Hi, I am fighting a high rate mobility claim at the moment for my 10 year old daughter who has problems with her legs, breathing problems and severe behaviour issues. I have recently appealed and if they cannot change their minds and award me high rate mobility I will have the choice to take it to a tribunal.What i wanted to ask was, does anyone know much about tribunals and if i need to get information from health professionals to help my case or do i just go and fight my case ...I have never done anything like this before and am quite worried about it ...any tips on how i can prepare myself would be greatfully received
many thanks rachel

(08-18-2010 07:38 PM)rach180 Wrote:  Hi, I am fighting a high rate mobility claim at the moment for my 10 year old daughter who has problems with her legs, breathing problems and severe behaviour issues. I have recently appealed and if they cannot change their minds and award me high rate mobility I will have the choice to take it to a tribunal.What i wanted to ask was, does anyone know much about tribunals and if i need to get information from health professionals to help my case or do i just go and fight my case ...I have never done anything like this before and am quite worried about it ...any tips on how i can prepare myself would be greatfully received
many thanks rachel

Sorry for the delayed response i never noticed the post as it was in another forum section so ive moved it here to the benefit advice thread
What reasons did they give for turning you down first time?
Is there any chance you could provide more detail into the medical side of things for me?

Just wondering how far your daughter can walk at the moment?

We went to a tribunal to get high rate mobility, and won.

We had the help of a lady from welfare rights. She has always done our forms and such. If it had been up to us I'd have just left it. She was adamant we should try.

Any new information from health professionals that supports your claim, it needs to be in for a set time before the tribunal. This is so they have a chance to read it and consider.

I did not attend on the day. I am glad I did not.
The whole thing was done in a style which can only be described as an interrogation.

For a start, they were not happy I was not there, as the person who is named on the forms. They have the power to review the entire DLA claim and revoke it as they see fit. This was the first thing they made my husband aware.

The lady from welfare was not allowed to talk, meaning my husband was left to field a barage of questions.

The questions were done in such a way as to try trip my husband up. I guess they have an awful lot of people who try it on for more money. It is the genuine people who suffer for this.

They kept on and on about distances. Asking in several different ways. Did we understand what a meter was. If we let go of his hand, how much further could my son walk. On and on with seemingly random questions till my husband snapped back that we do not walk him with a tape measure attached, they seemed fine with that.

My husband was sent out for 15 minutes, when he came back they said the appliacation had been granted.

I know this all sounds scary, but you need to prepare yourself mentally for this. You know your child inside out, but you need to rehearse expressing your child's needs as you would to someone who has never met them.
This is much harder to do then you think. We love our Children but our eyes only focus on the good stuff, you need to tell them about the bad.
I personally was not strong enough to do that.

i have my sons tribunal on sept 20th, i am dreading it, i am already suffereing anxiety and panic attacks, he has cerebral palsy and even has a wheelchair now to help him on days out, he has always been awarded dla, but when we re claimed we were turned down, dont think they checked our forms and ll the evidence properly. our appeal was turned down and now have this tribunal to face, i'm so scared. xx

dawn, i dont understand why your welfare worker didnt inform you that they are not allowed to speak after the first introduction i was told this by the person "assisting" me when we met the day before the tribunal, they are quite good at working out who is faking and who is genuine like ur hubby did by saying he doesnt carry a tape measure around as a fake would have a "correct" answer to every question as they read up on exactly the amount of distance for walking and how much they can do around the house for care.
i was going for myself not matt and as i felt i wasnt entitled i felt guilty even though telling the truth, unfortunatly for me the support worker told the tribunal i was only appealing against the care not the mobility even though they asked her 3 times (it was mobility i was trying for lol) when i went back in after they discussed my answers they actually apologised saying i wasnt entitled to care but if i had been applying for mobility they would have found in my favour of low rate!!! and to go out and reapply straight away (that was 5 yrs ago and i still havent ) so they knew my answers were the truth


Janet, is there somebody who can go and support you? i took a friend as well as the support worker even though she couldnt speak she made me feel less alone, can you get any reports from medical staff that see your son to take with you? they ask questions relating to the information they have got and while it is scary they are there to help in the end.
corinne