Oh the irony!!!

eskimo26

ESA is for people with a limited capacity for work as has been mentioned, your dad on the other hand does not sound capable from the little info you've given us. I would go for DLA from the way you describe the help he needs he fits the criteria though i haven't got much to go on, take a look yourself you know his disability best.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/disabledpeople/financialsupport/dg_10011731

Who helps him to the bathroom? are you caring for him?

dori2o

eskimo26 wrote: »

ESA is for people with a limited capacity for work as has been mentioned, your dad on the other hand does not sound capable from the little info you've given us. I would go for DLA from the way you describe the help he needs he fits the criteria though i haven't got much to go on, take a look yourself you know his disability best.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/disabledpeople/financialsupport/dg_10011731

Who helps him to the bathroom? are you caring for him?

Its my mum who helps him.

He's not capable. It's been quite amazing that in less than 2 and a half years he'sgone from being a plumber who had a bad back and had to be careful of what he was doing but managed to do so, to a man who has so little mobility.

If ESA is not suitable what benefit should he try and claim? Income support? would he need to end his ESA claim first if he was to do this?

He has the DLA forms and I'm truing to help him fill in his as I have just filled in mine.

von

The OP does not go into detail of what her father's illness is so how can you comment about it? He may be able to claim DLA at the moment but that does not mean he is not fit for some kind of employment. The whole point of ESA is to distinguish between those who are incapable for work and those who are able to work if given the right job and conditions.

Indie_Kid

dori2o wrote: »

If ESA is not suitable what benefit should he try and claim? Income support? would he need to end his ESA claim first if he was to do this?

He can only claim IS if he's a lone parent of a child under 7, carer or a few other things (can't quite remember what, for now) that probably don't apply to him.

dori2o

My dad has 5 prolapsed disks, 3 in his neck and 2 at the bottom of his back. the ones in his neck cannot be operated on due to the nature of their position. He has sciatica, IBS and spondylosis ( a degenerative disease which will never get better only worse). he also has a problem where his tendons in his shoulder have fused to bones in places they ought not to have.

All the problems (other than IBS) he has are related to the trade he has worked in for 40 years (plumbing and heating), in that 40 years he has never claimed JSA, and has had less than 4 weeks sick in that time (less than 1 week for every 10 years) before November 2009.

He has a GP he has been seeing for over 20 years, and 2 specialist consultants at the hospital (one spinal and one orthopaedic) who he has been seeing for approx 3 years. All these people, who have 20+ years experience each, have all declared that my Dad will never go back to work, even at a dest type job as he cannot sit without being in pain. He cannot walk more than 100m at a time without having to stop, he cannot get to the toilet alone or get in and out of bed without help.

eskimo26

von wrote: »

The OP does not go into detail of what her father's illness is so how can you comment about it? He may be able to claim DLA at the moment but that does not mean he is not fit for some kind of employment. The whole point of ESA is to distinguish between those who are incapable for work and those who are able to work if given the right job and conditions.

Your absolutely right! And when he needs the loo one of his co-workers can take him right? :T

Its not rocket science, here is one of the DLA criteria:

your disability is severe enough for you to need help caring for yourself or someone to supervise you, for your own or someone else's safety, or you have walking difficulties, or both

Here is what she has said:
needs help going to the loo
has little mobility

I mean really hello is anyone there? Get your head out the clouds please and exercise some common sense. Where do these trolls come from?

Anyway like i said he MIGHT qualify from the little information you gave as i've shown above. Also as i said previously you know him best so take a look at the DLA criteria in the link i gave you.

Look at making a DLA claim unless something in that link doesn't fit with his circumstances.

Also take a look here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CaringForSomeone/MoneyMatters/CarersAllowance/DG_10012522

Maybe your mother is eligible but you haven't given any info on her so i can't really say.

I would say start there with the DLA so get in touch with CAB or a benefits adviser at the job centre.

would he need to end his ESA claim first if he was to do this?

I'm not sure you need to speak to CAB or a benefits adviser and ask them definitively when will the benefit stop. You need to know because in theory it may well be they could stop it tomorrow and insist he goes on JSA. I mean he has no more work focused interviews so forearmed is forewarned.

von

eskimo26 - I didn't say he wasn't entitled to claim DLA did I and don't be so rude as to call me a troll!

dori2o

Forgot to add, he has no feeling at all in his left leg, it is numb. he has what he calls cramp in his left arm all the time he cannot hold anything tightly in his left hand i.e. knife, potato peeler, pan, etc which for him is bad as he's left handed. All this time in his trade he's had to get around the fact he's left handed as years ago tools were not made specifically for lefties. especially pliers, tin snips etc.

Sixer

OP: I hope you get things sorted for your father.

Reading on this forum, I'm getting more and more depressed about the utter failure of government to create public awareness and understanding of the benefits system. On the one hand, we've got a tranche of people fuelled by irresponsible media who are convinced every claimant is a shyster, deserves no more than one bar of an electric fire in one room to keep warm, beans on toast for tea, and should walk 60 miles in the snow to a part time job at minimum wage and be grateful. On the other, we've got a totally counter-intuitive system that finds fault with people who are genuinely doing their best and utterly fails to help them make the most of their lives.

This is all counter-intuitive again, isn't it? People don't understand how they're disabled for DLA purposes but fit for work for ESA purposes. It makes sense if you understand the system, but ONLY if you understand the system.