already claiming carers allowance, can i claim for dla for myself?

treborc

The idea of DLA is actually to allow you to work, or live a life, to look after and bring up a family. Many many people who get high rate of mobility and high rate of care, work. Most people who I know who work do a full days work, remembering that work means doing something within the rules of DLA.

So long as you do not work doing something which means your breaking the rules would be silly. If you used a wheelchair or crutches, if you used special equipment which allowed you to carry out the job, then fine.

IS is means tested so yes Carers allowance would be taken into account as earnings, but any how it depends on how much IS they are getting.

As we all know IS will soon give way to ESA and a whole new regime of interviews, but if your disabled with disabled children I would say you need to ask for a benefits review, by phoning the benefits office, they can then tell you if your better off with carers allowance or ESA. Or contact either the CAB or DIAL for a review.

But people you can work and get DLA, so please do not think DLA means you cannot do anything, these payments are a way of giving the disabled freedom not a jail term.

tenacioust123

IS is nothing to do with ESA, but anyone on IB will eventually be changed over to ESA

starchild1972

My husband gets DLA and is carer for my daughter who just needs watching as she is epileptic. I get DLA for fibromyalgia and carers for my husband who has M.E. (to a far greater extent than my fibro).
This is how we were told to do it by the jobcentre plus so no, you would not be breaking any rules or laws.

PBS, your attitude would lead to many disabled parents who happen to have a disabled child having their children taken away by social services!

gemmalouanna

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Well, let us look at the evidence.



Both children have severe mobility issues. In laymans terms, it would seem unlikely that the children could walk far/at all, and may very well be confined to a wheelchair.

Both children are also receiving the care component, one of which can be assumed to be requring almost constant care and the other can be assumed to be requiring a significant amount of care.



This would suggest that the person is unable to care for the children in an effective manner. Yes, you can work with DLA depending on your needs - but someone with ME/CFS on a serious scale simply cannot care for two disabled children.

I would be very hesitant to open a claim for that reason - it may very well be questioned just how you can care for two children with ME/CFS symptoms. Certainly, the individuals I know with ME/CFS symptoms can barely care for themselves at times, let alone others.

I would have to agree - I cannot see how someone who cares for 2 children can then claim DLA for themselves (ie. if they state they cannot care for themselves - obviously I am sure there are a few exceptions to this)! The system is mad for allowing this to happen

Trasthmatic

I would say that you have to be very very careful. If you state in a DLA claim pack that you are unable to care for yourself (bathing, dressing, cooking, falls etc) but then are found to be dressing, bathing and cooking for others (children) you could well be prosecuted for fraud. I'm not trying to scare you, but you must go into this with your eyes wide open. As Martin says, plan for the worst, hope for the best.
For example the main meal test for DLA is preparing a main meal for 1. This is understood to be using a small pan, peeling and chopping and bending to an oven. If you state you cant do this but then are found to be cooking for a number people and lifting heavy pans you could well be charged with misrepresenting your needs.
Also if you said that you cannot be motivated to care for or feed yourself but are then found to be doing this for others you could again leave yourself open to prosecution.

Yes there are circumstances where you can claim both but remember that the DLA DM can see what other benefits you receive and unless you can explain exactly how caring for youself and caring for you children differ you may struggle to convince them.

As we have found with MP expenses, just because you can do something doesnt mean its right to do it. I personally would think long and hard before doing this.

PolishBigSpender

gemmalouanna wrote: »

I would have to agree - I cannot see how someone who cares for 2 children can then claim DLA for themselves (ie. if they state they cannot care for themselves - obviously I am sure there are a few exceptions to this)! The system is mad for allowing this to happen

It is indeed. Either you can care for the children or you can't - and if your disability prevents you from looking after yourself (care) or from getting around (mobility) - then it seems next to impossible that you could adequately care for two severely disabled children.

I would hope that the UK system would conduct a thorough check in such a case to ascertain if it is indeed possible - with prosecution to follow if the person is blatantly lying on the claim forms.

starchild wrote:

PBS, your attitude would lead to many disabled parents who happen to have a disabled child having their children taken away by social services!

So they should be if the parents are making claims that they cannot look after themselves, yet they're able to look after a child with severe disabilities.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

I am awarded middle care rate and high for getting around. If i take away the mobillity component there is no way i could care for someone else and i have ME/CFS included in my disabillity. I understand where Pbs is coming from as it does seem a contradiction in terms.

daska

I guess it's down to the definition of care - if you insist that the only way you can care for someone is by being constantly active then of course you would be right to criticise any claim that someone disabled could possibly care for someone else. But actually care can be as simple as just being there to make sure that they don't get into trouble. Think about the DLA form for a moment - you have to go into detail about what care you need even if it's only just to be watched at night!

I have ME and I get HRM and MRC and I still 'care' for my youngest. I breastfed for the first 10 months and am around to keep an eye on him 24/7. I can't and don't do it unaided all day but I do 'care' for him for substantially more than 35 hours a week even if it's as little as making sure he's not getting into danger. I can also 'care' for DH when he's at a standstill because of his own illness - I make tea and food, find his painkillers and remind him to eat, go to bed, take his pills etc. which he wouldn't be capable of doing unaided. I then pay the price of having to care rather than be cared for, but by then DH is recovering and takes the brunt again.

DLA is about the care you need, not the care you get. I can't remember the last time we vacuumed but we're warm and fed and safe...

Oh and before anyone says anything - yes, when we did the DLA application, amoung the lists of tasks that I couldn't do we specified parental duties including how I can't always change nappies, do up poppers etc.

GlasweJen

Sorry, just thought I'd butt in. I realise that the OP states they have a diagnosis of ME and that they're going through a rough patch, is this spell where you need care expected to last more than 6 months and has it been going on for 3 months already? If not then you may not be entitled to DLA anyway as this is based on care needs and not diagnosis.