General Chat

Chris that would be handy as we live in the north east and getting him out in normal weather is tricky never mind in the snow.

In some areas CAB will do home visits to assist with forms.

Didn't know we could request a copy .
Will do that on Monday morning .

The refusal letter should give you information on why the decision was made and how to have it reconsidered. You need to kick this off straight away as you only have a month to do it in.


Taken From the Direct.Gov website


If you disagree with a benefits decision

When the benefits office sends you a letter about their decision, if you do not agree, you can ask them to explain or reconsider it.

If you're unhappy with a reconsidered decision you can appeal.

You can ask for an explanation or reconsideration of every decision, but some benefit decisions cannot be appealed.

For example, you can't appeal against decisions on Budgeting Loans, Community Care Grants or Crisis Loans. The decision letter will make it clear if it can't be appealed.

Deadlines

You have one month:

after getting a decision to ask for it to be explained, reconsidered or to appeal
after getting a reconsidered decision to start an appeal

A late appeal may be accepted if you have special circumstances that prevented you appealing in time, but not if more than 13 months have passed.

Benefits for disabled people

If you have any queries about Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance, call the Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance Helpline, 08457 123 456, textphone 08457 224 433 (7.30 am to 6.30 pm, Monday to Friday).

Florence we never got a full renewal form this time just a 1 sheet letter that he had to sign to say wether anything had changed since the last time he was granted it .
We got the refusal letter yesterday which i am absolutely disgusted with .
He has not been refused because of the form they sent us or our own doctors reports it was the doctor that came out to do the medical .
He has said that my husband can do every thing .
How the hell he came to that conclusion i will never know my oh never even got out of bed ,or hardly spoke to him as he was half asleep and he didn't even examine him to see what he could or couldn't do .
If this doctor can't be bothered to do his job right he shouldn't be doing it , this is vulnerable people lives he messing with.
So in other words my oh is taking all this medication and using a wheel chair and the OT had the bungalow adapted for him for the sake of it (i wish ).
I did ring DLA again yesterday and even the lady i was talking to could not understand whats gone on .She was really helpfull .

Thanks to every one for there support ,i know i have been a member for 7 years but don't post but its nice to see that people are there just to lend a ear .

geordie cath, when my daughter was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, after 80 days in hospital i was given a 60 page form for claiming dla to complete. i did so and applied for the 2 allowances. at the time as she could not walk due to her muscles wasted away because of length of time in bed and when she came home, i had to care for her for 24/7.

she was eventually awarded the higher rate of dla and i also qualified for carers allowance.

when i applied for this, her consultant had to read the whole form and when he finally agreed with what i had written, he then had to write in his opinion whether he thought we were entitled to these benefits based on the evidence.

you say you have been on these benefits for 12 years, so i am assuming that each year when the renewal form is sent to you, your doctor would have to sign it to say why he thinks you are entiitled to claim.

has he recently declined to sign the form? or have you not been getting an annual form? if if has been declined, what reason have they given?

it will be worth going to your gp and having a chat with him as im sure as he has all your records and can easily send a report to the dla to back up your husbands needs etc.

dont be put off, if he is still the same as he has been and no better than a few years ago say, im sure you will win the appeal and then they will have to backdate what they owe you.

im afraid, these things are sent to try us and sadly it is always the real genuine cases that have to fight for their cause, whereas i know people who claim to have bad backs and cant work that get every benefit and then go to the pub to play darts and pool no problem, its just so unfair.

i wish you well and hope its gets sorted soon. chin up
florence

Merlin, that sounds sensible.

I thought my comments might cause a few reactions although I ddn't want to cause offense to genuine claimants.; i'm pleased that there have been contributors from all backgrounds and levels of need. Thank-you.

Attendance Allowance for pensioners is £70 per week - that is the highest 24hr level - the lower level is about £45.

Having read this and the problems people are having,its time the powers that be used a little common sense,The solution is quite simple. Do not stop the monies given,just get people to go and get re assessed,no hardship caused, a vast majority will retain what they are getting and those that are on the fiddle will have it stopped and made to pay back what they should,nt have had.However ,it might mean that they have to employ some people with a Brain to make it work.**M**

Those who know how to work the system will carry on fiddling unscathed,just as they do after every shake-up

Once the ones who were always too busy working and contributing to know how to claim until their circumstances became such that they needed to have been deprived of all they possibly can be then there will be more to share between the others.

Many who are claiming are saving the country an awful lot of money. Carers allowance is fifty-odd pounds a week, Attendance Allowance less than two hundred where residential care costs many hundreds of pounds a week.

As your husband is ex-forces, have you considered speaking to SSAFA? Our rep is excellent and has obtained for my dad,at her own suggestion, things we would never have thought to ask for.

IGP I agree with you but something must be done to make sure the right people are targetted and that the benefits are not stopped for those in real need and genuine and geordie Cath's OH obviously is. One wonders who is actually doing these assessments and what is their criteria.

Helen,

I think you speak for very many hard working tax payers in this country.

Like you we have no problem with welfare benefits for the genuine and needy they deserve every penny but something has to be done about those who make a lifetime career working the system. Long overdue - unfortunately the previous government buried its head in the sand and of course it suited them to keep the numbers off the unemployment register.

A chap who used to live near me was a wrong 'un through and through. One Boxing Day he stole a motorbike and roared off on it, knocking down and killing an elderly lady. He smashed his leg up. He was put in prison for it for a few years (not many) and his licence taken away. When he came out of prison he started driving again even without a licence but no one dare report him because he was such a headcase he would have beaten that person up if he found out.
I saw him a couple of years ago, he has been on and off drugs for years, often slumped outside a tesco store in the city centre and has never worked. He told me he was in constant pain so unable to work because the bone had grown through his heel after his accident so has been on dla etc and had mobility allowance so a new car every so often, for most of his life. He must be about 40+ now.
It would be great to think his money will be stopped and he be forced to work at last.

Lizx

Helen in Kent........a lot of people claiming DLA have paid their dues for years even if they haven't they are entitled to DLA if they need it , yes some are not genuine but what people are saying is they are genuine but are getting their benefits stop which l personally think is unfair surely you also must think they are being penalized, what can they do to get what they are entitled to !!!!!!
I also hope you your family and friends are never put in this situation.
There for the grace of God go l.

Helen
My husband was in the armed forces for years and has worked after that ,he has paid his taxes etc ,.
Anyone with any sense can see that he has a genuine clam .
I hope for your sake you are never put into this situation ,you may then understand why it is so frustrating .

Interesting.

My family has, fortunately, never needed to claim any of these allowances and wouldn't know where to start.

I appreciate many people are genuine receivers and I really sympathise because I know that, there, but for the grace of God, go I. But my family and friends have always been those who pay for this out of our hard-earned taxes and so I am glad that someone is, at last, making sure that everyone is a genuine claimant. I have felt fleeced for years.

You make sure you get every service that is available to you. It has been difficult but I am finally learning to grab instead of getting by.

My disability was granted for life and my OH is a war pensioner. Can they hope to change those? Apart from other problems, such as poor circulatio resulting in ulcers on leg, I have now been diagnosed with Asthma. I also have continence problems because of side effects of diabetes. How can I cope with a bus service running twice a week , giving three hours in town? Twenty miles from the hospital and two from the doctor.

Thick as 2 short planks and no feelings!!!!

Bonuses for some should be banned!!!!

I put this on another thread.Before I became a carer I worked freelance.My partner did and does again now. If we had to go for a job we just went and bore the travel cost.As a carer there are no concessions like glasses or prescriptions but we bore that too.

He took a full-time job which came to an abrupt end and was able to claim Job Seekers while he built up freelance jobs again.tFree prescriptions,help toward glasses and money to go for job interviews. That was when we were living on what we would probably have coming in at a slack time when we were picking up work.

Sometimes I wonder exactly how they do decide where to send it.