Disability and residential care

confusedNat

hi , I am hoping someone can discuss with me how things work regarding disability payments and care.

my son is 16 and has aspergers syndrome.
He has been offered a place in a unit to help support his needs.
It would be 4 nights a week there and 3 nights at home.

we are still looking into other options however if we were to take up this offer of help , am I right in believing that we will loose all disability payment ?

Indie_Kid

What disability payments? DLA or ESA?

confusedNat

He gets DLA only.

Indie_Kid

Young people who are in residential care or at a residential boarding school will not be paid the care component of DLA when they have been resident for more than 4 weeks - but they can be paid the care component for each day that they are home, for example, at weekends or school holidays.
The mobility component of DLA is unaffected by stays in residential care or boarding school. Parents / carers or appointees have to fill in a claim form for the days the young person is at home.

Source - http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Disability+Living+Allowance?opendocument

confusedNat

Thank you thats great ,
I looked everywhere for that information.

southantrim3

If your son goes into funded accomodation then he will lose the care component but not the disability component. If he is self-funding, then he keeps both. Payments may be suspended while his funding gets investigation but should then be re-instated once confirmed.