Should DLA be means tested?

Yuki60

auditbabe wrote: »

This is where I believe the system is in fault, to get the badge I had to claim the benefit before I considered I was in need, this is where the system needs to be looked at. Maybe this is where people who don't need the DLA are, like me they needed the badge but not the money.

Absolutely agree with that. Don't think you should need to be in receipt of DLA to get a blue badge. There must be another system of deciding need apart from DLA. Blue badges have always bothered me though. A peeve of mine. There are people in genuine need whether through physical or mental illness, but many abuse it. I know someone who has a slight limp because of a smashed foot around 20 years years ago which left him with a very hard to see limp. Yet this man is able to walk for days and miles through disneyworld once a year, never use a crutch, timekeep for swimming association walking up and down the poolside etc. His wife who is in no way disabled drives the car a lot too and uses the badge whether her husband is there or not. It bothers me that people in genuine need are getting turned down, while others who are perfectly capable of walking are getting them.

Yuki60

karatedragon wrote: »

Personally I think they should leave disabled benefits alone. However I think child benefits should be looked into. Why should people get money off the taxpayer for knocking out sprogs? If they can't afford to reproduce then the answer is simple. Dont reproduce.

If I got myself a dog I wouldn't get cash of the state to keep it.

I will vote for any party that creates a "single person's working tax credit". Single working people get sod all basically. Yet we have to support ourselves on one income. Knock out a couple of sprogs and bang - open cheque book.

How arrogant is this post. Sprogs? Lets hope you never become a parent if that's how you refer to children. Secondly there are many children who's parents were married and later divorced who's income later dropped because of that. It's not income tested anyway, so has nothing to do with what money they have. My God, take a deep breath and look at your post as most other people would see it. It's ignorant and ill informed.

ellie43

I don't think DLA should be means tested. As others have pointed out it would be expensive to administer. I always worked and paid tax and NI before I became ill. I now get a small occupational ill health pension which is taxed. I get IB which is capped because of the pension, then taxed. The interest, such as it is, on savings (apart from ISA's) is taxed.

The dla pays for my motability car with a hoist and the care component pays for a cleaner, or will do when we can find a reliable one!. I purchased an powered wheelchair from savings as I am too unwell to propel a manual wheelchair. My husband looks after me does all the shopping, cooking and household tasks. He is a full time postman and we just get by. We do have some savings built up when I was working, but they are being eroded. We have just had an enormous gas bill because I need to keep the house warm because of my illness. The extra expenses associated with disability are not always obvious.

This is not an easy option and I would love to be well enough to work.

If DLA was means tested it would probably be at IS level and we would certainly struggle. I don't know what we would do about a car, even though it is a necessity living in a rural area. It is scary that I am in my mid 40's, have always been financially independent and then be told that I will never be well enough to work again. If DLA was means tested it would penalise me for building up some savings when I was working and for paying into a pension scheme.

rosysparkle

I don't think DLA should be means tested.

I work (just had to drop from full to part time) so if it was means tested I wouldn't get it, yet I have extra costs due to my disabilities which I would still need to pay for.

lolababy

There is a working tax credit for single working people, though what its got to do with the thread I dont know!.

johnwayne

Tally-Ho wrote: »

I work in the Blue Badge department for a large shire county local authority. We follow the DfT guidance to the letter.

However, it is guidance and not an authoritive statement of law. Hence the next county to us, does not strictly follow the guidance and has its own policy with regard to discretionary issue.

The actual regulations,
The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000

as amended by the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007

do leave 'room for manouvre' by local authorties on the discretionary issue question.

It is a difficult quandry because if the regulations were tighter and rigidly specified, it would rule out a lot of the discretion, whereas they currently do afford local authorities a degree of leeway in its discretion. However it is this degree of leeway (or lack of it by certain authorities) that causes the problem.

The guidance is supposed to be a sort of 'happy medium' between strict regulation and discretion, but is only guidance.

Tally

I enquired about a blue badge in my county and was told that the only way that I could get one was to be in receipt of higher rate mobility.

They will issue them for other reasons but mine would come under the criteria which is the same as the HRM but I would only be entitled to a BB if I were the driver of a vehicle!

I cant drive due to my disabilities so am going to have to wait and see if my application for DLA is successfull before I can get a badge.

System

i always thought sprog sounded "cute"

shazrobo

sunnyone wrote: »

So how would you do that?

Many people get HRC but have no extra disability costs, as I said earlier in the thread the purpose of changing AA/DLA is to remove DLA from some groups such as MH claimants who dont pay for care/aids.

If SS get the money only people who need carers will get anything at all, thats after the money goes on other things as has happend to the extra cash given by the goverment to help carers.

If you are disabled you have extra costs and thats across the board for all DLA claimants, we all have diffrent needs and many of them arnt recognised by SS, they can cope with personel care but not most of the things that we need.

who says MH claiments dont pay for care costs?
as someone who often needs someone with them to keep them safe when things are really bad, i do pay for care costs

daska

Tally-Ho wrote: »

I work in the Blue Badge department for a large shire county local authority. We follow the DfT guidance to the letter.

However, it is guidance and not an authoritive statement of law. Hence the next county to us, does not strictly follow the guidance and has its own policy with regard to discretionary issue.

The actual regulations,
The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000

as amended by the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007

do leave 'room for manouvre' by local authorties on the discretionary issue question.

It is a difficult quandry because if the regulations were tighter and rigidly specified, it would rule out a lot of the discretion, whereas they currently do afford local authorities a degree of leeway in its discretion. However it is this degree of leeway (or lack of it by certain authorities) that causes the problem.

The guidance is supposed to be a sort of 'happy medium' between strict regulation and discretion, but is only guidance.

Tally

That's fair, but to limit it only to people currently in receipt of HRM is not fair to those who are waiting for a decision, to those who are waiting on appeal or those who are unable to apply for it i.e. anyone over 65.

It's also fair to say "there is guidance and therefore you need to state why you are rejecting that guidance".

Indie_Kid

shazrobo wrote: »

who says MH claiments dont pay for care costs?
as someone who often needs someone with them to keep them safe when things are really bad, i do pay for care costs

Exactly. And for those who are working, there might also be the cost of medication.