Some More Advice Needed Please!!

Penny-Pincher!!

Hello Again

I today had an assessment of needs done regarding my disability. It went well and have offered whatever help I need really. For the moment we have agreed 2-3 hours per week doing domestic duties-but the cost through them is £9.80 per hour :eek:

They have given me a financial form to fill in to assess whether we have to pay towards the services. Do they count all money coming into the house as income?? I receive DLA as does my daughter-do they count this as income

We are on max Tax Credits as I work S/E from home with help from hubby. My income is minimal maybe a few pounds a week max, its more of a hobby than work (selling on ebay) and we receive carers allowance and child benefit.

I have read the forms and as far as i can see they add all income including disability but I could be reading it wrong-can anyone advise please???

The lady who came out to assess me and hubby said if we were on income support we would not have to pay but didnt know about tax credits etc.

I am closing down my self-employed work in the next 2 months as Im getting worse by the day with my illnesses etc, so I assume we will have to go onto Income Support-but dont know much about this benefit-so again advice on this would be most welcome!!

Thanks so much
Penny-Pincher!!
xxx

Curry_Queen

Usually DLA isn't a means tested benefit for the purpose of assessing other benefit entitlements, but in regard to your current needs I'm not sure if it's counted or not, as at the end of the day it is this sort of help that DLA is paid for so I should imagine you may have to fund it yourself.


Just to add that when I was previously 100% immobile I wasn't entitled to any form of "free" help from social services or whatever because I was in receipt of DLA and would have to pay for any form of home-help out of that.

penrith

If you receive means tested benefits (JSA or IS) then you do not have to contribute to the cost of help provided by social services at all. I realise that doesn't help you now but it may in the future as you said you may go on to IS soon.

Each council have their own rate they pay (round here, ''up north'' i know it was £7.66 p.h. but went up to just over £8 from april 2005)

BTW is is VERY hard to get domestic help, so you have done well to get that help!

Each council does provide a leaflet explaining exactly which money they class as income (and i do believe they DO include DLA on the grounds that you get DLA to help pay for services you need due to disability and the help you are getting from social services is due to your disability). However if you have excessive heating costs due to you needing a very warm house because of your disability then you can ask these costs to be taken off as these are extra costs because of your disability that you have to already use DLA for. it is always worth trying to think of anything that you already have to pay for that is disability related so if you are over the limit and have to pay towards your costs, this may be a way of reducing your available monies that they can use to calculate how much you have to pay towards the services you are receiving from social services.

i hope my ramblings make sense. Each council does provide leaflets to tell you exactly how they calculate how much people have to pay for social services.

BTW have they offered direct payments? this may be another way to get the services you are assessed as needing with more flexibility. (however if they assess you as needing to pay some contribution to your care, you will still need to do that under direct payments).

Curry_Queen

penrith wrote:

If you receive means tested benefits (JSA or IS) then you do not have to contribute to the cost of help provided by social services at all. I realise that doesn't help you now but it may in the future as you said you may go on to IS soon.

Are you entirely sure of that? ... I was on IS at the time, and my experience was that I couldn't get any help whatsoever, despite asking everyone, and my son (only 10 yrs old at the time) was my primary carer and had to do everything for me.

penrith

Curry_Queen wrote:

Are you entirely sure of that? ... I was on IS at the time, and my experience was that I couldn't get any help whatsoever, despite asking everyone, and my son (only 10 yrs old at the time) was my primary carer and had to do everything for me.

Firstly I'd like to say i am not talking from a professional point of view, but a person who has seen this being applied for. From what I know, if the social services assess you as needing help AND you are getting JSA/IS then you do NOT pay for the help that social services have assessed you as needing. They pay for that.

However if they say you do not need help then obviously you have to pay for it. Similarly, if social services assesed you as needing 2 hours a day personal care and you wanted 3 hours, then you'd have to pay for the extra hour out of your IS/JSA/DLA money.

This is my understanding of how it was claimed.

When you were ill curry_queen, did you get assessed by social services for help? Am sorry you didn;t get any help when you needed it.

Curry_Queen

penrith wrote:

When you were ill curry_queen, did you get assessed by social services for help? Am sorry you didn;t get any help when you needed it.

The only "help" I received was via occupational therapists from the hospital providing certain 'aids' to help me out at home. I contacted SS and the local council to see what help might be available to me but was told that I would have to seek it privately, which at the time my DLA award hadn't been granted so I couldn't afford to pay anyone on IS.

I did however manage to find a support group for my son ... a young carers association ... which was invaluable for him, as it gave him some time off from looking after me, and also provided a counselling service should he need it.

penrith

Curry_Queen wrote:

The only "help" I received was via occupational therapists from the hospital providing certain 'aids' to help me out at home. I contacted SS and the local council to see what help might be available to me but was told that I would have to seek it privately, which at the time my DLA award hadn't been granted so I couldn't afford to pay anyone on IS.

I did however manage to find a support group for my son ... a young carers association ... which was invaluable for him, as it gave him some time off from looking after me, and also provided a counselling service should he need it.

the person i'm talking about already had DLA high rate care& mobility. They were asked at the assessment about it and i remember they even produced the letter to the social worker as 'proof' of the entitlement (although it was obvious from their physical condition that they were disabled). I wonder if being on DLA is like an ''automatic passport'' to them taking your needs more seriously? Just a thought...

I understand that now if you ring up the social services (adult section) that they are obliged to at least consider you for an assessment and cannot refuse to give you an assesment. Obviously whether or not you get any assistance is another hurdle to get over...