DLA for child

kimp22

Hi all please could i have some advise i am currently claiming dla for my son he get middle rate care and low rate mobility. he is 5 has a rare genetic disorder , is non verbal and attends a special school. my question is why do all the other parents at my sons school have mobility cars but yet my son is not entitled to one. I filled the form in myself and was honest he can walk but can be difficult or refuse or just want picking up. he has no problems once i have got him to sleep so wasn't expecting higher rate care. I was happy with his awarded letter but a bit annoyed with the other parents because there kids are no different to my son some dont seem as bad.

Thank
Kim

Darksparkle

No one can answer as to why someone else receives a certain benefit as we don't know the specific circumstances of that person.

Instead you should be looking at whether or not your child is entitled. Higher rate mobility can be claimed from age 3 if entitled, low rate from age 5.

poppy12345

kimp22 wrote: »

Hi all please could i have some advise i am currently claiming dla for my son he get middle rate care and low rate mobility. he is 5 has a rare genetic disorder , is non verbal and attends a special school. my question is why do all the other parents at my sons school have mobility cars but yet my son is not entitled to one. I filled the form in myself and was honest he can walk but can be difficult or refuse or just want picking up. he has no problems once i have got him to sleep so wasn't expecting higher rate care. I was happy with his awarded letter but a bit annoyed with the other parents because there kids are no different to my son some dont seem as bad.

Thank
Kim

For this very reason in bold above. You can't get DLA high mobility for a child simply because they refuse to walk. You also can't compare 2 children in the exact same way you can't compare 2 adults. Here's a link that explains the mobility part of DLA. It clearly states that if your child needs a lot of supervision outside to keep them safe then they're likely to qualify for the lower rate...
http://www.autism.org.uk/about/benefits-care/benefits/children/dla-mobility-component.aspx

kimp22

I know that my son is not entitled to mobility because he can walk he doesn't need a wheel chair or specialist pram because he still fit a normal pram. i have no problem with that but how do people manage to get mobility if there children walk perfectly fine doing at least a 10 minute walk.
I appreciate that all children are different and disabled children have difference but its annoys me that some parents will make there child seem a lot more just for money.

kim

poppy12345

kimp22 wrote: »

I know that my son is not entitled to mobility because he can walk he doesn't need a wheel chair or specialist pram because he still fit a normal pram. i have no problem with that but how do people manage to get mobility if there children walk perfectly fine doing at least a 10 minute walk.
I appreciate that all children are different and disabled children have difference but its annoys me that some parents will make there child seem a lot more just for money.

kim

You know for certain that every single parent in your sons school has a mobility car for their child? You've actually asked every single parent this question? :eek:

Brighty

You can get high rate mobility even if the child can walk, there's a whole section in the cerebra guide telling you how to do it. it's based on showing that regular refusals make the child 'virtually uable to walk'
http://w3.cerebra.org.uk/help-and-information/guides-for-parents/dla-guide/

That said, i don't see the point of getting a mobility car, you lose your entire £58 per week mobility payment in exchange for a very basic car, that's £251 a month for a car you could lease privately for half that. So by all means try for high rate mobilty, but if you get it, get your own car, don't throw the whole lot away to motability

[Deleted User]

Worry about yourself and yours instead of getting jealous over what you think others may be getting.

[Deleted User]

Brighty wrote: »

You can get high rate mobility even if the child can walk, there's a whole section in the cerbera guide telling you how to do it. it's based on showing that regular refusals make the child 'virtually uable to walk'
http://w3.cerebra.org.uk/help-and-information/guides-for-parents/dla-guide/

That said, i don't see the point of getting a mobility car, you lose your entire £58 per week mobility payment in exchange for a very basic car, that's £251 a month for a car you could lease privately for half that. So by all means try for high rate mobilty, but if you get it, get your own car, don't throw the whole lot away to motability

It takes a lot more than refusing to walk. Thousands of kids without disabilities does that daily.

http://www.autism.org.uk/about/benefits-care/benefits/children/dla-mobility-component.aspx

The ‘Severe Mental Impairment’ criteria

To get high rate mobility under the severe mental impairment rules you have to meet every one of the following points.



1. The child gets DLA high rate care. This means that if your child qualifies for none of the care component of DLA, or low or middle rate care, the ‘severe mental impairment’ criteria cannot be considered.



2. The child has a state of arrested development or incomplete physical development of the brain which results in severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning. We can split this rule into three parts to make it easier to consider:

(a) The child must have arrested or incomplete physical development of the brain. Where the child has a diagnosis of autism it should be accepted that they have arrested or incomplete physical development of the brain. If you are still going through the diagnostic process you might struggle to show that this point applies, however there are other diagnoses such as global development delay that could also be accepted as being arrested or incomplete development of the brain.

(b)The arrested development results in severe impairment of intelligence. This part of the criteria is the main reason that only a minority of children with autism qualify for high rate mobility, because many children with autism have average or near average intelligence and so do not meet this point. The impairment must be ‘severe’ and it must be the intelligence that is impaired. What sort of things are considered depends on the child’s age, but issues to consider are:

Does the child have a Learning Disability?
What sort of specialist educational provision does the child have?
Has the child been significantly delayed in meeting developmental milestones such as developing speech, feeding themselves, toileting etc?
Does the child understand danger (in a way appropriate to their age)?
What difficulty do they have applying the intelligence that they do have to the real world?


(c) The arrested development results in severe impairment of social functioning. This part of the criteria is usually straightforward to meet because it so obviously applies to autism. The child’s ability and interest in playing with other children is relevant to this.


3. The Severe Behavioural Problems Rule

(a) The child has disruptive behaviour which is extreme. For this part give examples about the extreme and disruptive behaviour. All behaviour is relevant, not just how the child is when outdoors.

(b) Due to the disruptive behaviour the child regularly requires another person to intervene and physically restrain the child in order to prevent the child causing physical injury to himself or others or damaging property.

For this part give examples of when and how you have to restrain the child. Again it is not just things that happen outdoors that count. Give examples from at home and school as well. Physical restraint means physically stopping the child from doing something, so holding a child’s hand to physically hold them back them from doing something that would cause injury could count, but holding a child’s hand to keep them calm would probably not count.

(c) The disruptive behaviour is so unpredictable that the child requires another person to be present and watching over them whenever they are awake. Explain why someone needs to be with the child all of the time, and explain what dangerous thing could happen if they were left in a room on their own.

ohreally

kimp22 wrote: »

but how do people manage to get mobility

Probably due to the reason that Tesco (other stores are available) disabled parking spaces are used by individuals who can then jump out a car and sprint into the store.

kimp22

I am not jealous of other people's cars i am happy enough with the lower rate but wish I could have a blue badge to make life easier.

KxMx

Have you applied for a Blue Badge and been refused?

This thread might be useful:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/73076108#Comment_73076108