Lost in the maze of benefits

confuseddaughter_2

Hello, I do hope that I'm in the right place as I see there is another section for those who are disabled.
This is entirely for my mum & dad. I've never claimed anything in my life and dad used to do the forms for mum and him. Where do I start? Dad is 66 and mum is 71. Dad claims DLA, has had it for years due to a serious accident many years ago. I think he gets the maximum for getting about and the middle for looking after himself. Mum receives Attendance as she needs to be looked after day and night. On top of that they claim Pension Credit.
They get about £45 a week on top of their State Pensions, his private works pension, DLA & AA.
Mum's Attendance will finish in May. She has the renewal forms, had them since last December but there has been a lot of health problems between them over the past 4 months so Dad has not been able to help Mum out. I have spoken to the Attendance people who say that they will not extend the award beyond May as her two years are up. So it looks like that I am going to have to help out. I have talked to Dad about seeing AgeUK or someone, but he flatly refuses as he isn't having any stranger quizzing Mum about her problems. So it's deffo down to me!
I have no problem writing down what Dad tells me, it's the evidence bit that I am stuck on. I had Mum assessed by the Social Services in mid 2012 and an OT came out. Mum ended up with various bits of kit to help her, bed riser, bed rail, power chair for the bath and a stool to use at the sink. The OT also did a report for the Attendance people which got her the benefit. Now Mum's file with Social Services is closed (after 12 months) and will only reopen it if Mum has got worse or needs more help which she doesn't. The OT refuses to have her name put on the new form and suggests that we put mum's GP on the form instead. Well Mum never goes unless she is forced to, hates them. She goes once a year for a medication review. She tells them that she is OK and managing quite fine 'if you please!'
She is prescribed painkillers, Tramadol 8 a day, Paracetomol 8 a day and 10ml Oramorph as and when she needs it daily. On top of that she has heart tablets to bring her pressure down, anti depressants as she gets depressed a lot and water tablets due to fluid in her body.
Apart from putting the useless GP down on the form, has anybody any idea where I can get other evidence from of her daily care needs?
It is very likely that the Attendance form won't get posted until a day or so before the May deadline, so I presume that the Pension Credit award will also stop as losing the benefit, she will lose the severe disability benefit for both of them. That will be a loss of about £125 a week.
When the Pension Credit claim goes how can they get a new backdated claim to when it finished if she gets her Attendance money beyond 13 weeks? They only backdate 3 months. The last Attendance claim took nearly a year to come through with Dad having to give bits of evidence from all over the place. The Attendance people just kept putting off making a decision and kept contacting him to supply more evidence. This won't be possible this time as the OT is no longer involved.

Nebulous2

You need to get some help. There are often disability rights people from your local council or failing that CAB.

It doesn't help if your parents are reluctant to accept help or see people who could help them, but you can get help with wording the form without them meeting her.

LocoLoco

You could try contacting Carers UK; they have a helpline for advice but if you post on their forum someone could probably help you out, a lot of people on there are looking after their parents so there's bound to be someone who fills these forms out and can advise you about evidence and how best to word things. Good luck!

pmlindyloo

You could also contact AgeUK as they may have a local volunteer who can help.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Lets%20Talk%20Money/LTM%20Attendance%20Allowance%20Leaflet.pdf?dtrk=true

pmlindyloo

As regards their Pension Credit this link may help:

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/6166/

This says there is a way to 'stockpile' the claim so that the PC can be backdated.

Never heard of this myself but they seem to be 'experts' in their field. At the very least you have a 'buzz' word to use when you explain the circumstances to the PC people!

confuseddaughter_2

Thank you all for your advice and pointers. Dad has already told me that he will not entertain any 'strangers' 'poking' their noses into their personal health problems. I did already suggest AgeUK. Thanks for the Carers link, I will try them on Monday. The main problem that I can see is getting someone in authority to verify what 'we' put on the claim form. I fully understand that the Attendance people may want to treat whatever we say as complete fiction. To be honest I would imagine most if not all will always put the negative before giving any hint of a positive. Not many would willingly talk themselves out of a possible award.
I can see the logic in putting a 'protective' Pension Credit claim in which obviously would be refused but then it can be subject of an appeal, hoping that an Attendance award comes through before the Pension Credit appeal is heard in court.
Monday is going to be a very busy day I think, just a little annoyed that the OT will not agree to being used as someone that can give evidence.

pmlindyloo

It may help for you to keep a diary of your mum's care needs and send this in with the form. if you do some googling there is plenty of information on what kind of things you need to put.

Your mum's doctor will most probably be contacted anyway.

Do you parents realise that if your mum is refused the AA then they are going to lose a lot of money? Are they expecting you to complete the form? Could you say ' I need some help to complete the form', rather than having someone come to 'poke their nose' into their health problems?'

It is such a difficult one but from evidence all over the net someone completing the form on your mum's behalf stands a much better chance of being awarded the AA.

Did your mum keep a photocopy of the previous application? This would be useful as regards what to put.

Good luck with it all.

Mardle

If your Dad won't allow you to get someone to help fill the forms in maybe you could do it as far as you can then take it to CAB, AgeUK or Welfare Rights and get them to check it with you before you send it in.

confuseddaughter_2

pmlindyloo wrote: »

It may help for you to keep a diary of your mum's care needs and send this in with the form. if you do some googling there is plenty of information on what kind of things you need to put.

Your mum's doctor will most probably be contacted anyway.

Do you parents realise that if your mum is refused the AA then they are going to lose a lot of money? Are they expecting you to complete the form? Could you say ' I need some help to complete the form', rather than having someone come to 'poke their nose' into their health problems?'

It is such a difficult one but from evidence all over the net someone completing the form on your mum's behalf stands a much better chance of being awarded the AA.

Did your mum keep a photocopy of the previous application? This would be useful as regards what to put.

Good luck with it all.

The diary idea is brill, thanks. Well if they do contact her GP it doesn't really matter what is put on the claim form. Mum had this problem with the first claim. The GP wrote that as far as they were concerned mum was quite able to care for herself. It was only because the OT put a totally different opinion forward after assessing her that the award was given. There is no longer an OT involved as mum has been assessed and been provided with every bit of kit they think she needed that they would provide FOC. Yes Dad knows what the loss will mean, but he is so stubborn about all of this that quite honestly he doesn't care. He views it that if the "Attendance people are that stupid to not understand what was put forward by the OT in Sept 2012 (the OT stated that there would be no improvement in her day and night time care needs in the long term despite the aids and adaptions being in place) and then have the Attendance people say that she would improve by May 2014, so be it". The OT telephoned dad at the time and told him what she was putting down on the report and if it was OK with him & mum.
No, no copy was retained, I had already asked them that question. I did telephone the Attendance people myself last week to ask them if they could send my mum a copy of the original claim form as well as another copy of the OT report from Sept 2012. They said that it was not possible as the file would have been put away and probably a lot of it had been destroyed anyhow.

cbrown372

Can I just call you Pauline for ease?

It seems, despite all your own health worries you are doing a grand job for your family, especially taking on your local council on behalf of your father so I imagine this will be no problem for you and see no reason why they wouldn't believe the truth? Unless of course you know different.

confuseddaughter_2

It seems that I am offending people by writing on the stories started by someone else.
I'll therefore stick to my own story and reply as and when.
What a cheek, more rules here than the DWP has for all benefits put together!