advice needed

dee_mum_of_3

Ive just applied for DLA for my son who is 13- The application was posted on Thursday and on Saturday morning I got a letter from them saying they had written to the consultant,is this unusually quick? is this good or normal? and can anyone explain to me what the rates are??

thanks

ladylumps45

hi dee:D.
there are 2 different components of dla.these are care and mobility.if your son is awarded the higher rate of mobility he will be able to get a new car on the motability scheme which is when they take the 49.00 (not sure on the pence)and pay it to the mobility people instead of paying it to you.but you can have the money instead.
also if he is awarded middle rate or higher for the care component then you can be his carer and get 53.10 a week as long as you are looking after him for around 35 hours or more a week (again,not sure on the exact amount).i would say that its good they have written to consultant so soon .maybe they are on top of the backlog.

ladylumps45

forgot to say,to get carers allowance you must be working less than so many hours a week
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/FinancialSupport/DisabilityLivingAllowance/index.htm

ladylumps45

take a look at the info that ive given you a link to.it will explain it better.i get middle rate care and high rate mobility.as i have a mobility car i only get paid for the care component which i get about 180 pounds per month.

dee_mum_of_3

\o Hi Lady lumps, Thanks for your help its all new to us, I dont think hes 'bad' enough to get higher or middle rates -he has M.E /cfs and I think its one of those illnesses you have a difficult time to 'prove' unfortunately hes been ill for about 5 years gradually getting worse,so im unable to work as he needs such a lot of time off school (hes currently on 50% attendance and the consultant has adviced part time schooling).

Any advice anyone can give id be really gratefull.

Also as I filled in the form I did find parts quite tricky am I ok to assume I filled it in ok if they have now written to the consultant or might it yet be returned and I need to add more info?

ladylumps45

youre welcome.i doubt whether the form will be returned to you for more info.they will probably go by what the consultant says .be prepared for a long wait! good luck with your son and i hope the outcome is good for you both.

dee_mum_of_3

Thanks,I think our consultant is quite 'on top' she had written to school within a fortnight advising them of my sons diagnosis and her advice to help him cope in school.

Having said that you never can tell can you,anyway at least we are 'on our way' now- Im not holding my hopes up that we will get it because it all seems very stringent.

mad_spaniel

has your son been statemented...? does he get special support at school...? this can count towards his care needs.. how often does he have the help of a classroom assistant? how does he get from room to room...? any special provisions/ help from staff/ school mates before during or after school. or at exam times? Is he excused from PE? What's his attendance record at school like? Does he ever have home tutoring? special equipment. Don't just rely on the consultant to back up what you say.. get as much independant professional support from people who know and deal with your son regulalry.
CFS ? DLA tends to be suspicious of adult claims -... I suspect a child claimant will be "more believable" becasue they will be less able to say it's depression under another name. The DWP site has a handbook on medical conditions under the specialist/ advisers section. I think it would be very useful to see what assumptions they make and sort out any "confusions" early on in the claim.

dee_mum_of_3

Hi there 'mad' ,No he's not statemented,he gets on well at school when he is able to attend although school can see it if he's at school and hes worn down,he never looks particular well and that has been mentioned many many times,the provision in school is that he has a pastoral worker to whom he can go to if he needs help or to rest,he can be excused from any lesson at any time he feels he cant stay,he rarely does P.E although he greatly enjoys it the consequences are fat to much his attendance is just over 50% we have just received a letter from the LEA informing us that our G.P has said any absence is covered by Sams condition and the consultant at the hospital wrote to the LEA and to school suggesting part time schooling and making them aware of the illness and how it affects our son, when he is off school he really is too ill to learn but I did have to home educate him for a long time because he was at a very low peak.

School are being as supportive as my son will allow he hates this illness and hates to be different .

Hes been reffered for counselling to help him come to terms with it and will see a physio soon.

We have had over 5 years of this with lots of tests lots of ill health and because he didnt seem to be 'growing out of it',so this diagnosis hasnt been an easy task.

I have never applied before feeling hopeful he would soon recover but now we have a firm diagnosis and with there being no 'cure' as such I am concerned for his future and thats why I set the ball rolling.

I seem to be getting a letter a day of the DLA people saying they are awaiting info from the consultant.

I do think if it gets awarded it will be a small miracle because some of the time our son is a regular (if exhausted and pale) teen and others he is entirely bedridden - and if you didnt live with cfs you wouldnt believe it.

Invasion

Hey

I'm 17 and have ME, it took 2 appeals before I got the levels of award that I wanted- and had been advised I was entitled to- took 5 months of hard work, lots of tears from the utter disbelief and LIES I was sent in letters, but I now have highest rate mobility, and low rate care- though I actually reckon if I'd pushed I could've got MRC, just didn't have anything left in me to fight for it!! ME/CFS is one of those illnesses that is very often turned down at first, but 70% will get an award on appeal. I think luckily -or not :P- for me, my illness doesn't fluctuate much, I'm on a VERY strict pacing regime, and so am pretty constant in how I feel- like crap mostly this did make it a lot easier to fill out my forms, it's only ever this way, or worse, cos this is as good as i get currently.

Remember that DLA is based on most of the time, if you have one better day, where you can be out of bed for more than a couple of hours, every 2 weeks, then that's not a true representation of what your needs are etc.

Keep hoping for recovery, don't let an award stop you, but think of it as an enablement to do more and make things easier for however long it takes

Also, AYME, are a great support to young people with ME, 26 or under, worth joining if you haven't already It's free, and they have a bi-monthly magazine as well as forum.

daska

Just for a bit of reassurance, I also have ME and both my DLA applications awarded HRM and MRC without any need for reconsideration or appeal. I put it down to making sure we filled in the form very carefully.

The other thing is, if he is awarded MRC and you're not working you should be able to claim 'Carer's Allowance' and possibly Dependant Adult Allowance. You don't mention whether you're working, have a partner or how old your other children are but if they're all over 12 and you're not working it's worth claiming this as child benefit for over 12s no longer comes with HRP (Home Responsibilities Protection). Carer's allowance does give you this - one of the few 'perks'.