Appealing the Bedroom Tax

midnight_express

mysterywoman10 wrote: »

I type at 75 wpm and can't find work so really open to suggestions especially if working from home please do tell

In my area the local council including the housing benefit and council tax departments employ admin staff who work mainly from home. They supply you with a laptop and a mobile phone.

mysterywoman10

midnight_express wrote: »

In my area the local council including the housing benefit and council tax departments employ admin staff who work mainly from home. They supply you with a laptop and a mobile phone.

Brilliant idea!! I can help everyone and explain the processes to them for appeal

angrybuffalo

you still can't pay the short fall in your rent out of your rent money. you would have to be very very stupid to think you could.

skintmacflint

angrybuffalo wrote: »

A pity because we can expect to see 600,000 children driven into poverty by the welfare 'reforms', and one way or another, like the ESA reforms, the bedroom tax will translate, at the extremities, into deaths.

That figure is based on a single false economic premise tbh. In 2011 300,000 children previously included in that figure dropped out of it, for the simple reason the national average income figure dropped due to pay freezes etc in the private and public sector.

Real child poverty can't be measured by a single financial measure. Many kids included in that calculated financial figure are not in financial poverty as their parent (s) manage their budget, are responsible and take proper care of them by putting their kids needs before their own, as well as teaching them basic human values . .

You can throw as much money at some families as you want, and it won't change their kids circumstances. Not when the parent hasn't a clue or puts their own material needs before their kids.

I've also seen what I would describe as 'child poverty' with well off parents who put their own material , recreational and social needs before their kids and spend little time with them.

mysterywoman10

skintmacflint wrote: »

That figure is based on a single false economic premise tbh. In 2011 300,000 children previously included in that figure dropped out of it, for the simple reason the national average income figure dropped due to pay freezes etc in the private and public sector.

Real child poverty can't be measured by a single financial measure. Many kids included in that calculated financial figure are not in financial poverty as their parent (s) manage their budget, are responsible and take proper care of them by putting their kids needs before their own, as well as teaching them basic human values . .

You can throw as much money at some families as you want, and it won't change their kids circumstances. Not when the parent hasn't a clue or puts their own material needs before their kids.

I've also seen what I would describe as 'child poverty' with well off parents who put their own material , recreational and social needs before their kids and spend little time with them.

Well in a way that is true but it is also true that if someone has no money then they cannot feed/cloth their children or give them a good quality of life. If you have money you can do it whether people choose to or not is another matter.

Many many people on benefits give their children a very good quality of life and as you have rightly pointed out yourself many who are not don't. So don't really understand the point to be honest.

[Deleted User]

I am not going to bother appealing as I don't trust it will do any good , will be frustrating and stressful & have enough stressful things going on in my life at the moment

I have been advised to appeal re my Grandsons special needs etc but am just going to pay it as it is for his benefit and am happy if he's happy even if I'm skint for a while which seems to be the 'norm' for me right now anyway ....

mysterywoman10

cazzap06 wrote: »

I am not going to bother appealing as I don't trust it will do any good , will be frustrating and stressful & have enough stressful things going on in my life at the moment

I have been advised to appeal re my Grandsons special needs etc but am just going to pay it as it is for his benefit and am happy if he's happy even if I'm skint for a while which seems to be the 'norm' for me right now anyway ....

Yes I think you said on the other thread a while back you were going to be moving anyway because you wanted to set up a special needs child minding business? All the best with that.

sunnyone

mysterywoman10 wrote: »

OT's in Social Services RARELY will provide a stair lift is all I have to say really!

mysterywoman10 wrote: »

Private adaptations are different as I said very few SOCIAL SERVICES OT's will agree to stairlifts. It is not to do with funding.

I must of imagined my first stairlift, I also know other people who had stairlifts provided in both social and private lets, it depends on needs and needs only.

sunnyone

panther_87k wrote: »

Hi all.

I don't venture onto this forum all that often but do apriciate any advice that I am given.

Firstly, I have seen mentioned elsewhere that the size of any "spare" bedrooms could have an effect as to whether they are considered as bedrooms and therefore liable for the "tax", is this true and if so could someone kindly point me in the direction of details of this. thanks.

I live in a 3 bedroom house with my 4 yr old son and my partner. My partner is disabled but does not recieve DLA and is not registered disabled, he had rheumatoid arthritis in most joints. We are currently moving from IS to ESA *hopefully*
I cannot recieve carers allowance or other similar benefits as my partner does not recieve the correct benefits for me to qualify for these.
My partner uses our 3rd bedroom as a living room of sorts, it has a sofabed/tv/pc in it so when he has his bad days and cannot get up and down the stairs he can use this room, it is also right next to the bathroom to make access to the toilet easier.
What do you think are our chances of claiming this is not a bedroom?
We cannot move to a smaller property even if we wanted to as there are none available and we would not be seen as a priority if there was (meaning we'd be put a a waiting list which is at least a year long).
We did not ask for a 3 bed property, we were moved from a 1 bed flat when i was 8 months pregnant but it was listed as a decant move because our flat needed work that could not be done with us living there. We were told it was this house or nothing and as i was heavily pregnant we had no choice. we applied to stay here as we could not go back to the 1 bed flat once we'd had our son and we had not been offered anything else.

Any more details or anything that needs clarifying just ask. I will try to check back tomorrow evening.

Thanks
Kirsty

He is not classed as disabled so you will lose out even if amendments are made in favour of disabled people.

Your best bet is a mutual exchange or applying for a move on the grounds of disability but again since he isnt getting disability benefits your chances are slim.

sunnyone

panther_87k wrote: »

i did see someone mention DLA, he was turned down because he can walk a certain distance on a "good" day even if he is in severe pain and discomfort when doing so.

also, mutual house exchanges here never seem to work out, it may get so far but then it always falls through, i dont personally know of any that have worked out round here. i will look into it though, its worth a look to see if there is anything suitable.

hope i didnt forget anything in response to all who have replied to me.

cheers

Any distance he can walk in pain is discounted for DLA purposes.

princessdon wrote: »

Part of the problem you face is "unrecognised disability". Even if amendments were made without the DLA or ESA it would be a hard fight as people assume that in order to have difficulties you need to be claiming one or both of the above.

Have you considered appealing? Have you had specialist help from an outside agency with the forms?

I am sure people who know these forms well on here can help with a new application.

panther_87k wrote: »

We did appeal the DLA decision and lost (second DLA application), the first DLA application we had outside help filling in the form and lost that time too.
We believe that alot of it has to do with his age, he is only 30 and people dont seem to believe that he has arthritis, it took 5 years for a diagnosis. He was 24 when the health problems started. Obviously the DWP et al would never admit that they are basing their decision even partly on his age.
The first doctor he went to told him, and I quote "you cant possibly have arthritis, you're too young" !! this *doctor* then referred him to orthopaedics, when he went for an appointment the consultant asked him why he was there, it was obvious that he didnt have anything orthopaedic based wrong and the GP should never have referred him.
Any hoo, after 5 years of hospital app's, blood tests, xrays, other tests etc etc he was finally diagnosed in july 2011 with polyarthalgia, a form of rheumatoid arthritis.
After all this time he has learnt ways to cope with his pain, the pain isnt reduced he just has ways of dealing with it, this probably doesnt help as people cant then see that he is in pain.

Since you have had at least three decision makers and an appeal panel look at his applications for DLA he either must not fulfil the criteria or he dosnt have the medical evidence to back up his claim, do you have recent medical reports on his condition?

His age has nothing to do with his claim, Ive been getting DLA since I was 23.

You can get RA at any age, even toddlers can get it and its a very easy diagnosis to make, even for the rarer sero negative type that I have.

Its done initally by blood tests by your GP and then scans and xrays to back up the results of the blood tests done at the hospital, its a rhumatologist that does the "real" diagnosis of RA (orthapods for OA which again can be diagnosed at any age, I was in my teens when I was dignosed with that form of arthritis) and puts you on the meds needed to control the disease, does he have evidence of this process and is he on drugs to control his condition?

Does he go to a pain clinic and does he have reports from them?

Has he seen an OT, physio etc. and does he have medical reports from them?

Im not being nosey, the above is the proof needed to claim DLA for RA/polyarthalgia and if he has both the historic reports to confirm his diagnosis and recent medical reports about how the disease is currently he would stand a much better chance of getting DLA and he will needs similar proof for his ESA claim.

For the ESA changeover his condition is on the list of conditions which could be passed straight over into the support group without a face to face assessment IF he can provide documentary evidence to back up his claim (its best to avoid a face to face assessment if possible, they cant get things worng if they have never met you )

If you need help with anohter DLA claim/his changeover to ESA its might be better to start a new thread, good luck.