Motability

2 Posts
Newbie
My wife had a stroke in August last year, exactly one month after she had received her first state pension payment. She is paralysed on her left side. The costs associated with caring for her are significant but we are not entitled to any benefit until six months after the event. In addition because she had reached state pension age she is NOT entitled to a Motability grant where if she had had her stroke a month before receiving her pension she would have been. This is clearly age discrimination and offends the various Equality Acts. Has anyone else experienced this and more importantly fought the decisions
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Out of interest what happens when you reach state pension age, if you are claiming PIP Enhanced mobility and are using it to fund a motability vehicle. Do you have to give the vehicle back when you reach your 66th birthday, even though there might still be some years left on the lease agreement ?
At the time, there was a story in a newspaper about an elderly couple, where the lady lost a leg, just after pensionable age , so depended on her husband to drive her about and push her wheelchair. Just AA for this lady, but their problem was that the garage said that the old car could not be repaired again, with a replacement being beyond their means, so the man, who had arthritis, faced pushing his wife home, up a steep hill.
As AA has different criteria from PIP, there could be separate criteria for mobility help, over the whole age range, according to need. Perhaps some PIP beneficiaries may lose out, but to the advantage of this poor couple and the lady on this thread.
The people who get the mobility component of PIP do so because they need it, it's already assessed based on need - and it's already harsher than the DLA mobility criteris. What you're suggesting is a system that gives mobility awards to people who need it … which would include everyone getting current mobility allowances as well as pensioners who would qualify for PIP mobility if they were 66 or younger.
… which has essentially the same effect as just adding a mobility component to AA.
In your haste to put your point, after being pedantic about 'levelling', you have totally misunderstood/misread my post.
First of all, the comment was not mine and was not meant seriously by the person who did comment.
Secondly, neither I nor anyone else has said that people awarded the mobility part of PIP or DLA do not deserve it. I said people should be paid according to need and not age (I don't need bold print), which means that those with similar needs acquired after pensionable age , have need so should be awarded according to that need.
Incidentally, I lost my ability to walk, independently/safely almost 3 years ago (I'm 74), but am so grateful that I have no 'need', as my husband drives me about (among other things), but there are many older people who are alone, who certainly do have needs and are forced into being housebound because .....
*without being to their detriment
I don't think that they should treat married/single people differently. But those that work, ie people below state pension age have greater demands on their time and they are paying taxes for other people's benefits.