help with dla overpayment plls

bonjovibel_729

my mum was disagnosed with termminal cancer a few mnths ago since then she has been having chemo to shrink the growth but has been told it will not go away we have been struggling paying to get bak and fore the hospital but we have managed so far....in april she spoke to macmillan advisor who told her she cud claim dla so the advisor put in a claim form for her....

she had a letter finally today from them and they have decided she can have the higher rate care and mobility allowance which we thought was gr8 until we read it all and it says this is based on her having severe care and mobility needs.....now although she has been completely wiped out after her chemo other wise she is fine and does not need help with these things...

they have said she will get a back payment for the mnths we have been struggling which will amount to quite a lot and would help out as she has to start radiotherapy soon which will be every day for 15mins which wud be ok if we didnt live so far away from the hospital....

so my question is do they base the decision on what will happen in the future or what is happening now....obviously in the future she will have care needs and as this is terminal she is not going to get better.....the dla have conversed with the hospital and said between what the advisor told them and the hospital this is hwat htey have based the decision on??

princessdon

IMO it's the very least they can do considering it is terminal.

Also do you work and have an income?

If not then you can look at carers allowance for yourself too if this is applicable to your situation.

Sympathies to you all regarding this news.

McKneff

She is entitled to this DLA if she has terminal cancer, it should also have been fast tracked so stop worrying about it.

Look after your mam and give her a hug from all of us.

I'm so sorry, I'm sure you would rather have a healthy mum than all the money in the world.
Annie

sleepless_saver

It sounds like the adviser who filled in the form made it clear that your mother is terminally ill. The DLA would have been awarded on that basis, and not on what her exact care and mobility needs are.

So don't worry about the DLA, you have more than enough on your plate already.

Have you asked at the hospital about help with the transport problem? Sometimes there are volunteer driver schemes, or friends may be able to set up a rota.

GlasweJen

Trying not to be insensitive but the terminally ill DLA is for people with 6 months or less left to live.

If your mum doesn't qualify on that criteria then you do need to report a change of care needs, you just call them and they ask some questions then send out a form. If the care needs are only temporarily resolved and will come back soon (when she starts radio) then it might not cause any changes so no new form will come out.

Robbie64

Did your mum (or someone on her behalf) sent in a form DS1500? If so, your mum won't have to report any change in her circumstances.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Benefits-for-the-Terminally-Ill.htm

http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=x20050803153747160230&linkID=68696&cook=yes

If the form wasn't sent in or if you're not sure I would suggest you speak to the MacMillan helpline for further advice.

sleepless_saver

GlasweJen wrote: »

Trying not to be insensitive but the terminally ill DLA is for people with 6 months or less left to live.

As they can't be sure how long someone has, in my (admittedly limited) experience I think hospital staff tend to err on the side of confirming people are terminally ill for the purpose of DLA application where it is clear that someone has months rather than years left.

Good advice from robbie to speak to the adviser who put in the claim form to see if they made the application on the grounds of terminal illness (which is what I assumed perhaps wrongly that they had done).

bonjovibel_729

sleepless_saver wrote: »

It sounds like the adviser who filled in the form made it clear that your mother is terminally ill. The DLA would have been awarded on that basis, and not on what her exact care and mobility needs are.

So don't worry about the DLA, you have more than enough on your plate already.

Have you asked at the hospital about help with the transport problem? Sometimes there are volunteer driver schemes, or friends may be able to set up a rota.

hiya yeah have asked about volunteer drivers but she wud have to wait up to 3 hrs before and after hr appt ... am not sure whether she is terminally ill i think so the dr did say that however no time scale was given and i think my mum thinks she has yrs now she has had the chemo the dla assesment is makin me think it may not be

rogerblack

sleepless_saver wrote: »

As they can't be sure how long someone has, in my (admittedly limited) experience I think hospital staff tend to err on the side of confirming people are terminally ill for the purpose of DLA application where it is clear that someone has months rather than years left.

In addition, the legislation states (paraphrasing) 'if death can be reasonably expected within 6 months'.

This is, as has been determined by the upper tribunal - a rather lower bar than 'expected survival time of under 6 months'.

Thinking about it in another context for example - you can reasonably expect that it will rain this week, even though the chances of rain may only be 30%.

You probably can't reasonably expect a hurricane. (in the UK at least).