[senco-forum] Disability Living Allowance

Hi Allyson,

Let me give you one example of the kind of shenanigans the DLA
department gets up to for the purpose of reducing the money they have
to pay out:

Most benefits are automatically backdated to the day on which a
request for an application claim pack is made, provided the completed
form is received back within 30 days of this date ...and it can easily
take up to 30 days to complete the horrendous multi-page DLA
application. However if you apply online for DLA -- more convenient
because you can save partly completed forms and edit your draft
answers before submitting this electronically -- your application
won't be backdated. This is also the case if you chose to print out a
completed online form and post this in together with the original form
that was posted to you that's been stamped with the issue date.

I have a suggestion: If you are approached by the DLA office for a
reference regarding a child in your school whose parents have applied
for DLA on their behalf, I strongly recommend you decline to give an
opinion. Why? Because schools are required by law to provide adequate
support for disabled children of the kind DLA is intended to cover. It
is therefore impossible for a school to make an accurate assessment of
a disabled child's needs or age-related abilities in comparison to
other students because of the compensating support this student should
automatically be receiving.

Incidentally, as far as I am aware there is no obligation to respond
to all requests for information about students from third parties such
as the DLA assessors office. Indeed you may find responding without a
parents consent is regarded in law as a serious breach of personal
privacy. However I suggest you don't simply ignore such requests as
this may delay a DLA application. Instead a simple refusal or a
request for confirmation of a school's legal requirement to give this
information will suffice.

Now Brendan might want to run this past his legal beagles at IPSEA to
ascertain the appropriate wording. Having done so a recommended
standard wording could also be fed out to the teaching Unions as well.
I'll also raise this with 'Benefits and Work', the charity and website
that campaigns for and supports the rights of disabled people applying
for benefits.

David Bowles

> Hi Allyson,

> Thanks so much for your contribution. I feel both angry and sad that
> the most deserving people, such as your son, are all too often not
> eligible for DLA. Do you at least get 'Carers Allowance' or is this
> yet another can of worms?

> As this thread draws to a close hopefully those who have been peddled
> the myth that DLA is a doddle to obtain and involves filling in a
> simple form now realise how far from the truth this is...