DLA - the purpose

Penny-Pincher!!

Morglin-I wasnt going to bother replying in this thread as I feel totally like you. Sounds like you have the same illnesses as me, but I have only paid in 12years on taxes and stamp as im only 32.

My husband is my FT carer and I feel sorry for him. I would hate doing what he has to do for me, but would coz I love him:D I hate the fact that I have to use a stairlift indoors, a walk in shower and use a wheelchair:o

I would much rather be well, pain free and continue to live my life doing the things i want to do.

PP
xx

code-a-holic

I see DLA as helping with the costs of a disability. I recieve the higher rate of DLA. Im only 22 and have only paid 3 years of tax and N.I.
Personally, i feel awful that im reciving money that many have put in the pot for many years. But i am entitled to it and it helps me and my family a lot.
My disability does not have a name - still under investigation after 3 years of pain and tears and i wish it would go away. but it looks like im stuck with it and may even worsen with years.
I dont think it should be means tested. But i do think there should be a way of making it harder for those who really could live without or dont really have a disability that effects their life.

Some think i shouldnt recieve DLA becuase of my age and i havnt paid years of N.I. or i get on with running a house and 3 kids. I have no choice, cant afford my husband to not work either, the money is there from DLA to make these easier by paying for a cleaner etc - id like them to try me for a day! Have not lay flat for 3 years, sit on a bed or floor and i need help and manipulation on the hip to get up. limited movement of right arm, walk with a stick some days, so much pain constantly that i didnt know i was in labour and still had clothes on when she emerged!

shameless-about-money

Morglin wrote:

"As far as I am aware he does want it, dont know many

OP - I think perhaps you are confusing Care Allowance (DLA), with Carers Allowance.......which is paid to a carer.

You have never had to have equipment or a carer to claim DLA - it is awarded purely on the NEEDS you have (whether you have a carer or not is up to you).

Mobility component (DLA) is based purely on any mobility issues - whether you obtain a car through Motability (assuming high rate) or use it for public transport is also up to the person getting it.

As for it being "free money"...........well, I worked and paid in for 24 years and have my disability, in part, because of our not-so lovely NHS (as has OH who paid in for many more years than me), so I don't actually consider it "free".

Why should it be means-tested?

Why should we be penalised because we paid into private pensions?

We still have the "needs" and we still have the mobility problems.

I am so tired of hearing about "free money" and "free cars" and benefit fraud............perhaps those that feel it's all so lovely would like to live with my disability 24/7?

Do people honestly think anyone (with a brain) would sooner have the hassles/discomfort/pain of disability in order to claim some money, rather than a healthy working existence?

Unlike my job (when I had one) my disability doesn't turn off at 5pm - it's always there.

I shall now be at the hospital most of the morning seeing my neurologist and my rheumatalogist having probably unpleasant tests and being poked around............so perhaps the OP will forgive me if I use a little of my "free money" and stop, on the way home (in my Motability car) to buy myself a decent bottle of white wine to cheer me up.;)

Lin :rolleyes:

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Having been backwards and forwards to the hospital to see my Rheumatologist and to my GP - 37 visits in one year - when I hardly ever used to see my GP at all.

I went from being fit and healthy and working 10 hours per day self-employed to being hardly able to put one foot in front of the other - all in the space of three months.

The man who hit the nail home for me was the Dealer at the Ford garage when I placed my order for my car on the Motability Scheme.
We were discussing the benefits of the scheme and he said

"it is a fantastic scheme and I wish I could have it myself but I don't want to have your medical problems in order to get it"

Exactly

Astaroth

Ok.... no direct attacks on me but a few shots across the bow....

Firstly, in defence of my friend... I am well aware that he give much more to charity than the money he receives on DLA and does a fair amount of voluntary work. If you dont like his jovial approach to the benefits he receives from being deaf then that would be something to take up with him, perhaps it is just his way of dealing with his disability.

A number of people have queried why they shouldnt get something just because they have saved money/ have a high paid job/ invested in a pension... I guess this question shows 2 fundamental different views - do people have a God given right to benefits and therefore it must be demonstrated that they shouldnt get them or that benefits are for "emergencies" only/ those who cannot support themselves and shouldnt be given to everyone just because they have been unlucky, decided to stop taking the pill etc

Filigree - I am not saying that DLA is only given to those that are receiving care but that sites, eg RNID, state that DLA is only given to those that require "human" care (irrespective of if they receive it or not) and that it will not be awarded if your life can be managed purely by the purchase of additional equipment. If the RNID is correct then to me it seems odd that it is paid to the claimant and someone who may be a part time carer for someone inelligable for the carers allowance receives nothing for their efforts.

If it is for anyone who can demonstrate sufficient disability then, on a purely theoretical basis, it seems odd that it should be given to people like my friend who clearly doesnt need it, pays hundred times more in tax and donates more to charities than received. Whilst I wouldnt wish disability on anyone and certainly dont think that people getting the pittyful amount that DLA often is are getting a free ride I cannot understand why society should pay everyone with a certain level of disability a flat sum of money - but perhaps I have my judgement coloured by my friend saying it is "pity money"

earthmother

Whilst I do think the OPs friend is taking the mick a bit having applied for DLA when he is currently not in need of the extra finances, I really do not think means testing is the way to go - all it will do is discount many of those who really need the money - after all, since when are any means tested figures sets at levels that apply to real life, and the extra stress from the extra forms would stop even more applying.

However, I can also in some respects understand why he has applied - as another poster has already pointed out, if you do not receive DLA prior to 65, you don't qualify for it afterwards - and from what I have heard on all accounts AA is far more difficult to receive (partly because you now also have the age factor to prove - ie that your problems aren't just age related) - so I imagine in some part he is trying to secure his future once he retires.


I am full time carer for my husband - who received full DLA for both Care and Mobility. At 37, he hates being in a position that means he qualifies for it, but without it, he would literally never leave the house - DLA pays for our car as his problems prevent him accessing any form of public transport, including taxis.

And without it, he would not be able to do many of the things he does around the house - it pays for special grip pens so he can write a letter or do a crossword, various aids and appliances so that he can peel a potato, pour a kettle, hold a knife and fork, pick up something he's dropped on the floor etc.

Just this week, the Red Cross have delivered a hospital bed (long term loan) - this is the first time in over 18 months he has slept anywhere but upright on the sofa because of the pains he has - but without the DLA I would have taken his place on that sofa - it enabled us to buy a cheap single bed so that we can finally sleep in the same room again, and paid for the new bedding needed for both.

In a few months, when we have saved up again, it will hopefully pay for a rise/recline chair, so that he can sit comfortably again during the day (the sofa having not fared well this past 18 months, and his wheelchair not being the ideal solution in the house).

All are things that would never occur without the DLA award.


But he would far prefer to be fit again - to be able to take his children to the park, earn a living (he has done many hard physical jobs and long hours in his working life), go on holiday without 6 months of military-style planning and research (crikey - even a trip to the pub needs advance warning for access checks etc) - all those silly little things that many of us take for granted.

Morglin

"Firstly, in defence of my friend... I am well aware that he give much more to charity than the money he receives on DLA and does a fair amount of voluntary work. If you dont like his jovial approach to the benefits he receives from being deaf then that would be something to take up with him, perhaps it is just his way of dealing with his disability."

Joviality and a sense of irony is something that many of us need to have - it's the only way to deal with life (and remain smiling). Whinging cures nowt, so good on your mate for getting on with life - theres's little point in doing the old "poor-me" routine - but, it should also be born in mind that a black sense of humour has usually overtaken many of us because of the nonsense we get from organisations that are supposed to assist - Social Services, the DWP, Disability Groups, Wheelchair Services, the NHS - deal with them for a week and feel the hysteria set in........lol.

"A number of people have queried why they shouldnt get something just because they have saved money/ have a high paid job/ invested in a pension... I guess this question shows 2 fundamental different views - do people have a God given right to benefits and therefore it must be demonstrated that they shouldnt get them or that benefits are for "emergencies" only/ those who cannot support themselves and shouldnt be given to everyone just because they have been unlucky, decided to stop taking the pill etc"

Our benefit payments, coupled with our private pensions, give us a reasonable standard of life. We saved for our pensions out of our wages, thinking, originally that this would help support us in old age - as it happens, disability arrived first. Working on your precepts about "need only", are you suggesting that we stop all retirement pensions, except to those who haven't bothered to work/save?

In order to get DLA, we, along with all the others, including your friend, had to supply medical evidence that we needed care and had mobility issues - don't be fooled by media/New Labour propoganda that ALL those on sickness benefits are lazy, idle scroungers who could work if they chose.

Your friend had a choice about whether to claim DLA - he also has a choice as to whether he wishes to continue claiming it - if he truly feels he is not entitled to it, and that it's "pity" money, perhaps the moral thing to do would be to stop claiming it.

We paid into what is laughingly known as The National Insurance scheme - we paid in premiums, in order to be able to get help if we needed it. We need the help now, and I have no qualms about claiming it. Whether all benefits should be restricted to those that have paid in over 5 years is a matter of political debate and opinion. My benefits are not "God Given" - they are given because I was willing to pay a full NI stamp and lost part of the wages I earned paying for my own pension etc.,

"Filigree - I am not saying that DLA is only given to those that are receiving care but that sites, eg RNID, state that DLA is only given to those that require "human" care (irrespective of if they receive it or not) and that it will not be awarded if your life can be managed purely by the purchase of additional equipment. If the RNID is correct then to me it seems odd that it is paid to the claimant and someone who may be a part time carer for someone inelligable for the carers allowance receives nothing for their efforts."

I know more than a few hearing-impaired people, and most would say that they do often require "human" support and assistance in order to communicate effectively.

"If it is for anyone who can demonstrate sufficient disability then, on a purely theoretical basis, it seems odd that it should be given to people like my friend who clearly doesnt need it, pays hundred times more in tax and donates more to charities than received. Whilst I wouldnt wish disability on anyone and certainly dont think that people getting the pittyful amount that DLA often is are getting a free ride I cannot understand why society should pay everyone with a certain level of disability a flat sum of money - but perhaps I have my judgement coloured by my friend saying it is "pity money"

Disability benefits are not paid as a "flat sum" - DLA (Care) has 3 levels of payments, and DLA (Mobility) has 2. Extra "means-tested" top-ups are paid as to circumstances. IB rates vary according to age additions etc.,

My only bugbear with benefits is that I think they should be adjusted according to regions - presently, someone living in a very expensive part of Britain gets the same as someone living where the cost of living is very much lower.

That is an anomaly that could be changed.

For all that, I would exchange (as would OH) all the benefits and alleged "freebies" we get (sigh) for the chance to be back to full health and working for a living - there's nothing lovely about living with a disability..;)

Lin

seven-day-weekend

A Care Worker once told my husband to apply for DLA as he is in receipt of Incapacity Benefit. We sent for the forms, but when we looked through them, there was really nothing at the time that qualified him for it, even though he has had to take early retirement because of his mental health So he didn't apply. Had he have done so he would have been turned down.

So, as Moglin rightly says 'don't be fooled by media/New Labour propoganda that ALL those on sickness benefits are lazy, idle scroungers who could work if they chose.' My husband has worked all his life since he was sixteen apart from four years getting his degree and training to be a teacher.

DLA is very difficult to get, the form is about thirty pages long and you do have to prove that you need extra care/assistance (whether you actually get it or not). I'm sure your friend doesn't get it for nothing.

Astaroth

Morglin wrote:

For all that, I would exchange (as would OH) all the benefits and alleged "freebies" we get (sigh) for the chance to be back to full health and working for a living - there's nothing lovely about living with a disability..;)

Lin

I have no doubt that this is the case for 90% of claimants.

Unfortunately I do not see myself as having "The Answer" to what our benefits system should look like. Like many I can see the current system is heavily flawed and there are parts that I think certainly should be changed but do not know enough about the as is situation to be able to create the solution.

The question of savings has always been an issue with means tested benefits - why should people be penalised by not being able to claim on their national insurance after losing their jobs just because they have saved a nest egg rather than blowing all their money on fast cars etc? All other forms of unemployment/ sickness insurance do not consider other sources of income.

Does DLA come from national insurance contributions? I assumed that it didnt.

I didnt say that the deaf didnt need people to care for them, the RNID site gives examples of when they may need people for consideration when filling in the claim for DLA... what the site does say is that there must be situations where you "need" one (need is possibly questionable since you can get it without actually having one so perhaps beneficial to have one would be a better way of saying it) and simply having a need for special equipment etc is insufficient for a DLA claim.

By flat sum I meant that fixed amount (in the 3 tiers as you say) rather than a personally calculated figure based on what your disability is etc - I have absolutely no stats to back it up but I am fairly sure there could be a wide variance in costs involved for 2 people at the same level of disability award (eg flashing light thing when door bell pressed -v- stair/ bath lift)

Astaroth

seven-day-weekend wrote:

I'm sure your friend doesn't get it for nothing.

I know he isnt, and the post wasnt ment to be an attack on him (or to invite others to), but simply an example of where they current system doesnt seem to fit my perception of how it was intended to work.

The guy, even with his hearing aid is totally deaf in one side and very poor hearing on the other. I think it is all credit to him that he has gone out and worked up to the job that he has got and i certainly dont begrudge him the pittance that he gets from DLA - I just dont understand why he gets anything from it.

For all I know his claim may have started when he was a student and didnt have 2 pennies to rub together and it has just been sensible for him to continue claiming than to stop and have to start again if the unforeseen occurs

hjb123

I am on Incapacity Benefit at the moment and have been informed that I may be entitled to DLA but it is stressful enough/hard enough on my illness just claiming for IB without an extra set of forms and hassle.

I really do struggle to meet ends meet even though I live at home with my parents and they have agreed not to take any rent of me which is a godsend. I still pay for prescriptions, dental care etc just like everyone else and it all comes out of my IB. As a result of my illness I pay quite high prescription costs and other associated healthcare so it isnt just a bed of roses for claimants like many news articles make out.

As soon as I am able I will be back off benefits and into work, I just wish it had happened sooner as I hate having to rely on benefits/other people for help.