Budget - tougher for DLA claimants

deeplyblue

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Even bankers could qualify for DLA!

Are you sure? I thought being a Master of the Universe was an exclusion criterion for DLA - you know, if you can walk on water, I bet an ATOS doctor would reckon you could walk on land unaided.

On the other hand some of them probably have MH issues.

db

[Deleted User]

krisskross wrote: »

Of course I don't need DLA. I was merely pointing out that I do use taxis, have medication and have microwaved meals or takeaways when I can't be bothered to cook. Exactly the same as sh1305 in fact

But it appears you are working on the assumption that everyone with a disability 'cant be bothered to cook' and takes advantage of the fact they have extra income to spoil themselves with takaways.

Many people, myself included, would at times put themselves, their family and their neigbours in danger of serious injury or death if they cooked a meal.

Same goes for the taxis. I use a regular firm and have a couple of drivers who attend and know me well and have seen me have seizures. They just take me back home, come back later for the money if they cant get it off me there and then. You think the people on the bus would be so kind. No, they would not. I have been robbed during a seizure nobody much cared and nobody was caught. And once went round a bus route 3 times before the driver noticed I was unconscious on his bus! Even then I just got threw off in depot, left to find my way home with no money quite late at night.

It's about need not desire to take advantage of the extra cash on offer.

cyclonebri1

I don't wish to get too involved with what has become a bit of a cat and dog fight, it won't be resolved on a forum like this so I will just add a few points that I consider relevant. I do claim DLA by the way.

Someone earlier said that the wait for mental health sufferers untill 2013 was cruel. I agree, I suggested it many pages earlier but not purely for MH claimants. Anyone with a worrying disposition will be affected and tyelling someone not to worry if your claim is genuine does not cut it I'm afraid. Personally I would be happier to take a medical today rather than wait those 3 years.:)

Paying directly for "equipment"?
Well in the case of mobility cars this is exactly what does happen.
However in a broader sense why should this only apply to DLA claimants? Imagine telling other people on benefits that they have to provide their Tesco receipt, butchers bill etc before they qualify. Do child benefit claimants spend every penny on the child, or rather have to account for it? No they do not, and asking DLA claims folks to do differently approaches disability discrimination in itself:mad:

Mobility cars? I have a different take on this.
I understand the attraction for some of paying all the mobility component and more to ensure having a new or nearly new car most of the time for a fixed cost but for me that is not the most effective use of that money. I never bought brand new cars when I was fit and fully able and I see no reason to change that phylosophy now. What I save by doing that goes to getting more use out of the car, each to his own

Atos is it? who will carry out these medicals. I too have little faith in this outfit having been through one of their medicals for IB at one time. A medical I might add that did nothing other than exclude me from further need for a medical for 5 years. However the results were totally in my favour but highly innacurate. Also the doctor relied highly on stements I had from various orthopedic surgeons and specialists, hence my earlier query about the weight of previous medical evidence. I also realise that this is much more difficult for MH sufferers, you obviously can't off scans and x rays in support of such cases..

1 question; If someone reaches 65 as it stands at present before 2013, do they "escape" the medical issue? Not that it effects me, I'm a little younger.

Anyway it is all 3 years away and there could be many changes of direction before then and no doubt a whole lot of lobbying etc. We will all just have to wait and see. :T
Just my tupence worth ;)

deeplyblue

Bryando wrote: »

Where does the right to DLA come from? I get £90.00 per week DLA. High care, low mobility. Have mental health problems.

NONE of this goes to anybody to help me! Partner gets Carer's Allowance. Even being on DLA I still have a question and opinion.

Have never got in to my head how I can get £90.00 per week DLA when I have no outgoing due to my health. Or where does the right come from to get DLA, can the UK Govt not just withdraw this? Or does it come from the EU?

DLA has nothing to do with the EU and neither does the NHS, free education, state pensions and most of the paraphernalia of th welfare state.

As to what you get DLA for - I would say that it might be best used giving your partner respite breaks. The carer's allowance is money given to help with the fact that a full-time carer can't work (and also, I think, to protect their NI payment record, so that they are themselves entitled to a state pension). It's hardly generous at ~£60 p.w.

Even the most caring of partners can find the strain of being responsible for someone else wears them down. If you were able to go into respite care, or have someone else stay with you for a few days, then your partner could go away and have a few days not worrying about you 24/7.

A dear friend died recently and I am sure that the lack of any respite from caring (for more than a few hours once a week) for someone with dementia was a major cause of the total breakdown of his own health. He was in his late 70s and had been very fit for his age.

BTW the inability of Social Services to organise anything for him is part of my own distrust of the idea of handing the money to SS to spend. They over-charged him. Once you hand things over to the council, means-testing gets involved, hence the charge. The assistants sent in to help with washing and dressing put in a few extra minutes here and there every day, so that he (and SS!) were being over-charged.

He had been, before retirement, professionally in charge of controlling a large project, and so he complained. Different people dealt with different issues, some replied to emails, some did not. The only efficient ones were the ones demanding payment for the bills he was querying, since they had clearly never been told of a problem. Billing, credit control, carer services, customer services (and maybe, I can't remember this bit) a local councillor all got involved.

He got some results, but the management of the money trail must have taken up lots of time - and, of course, money. But then tracking money in this sort of situation is something that councils are supposed to do properly.

Then one day he collapsed completely - after the morning visit of the assistant. He managed to phone the emergency help number so that SS could arrange for someone to help his partner move around a little, eat, to be reassured and her immediate needs met.

The emergency team told him that he was not on their register. He spent half an hour - using the wireless phone in the bathroom between bouts of vomiting - to convince them that he was on the register. His name had been spelt incorrectly, but the man on the other end of the phone wouldn't check properly.

Eventually someone came out to this emergency call - 5 hours later. And when they came it was to assess his emergency needs - it took an hour for them to fill in the form (again, there were delays whilst he went to throw up), and they went away promising to get someone to help "later." Later (a few hours later) his wife was moved to a hospital for "a few days" (there were NO respite beds available in the region). They never saw each again.

Would this situation have been any better if Social Services had not been involved? I don't know. I do know that he saw a huge diminution of service standards when the council took over respite care services from the NHS. I also know that whatever cost savings which a large organisation might have gained must have been heavily out-weighed by the costs of the bureaucracy - and an inefficiently-run bureaucracy at that.

At the end of this sorry story, there is a moral. If you do nothing else with your DLA (Care) then save it up to give your partner a complete break for a few days several times a year. The cost to the state if your partner's health breaks down is enormous, and respite care is one fairly efficient way to support carers. Unfortunately, it may be that only privately arranged respite is available, or that council-run respite is so unsatisfactory that neither you nor partner can bear using it.

db

DX2

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I don't wish to get too involved with what has become a bit of a cat and dog fight, it won't be resolved on a forum like this so I will just add a few points that I consider relevant. I do claim DLA by the way.

Someone earlier said that the wait for mental health sufferers untill 2013 was cruel. I agree, I suggested it many pages earlier but not purely for MH claimants. Anyone with a worrying disposition will be affected and tyelling someone not to worry if your claim is genuine does not cut it I'm afraid. Personally I would be happier to take a medical today rather than wait those 3 years.:)

The thing is with DLA anyone can be called for a medical and be re assessed at anytime at present, this is why I don't understand the hullabaloo about what is going to happen in three years time.

government_slave

Deeplyblue Carers Allowance isnt £60 per week its just £53.90 and in order to get that pittance you have to be caring for a minimum of 35 hrs a week.

I for one am not worried about my son passing a medical for his DLA and IB [ESA] he is severly Autistic, has behavoural problems and learning disabilities, he is 22yrs old and has the mental age of a 3/4 yr old, he thinks Thomas the tank engine, Bob the builder, etc are real and has rag dolls and teddy bears as his firends!! He cant read or write and has very little speech.
What I am worried about is putting him through all the medicals and him having to be in a room with strangers asking questions, because when he's been there i'm the one who will suffer and be black and blue when he starts hitting, kicking, biting and spitting because he just doesnt understand wat is going on and they changed his routine. We live on a knife edge as it is making sure nothing changes out of his routine [I can make the army look sloopy] so that he doesnt get upset.
If they are going to do the medicals lets do it sooner rather than later then maybe the genuine disabled can get on with their lives without being called ''scroungers''.

[Deleted User]

DX2 wrote: »

The thing is with DLA anyone can be called for a medical and be re assessed at anytime at present, this is why I don't understand the hullabaloo about what is going to happen in three years time.

Exactly, I've had several medicals for DLA over the years, though not every time. The only difference is that it will now be compulsary for every claim or reclaim!

Aputsiaq

government_slave wrote: »

Deeplyblue Carers Allowance isnt £60 per week its just £53.90 and in order to get that pittance you have to be caring for a minimum of 35 hrs a week.

I for one am not worried about my son passing a medical for his DLA and IB [ESA] he is severly Autistic, has behavoural problems and learning disabilities, he is 22yrs old and has the mental age of a 3/4 yr old, he thinks Thomas the tank engine, Bob the builder, etc are real and has rag dolls and teddy bears as his firends!! He cant read or write and has very little speech.
What I am worried about is putting him through all the medicals and him having to be in a room with strangers asking questions, because when he's been there i'm the one who will suffer and be black and blue when he starts hitting, kicking, biting and spitting because he just doesnt understand wat is going on and they changed his routine. We live on a knife edge as it is making sure nothing changes out of his routine [I can make the army look sloopy] so that he doesnt get upset.
If they are going to do the medicals lets do it sooner rather than later then maybe the genuine disabled can get on with their lives without being called ''scroungers''.

These medicals cant be "got out of the way" as you put it. They will be on going.

government_slave

_shel wrote: »

Exactly, I've had several medicals for DLA over the years, though not every time. The only difference is that it will now be compulsary for every claim or reclaim!

Same here. My son hasn't had a penny DLA or IB since his first claim that he hasnt gone throught a medical check first. When he was 16yrs old an independant ''Government'' appointed doctor came to assess him and awarded him DLA for life. The same was applied to IB which he started to receive when he was 21 we had to travel over 2hrs away to see that ''Government'' doctor.
Him being reassessed is pointless and a waste of money in opinion if anything he is worse not better.

government_slave

Aputsiaq wrote: »

These medicals cant be "got out of the way" as you put it. They will be on going.

What i meant to say was start them now not in 2013.