D.L.A LIFE AWARDS help needed

dmg24 wrote: »

Assessments for disability benefits have been carried out for years, and have always been part of the application/ review process.

Yes thanks dmg, I know this and I have recently gone through renewal etc. I was referring to the new 'Labour Government's' plans that were put into action with regards Incapacity and ESA and their medical assessments - I recently had a letter regarding an Incapacity Assessment (not DLA) as I am on IB.:)

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

I don't get the benefits myself but I'm interested on behalf of my friend who does.
She had an industrial accident and was awarded lifetime awards of Industrial injuries and DLA back in 1996.
She had medicals for both and was awarded on first application and has not been asked to review her awards at any time since but then it is accepted her injury won't/can't improve neither.
We were looking at the original award letters she received for both benefits and nowhere on the letters does it mention that the lifetime awards could be revoked.
I realise that lifetime awards are no more and indefinate awards have replaced them however I wonder what would be the outcome if a lifetime award was challenged in court.
Afterall being given an original "lifetime award" is not the same as being given an original "indefinate award" no matter how much the government think they might change the wording to legally cover themselves for claimants of that time.
These awards clearly state "for Life" and do not have with the ability to be reviewed at a later date or periodically anywhere on the award letter.
I'd be interested to see the outcome of a legal challenge of a lifetime award

ok, so someone on a lifetime award is given a new drug 15 years down the line and is vastly improved, you dont think that they should have a reassessment at all?

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

Not unless in the particular case I was talking about the drug is able to grow a new spinal cord which is why the assessment ended in a lifetime award.
There will be a lot of people with these awards who have problems that are not treatable or have no chance of improving by any means.
That is why they were given lifetime awards.
Is re-assessing them going to make them suddenly well.

And I was talking in the future when technology or medical science may have produced something that will help or benefit then....that is not available today.

my two daughters have life time awards too...no amount of technology will make their profound learning and the associated disabilites disappear and turn them both into TYPCIAL teenagers.
;(

Aputsiaq wrote: »

Absolutely agree.
No matter what award anyone gets, random medicals should be compulsory.

Anyone who is genuinely in need will be fine,it will weed out malingerers though.

except that the medical assessors are often next to useless, or worse, dishonest.

My first one pushed me to do things that caused severe pain and exhaustion, both straight away and (because of my condition, which he should have known) for days afterwards, lied about my answers (e.g. said I'd said I could walk 500 yards unaided when I actually said I sometimes made it to the shop 100 yards away by sitting on all the garden walls on the way), then left me literally half way up the stairs clinging to the banister in tears because he insisted on seeing me try to climb them and then rushed out the door when my husband came home from work. Seriously :mad:
I was eventually given an apology at the second appeal hearing, but that was 8 months later, 15 months after filling in the forms, and having had no money in between.

To be fair, the one after that was fine, a former GP doing it out of choice, as opposed to someone so incompetent they couldn't get a job anywhere else. Not that I'm bitter...

I do agree that there should be checks, but the current system is broken and doesn't weed out the false claimants. You have to jump through so many hoops it's a wonder any genuine claimants have the energy. If I hadn't had help from a local charity I would have had to give up.