Look through the big pack of papers that you were sent by the DWP explaining why they made the decision they did. Many people get very confused by the test cases at the beginning. Don’t let them put you off.  If you don’t have time to become an expert on all the legal ins and outs of DLA decisions, ignore these.

The most important parts are the bits about your child. Read through it and look for anything you don't agree with.

If there is a report from your child’s school, does it give a fair picture of your child? School staff tend to be wonderfully positive about children’s abilities and progress and sometimes the DWP fail to understand the context (for example, that your child is making progress but that this is because they receive one-to-one help or are in a specialist school). School staff have usually been accurate, but the limited nature of the form often leads to the DWP giving the wrong award.

Make a note of all the things that are wrong. If you can, say why they are wrong. You can include this in your statement to the tribunal. Also think about how you could get further evidence (from the school for example) that would give a fairer picture.

Check that everything you want the tribunal to read is in the papers. If anything is missing, send in a copy before the hearing (and keep a copy for yourself). Don’t assume that the appeal panel will have access to evidence used in previous claims. If it isn’t included in these papers from the DWP, the appeal panel won’t see it unless you send it in. 
 

For most people, the thing that is of most help is written evidence from their child’s paediatrician, support staff, or school staff. If your child sees a paediatrician, doctor at the hospital, psychologist, physiotherapist, an occupational or speech and language therapist, other healthcare professional, or has a social worker, evidence from them will often be very useful too. If your GP knows your child well, evidence from them is also likely to be very helpful.

The best evidence will come from people who know your child well and who understand their situation. If your child’s paediatrician or GP does not know them well, you should still ask them for evidence, but try to get evidence from other professionals who know them better. This could be another doctor, or other healthcare professional, or somebody who helps your child at school.

The most useful evidence will explain how your child’s illness or disability affects them, and the help they need. This is quite unusual, so your doctor or therapist may not understand that. Look at the section below. This is a guide for your child’s doctors, therapists, school staff, or anybody else writing evidence for them. When you ask them for evidence to support the appeal, show them this page. It will help them to write evidence that will be really helpful to you.

Send this page to the people you are asking for evidence from

This page is written for doctors, social workers, support workers, paid carers, teachers, occupational therapists, and other professionals who might be able to tell the appeal panel what they need to know. It explains how to write helpful evidence for this kind of benefit appeal.

Evidence from doctors and other professionals helps the tribunal to come to the right decision more than anything else. Your evidence doesn't need to be long or typed, but it would be most useful if it included everything you are aware the child concerned needs help with.

Whether a child is entitled to DLA is decided by how much help they need. They may not get this help, many people 'manage', but these benefits are based on help they should have in an ideal world.

This appeal is about a decision that was made on a particular date. Your evidence needs to be about how their condition affected them at that time.

If you are a medical professional, start by confirming any diagnosis and any treatment that they receive.

If you are not, start by saying what help you regularly provide for the child. Then you need to go into the detail. 

Going places

If they cannot walk even short distances without discomfort, or if they are very slow, please say so. If they need help to walk around school for example, please explain what difficulty they have and what help they need.

Equally, if they need more help than another child their age to go further afield to places that are unfamiliar, please say that. This might be help to stay safe or encouragement, prompting, or soothing.

Help at home or school

Next, look at the help they need in the home or at school. As far as you know, do they need extra physical help, prompting, or encouragement to:

• get up or go to bed
• eat meals and snacks
• get washed and have a bath or shower 
• go to the toilet
• get dressed and undressed 
• move about indoors
• stay safe
• communicate with other people (this includes reading, hearing, and speaking)
• take part in leisure activities (playing with friends, going swimming, taking part in clubs or fun activities)
• participate in all learning activities, including taking part in PE, Art or Music

If they can do any of these things on their own but it takes them a very long time, causes them pain, or may put them (or somebody else) in danger the law sees this as needing help.

Help during the night

Do they need help overnight, to stay in bed, go to the toilet, calm down if they get distressed, etc? If you are aware that they often have difficulty sleeping it will be useful to say that.

Danger

If you are aware that they have been hurt, or could have been hurt, as a result of their condition, you should say so. Perhaps they have fallen, had violent seizures, or self-harmed.

If you are aware of a time when they have hurt or posed a danger to somebody else, it would be most useful to include this.

Medication or therapy

Can you explain what help they need to take their medication, or do their therapy, and how often they have to take it/do it?

Fluctuating conditions

Lastly, is their condition always the same  or is it more debilitating on same days than others? If you know it is bad on some days but better on others, it would be useful to make that clear.

If you don't know about something

If you don't know how much help they need with something or think that they probably do not, it is best not to mention it. Their parent may have evidence from somebody else that knows more about this particular problem .

Read all the evidence through - does it support your case? If it doesn't, you don't have to send it to the panel (but if they ask if you had any evidence you didn't send them, you have to tell the truth). If you don't think the evidence is useful it may be worth going back to the person who wrote it and discussing it with them. Is there anything they can add?

If you've got useful evidence, upload a photo of it using the Manage your appeal service or photocopy it and send it into the HM Courts and Tribunal Service before your hearing. Send it as soon as you can as this maximises the chance of the DWP changing the decision in your favour which may mean you don’t have to wait for the hearing. 
 

Disclaimer

The law is complicated. We recommend you try to get advice from the sources we have suggested.

The cases we refer to are not always real but show a typical situation. We have included them to help you think about how to deal with your own situation.

Acknowledgement

This guide was written and produced by Advicenow. Thanks to the Ministry of Justice for funding this update.

Advicenow would like to thank all those who provided advice and feedback on this guide, particularly Jane Owen-Pam, Rachel Ingleby,  Jim McKenny, Yvonne Deal from Hertfordshire County Council,  and all the parents of claimants of DLA who made up our panel. Thanks also to Nicky Rees of Cystic Fibrosis Trust for peer reviewing this updated version.