Hearing Aid

lilyandlogan

Hi

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice my partner has always struggled a bit with his hearing and its gradually got worse! He went for a hearing test (I wasn't able to attend) and he has been told he has moderate hearing loss and will require hearing aids for both ears and has been booked in to get the moulds etc done on 5th of April when I will be able to attend and find out more info as he has global learning difficulties so didn't get much info from him apart from the letter to go back for fitting. Do I need to notify ESA or DLA? We are currently in process of ESA review and they haven't been notified yet! Will the hearing loss come under a disabilty?

I am worried to tell DLA as he already has low rate care and mobility indefinitely because if it's a change we will need to move over to pip earlier than anticipated? However on the pip mobility it mentions about not being able to go out without person/guide dog/orientational aid for enough points for enhanced rate would his hearing aid be classed as that?

Sorry for all the questions but I don't want to start changing claims etc if I don't necessarily need to as my partner gets very anxious and frustrated if things aren't in order as he needs routine and stability and cannot handle the social encounters with phone calls, assessments etc

Diary

Generally speaking changes should always be reported to DWP, but as he hasn't claimed DLA for his hearing loss this is a very grey area and would be very hard to determine if you should report or not. In my own personal view you are not flouting any rules by not reporting.

If you decide to tell DLA it will almost certainly trigger a change to Pip.
Your boyfriends hearing aid will not be enough to get enhanced rate of PIP mobility on its own but might add extra points depending on his other conditions to add up to the required points.

lilyandlogan

Thank you diary!

It's just all so confusing and the fact to us it's just part of everyday life I struggle when filling out the forms etc.