dla taking hubby mobility car back. advice plz

mumof3mk

DH called dwp today to ask, that his claim is nearly up for renewal and what should be done next, THEY replied that they sent out a form back in october 2013, in which DH stated we have not received as of yet and can another be sent out!. DH was told nope, and that his DLA and his carers money has now stopped in feb 2014, and we must now contact motorbility to arrange for the car to be sent back.

Called motorbility, and they are calling back tomorrow to discuss regarding returning the car.
Now DH works about 4 miles away, he cant walk far and wals with a stick, now, his work , his shifts caan be from 4 hours to 8 hours a day, and this cant be changed shift wise.
Normal week is short 4 hour shifts mon-fri, and 10 hour shifts sat and sunday!. (with a day of during the week).

Now as we have lost the car, dla money which payed for the motorbility car, and the 80.00 a month care componant, is there anyone whom has had this happen to them, and any advice would be so grateful to us.

Dh wages are so low, but just over the threshold of getting any kind of housing or council tax help at all, and if we lose the car, it would mean taxis to work each day costing £7.-8.00 a day. Hubby wants to stay working, but this situation is not helping us!.

Now Dh hours can ranged from any time in the 24 hr clock ( nhs 111), so not as if its a day job, and oh i dont know. ive got a very upset hubby as he relies on the car so much,
any advice please......
thankyou

Indie_Kid

This isn't quite what you're asking about; but it may be useful:
There's a scheme called access to work, which helps disabled in work. One form of help is transport. He may be entitled to this.

cattie

Have you contacted DWP at all to tell them that you never received a form for renewal of DLA at all & explain what is currently happening?

rogerblack

Applying for PIP is one of the first things to do.
However, this is currently taking >20 weeks at best.
Access to work is a suggestion that might happen sooner.
If there is any adjustment your husbands work could do that would make him getting in easier - and they're not doing it - then that may be a separate approach.

I am unsure if there is a legal basis that could lead to a backdated application for DLA now.

wildwestfan

Surely if the renewal date has not passed it must still be possible to complete the forms and get them back. Can it be done on line?

dori2o

if the renewal date has not passed then you can still submit the forms. Look at your Husbands last award letter/annual uprating letter and it will tell you when the DLA runs until.

The renewals pack is sent out 20 weeks before the end date of the claim. If they sent out the forms in October, that would indicated that the award ended sometime between 21/01/14 and 18/02/14.

If the date has passed I'm not sure if there is any right of appeal for anyone who didn't receive the renewals pack. You would need to check this out with the DWP.

Regarding making a new claim, unfortunately if there is no right of appeal against not receiving the DLA form, and the renewal date has already passed, then he will have to make a claim for PIP, and has already been said the delays with this benefit already are horrendous.

Regarding Access to Work, this will be available to him no matter if he is getting DLA or not, assuming he meets the DWP's criteria.

If he meets the criteria, they will pay for the travel costs, but your hubby will have to make a contribution which is calculated in one of 2 ways. if you usually drive to work it will be based on the mileage at a set rate. If you usually travel by public transport it will be calculated based on the usual daily cost of travelling on public transport.

Effectively Access to Work covers the additional cost of travelling by taxi to your normal place of work above that which you would usually pay to travel to and from work.

Get your hubby to contact DWP about Access to Work.

They will ask him about his health issues, about how he normally travels to work, about the difficulties he has travelling to work. They will send him forms out to read and sign and send back, they will then make a decision on whether funding will be available, and if so how much.

In the meantime get quotes from taxi companies for fixed fare journeys to and from work. Try and get at least 3.

When doing this ask the Taxi company if they have an account service in place, that way your hubby won't have to make payment on every journey, he can pay them once a week/month etc after he has had the money from Access to Work.

Make sure you ask if there is any additional fees/costs incurred by having an account and if there are make sure Access to Work are aware of them.

Also, if he doesn't already have one, apply for a disabled persons travel card. This will give him free/discounted travel on public transport assuming he is eligible without the DLA/PIP award

rogerblack

longtomboy wrote: »

I don't get this. They knew that the award finished in Feb (had no payments since then),

Payments in general for DLA are 4-weekly.
Almost everyone on DLA will have had their last payment in Feb.
(some are paid weekly)

only_mee

rogerblack wrote: »

Applying for PIP is one of the first things to do.
However, this is currently taking >20 weeks at best.

Friend got his back within two weeks.

rogerblack

only_mee wrote: »

Friend got his back within two weeks.

He was likely terminally ill.
(Or extremely lucky)

Terminally ill claimants are getting their claims turned round in that sort of period for PIP.

only_mee

Extremely lucky

mumof3mk

Sorry been out, in answer to questions...........
we only called up today, considering we got a MARCH payment, so thought all was still ok.

Will get quotes from taxi firms and enquire to them.
looking into access to work as i type.

so, we was under the impression of claim ending soon, and not as ended, as still got a payment this month!

anyone got a line, to where hubby can try and apply on line for himself.
or we will phone them tomorrow, and ask if theres anyway we can reclaim etc. considering they failed to send out the forms, but they blame us for their error.

We had a payment in march , this month!.....
dwp works in many strange ways !!!!!!