New and need advice

GeorgeUK

there you go, i was just about to PM georgeuk, and hes here already

:rotfl:
Hey! I've got work to do you know!!

bank_of_slate

GeorgeUK wrote: »

:rotfl:
Hey! I've got work to do you know!!

Hands George a pager, or maybe we should microchip you!
...Linda xx

devon_guy

Your income will have absolutely no bearing on your wife's claim for DLA as it is NOT a means tested benefit. Whoever told you that information is wrong.

Ames

Just to reiterate what devon_guy said, wages are not taken into account when deciding DLA - even the recipient can work, certainly having a partner working is nothing to do with it. Was it DLA you applied for, or was it IB? Even if it's IB you can get that with a working partner, it's only income support that's affected.

You could do to get face to face advice from a welfare rights advisor, try DIAL or if there's not one near you look for disability rights groups.

Did you actually apply for DLA? Did you get a decision in writing turning you down? If so, when was that? Sorry to ask so many questions but it's important to be able to tell you what you can do next.

If you want any more advice about DLA let me know, I'm not an expert but I've been in the system for a long time now and know a bit about it, I'm also a moderator on one of the main disability sites. You can pm me if you don't want to talk about it on an open forum.

Ossireo

devon_guy wrote: »

Your income will have absolutely no bearing on your wife's claim for DLA as it is NOT a means tested benefit. Whoever told you that information is wrong.

Beat me to it on this one DevonGuy!

Was the application definitely for Disability Living Allowance? or might it have been for Income Support/Jobseekers Allowance? Has she claimed Incapacity Benefit at all when she left work? Sorry if I seem to be so nosey, I've previously worked for over 15 years for Benefits Agency/Department of Work & Pensions and I know how much of a benefits maze it can be! For a family with 2 children and a disabled partner the benefit amount of £200 a month seems low I assume its just Child Benefit and some tax Credits?

deep_indebt

Thank you for the replies.

George I will go to those links you have provided and let you know. Thank you.

Linda I have called and tried re-negotiating and they want to add extra months to the term and the 'alleged' rates are worse than what I am on. I even tried to get the current deal they have for sim only which is 20 for 600 mins and unlimited text messages but they are playing hardball but I will persist.

They know I am tied in which is why its proving to be very very difficult. I'm on Vodafone.

She applied of IS and was asked for my income and was refused based on that. For IB she was told that she has not worked in 2 years so missed the claim time (or something similar to that) and for the DLA when she called they asked her some questions and just said that she is not elligible... We found it strange but never questioned it but now it would fill a hole so would advise her to call or go to DIAL and the other places as Ames suggested. That was about a year or so ago.

To be honest we're only just finding out about the benefits that she/we may be entitled to. All we get at the moment is Working/Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit.

I am feeling much better now because I can look into some things.

Thank you.

Ossireo

The IB decision sounds about right if her contributions were not full in the relevent years they are looking at

DLA is always something that I would recommend making a formal application for (with CABS help if need be) and it is a benefit that I always recommended people appeal against if formally turned down as it always appeared to have a good success rate on appeal. The application can feel very invasive but always fill it in with as much detail as possible however embarrassing the question is.

Ames

The only person who can decide someone's eligible or not for DLA is the decision maker, and even they get it wrong and have to be put right by tribunals sometimes. It's always worth applying for, the worse that can happen is it's refused. And as Ossireo says, fill everything in. I've been on it for 11 years and it was only in my last claim that I finally admitted to some toileting problems and things. It can be embarrassing, and it can get you down seeing all the problems in black and white, but it's definitely worth applying for. Even the lowest rate would get £17 a week, would that make a difference to you? Probably.

deep_indebt

Thank you Ames and Ossiero. I will tell her to do it asap. 17 might not be much but every little helps.

George I tried that link for the consumer site but it doesn't work. I googled it and it keeps getting an error. Is it me or is the site down.

Cheers

deep_indebt

I've now registered with that consumer site.

Many thanks again