help and advice for newby!

Replies

By moonstar

Re: help and advice for newby!
Thu 20 Mar 2008 21:27

Hi there.

I get DLA (low mobility, middle care) for my 11 year old but it was very long process. It was given once, then on renewal taken away, then spent 19 months going through the appeals procedure. Was worth it because they had to backdate award and have given it till he's 16.

It is quite difficult (in my experience) to get DLA for autism because every child is different in the way it affects them.

All I can say is to get as many professionals who deal with your child to do reports. Also, if your application gets turned down, you can ask for a reconsideration before going through appeals, but you can only (I think) have one appeal per application, so dont' let the DLA office talk you into re-applying before you have had a reconsideration and appeal if necessary - it puts you to the back of the queue again - they tried it with me, but luckily I was passing all letters, etc onto the Councillor who was assisting me, and he had seen that trick before!!

I had help from my local Town Councillors, who have a lot of experience with appeal, etc, and they attended with me which was a great help.

I would suggest that you telephone the National Autistic Society Helpline. They have a Welfare Rights Service. If you phone them on 0845 070 4004 between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday, they will take some details and get an Advisor to contact you.

This number is also the contact number for any other queries. They also have a parent to parent telephone support service.

Their website is : www.autism.org.uk

Hope this helps.

All the best

By EL

Re: help and advice for newby!
Wed 9 Apr 2008 22:25

My 13 year old son gets middle and low rate for his asperger's if you claim tax credit you will get an increase in that too. I dont want to build your hopes up but when i contacted tax credits and told them my income had gone up due to DLA not only did my allowance go up they back dated and imagine the shock i got when i used the atm to find an extra 2 1/2 k in there!!!

By moonstar

Re: help and advice for newby!
Thu 10 Apr 2008 02:37

Hi

I forgot to say in my previous post back to you that part of the mobility component for DLA is if the child needs guidance and supervision when out to stop them coming to harm ( has to be shown to over and above care required by a child of the same age without problems) . Also his mood swings affect how he acts when outside. You will need to put as much detail on the form as possible about how he acts and what you need to do to do normal tasks out of the home with him.

As far as I am aware, you need to get high rate mobility to qualify for a blue badge.

Im in Northern Ireland and we dont get travel concessions for disability in children, so cant help with that one,

As EL says above, if your child gets DLA and you are in receipt of Child Tax Credits, they pay a premium for disabled children.

If you get middle or upper rate care from DLA, then you can apply for Carers Allowance - if you work you may not get it, as it is means tested, whereas DLA isnt.

Take care

By EL

Re: help and advice for newby!
Thu 10 Apr 2008 10:19

Flippin ek moonsar when do you sleep? 02:37 am!! mind you iv'e been up since 4.30 just gettin tired now, think i'll crash on the sofa while Adam is watching Mr Bean! x

By kerry.

Re: help and advice for newby!
Thu 10 Apr 2008 21:40

hi donsbabe,
if you get high rate then you can get other benefits and you can apply to things like the family fund too.

just cos he walks you can still get mobility: my boys both walk and we get high rate for them both in dla and also mobility, which means that we can get a car.
also u can get free tax disc, if you get high rate.

if you get high rate mob for 3 yrs you can lease a new car and just pay for the petrol (servicing and tax disc free plus insurance etc) or if you ge tit for 5 yrs plus you can buy a car. but then you gotta service, insure it etc yourself but you still get free tax disc.

good luck
Kerry

By moonstar

Re: help and advice for newby!
Thu 10 Apr 2008 23:23

Hi EL

I was just getting to sleep when you were getting up! Im an insomniac!!!

Then up again at 7 to get my son ready for school!

Take care