Motability Car and Hospital question?

RichieBeds

Hello,

I wonder if someone can help please.

My father who is disabled has had a Motability car for a number of years. My mother who cares for my dad is on the insurance and has been in effect the main driver.

Three weeks ago my father had a really bad fall when he was trying to climb the stairs at home as his stairlift had a fault. He was taken to hospital by ambulance and he has occasioned a broken back and broken neck and is currently paralysised from the neck downwards.

It looks as if he will have to remain at hospital for a number months at least whilst he has further surgery on his spinal cord and then months of physio and rehabilitation as an in patient. Even then there is no guarantee he will improve and it is possible he may have to move into an NHS funded care home due to his likely high dependency needs.

My mum has been using the Motability car to visit dad in hospital daily. However yesterday she had a meeting with the hospital social worker about various things, During the meeting the Social Worker informed mum that once dad has been in hospital for 28 days he will lose the right to have a Motability car and it will have to be returned more or less straight away.

Mum lives 24 miles from the hospital and there is no public transport at all in the village where she and dad live. She is distraught that she will no longer be able to get to the hospital to visit dad. Mum is not in a position to be able to buy a car as they do not have much money between them.

Sadly I live and work almost 200 miles away from mum so I cannot take mum to the hospital daily. Also having just got a mortgage, money is very tight with me right now else I would have tried to help mum buy a car.

Is this '28 day in hospital and you lose the Motability car' a hard and fast rule or is there scope for negotiation? They only got the car 3 months ago so were expecting to have it for another 33 months.

Many thanks

Rich.

fed_up_and_stressed

In general, DWP do not make payments of DLA care and mobility components after a disabled person has been in hospital for 28 days or more (84 days for children under 16). Payments resume once the disabled person comes out of hospital.

In the past, this suspension of payments was not applied to Motability customers, whose mobility component continued to be paid to the Scheme until the end of their Motability agreement. However, from April 2013 onwards, the DWP has started to treat all hospital in-patients in the same way, whether they have a Motability vehicle or not. This means that, for disabled people with Motability agreements that go into hospital after 8 April 2013, DWP will stop paying the DLA mobility component to the Motability Scheme if they are in hospital for more than 28 days.

As soon as a person is admitted to hospital, they should notify DWP of change in circumstance. If they are in hospital for more than 28 days, the person or somebody acting on their behalf should contact motability to discuss their individual circumstances. Depending on the expected length of the hospital stay and, of course, own preferences, motability will discuss appropriate arrangements with them.

Richie-from-the-Boro

England

Disability living allowance [care & mobility element] for adults stops after 4 weeks, the day your dad was admitted and the day he will be discharged count as days out of hospital. Where payment of the mobility component stops, Motability will allow a further protection period of up to 28 days in which to recover the vehicle.

Speak to the DWP & Motabilty, BTW the hospital notify the DWP after the period. Best of luck !

Naytdawg

absolute load of horse cack.

speak to motorbility directly, not quite the same but my mum died and i (as main driver/career) was given 2 months of car use even after the money stoped/she died, to help with funeral and so on.

speak to them, they understand better than social

RichieBeds

Thank you.

I will contact Motability on Monday and see what they say but it doesn't seem to sound very hopeful. Not sure where the DWP come into it though as I thought they only dealt with his state pension.

I will update after speaking with motability on Monday.
Thanks again
Rich

Horseunderwater

DWP comes into it because they are the ones who award your Dad high rate mobility, which allows him to have the car from motorbility in the first place. And yes they will take the car back now - when you will need to find out from motorbility..

pmlindyloo

Other options may be:

Volunteer drivers in her village or nearby village (church magazine often advertises these) - you usually pay the petrol costs.

Asking at her doctors if there are any schemes running for such circumstances.

Contacting the Red Cross about their transport scheme.

bargainbasement

Hi we were told by my mams social worker that the motibility element of DLA is not taken into consideration and will run for the term of the agreement... My dad still has car has heard nothing from motibility and mam was in hosp for 4 weeks and now temp in care home.

skintmacflint

bargainbasement wrote: »

Hi we were told by my mams social worker that the motibility element of DLA is not taken into consideration and will run for the term of the agreement... My dad still has car has heard nothing from motibility and mam was in hosp for 4 weeks and now temp in care home.

I wouldn't know from Adam if your social worker was correct or not in the advice she gave you.

But based on the responses on this thread I'd double check with DWP to be 100%' sure. Hopefully in your Dads individual case she is correct , but the final responsibility if she is wrong will lie with your Dad if she's incorrect.

pmlindyloo

bargainbasement wrote: »

Hi we were told by my mams social worker that the motibility element of DLA is not taken into consideration and will run for the term of the agreement... My dad still has car has heard nothing from motibility and mam was in hosp for 4 weeks and now temp in care home.

There is a difference in being in hospital and being in a care home.

See here:

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/information__resources/benefits/illness,_injury_and_disability/care_homes_and_benefits.aspx

RichieBeds

Motability have just rang me back in response to me ringing on mums behalf this morning. Well what a relief. The Hospital Social worker seems to have got her wires crossed.

Fortunately mum can continue to use the car to visit dad more or less ad-infinitum. I am not into all this benefits terminology (and mum and dad being rather stoic never speak about money/pensions etc) but apparently because he pays for the car from his war pension something or other which is paid continually, he remains as a Motability customer and mum can use the car indefinitely to visit him in hospital.

I have yet to break the news to mum as she is at her regular Church coffee morning this morning and she never has her mobile phone with her. I will ring her when she is back at home before she visits dad this afternoon. It has been a really fraught weekend for her as she was really worried about how she would visit dad, but it now is sorted out.

Many thanks.
Rich