Budget - tougher for DLA claimants

Indie_Kid

blue_monkey wrote: »

You can only apply for DLA if you have a condition that is going to last a good time, you cannot claim for a broken leg for example, so how do you know if depression is going to last 6 weeks or 6 years? Which is why DLA is not an appropriate benefit for Depression. Sick pay, LHA, IB yes, but DLA no.

If someone gets better after 6 months do you think they are going to call the DWP and say they do not need the money any more?

Depression doesn't ust go away overnight. I've had mine for 8 years. I am not going to suddenly wake up tomorrow and be cured.

[Deleted User]

blue_monkey wrote: »

And there are those of us that HAVE got through it without the need to ask for benefits. I can personally speak from experience.

As I stated before, had the option been there not to work and to get money for nothing then yes, I probably would have done, I'd have popped some more pills no doubt. Only I did not have that option as it never existed when I was ill. I had just a few days off work in that time and was certainly never signed off for a length of time, I am sure I was a joy to be around but my work kept me going. If work got tough - as it sometimes did, as did the people I worked with - I looked for something else and moved on. I had no friends or family around me, no one I could talk to, no internet forums such as this, no-one to give me money when I had none, I lived on supernoodles and chips but hey ho. I did it because I had to do it. I'd spend my nights crying when life got too tough but I'd go into work the next day - because I had to.

DLA has nothing to do with not working and being dependent on benefits for lots of people. It allows many to go out to work by providing for the additional costs associated with their disability. Allowing them to be at least partially independent and not fully reliant on the state. Paying their taxes which in turn help others.

The difference these days is that because there is this dependancy on benefits there is no incentive for people to get better.

Thats if you assume everyone on DLA claims is claimnig due to curable conditions or the old 'dodgy back'.
Not everyone can get better, many have lifelong and chronic conditions. I have epilepsy for which I have had brain surgery and it's still there, it aint going to go away. I was born with it, I'll suffer with it and I'll die with it. And guess what I'll still go out to work each day because I get satisfaction from it and like that I can provide for myself even if I need some support.

SNIP

Just because you wanted to be a martyr and struggle along without support or medication does not mean everyone can!

If I didnt take my medication I'd likely die chocking on my own tongue. If I didnt recieve personal and financial support I'd probably not be able to go out to work and would become fully dependent on the state.

blue_monkey_2

SingleSue wrote: »

Blue Monkey - That was the way I looked at it.....as it was, it took 5 years and I am still recovering now.

Sue, mine has been 22 years. You NEVER fully recover in my opinion because what happens to give you that depression is always there. nothing can take it away, however you learn to live with things and deal with them your own way and the best you can.

However, today I feel thankful that I am still here.

Indie_Kid

blue_monkey wrote: »

So if you get HRM by lying and then use that benefit to get a car you have not had a free car? Hmmm. In both cases I know the families would not have been able to afford a new car yet they got one by lying on the forms to get awarded HRM. Interesting.

Many have to pay an advanced payment or money for adaptions. The car isn't free because it comes out of your benefits money. You don't get the car and the money.

blue_monkey_2

sh1305 wrote: »

Depression doesn't ust go away overnight. I've had mine for 8 years. I am not going to suddenly wake up tomorrow and be cured.

Yep, I already quoted on that, mine has been with me for 22 years. But to claim DLA for it? No, not appropriate at all.

Tomorrow something could start to take me over the edge again but the most I'd claim is sick pay because I could not work, certainly not DLA.

lilac_lady

I don't think that a car would be so sought after if the model was the old style 3wheeler with room only for the disabled person.

I'm not saying that should happen but something's got to change.

blue_monkey_2

sh1305 wrote: »

Many have to pay an advanced payment or money for adaptions. The car isn't free because it comes out of your benefits money. You don't get the car and the money.

Both people in this case didn't. They got benefit money they were not entitled too. That is fraud and stealing. Yes, they got a free car by lying. Because the forms are too easy to fill in for someone who is determined to get something for nothing.

And the ones in real need are struggling to fill the forms in.

covlass

sh1305 wrote: »

DLA for children is based on them having needs above that of a child their own age. The diagnosis is irrelevant.

Yes I do understand but there is a big difference between what a 4 year old and a 13 year old should be able to do

Indie_Kid

blue_monkey wrote: »

Both people in this case didn't. They got benefit money they were not entitled too. That is fraud and stealing. Yes, they got a free car by lying. Because the forms are too easy to fill in for someone who is determined to get something for nothing.

And the ones in real need are struggling to fill the forms in.

Do you have access to their medical records? Are you with them 24/7?

[Deleted User]

de1amo wrote: »

that could be read as 'all claimants from 2013-14 as in ones making a claim from then--my claim was long ago accepted!!

But you will have to renew that claim at some point. A claimant is anyone claiming the benefit even if they have been getting it since it started way back in 1993. And as another poster has said the DLA have confirmed even indefinite award holders will be given a medical.