DLA Troubles - ATOS liars!

clemmatis

krisskross wrote: »

Well yes but I thought the issue was disabled people who are unable to peel, chop and cook from scratch. Thought we were looking for alternatives.

That is indeed the main issue, I think -- peel, chop, lift and move saucepans, etc.; though there are other reasons why the "cooking test" might apply.

There's case law discussion here:

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/dlalaw.htm#Cooking

krisskross

My extremely elderly neighbour has a 2 course freshly cooked hot meal delivered 5 days a week. Cost is£3.25 a day. Another benefit for her is she sees someone 5 days a week even if only for 5 minutes when the delivery is made. She has fish and chips on the 6th day and just a sandwich on the 7th.

So LRC DLA would completely pay for her main meals without her having to cook, shop or even touch any other money she receives.

clemmatis

krisskross wrote: »

My extremely elderly neighbour has a 2 course freshly cooked hot meal delivered 5 days a week. Cost is£3.25 a day. Another benefit for her is she sees someone 5 days a week even if only for 5 minutes when the delivery is made. She has fish and chips on the 6th day and just a sandwich on the 7th.

So LRC DLA would completely pay for her main meals without her having to cook, shop or even touch any other money she receives.

Meals on Wheels? That isn't always available, and some councils say anybody who can put a frozen ready meal in a microwave must use a frozen meals service (weekly delivery) instead. A very elderly and ill neighbour who asked for Meals on Wheels was told to use Wiltshire Farm Foods. (She didn't actually want Meals on Wheels, the meals, locally anyway, don't taste that good and aren't that healthy -- they aren't freshly cooked - but she needed such a service.) Your neighbour's lucky.

Social Services here arranged Meals on Wheels for me at a time when I couldn't even put a ready meal into an oven. The (reheated, very small portion) meals didn't taste very good, but that was no problem for me: I wolf down hospital cottage pie. They were unhealthy, that was, but I was only taking them for a short time. There was no choice, but I imagine you'd say, tough.


I agree, LRC DLA would cover the cost of 5/6 Meals on Wheels if available, and also, almost cover 7 of Wiltshire Farm Foods' main courses (unhealthy as they are).

Now: what about the other care needs of people whose hands are so damaged, whose loss of fine motor control is so pronounced, that they get DLA because of the "cooking test"?

leamingtonspaceman

Hammyman wrote: »

Without knowing what your condition is, we cannot comment on the "disease of your own making".

Why is it that people always want to know what the posters condition is? Not everybody wants to discuss that aspect of their situation on here.

The OP never asked for anybody's comments on their disease...just relayed information about their condition that was made on the DLA assessment. What the OP wanted to know was about their rights and responsibilities when it comes to making a recording of the assessment.

I wish people would read posts properly and only make comments on those concerns the OP has requested help with. This makes posts go way off topic quite early on...and this thread now has almost nothing to do with the OP's initial question.

Good luck OP. I would record the assessment covertly. You never need to reveal that you made a recording and if you need to 'refer' to anything that was said, you can always say that you 'remembered' the ATOS assessor saying it...even though you have taken it from your recording.

You could even have another person there taking notes and then any information from the recordings could be stated as being taken from the observers notes.

Anubis_2

Now: what about the other care needs of people whose hands are so damaged, whose loss of fine motor control is so pronounced, that they get DLA because of the "cooking test"?

There is also the issue of one meal a day is not enough even if someone gets meals on wheels. Are they expected to just have a main meal at say 5pm, then wait 24 hours before anything else.... They would have to buy in for breakfast and dinner, toiletries, washing powder and all the other things needed for the home, so the need to shop would be there.

Anubis_2

leamingtonspaceman wrote: »

Why is it that people always want to know what the posters condition is? Not everybody wants to discuss that aspect of their situation on here.

The OP never asked for anybody's comments on their disease...just relayed information about their condition that was made on the DLA assessment. What the OP wanted to know was about their rights and responsibilities when it comes to making a recording of the assessment.

I wish people would read posts properly and only make comments on those concerns the OP has requested help with. This makes posts go way off topic quite early on...and this thread now has almost nothing to do with the OP's initial question.

Good luck OP. I would record the assessment covertly. You never need to reveal that you made a recording and if you need to 'refer' to anything that was said, you can always say that you 'remembered' the ATOS assessor saying it...even though you have taken it from your recording.

You could even have another person there taking notes and then any information from the recordings could be stated as being taken from the observers notes.

This is advisable - make sure someone takes notes and if you are recording it covertly, the person can take notes regarding other areas, such as time arrived, time left, medical tests carried out etc.

Hammyman

wantsajob wrote: »

Does DLA actually fund such help though? For example, someone has difficulty cooking and can only cook microwave meals. They get the low rate DLA of about £20 a week. I couldn't hire a chef for £20 a week.

The person in question can cook a microwave meal. Microwave meals cost more than producing a meal with basic ingredients so the £20 is to pay towards the additional cost of having to buy microwave meals.

krisskross

Anubis wrote: »

There is also the issue of one meal a day is not enough even if someone gets meals on wheels. Are they expected to just have a main meal at say 5pm, then wait 24 hours before anything else.... They would have to buy in for breakfast and dinner, toiletries, washing powder and all the other things needed for the home, so the need to shop would be there.

Well of course it would. I was simply pointing out that LRC DLA would easily pay for the provision of a hot midday meal. I was not suggesting that the DLA would be INSTEAD of her pension which presumably she uses to pay for her other needs.

You honestly do post rubbish sometimes in your pathetic attempts to prove me wrong.

BTW you still haven't told me which farmers will deliver fresh (picked in last 24 hrs!) veg to my door. Oh i keep forgetting that you have me on ignore and can't see my posts :-)

leamingtonspaceman

Hammyman wrote: »

The person in question can cook a microwave meal. Microwave meals cost more than producing a meal with basic ingredients so the £20 is to pay towards the additional cost of having to buy microwave meals.

OFF

leamingtonspaceman

krisskross wrote: »

Well of course it would. I was simply pointing out that LRC DLA would easily pay for the provision of a hot midday meal. I was not suggesting that the DLA would be INSTEAD of her pension which presumably she uses to pay for her other needs.

You honestly do post rubbish sometimes in your pathetic attempts to prove me wrong.

BTW you still haven't told me which farmers will deliver fresh (picked in last 24 hrs!) veg to my door. Oh i keep forgetting that you have me on ignore and can't see my posts :-)

OFF