Moneysaving For Carers

Trix

The person who claims carers allowance has to be earning under £79 per week.

CARERS ALLOWANCE LINK HERE

As for the rest - it is a case of check with CAB or HERE for benefits for children with special needs. Everything in all of this section has different eligibility criteria.

System

Hi

On the subject of staywarm, we could not qualify because although we have the age qualification, and also the disability living allowance qualification, we have too many bedrooms - they only cover up to three or 4 - and also for only so many people in a property.
Good if you can get it though, because our electric and oil bills are HUGE!!

Does anyone know any more about the council tax rebanding for receipt of DLA, as this would be of great benefit to us as we are band G.

Also, did you know that if you get DLA/ incapacity type benefits that you can get free open university courses, at least you can in Scotland, but I think England is probably the same.

Thanks to everyone,

Karen

Paul_Varjak

Karen Jones:

I do not think that you get a reduction in Council Tax due to receipt of DLA (although this is one foorm of proof that you are disabled).

The rules are related to the requirement to have extra space in your home because of a disabled person (e.g. more room to cater for a wheelchair). The assumption being that the extra space requirements means you live iin a bigger dwelling than you otherwise would.

the concession is that you will pay the Council Tax for one band below your home has been assessed at. If your home is band A then the Council Tax you pay is a reduction on band A.

In practice, our Council do not seem to consider whether you need extra room because of a disabled person and just pay the amount anyway if you have a reasonable degree of disability. I think they usually visit your home to ensure you are disabled and for a cursory look at your home before granting the concession.

THIS IS JUST FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH MY MOTHER. FOR FULL INFORMATION I SUGGEST YOU CONTACT YOUR OWN COUNCIL WHO MAY INTERPRET THE LEGISLATION MORE STRICTLY THAN OURS (EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE).

Moosta

Hi
I have been spinal cord injured for ten years now and am impressed by the tips given above.

One you may have missed and one that isn't advertised is Free DIRECTORY ENQUIRIES from BT. Theres a short form to fill out which needs a counter sign. from a Dr. I think.......then you'll be given a password to use the service.

To get the form ring 195 from any phone and say you want to register.

From my recall you may have to show that using a telephone directory isn't possibe or is difficult for the disabled person

SuzyStones

I needed to replace my fridge freezer as it had a damaged door seal.
Whilst looking on Currys website I noticed that Currys offer a fridge or fridge freezer for £50 or £75, depending what you have been using. Your fridge must still work and it must be damaged and you should be claiming benefits.
To claim - info is on the Currys web site, in a gray box down the left hand side.

Rachelle_2

Hello Folks it's me.

Just making a short visit to see how things are going. Thanks to Fran for resucitating this thread!

Thought all you carers might be interested to find out that you can get reduced rates, or in some cases, free tuition fees for adult education courses.

I've been pottering around at my local college (in the South East) taking a Ceramic's course and the applications office wrote off the course fees when I showed them my Carers Allowance paper! Of course I still had to cough up the 15 pounds for art supplies, but the rest of the class was a gift.

It might be worth your while to look into your local ed places to see what discounts or help you can get. Taking a course has certainly helped me, stress wise and skills wise!

Ted_Hutchinson

Hopefully Fran will delete the above and suggest that Martin bans this spam merchant.




Spam post above deleted by Fran Thanks
I know none of our posters are stupid enough to be taken in by chain letters but such spam is not appropriate in a forum which aims to help people.

marvin

If this of help to any one I received this by email a few weeks ago
Dear Tim

We are trying to create awareness regarding the following initiative:

The basis of the scheme is as follows:

The Cinema Exhibitors’ Association Card is a new national card scheme being launched on October 1st 2004 through over 500 cinemas in the UK. This card entitles the holder to one free ticket for a person accompanying them to the cinema.

People can apply for the card if they meet one or more of the following criteria.

a) They are in receipt of disability living allowance

b) They are a registered blind person

c) They are a holder of a disabled person’s rail card


The card is valid for 3 years from the date of issue.

A processing fee of five pound is chargeable per card; this is to be sent along with the completed application.

Application forms will be available from mid September at all participating cinemas.

A listing of participating cinemas and further information can be found at https://www.ceacard.co.uk

An awareness campaign is underway for cinema staff along with customer flyers promoting this scheme. We feel however for the scheme to be successful people who may potentially benefit from the card need to be made aware of the card through as many channels as possible.

We would be most grateful if you could look at passing details of the card scheme through channels that you may feel are relevant.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Yours sincerely

Neal Smith

CEA Card Co-ordinator

The Card Network

The Technology Centre

Inward Way

Rossmore Business Park

Ellesmere Port

Cheshire

CH65 3EN

Tel: 0151 3488020

Fax: 0151 3488021

Minicom: 0151 356 7113

Email info@ceacard.co.uk

Trix

We used to take our daughter (wheelchair user) to the UCI cinema and one of us would get in free as her carer (posted about it earlier in the thread). The last time we took her we were told that as we hadn't taken our 'carers card' (don't even know what one is) we couldn't get a free carers ticket. I emailed UCI today after the above post because it no longer has the info on their website about this free carers ticket, and got this response.

'If the person visiting the cinema requires a carer to facilitate that visit, then the carer can obtain a free ticket - just tell the box office employees before you ask for your tickets. Currently no further ID is required but
from 2005 the whole cinema industry will be introducing the "CEA Card." This is a national card that can be used to verify that the holder is entitled to one free ticket for a person accompanying them to the cinema. For further
details please visit: http://www.ceacard.co.uk/'

So UCI still have the free carers ticket available (although they don't advertise it) until 2005 when you'll have to get a card.

MyUserNamesTaken

Another one to add from a new member giffin0

'« on: Jun 9th, 2004, 8:25pm »
Hi everyone
This is my first post. I have 2 children both with Asperger Syndrome (high-functioning autism). They each receive DLA, and I only recently realised I could get cheap entry into places.

Last week we visited Wilton House, Nr Salisbury, & when I said both my kids are classed as disabled they let one in free (usual cost £3.50).  No proof of disability was asked for.

I have made sure I always have the DLA letters in my handbag, just in case, & we plan to visit Legoland soon.

Hope this is helpful
Giffin0

Trix, my son also has Asperger Syndrome. Does this mean I can take him places like Legoland at a reduced rate? If that's the case, I was unaware of it. Do you have a list of places where I can get him reduced entry, as one of his "things" is theme parks. In fact, he never stops talking about how he's going to build theme parks when he's older, and is constantly designing new ones! He gets high rate DLA (care component). I think he's on middle rate for mobility.