Claiming DLA - 6

SECTION 2— ATTENTION needs

Most of the rest of Section 2 is devoted to page after page of questions about your day and the difficulties you have with your ‘personal care’. The only two pages that don’t relate to this are the ones about Cooking and Someone Keeping an Eye on you.

The same suggestions apply here as with the mobility parts of the form—try to give the DWP as much information as you can about why you have problems, what those problems are and how encouragement and support from someone else helps you.

It can be difficult to fill the ‘how many days a week’ box, given that you may have spells of being relatively well between more debilitating periods of ill health. This doesn’t mean though that you don’t have some continuing difficulties on a day-to-day basis. Put down the number of days that some difficulty occurs, not just when things are at their worst.

Don’t get too hung up on the ‘how long’ questions! Most people have no idea how long something takes, so estimate - ‘fifteen to twenty minutes/ up to half an hour’ etc. However when estimating times, do remember to think about every aspect of an activity.

The ‘tell, encourage and remind’ boxes are obviously very important where mental health is concerned. Don’t assume that ticking them will be enough to get the message across - use the box below to detail the need for this attention, stressing if it needs to be repeated and detailing what happens if it isn’t - e.g. ‘My mother has to call me repeatedly in the mornings - otherwise I would just lie in bed until mid day. It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just that the effort of getting up feels too much. When I’m very unwell I sometimes stay in bed all day because I feel safer there...’ If there is any question that lack of prompting, encouraging and reminding could lead you to neglect yourself or put your health at risk then say so... ‘my Counsellor says that unless I eat regularly I will become unwell.... When I went into hospital I had lost two stone...’

DLA and Attendance Allowance
Problems Walking Outdoors
Care Needs DLA and Attendance Allowance
Rate of DLA Care - AA
Claiming DLA and AA - 1
Claiming DLA - 2
Claiming DLA - 3
Claiming DLA - 4
Claiming DLA - 5
Claiming DLA - 6
Claiming DLA - 7
Claiming DLA - 8
Claiming DLA - 9
Claiming DLA - 10
Claiming DLA - 11
Claiming DLA - 12
Claiming DLA and AA - New Forms