DLA Defective Claim

Since working remotely, we have been submitting new DLA claims by downloading the form from gov.uk, completing this with parent over the phone, sending to parent who then attaches to their date stamped form and posts to DWP. This has been accepted over the last three years (we send 20+/wk.) and awards backdated honouring the date stamped form. In the last week, 2 have been returned as defective claims, DWP stating the text must be entered onto the paper date stamped form. Is anyone else experiencing this? I will need to change our working practices if this is DWP policy.
Reg 4 SS(C&P) 87 -  Every claim for benefit shall be made in writing on a form approved by the Secretary of State, or in such other manner, being in writing, as the Secretary of State may accept as sufficient.
The above suggests DWP have discretion and it seems too strict not to accept as valid claim in this format?

They can scan multiple items but in theory there can only be one labelled as a claim pack so in one sense I’m surprised it’s taken this long for there to be an issue. My suspicion would be that you’re likely just a victim of the sheer turnover of staff they’re having but who knows.

In the alternate though… if they label the blank as the claim pack, which may have been triggered by the date stamp, then it will presumably be flagged as defective for the reasons you describe i.e. it IS blank and thus defective. If the one you complete is labelled as the claim pack then it won’t be date stamped so may not start from when you want. 

I do DLA for children regularly and work with parents slightly differently. If this is about to become a permanent issue then you may want to consider as a solution.

1 - Get the parent to complete the demographic stuff including health conditions; named medical professionals etc. Make sure they tick the correct boxes for each question; sign and date the form. Ensure that everywhere there is a box for additional information the phrase “Please see additional sheets” is written by the parent.

2 - I then conduct a telephone appt. for up to 2 hours to gather the information I need to complete the rest of the form. I produce this as an MS Word document with all my answers below a bold text version of each question. Each side has a footer which includes name, NINO, benefit and page number so if anything gets separated it can soon be reunited. Never been a problem yet.

3 - that document is then emailed or posted to the parent and a further conversation takes place about amendments. Once amendments are done to remove spelling mistakes; errors; exaggerations; misunderstandings etc. then the final version is again either emailed or posted to the parent. They either print and attach or just attach to the claim pack and off it goes. One claim pack and one set of extra sheets.

Sending in two claims does appear to be inviting an issue where none need exist.

In previous jobs, I often wanted to crack on with completing the claim before the date stamped form arrived. So I would;

Complete blank claim form with claimant/appointee.

Once I laid my hands on the date stamped form, simply remove the outer sheet from ‘my’ form and substitute with the outer sheet of the date stamped form, copying the information across.

This is easy enough and ought to be something most claimants could manage (or find someone to assist with) - they don’t any great literacy skills - they’re just copying what you’ve written in a few boxes.

This might work for you?

Thank you so much for your responses, I’ll make the relevant changes