DLA change of circumstances (again!)

sunnyone

GlasweJen wrote: »

Sunny one according to Glasgow council you have to be blind, an amputee or under 3 with bulky medical equipment to get one without high mobility DLA - I don't know if I'm being fobbed off because the OT service are overwhelmed with other things to do but I was told I need to have high rate DLA mobility or have no badge. I don't want high rate DLA mobility I don't need the money, we have a perfectly good car, I have loads of wheelchairs, crutches, walking sticks, frames etc and all I need is support in parking my car. Why is car parking support being linked to a financial benefit?

Most BB's will be recinded then since the grey haired !!!!! cant get them unless they got HRMDLA pre 65 then!

I have a good car, both powered and manual wheelchairs (eight in all I think, two powered and a variety of manual + a power trike) and I have racks of redundant crutches, zimmers etc. but I still claim HRM because I cant walk at all, I cant see why you are happy to get lower rate yet you dont want the higher rate if thats what they access you at.

Sorry but that dosnt make sense to me, surely you would just accept the DLA award of both care and mobility at the rate they decide like you have always done?

You are right though a BB should be available to those with severe perminant mobility difficulties without an award of HRMC, I havnt heard of descretionary badges being abolised in Scotland though and Im sure that if they had I would have read about it in the disability press as I did the other BB changes in Scotland.

GlasweJen

It's a stupid pride thing, I hate the idea of being on high mobility - it haunts me back to being in that bed when they were doing those nerve conduction studies and nothing was happening. "You'll never walk again" and all the rest.

Anyway I'm wondering if I should leave the form in a corner and email my MP first - this is the same council who spent 2 years telling me it's ok to have a wheelchair user live 5 floors up in a building with a dodgy lift and then knock me back to the bottom of the waiting list for a house because I knocked back 2 offered houses because the only bathrooms were upstairs and the houses couldn't/wouldn't be extended.

ab.da54

GlasweJen wrote: »

It's a stupid pride thing, I hate the idea of being on high mobility - it haunts me back to being in that bed when they were doing those nerve conduction studies and nothing was happening. "You'll never walk again" and all the rest.

Anyway I'm wondering if I should leave the form in a corner and email my MP first - this is the same council who spent 2 years telling me it's ok to have a wheelchair user live 5 floors up in a building with a dodgy lift and then knock me back to the bottom of the waiting list for a house because I knocked back 2 offered houses because the only bathrooms were upstairs and the houses couldn't/wouldn't be extended.

So, did you correctly report a change of circumstances and they then decided that you were only entitled to lower rate mobility?

GlasweJen

I told them that I no longer wished to claim the mobility component at all. They sent the renewal form, I filled it in under the "getting around" questions saying that I didn't wish to claim any mobility rate of DLA (need to keep my care component for my care package), a decision maker called and said that I need to claim low mobility as if I'm telling them I need supervised all the time indoors I can't tell them in fine outdoors. I explained the situation and a week later got the letter through stating I'm on middle care with low mobility indefinitely.

rogerblack

GlasweJen wrote: »

I told them that I no longer wished to claim the mobility component at all. They sent the renewal form, I filled it in under the "getting around" questions saying that I didn't wish to claim any mobility rate of DLA (need to keep my care component for my care package), a decision maker called and said that I need to claim low mobility as if I'm telling them I need supervised all the time indoors I can't tell them in fine outdoors. I explained the situation and a week later got the letter through stating I'm on middle care with low mobility indefinitely.

I would appeal this decision.
It sounds like he has not actually made a decision on your mobility needs, just taken your word for it.

A correct decision would either have been 'you are not entitled to mobility because you have said you can walk fine' 'Though your mobility is limited, you can walk over ...', or 'While you have expressed the desire to not claim high rate mobility, the evidence shows you qualify for it'.


You don't get to specify that you don't want to claim high rate mobility, and still want to claim DLA.
The 'negotiation' - 'you must claim something' - if anything puts this decision in an even weaker position.

If there were no valid grounds for supersession - the change in your award - a successful appeal will reinstate it. (with back-payment)

The appeal grounds would be something like "I mistakenly requested that I not be paid high-rate mobility, this was due to xxx. I request that the decision be overturned as the decisionmaker did not make adequate findings of fact as to my mobility, which still met the criteria for DLA HRM'.

ab.da54

GlasweJen wrote: »

I told them that I no longer wished to claim the mobility component at all. They sent the renewal form, I filled it in under the "getting around" questions saying that I didn't wish to claim any mobility rate of DLA (need to keep my care component for my care package), a decision maker called and said that I need to claim low mobility as if I'm telling them I need supervised all the time indoors I can't tell them in fine outdoors. I explained the situation and a week later got the letter through stating I'm on middle care with low mobility indefinitely.

Perhaps read through what rogerblack put

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=65284907&postcount=20

It seems very strange that DLA would be awarded in this way, as it is based on need and you would only be awarded lower rate DLA if you needed lower rate DLA.

All you can do is ask for a reconsideration as the decision maker would be the one that holds the cards and we can only hazard a guess at what they may decide.

kazzah60

according to Glasgow council website discretionary BB's are still a
possibility -I have just downloaded this - would the with further assessment part not apply to Glaswejen?

. Eligibility criteria
3.1 Without further assessment
You will receive a Blue Badge on application without further assessment if you:

receive the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
are registered blind
receive a War Pensioner's Mobility Supplement
have a vehicle supplied through the Motability Scheme
you have received a lump sum from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) at tariff 1-8 and been assessed by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) as being unable or virtually unable to walk
3.2 Subject to further assessment
If you do not qualify for a Blue Badge under the 'without further assessment' criteria, you may be entitled to a Badge subject to further assessment if your disability causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking.

Scottish Executive regulations (April 2007) introduced a new category for people with a temporary mobility impairment which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult to walk and which is likely to last for a period of at least 12 months.

You may be referred for an Independent Medical Assessment where your eligibility under the 'unable to walk or virtually unable to walk' criteria is uncertain. In these cases, applications may take up to 28 working days to be completed.

sazaccount

Hi,

If your still looking at getting the higher rate, I was reading though the criteria for PIP (sorry unable to help with DLA) as I have (well the hospital team think its chronic tendinitis but my GP doesn't think so) a problem with my hip which varies both on how intense the pain is and my walking (distance and gait).
On one of the websites it says if its variable they take the highest pointed element if its over 50% of the time.

So i would keep a dairy each day with times, distance feeling etc to support your claim.

hope this helps sorry if not
xx

GlasweJen

The Glasgow City council thing is exactly what I'm looking for - it's what i applied under online but got rejected for without an OT assessment or my GP/neurologist/cardiologist/rehab nurse being spoken to.

Emailed the MP but he's obviously off for Easter so I'll see when he gets back what he has to say. The rejection didn't mention an appeal procedure.

As for the "variable" part of my illness it's not so much variable as progressive. I wake up a bit creaky and sore and by 6/7 o'clock I need someone to hold me up or to be pushed about - can't even propel my own chair at that point. The only thing I'm worrying about is I don't know how much longer I'll be like this because obviously if it's MG it's treatable, if it's mitochondrial it's not but we won't know either way until my immune system wisens up and we don't have a time line on that.

Richie-from-the-Boro

The issue is not that you have been refused a BB, but that you have been refused an assessment under the now formalised discretionary applications rule. Whilst there is no legal requirement for an appeal procedure or even a review process transport for Scotland does recommend that local authorities have such a procedure in place. Therefore if you believe you have been incorrectly or unfairly refused an assessment you can ask for a review of the decision.

The review request should include new supporting information on why you believe their decision was wrong, and provide evidence to support your belief that the O/T will discover you need BB help to improve your mobility such that your capacity to stay 'in work' is improved / consolidated.

Transport Scotland
The Blue Badge Team
2D North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

bluebadge@transportscotland.gsi.gov.uk