Budget - tougher for DLA claimants

de1amo

my sister is a banker for rich people who arranges their avoidence of tax by moving money about the world --all quite legal if you know how--my sister is a true blue and openly says people who vote conservative and arent extremely rich are mugs--she is doing very nicely in life and can look forward to more juicey pickings--i feel sad for people who think they are conservatives and have no idea how far they are from the reality of life!!

government_slave

24skins wrote: »

My son has severe autism - I'm concerned that he may have to go through a lengthy, confusing medical 'test' which may be to his detriment and, frankly a waste of time when he had the support of six medical professionals in his last DLA claim - that's all.

My son is also severly autistic and i am also concerned about the medical test he will have to go through he hate strangers and people asking him questions because he cant understand them.
I also think its a waste of time and money especially seeing as when he got his life award when he was 16yrs old he was seen by 2 doctors and a pycharatrist before he was granted it so in theory he has already had a medical test so wahts the point in doing it all again.

Prinzessilein

government_slave wrote: »

My son is also severly autistic and i am also concerned about the medical test he will have to go through he hate strangers and people asking him questions because he cant understand them.

I am also Autistic. When I go for medicals (and tribunals) I have my mum with me for moral support and DIAL as my representatives. Your son doesn't have to go through this alone!
All the questions are directed at me, but I don't answer them, my DIAL representative does.

My concern with ATOS is that I will have someone who doesn't understand the problems of Autism and will refuse to let my representative speak on my behalf.

[Deleted User]

This makes interesting reading http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/06/22/114776/medical-assessments-for-dla-claimants-may-not-save-cash.htm

A snippet....

Plans to introduce medical assessments for disability living allowance claimants, announced in today's Budget, may not reduce the benefits bill, as intended.
The proposal, unveiled today by chancellor George Osborne, will be introduced for new and existing claimants from 2013 and is designed to save £360m in 2013-14 and £1,075m in 2014-15.
However, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility, set up by the coalition to scrutinise public spending and taxation, identified disability benefits as one of three areas where the impact of policies announced today by Osborne were uncertain.

deeplyblue

easy wrote: »

OK, Fine.... I tell you what....

Why don't we just dole out £100's every week to every Tom, !!!!!!, & Ethel who says they are too ill to be able to support themselves. No tests, no assessments which might upset them, We'll just tax everyone at a rate of 85% or more to afford it.

This is the real world. The government doesn't have an endless pot of money to give out, no matter how deserving an individual may be.

If we are going to make any benefits available to anyone, they have to be tested to make sure they meet the criteria. Now, no testing process will be perfect. There will always be some who can cheat, and some who can't be correctly assessed, because life is like that.

This is a sensible point. No process is perfect, and disability needs are going to get more expensive with an ageing population. Any government has to decide how it is going to raise and spend public money. But this way of doing it is dishonest. Perhaps they should means-test this benefit, or tax it. Or say that they are re-setting the bar as to how disabled you have to be to get it. Or even abolish it and say, "We can't afford this - sorry, but there you are. We need the money to keep the bank(ers) afloat"

What they do instead is to pretend that they are after "benefit fraud and scroungers," and that the process will restore fairness. Who could object to fair and impartial medical assessment?

However, I think that the posters here who have not gone through the process of claiming DLA (or supported someone else who has) are perhaps not aware of quite how crude the process is. And now the aim is explicitly to cut the numbers claiming the benefit by 20%.

I am most reminded of the operation of Child Support Agency. Many people who worked there have described how they were told to go for the softest targets. "Don't bother with the fathers who go in and out of work, or disappear abroad or don't have a bank account - they cost too much to find and won't pay up anyway. Find a conscientious father who is paying what he can afford, and make him pay more. This will really help our target figures."

This is the model which ATOS follows. They will find the softest targets and then their decision will be used to deny those people benefit. They will use the cheapest staff they can find - quite possibly without adequate English - and tell then to find as many people as possible not eligible for benefits. If they don't meet their targets they will be replaced by people who will.

If necessary, the clerical staff will intervene.

Here's a quotation from a genuine case, where the benefit was subsequently granted on appeal:

Jim Allison, a benefits adviser based in Cumbria, came across one case in which an applicant for Disability Living Allowance had had 20 alterations made to her medical report.

The corrections had the effect of invalidating her claim: only when she decided to appeal did the alterations come to light.

For example, the word "unsteady" had been altered to "steady" when describing her ability to walk.

In another part of the report, the doctor had originally said that she was able to walk 30 metres. The "3" had later been turned into an "8", thereby making it less likely that she would be awarded DLA.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/4995078.stm

If you are blind, or paraplegic, your needs may be obvious and easy to establish. If you have (for example) MS, then it all gets much more difficult - and this sort of condition is not a rarity, it's the straightforward ones which are in the minority. Some people have more needs, or different needs than others. ATOS will assume the best case is true for all cases - that's what they're paid for.

And that's why so many people are worried, even when they know that a fair assessment would see them as fully qualified for help.

db

Indie_Kid

Prinzessilein wrote: »

My concern with ATOS is that I will have someone who doesn't understand the problems of Autism and will refuse to let my representative speak on my behalf.

This is what worries me:
I was born with 2 rare conditions, one as a result of the other. Now, I mentioned on my DLA form that my balance is affected (to the point where I've been asked whether I'm drunk - not helped by eyes that wobble) - medical services said that this is untrue - my balance is not affected. I have never had a medical that proves or disproves this. Anyone with the same condition will tell you the same.

I have however, had tests that state:
- I have a reading age of a 15 year old (I'm 21) - I got told my reading shouldn't be affeted
- I am colour blind
- I have nerve damage to both eyes - hence the colourblindess and poor vision
- My vision is slowly getting worse

When i told the lady on the phone my daughter had Downs, she asked me if she 'developed' the condition or had it from birth.

That's disgraceful! I can understand them asking this question for other conditions (2 that I was born with, can both come on later in life) - but not Downs.

government_slave

Prinzessilein wrote: »

I am also Autistic. When I go for medicals (and tribunals) I have my mum with me for moral support and DIAL as my representatives. Your son doesn't have to go through this alone!
All the questions are directed at me, but I don't answer them, my DIAL representative does.

My concern with ATOS is that I will have someone who doesn't understand the problems of Autism and will refuse to let my representative speak on my behalf.

Thanks for the info but my son has very little speech so he cant answer the questions himself, [he also cannot read or write] I always speak for him even though they ask him the questions directly in the first place thats what confuses him because he doesnt understand the questions all they get is yes to every question and tell them mum.

I am also concerned after reading this and other forums that ATOS wont understand the complexity of Autism.

starchild1972

I have had medical assessments every claim for the past 8 years, so nothing new here really, my rates have gone up and down and finally settled. I have literally just been awarded indefinate but hey ho, if it is the way things are going to be done then it's the way things are to be done.. It's just they won't take GP/specialists word for it anymore.
Too many scammers have made it difficult for the rest of us.

As to remarks that are usually found on here about what DLA should/shouldn't be used for...DH is now wheelchair bound (When we married he was my carer AND he worked full time, now he is also disabled, sometimes life stinks!!!) and used his first payment to buy a PS3 on the advice of his Specialist to improve his hand/eye co-ordination and to stop him going stir-crazy.

government_slave

When i told the lady on the phone my daughter had Downs, she asked me if she 'developed' the condition or had it from birth.
I didn't realise people were that thick![/QUOTE]

Im afraid to say some are and some doctors at that!! I had a doctor once tell me my son would grow out of Autism eventually!!! I was to stunned to speak.

starchild1972

A friend of mine lost her leg in 1979, she was asked last week when was she expected to recover from her injury. She said.."When scientists have found away for legs to grow back".
Many of the peeps we speak to on the phone read off a script and it is automatic.