DLA early renewal advice

Maccaronicheese

Hi all ,

I get DLA HRM at the moment for several conditions ( all severe) , my initial award was for 2 years so I didn't bother with motability as I had my old car but now that I'm housebound after my car was deemed not road worthy , motability is my only option .
Only problem you see my award is up for renewal coming Sep 2013 and you need 12 months at least for a motability car .
If I requested early renewal and say for example , they turn me down or lower my rate , what happens to my first award ?
Will the new decision take effect immediately or will they let my first award run til Sep then start the new one ?
I'm not sure what to do really not looking forward to spending the next 9 months at home 24/7

rogerblack

As I understand it, the new decision would apply immediately.
Your award is not 'safe' in any sense.
They can at any time choose to look at it again.
A fresh determination of your abilities due to a new decision can decide that you are not currently entitled, or lower your rate.

A possible first step would be to request your full file under the data protection act, so you can see if there is anything there that may lead to concerns about you not being eligible.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/privacy-policy/data-protection/

In addition.
Can you stand?
Can you walk 25m, perhaps with an aid? (without 'significant discomfort')
Do you have no difficulty finding your way around?

If the answer to all of these is yes, then you may be at serious risk of not getting the enhanced mobility component of PIP.

A reliable cheap to repair second hand car could be a much better alternative for some people who are now considering motability.
The DLA-PIP migration will have kicked in by Dec 2015 (the end of a motability term applied for now), with around seventy thousand people losing their HRM.
At least a fifth of people stand to lose HRM under the migration to PIP.

Maccaronicheese

rogerblack , thank you for the quick response .

I got my award after going to tribunal and the wording of the decision was exactly this " The appellant is virtually unable to walk on the basis that the effort needed to walk would put the Appellent's life at risk or would likely to lead to a serious deterioration of the Applellant's health " word by word .

From day one I provided medical evidence from GP & Consultant & Hospital but DWP ignored all that and didn't even offer me medical assessment so I had to appeal to tribunal .

Currently I'm seeing 2 consultants , 4 nurses , Physiotherapist and a dietitian and have enough medical letters but just don't trust the Decision Makers .

It seems it's a risk worth taking seeing that the alternative is staying indoors for 6-9 months .