power to stretch things out as long as they can, lets face it, they aren't going to get sacked though are they.
Where else would a letter sit in someones tray for 12 weeks before it even got a stamp!

We have been put through hardship aswell because he has had his incapacity stopped and that is also on appeal!
My hubby has been registered as partially sighted due to 2 strokes so the blind worker said that he would be very surprised if we were turned down, but we'll see.

Just to say there are lots of us in the same boat as you bazaar so I really sympathise. Keep your chin up and i hope you get it sorted quickly.

[bazaar]

Hi Kerrie
Well I had been on at them constantly and lucky for them they wont be taken to court now, because I asked if they were aware of the disability discrimination act 1995. then within 2 weeks we had full co-operation and our daughter receives what she was getting previously, so have a read of the act. It states that providers of a service can be committing an offence under the act, ask them for a name and ID number so they know you mean business, I'm sure you'll get it through their thick skulls.
Good luck

[HalifaxPickle!]

How long have you been back in the UK?