HB nil entitled pending DLA decision. 

Hi All

Client was getting HB when disabled child premium included in assessment.
Did not return DLA review form as not received. Has now completed new DLA form. There will be a gap of about 6 weeks between awards but we will ask for claims to be joined up as didn’t receive form.
Has received nil entitled decision from HB.
In the hope that DLA will be reinstated with no gap, my thought was to appeal HB decision on the basis that entitlement will remain once DLA back in payment.
I guess my hope is to keep the HB claim alive. Client is very anti UC.
Is this possible ?

you can’t appeal the decision at the moment because its correct - if it was the DLA that triggered the disabled child premium. ( if the child is blind, the the disabled child premium should still be included in the applicable amount.)

You can contact the LA and advise a new claim for DLA has been made and that once received, you may be requesting a revision of the terminating decision at that point, but theres no much the LA can do until you get the DLA award

Once the new DLA decision has been made, assuming the DLA is awarded and awarded as continuous , you can ask for an anytime revision of the terminating decision, based on it being made in absence of a material fact, namely that the child was entitled to DLA at the time the decision was made

It’ll only work if theres no break in the childs DLA entitlement though

if the DLA ended in MArch 2023, and HB has already been re-assessed and ended from MArch 2023, theres nothing to reconsider if the new DLA award is only from April - because your customer would need to make a new claim for HB and she cant. The request for a recon of the termination wouldn’t work because its correct.

Thanks Prisca

That sort of confirms my concerns.
Bit of a risk for the client but can’t make any guarantees.