Missed renewal

simjan105 wrote:

Hi I have missed the cut off date for my husbands DLA, thie claim has been ended(28/09). does this new claim start from the beginning or link in to the old one. I have read today that being helped by Citzens Advice or Benefits Agency lessens the likelihood of an succeful claim..( Daily Record dated today) would appreciate help, the form I have is a mess I need a new one, I called them today, does the claim get backdated to today or when they receive it, shoud I download and print it to get it in asap?, should I do it myself, with your help or get the benefits agency to help??

The DWP Decision Maker can still decide to start the renewal from the end of the previous award.

Our DLA claim guides are available on the following link

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/dla/#dlaclaims

You can dowload a new claim form, see

DLA Claim forms

My impression is that the support of your local CAB or Welfare Rights organisation, tends to improve a claimants chances of being awarded DLA, but as with anything, if the advisor is not good then you will be less likely to be successful. See

Where to get advice?

or you can Google "welfare rights" with your town or county.

My intuitive response to using the Benefits Agency to complete your form, is that it is not a good idea, if only because I doubt you will get face to face advice, and I am not aware of them having the experience to successfully help claimants.

Gordon

simjan105 wrote:

Hi thanks for your fast response. in Scotland we have a benefits advisory service run by the local government. Their advisors offer face to face advice and they are the people that support people to their appeals and they know the points of law. My reservation in using these services are that in the Scottish Daily Record today stated that : Official figures show that 40 per cent of appeals against decisions not to award employment and support allowance, largely based on the Atos assessments, are upheld. The figure rises to 70 per cent if the claimant gets help from Citizens Advice or other groups.

I think you may have misunderstood the article

An appeal being upheld means that the claimant won, the figures you quote are reasonably in line with those for England, so 40% of ESA appeals are won by the claimants, and this figure rises to 70% when the CAB are involved, confirming that using an advisor will likely improve a claimants chances.

Gordon