attention has to be "reasonably required". What if the claimant, or carer, are doing something that leads to the need for attention?
For example:
Child has learning and behavioural difficulties. At age 7 he is still waking during the night and wetting the bed and mum needs to get up to change him, settle him back to sleep. As part of his bed time routine he has a bottle.
Tribunal did not award HRCC.
Tribunal said (amonst other things)the bottle increases the night time care needs. They don't give a reason for this assertion.
Objectively, I would tend to agree (based on my own experience of parenting and no professional knowledge whatever!) that children need to develop the knack of settling to sleep and, after a certain age, a bottle can hinder this.
However, my client has three disabled children. When she asked her specialist health visitor about this, the HV agreed that the bottle wasn't helping but said " You've just got to pick your fights at teh moment".
So, I think it is reasonable for the lad to have the bottle. The tribunal are advising the "counsel of perfection" and i think that's not realsitic here.
I'd be interested to hear what others think.

I suppose I would be asking why he is having the bottle? Does it make it easier to settle him at night, and would the withdrawal of it give rise to extra care needs at bedtime- which could also put extra stress on the parent(s)?

I think the health visitor makes a very good point. If the child has behavioural problems then a realistic approach should be taken as to what it is possible to achieve with the child, and withdrawing the bottle might just not be a priority in the wider scheme of things.

Are we talking about ADHD type behavioural problems? if so the bottle side of things must be looked at as part of the larger picture. Would the withdrawal of it cause such major tantrums as to make matters ten times worse than at present, with the accompanying pressures on the family. I have had families with similar children where the emotional fallout has caused immense problems with other siblings and occasional been the underlying cause of marital breakups. It's suprising how devastating a child such as this can be ....

thanks for these replies. They back up my own feelings. Basically, the family are trying to cope with a devastating situation where all three children have a congenital disability and an uncertain future. The bedtime routine is one way the parents are coping as best they can.
Interestingly, over the last few weeks, they have stopped the bottle but the lad still wakes up at night! CoC since the date of the decision, damn!