disability living allowance
 

i know this has been touched on before but i kinda wanted a standalone thread about it , i had a medical the other week for industrial injuries benefit and for the second time i have been classed as 40% disabled :( , anyway , i have been turned down twice already for dla and was wondering if anyone had experience of going after dla repeatedly until they got it ??? , all ithoughts and ideas appreciated :)

Re: disability living allowance
 

I would have thought that it mainly hinges on the medical and what your GP writes :confused:

Re: disability living allowance
 

which makes me wonder , if i am classed as 40% disabled now , at what threshold does dla kick in :confused:

Re: disability living allowance
 

It has probably got more to do with how your disability affects your quality of life and ability to do things for your self rather than % of disability.
__________________

Just found this http://www.benefitsnow.co.uk/

Re: disability living allowance
 

Thanks for that I will let Paul know!!!

Re: disability living allowance
 

My mother got it first time mate, however with both forms of arthritis in every join tin her body, plus inoperable crumbling discs in her spine and fibromyalgia

I guess 80% disabled wasnt a surprise.

They are tightening up mate, apparently my mother no longer needs care through the night, thuis her beenfit payments are being reduced, despite this 80% disablilty, apparently she can manage without help.

I stil question whether they are fully eqiupt to say that her condition is better than last year. I mean lets face it, although rheumatiod can go itno remision osteo is only going to get worse. I wonder if she will be declared foit to work when her spine crumbles completely and paraylses her, its not if, its actually when.

This gov has ****ed over the diabled people well and truelly and its high time someone did somehtign for their rights and their care, my mother clearely cannot work, how is she supposed to ****ing survive?

Same goes for Paul here, he was hurt severely at work, now he cant work because of it, how is he supposed to live?

Re: disability living allowance
 

I struggle to see how they can put a percentage on it. 40% disabled sounds pretty bad to me, and 80% sounds terrible. But if, as Paul says, the DLA kicks in at a percentage, how do they measure that percentage? I admit to not knowing much about it, but I always thought disability can fluctuate on a day to day basis?

Re: disability living allowance
 

I don't think the DLA do!

As I said before it has probably got more to do with how your disability affects your quality of life and ability to do things for yourself rather than % of disability.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Yup. When you fill in the DLA application, there are sections on what the disability causes problems with and to what extent.

For example, if the problem was getting dressed - i.e. someone needs help with that - then you need to clearly specify how often and how much help.
Make sure not to understate the problems or to miss anything.

If you want any further help on DLA, you can PM me - there are a few tricks to filling in the forms ;)
__________________

It doesn't. It's based on the effect it has on your life and what assistance you need.

Re: disability living allowance
 

watch out for pm's flying your way ;) :D :D :D

Re: disability living allowance
 

Getting DLA is like trying to win the lottery. It took me over three years of medicals, tribunals, appeals to Commissioners, etc to get what I have now (lower rate care and higher rate mobility) which I still think is not as much as I should be getting. Sociable has had similar problems going on over a longer period. A lot can depend on what the examining medical practitioner puts in his report if the DWP ask for a report. One that examined me only saw me take three steps across the kitchen and from that declared that I could walk with normal gait but with an occasional limp in my left (if I can remember correctly) leg. How can you have a normal gait if you have a limp and how can you determine that it is an occasional limp if only three steps have been taken?

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/dc/dcboa...pics&forum=100 is worth having a look at. This site is basically for professionals in the benefits field but tells you a lot about what is going on. I will let you have some more links when I stick the HDD that has them on in my PC>

Re: disability living allowance
 

Any good? :confused:

Re: disability living allowance
 

Some really good stuff can be found here.

Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk
Company registration No. 5962666..

Please remember to take the gloves off when dealing with the DWP they are out to screw you in any event. Already they are openly abusing your Human Rights be subjecting you to degrading treatment as most of their doctors are already bought and paid for.

Re: disability living allowance
 

It's just a shame the site feeds of people by charging them for a service that the CAB and most decent local charaties or sites like moneysavingexpert will provide for FREE.

This site is, in my opninion, no better than the people it /claims/ to have a problem with.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Re: disability living allowance
 

Helluva bump, after four and a half years, from a first time post advertising chargeable services.....;)

Re: disability living allowance
 

you get some good free advisory emails. I don't subscribe to this site's bb nor would i.

Re: disability living allowance
 

You need to focus on the point you "need" care. DLA is being replaced with ESA..

Re: disability living allowance
 

Shame so many negative responses to what was meant as a well intentioned post./ This site is nothing to do with me but the free email advices are worth their weight in gold.

I do not advertise anything for anyone not even for myself.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Err, I doubt Paul will read that. He was banned in 2005..

Re: disability living allowance
 

What does the ESA stand for?

Re: disability living allowance
 

Employment support allowance. Currently replacing incapacitity benefit for new claimants since late last year.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Sorry I got mixed up between incapicity and DLA

Re: disability living allowance
 

No it isn't, IB(Incapacity Benefit) has been replaced with ESA

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/...15412.xml.html

edit: Bit late posting apparently.

Re: disability living allowance
 

there is no percent as such where it kicks in it is whether it affects how you live that matters and how well you are at filling out the forms

try

http://www.disabilityuk.com/dla/dla1a.htm

http://www.dialuk.info/about.asp

Re: disability living allowance
 

DIAL (Disabled Information Advice Line) and CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) are fantastic at helping to fill out the forms. CAB helped me when I renewed when I was 17 going on 18, and was refused the bottom rate because I have Aspergers and in front of the appeal panel they thought I was fully capable of living properly in the real world without problems, despite the fact I didn't answer most of their questions. They're wrong, I still need regular advice and help with things. I have relatives who push me to re-apply for it, but I'm reluctant to since I'll most likely get refused again, and refused at the appeal.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Try local autism/mental health related charities - they're very experienced in dealing with the onerous forms etc. Best of luck!

Re: disability living allowance
 

I have found a numb er of BBs to be useful but for on the job help CAB comes up trumps, they will even do appeals for you.

Re: disability living allowance
 

How successful you will be in claiming DLA comes down to how you answer the questions on the form it is that simple you have to look at the questions in a very non specific way and answer accordingly. When i claimed first and second time i was told that pain and suffering in doing an activity was irrelevent and it was purely down to whether i could do it. As an example the how far can you walk well i can walk fifty metres and that was all they wanted to know they didn't care how much pain or discomfort i was in doing that purely that i could walk it.

So you have to take pain and discomfort into account yourself when answering their questions and if doing anything causes you pain then you say no you cannot do it even though you can. Adopting that approach i was able to finally get the level of DLA that everyone in the medical community that deals with me felt i should be getting. I despise the current system because it plays on the pride and stubbornness of claimants in not wanting to fully admit how limited we are and how much we struggle to do even simple things.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Yes, the CABs are excellent but there are often local charities and voluntary groups which cater for specific types of disability and accordingly can have a great deal of directly relevant experience when it comes to claiming all sorts of benefits. We tried the CAB when we first thought about claiming DLA for our youngest and they were helpful but a local charity group we came across shortly afterwards was able to offer specific advice pertinent to our situation and his needs and guided us through the entire process from start to finish. We cannot thank them enough!!

Re: disability living allowance
 

From DWP Decision Makers Guide
See Chapter 61

So according to the Rules/Law, it is the distance before severe discomfort, which does not just mean pain. So even if you could walk 10km but suffered from severe discomfort after 20m, you are meant to be classed as only being able to walk 20m. This is meant to be the Law, so when are the DWP going to start obeying it?

Re: disability living allowance
 

What annoys me is that they dole out child benefit to all and sundry regardless of income, need, etc. yet make it sooooo difficult for genuinely disabled and vulnerable people (including children) to claim what they're entitled to.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Whilst I sympathise with anyone in need of help you must agree there is a section of the community that is abusing this system. Therefore bearing this in mind how would you suggest they are denied this service whilst helping genuine cases?

Re: disability living allowance
 

There is always going to be a proportion of every section of society who abuse the system. My point is that things are made disproportionatley difficult for those who due to their disability often find it hardest to go through the process. There is, for example, clearly a sizeable group of able bodied but entirely seflish people who abuse the Blue Badge scheme in various ways, many of which don't involve abuse of the DLA system yet which impact adversely on genuine DLA recipients. Making the DLA forms even more onerous won't affect those who steal or buy fake badges but doing so would make the lives of people who already have a tough time even harder. From my recollection the child and working tax credit forms are nowhere near as complex or demoralising as the DLA forms yet I bet the amount of money falsely claimed via the former system vastly outweighs that wrongly obtained in the latter.

Abuse of the system is always wrong but disproportionately penalising the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and/or needy in society isn't the way to put that fact right.

Re: disability living allowance
 

i would suggest you dont bother doing anything other than prosecuting when caught

we spend around £1.50 at the moment for every £1.00 we get back from the departments that deal with fraud and most cases that get to court are from reports from people who know those cheating not from investigations

this is just a waste of money and ends up depriving those with need from the help they need because of then over zealous people denying claims which are then overwhelmingly won on appeal

but i expect that not many will agree with me as they have been brain washed by the press who seem to think the disabled are about as dangerous as the Americans thought the commies were ;)

Re: disability living allowance
 

Tony the problem is most of the **** scamming the system know all the loopholes and are very rarely the people that have the trouble getting the benefit because they already know exactly how to word everything and how to fake obvious symptoms. This is why i believe that a classification of medically confirmed should be introduced whereby a claimant has undergone a whole range of tests and consultants appointments before being diagnosed.

Most genuinely disabled people have already been through that and already have that medical evidence so how about limiting claims to those with the accompying medical evidence. While not perfect it is better then what we have now and isn't that hard to implement. But it would also mean that the government wouldn't have such an easy scapegoat the next time there is media inspired hysteria about how the benefit system is abused by the tiny small minority of those who do abuse it.

What we shouldn't have is a process in place that makes it extremely hard for those who genuniely are entitled to get those benfits they should, and a system that does not make those using it feel they are second class citizens in this country and that is what we have right now.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Roger, where did you get those figures?
£1.50 spent for every £1.00 we get back.
That seems alarming enough, until you also factor in the wages for the fraud staff, plus the expenses paid for accomodation claims and childcare for the staff, if these costs are met by the taxpayer.
If your calculations are correct and then factor in any expenses claimed then I would also just say prosecute when caught.
There was an interesting debate on the local radio about bus passes, they were on about means testing for them.
But in order for the means testing to be done requires staff, which drains more money from the system, so why bother means testing for them when in reality the money saved could well be less than the money spent.
Anyway, all this mullarky is a great distraction from the mp's expense fiasco.

Re: disability living allowance
 

#Yes that in theory sounds fair enough. However how do you deal with crooked doctors bought and paid for by the DWP.

If you don't think these exist then your in cuckoo land.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Through experience Carol I would say that your alleged crooked doctors are the least of the problem.
My late father had to be virtually dying before he got his DLA.
He was a bevin boy during the war, he was around 18 years old at the time, working in the pit wrecked his back, he could barely walk long distances without terrible pain.
How he would have liked to have dropped a doctor a tenner hey? ;)
On the other extreme, a guy I worked with suddenly decided he did not want to work any longer, he did not need a crooked doctor, he just created an alcohol dependancy problem.
Said he could not face the world without a 6 pack first, what employer would employ him?
So now he is claiming long term sickness benefits.
So yes the system needs looking at, but only getting £1 back for every £1. 50 spent? there is something really wrong there.

Re: disability living allowance
 

from their own figures i will dig out the web site again later i did post them in a similar thread before

the only people benefiting from the fraud department are those working for it ;)

here is one item about it
http://www.nao.org.uk/news/0708/0708102.aspx

Re: disability living allowance
 

Thanks for that Roger, and it certainly looks that way.

Re: disability living allowance
 

And you're being slanderous.

btw, The doctors work for ATOS Origin, an outsourcing operation, and not for the Disability and Carers Service (part of the DWP).

Re: disability living allowance
 

The Appeals Tribunals are also meant to be independent, but I know from experience, of outright lies by both groups about things said/done. The lawyers at the tribunal will say that there has been a recent judicial decision which goes against your case, they won't specify anything about it and afterwards(ie too late) you find out the decision was in your favour or that there was no such recent adverse decision in the first place. So the legal points used to support the appeal are totally correct but you can do nothing about it.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Crooked doctors my well be the least of the problem but they exist, bought and paid for by the DWP in order to short change you. Normally these are retire old dinosaurs and usually drunks and are there to do you no favours only to get you off DLA.

TAKE AS YOU WISH AS LONG AS YOU ARE AWARE.

---------- Post added at 10:05 ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 ----------


the correct word is libellous and there can be no libel in the truth. Besides do you think anyone is stupid enough to post what they can not substantiate. I can substantiate all i post and if you want a few doctors names who are in the pocket of the dwp email me for them.

The governmnet loves you sort...believe all they tell you.

---------- Post added at 10:07 ---------- Previous post was at 10:05 ----------

FOLLOW THIS ITS MORE ENLIGHTENING........

It’s been an extraordinary fortnight since this campaign began. So, apologies for the long email, but we want to get everyone caught up.

AA & DLA WON’T END ON 13 NOVEMBER
Firstly, we want to make it absolutely clear that AA and DLA are not going to be abolished on 13 November, because some people seem to have got that impression.

We’re asking you to make your voice heard before the green paper consultation period ends on 13 November because, if you don’t, it makes it much more likely that disability benefits will be handed over to local authorities at some time in the future.

EMAILING DISABILITY ORGANISATIONS
Over 19,000 people have now signed up to the campaign and last week disability charities were deluged with emails after we asked campaigners to contact them and ask what they are doing about this issue. So much so that after a few days we had to ask you to stop sending emails, as they were simply being met with standard responses and were very unlikely to even be being read.

But you got the message across in astonishing numbers and with extraordinary speed and effectiveness. It is very unlikely that there is a disability charity in the UK that is not highly aware of this issue and also aware that their members are watching how they deal with it. You can read more about this at:

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/new...-your-response

We think it would be excellent if as many disability charities as possible were monitored over the coming months to check the degree to which they publicise this issue, consult with their members and respond to the green paper. It’s not something we have the resources to do here. But we’re hoping that groups of claimants with an interest in a particular charity might get together to do this.

The Carer Watch website below has made a forum available for anyone involved in this campaign to use for free, you don’t have to be a Benefits and Work member. You might want to try to meet up there with people with an interest in the same organisation.

CONTACT YOUR MP
This week we’re asking you to contact your MP and/or regional assembly member and ask them what they are going to do about this issue.

Once again, we’re not going to provide a standard letter because we think that will be taken a great deal less seriously than your personal opinions. But some of the things you might want to include are:

Tell your MP that you are concerned about proposals in the green paper to hand disability benefits over to local authorities.

Would the proposals make you less independent or affect your quality of life?

Ask them to ask the secretary of state for work and pensions to provide a precise list of which benefits may be affected now or at some time in the future. You might also want to ask for an explanation of why such unclear terms were used in the green paper when people’s future is at stake and they are supposedly being consulted with.

If your MP isn’t Labour, ask them what their party’s policy on this matter is.

Whatever party they belong to, ask them if they are prepared to give an assurance that they personally will vote against any plan to transfer funding from attendance allowance or disability living allowance to local authority control.

Would you vote for another party if you thought they would be less likely to cut your benefits? If so, tell your representative. – they may be interested to hear that.

You can write to your MP at their constituency office or at the House of Commons (though it may take longer to get a reply from there as MPs are on holiday at the moment) or use Write to Them which is also useful just for identifying who your representatives are:

www.writetothem.com/

WHERE TO SHARE YOUR REPLIES: CARER WATCH
Rather like the disability charities last week, we were completely overwhelmed by your emails. There’s no possibility of us being able to answer them all. However, if you’re a member, you can post information in our discussion forum at:

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/for...owcat&catid=13

Whether you’re a member of Benefits and Work or not, you can also post in the Carer Watch forum below.

Although set up by carers, Carer Watch is being used by sick and disabled claimants as well. We’ve heard a lot from Carer Watch in recent weeks about the work they’ve done to try to get carers organisations to be more assertive in relation to benefits and to consult more with members and we’ve been very impressed, particularly as they are an entirely unfunded group.

They’ve set up a special forum for this campaign, you have to register to post, but it has the huge advantage that it’s entirely free:

carerwatchdotcom.myfineforum.org/about748.html

We’ve also written a brief article about the kind of responses you’re likely to receive from your MP:

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/new...e-weasel-words

AND FINALLY . . .
Congratulations on what you’ve achieved so far. The campaign has grown so quickly and spread awareness of this issue so widely that we’ve dropped our original plan to send out an email with a new task each week. The idea of chipping away bit-by-bit at different disability agencies that we originally had no longer seems to make sense. But there will be more emails over the coming weeks – we have at least one more major task after this one - and we’ll be keeping people informed after that.

What would be really excellent now is if the realisation that there are many thousand of claimants out there who are able to get together and act for a common purpose could be translated into something longer lasting. There’s no point in a private sector company like ours trying to spearhead this – we are far too open to the accusation that we are only in it for the money.

Is it time for someone to revive the idea of a Claimant’s Union?

Good luck,

Re: disability living allowance
 

A sweeping generalisation that the doctors in question are 'usually drunks' is, indeed, libellous, in that you've written it down in your post. However, if you're willing to put it on here, you've probably uttered it to other people, making it slanderous.

As a point of fact (and having known a few of the doctors in question), I'd argue that the ones in your area might be 'on the take' (to coin a phrase), but they're definitely not round here.

That's the problem with sweeping generalisations - they tend to get caught out when you take into account the remaining 90% of the people you're referring to...

Re: disability living allowance
 

People don't have to be 'on the take' as such, all they have to do is give the people that ultimately pay them(ie the DWP). what is perceived to be the DWP's desired result.

Re: disability living allowance
 

What Nug said.

Yes

<thanks, Nug, for saving me the typing>

<btw, my bad re libel/slander - thanks for the correction>

---------- Post added at 10:54 ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 ----------

But there is a major difference between that and being on the take/crooked - one is a perception, one is a libellous sweeping comment stated as fact.

In fact, in an article in the Daily Hate last year, a doctor stated that Atos took the opposite stance - link

Re: disability living allowance
 

There is a problem with some doctors and that is a fact one incident i am aware of was an eighty year old woman with severe arthritis who had lived on the ground floor of her house for fifteen years. When she was visited by a doctor working on behalf of the dwp he asked her to climb the stairs and she refused stating she couldn't so there was no point he then put her down as uncooperative.

I do not however support the views of one poster here that they are on the take or corrupt in anyway. I think the guidelines they have to follow are so open to interpretaion at some points and closed at others as to make the whole process as confusing for them as for us the claimants. Right now we have a system that is failing those in need failing those trying to police it and failing the doctors who are tasked with trying to get to the truth.

This is deliberate on the part of the government to cut the number of successful claims and to minimise a problem that is far more widespread then they like to admit. My own gp has expressed many times to me his complete disgust with the current system and the way it forces everyone involved in it to act and think and he is a very experienced gp.

What needs to happen is for the truth to be accepted by all party's yes there are abusers just as there are in the tax system or in fact any system that exists but you cannot build an entire process around those small minoritys of people. Benefit claimants in my own opinion do have to be prepared to be scrutinised and most genuine claimants i have met including myself have absolutely no problem with that. As long as when it happens we are not then branded with the "fraud" brush that both the media and our own damn government is so happy to label most on benefit with.

I am grateful to all those in this country that are able too and do work because without them we couldn't have any system to help the vulbnerable in our society. They do whether some like it or not have a right to know that they tax they pay is indeed going to people that deserve it and is not funding lazy workshy scroungers.

A fair system that meets the needs of those in need whilst protecting the taxpayer in the country from abuse is vey much needed but it has to be done the right way. That means no government can misuse the benefit system when it suits them to manipulate statistics as this labour government has certainly done. It means no government can use benefit as a convinient thing to divert attention from other things that are going wrong and it means the media has to stop highlighting individuals and representing them as some form of majority of claimant.

In short it will take some one\party with more courage then i see in any of them right now before we can start to have a system that is fair to all involved whilst meeting the needs of the vulnerable but i can hope :).

Re: disability living allowance
 

:clap::clap::clap:

Re: disability living allowance
 

mmmm Interesting. Its like saying that all all MPs and crooked over their expenses swindle. Its just a catch all phrase! However I know for a fact that the DWP employs a points scheme for those doctors who kick more off DLA tend to get more work and more work equally higher fees...You work it out!

Statistics from the BMA show one of the highest rates of drunks in the professions belong to doctors. I AM CLAIMING THAT ONCE A DOCTOR HAS BEEN REDUCED TO Working FOR THE DWP, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY HE/SHE MUST BE A HOPELESS DRUNK OR DRUGGIE.

Its really is such a shame the people of this nation are so thick and complacent to have allowed the country to be reduced to it current mismanaged state where every is chaos and very little works...on your heads be it.

People should not have the grovel for their benefits and the system should be such that those who abuse it are punished to the extent that they will never try it again, and the punishment would serve as the REALLY warning to others.

What we need in this country, and believe me the situation is now desperate, is a government that can govern in the long term best interests of our nation. Britain has not had one of those for generations hence the state of the Union today.


Meanwhile sit back and keep watching as the vulnerable be kicked of the DLA they deserve and need, and take a butchers at this as its look like there will be no DLA for us to squabble over.


A reply from an MP RE DLA/AA-GREEN PAPER

Further to recent correspondence between us, following my enquiry on your behalf, I have now received the following information from the Office of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

"We want to provide high quality services that best support more disabled people; and particularly in the current economic climate, we all need the new system to be affordable and sustainable. As part of this we must consider the role of disability benefits in the context of the overall system of disability-related support.

We think there is a case for bringing some disability benefits and the new social care system together into a single system, as a better way of providing support through a new National Care Service.

We know that disability benefits are popular because they provide a universal entitlement which does not depend on where a person lives, they provide a cash budget which can be spent on the services someone wants, and people often use them to support lower-level needs that help them stay well for longer. These three aspects - a universal system that is consistent across the country, flexible methods of payment through personal budgets, and a focus on prevention and lower-level needs - will all be important components of the new care and support system.

It is important to note that this is a consultation exercise around options for long-term reform. No final decisions have been made yet, and it is vital that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to this important public debate. This consultation - the Big Care Debate - will run until 13 November 200


We will only make any changes to disability benefits if we are certain that by doing so we can better support the needs of older and disabled people. Whatever changes we make, we want to ensure that people receiving any of the relevant benefits at the time of reform would continue to receive an equivalent level of support and protection, under a new and better care and support system.

METHINKS IT TIME THIS COUNTRY WOKE UP, MPs ROB THE JAMPOT...YOU JUST GET THE STICK PAPER LABEL.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Sorry to cut the rest of your post, but this is rubbish. I don't think that anyone with half a brain thinks that all MPs have fiddled their expenses (what with there being proof that some didn't actually claim for anything at all) - what you wrote wasn't a catch-all phrase; it was, as I noted previously, a sweeping generalisation that was, in actuality, not so much wide of the mark as in a different timezone.

No-one would dare to suggest that there aren't any number of people (doctors included) who would take the quick buck option, but lumping them all into the same pot (and then describing them as 'usually drunk') is grossly unfair to those who try to work the system in aid of the benefit claimant - some of them do exist, you know.

You obviously have an agenda (political or otherwise) involving this subject - whilst many may agree or disagree with regards to the changes that are provisionally being made to the benefits system, this does not give you the overbearing right to proclaim your opinion the right one. In fact, the very fact that you appear to be doing this rather suggests that it probably isn't...

Re: disability living allowance
 

Carol, you raise some interesting points, and yet once again manage to be fairly insulting to a large number of people
or is that another one of your catch-all statements?

You also state
How does that marry up with the fact that the DWP (in this scenario, DCS actually, but that's being picky) has outsourced the work to Atos Origin (Healthcare), and does not actually pay the doctors - are you saying Atos Origin and the DWP/DCS are working together to deny claimants DLA? So the DCS Decision Makers, their Supervisors, the people who carry out the Quality Audits, the Atos Origin Managers, their Quality Auditors, and the Doctors are all in on this?

Do you have any proof of your assertion, or are you just making it up as you go along?

On a more positive note, potential claimants and their friends/families/cares may find this link useful, as it provides an outline of the role of Atos Healthcare and the advice they can offer to clinicians, and some desk aids and other guidance.

btw, I do not work for either Atos or the DWP.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Oh boy how naive can you be, your not living in Utopian country but in corrupt dirty Britain in 2009.

If you think MPs did not fiddle you, then how do you explain a 40grand duck house when people are struggling below the poverty line.

I see the government has trained you well <removed>

I have no agenda, political or otherwise, save to see fair play all round.

But as you know best, then this is not the place for me, and I am gone from here with this post.

When you wake up you will see who daft you are! However, when you wake up to these things it will be like someone has smashed you over the head and it all too then .

I trust you find the truth about this country and the deceit over the ECJ judgement of October 18 2007 which has caused so much misery to many who have had their DLA illegally stopped. You will be next

Wake up people, wake up as when its gone its gone.

I am outta here as of now.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I am on DLA i am a genuine receiver of this benifit and any doctor i have seen over the years has always been sympathetic to my needs. I think you Carol are being very rude tarring everyone with the same brush and as for branding people thick and complacent and the docs alcoholic and crooked is out of order, i for one am not thick or complacent.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Hide the sharp objects.......

Carol, you seem to respond to questions with personal insults - not the best persuasional tactic I have come across.....

btw, still awaiting your "evidence" re the alleged points scheme.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Carol i understand you may be passionate about this and even making such allowances for that, you are not helping yourself or the cause you claim to care so much about with your approach. Also please stop the insulting of ALL medical personnel as being either drunk druggies or corrupt unless you can provide proof of that.

No one here is being naive just because we don't share your approach to this there are many angles that have to be considered in defeating any possible legislation. Many on these forums either are benefit claimants or know someone who is and by and large most on here know the truth of the situation and are very well aware that benefit is not some happy go lucky existence. Please stop the insults you are making because that is gauranteed to make people deaf to your message faster then anything else.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Guys, can we get back to the subject?

Re: disability living allowance
 

It's not just you.

Carol may have some valid points, but they are drowned out by the insults and the invective; people are hearing the messenger, not the message.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I look around my country today an see the people in need suffering. I look around my country today, one which I have been led to believe is a democracy.

I KNOW THAT IN A DEMOCRACY IT IS THE PEOPLE THAT CONTROL THE POLITICS. I LOOK AT SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS, MAKES NO DIFFERENCE IF THEY ARE ONE OR THE OTHER AND THEN ............................................I conclude that ignorant complacent plebeians who know no different, must have voted for them as no sensible people would have.

This is clearly manifest by two terms of labour and three of the Cons previously.

Surely given the current stae of our nation today only a real dumbo would fail to see this.

As for the duck I never said get rid of Labour over this I said get rid of the lot of thieving barstewards as they are all robbing you blind and we have not even looked and civil service expenses yet.

Look if then peasantry is happy with this situation and simply want to ignore it, then thats fine by me...just get on with it its your suicide and that of your loved ones, and not mine as I am already wised up to what is happy and made my provisions.

We are hardly what one would describe as being an enlightened electorate....we even let Brown sign our country away to Europe when he sneakily signed the Treaty of Lisbon over XMAS last year and one, and clearly to give away our sovereign powers to another nation is Treason under the Bill of Right 1688 I believe. Yet most of the public are too thick to even bother to know this or protest. Nu Labour promised you all a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, but Nu Labour knows you are all too thick to care, too busy with footie and the telle.

So I am fully justified with my comments.

Re: disability living allowance
 

So, we are -

ignorant complacent plebians
dumbo
peasantry
its your suicide and that of you loved ones
too thick
too thick (again)

Convinced me with your sweet words and convincing logic - you could be a politician. As I said before, you may have some valid points, but you are not getting them across - if you have proof about your DLA accusations, show it; otherwise you could be just another conspiracy theorist, venting on the web.

Love you xxxx

Re: disability living allowance
 

You are also straying off topic.


Now, this is directed at everyone. The topic is the Disability Living Allowance. It is not whether doctors or MPs are or are not corrupt and it's certainly not about the definition of libel or slander.


This is a friendly warning: Carry on with the off topic posts and we will be taking further action.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Nobody's saying that you're not justified with your comments - what we are doing is exercising our democratic right to disagree with you :)

We'll all have a choice in about 9 months to make a difference - even those of us who are 'too thick' will be able to cast our vote to try and make a change.

Re: disability living allowance
 

No prob with me I will leave the BB. I have found that the maintenance of your DLA does indeed encompass all I have said, that why I have said it.

I wish you all good luck in your endeavours. Sadly I have been through the mill with my husband!

I WAS ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES AND WON THE DAY, MANY I KNOW HAVE BEEN DELIBERATED THWARTED, ESPECIALLY BY THE APPEALS TRIBUNAL.

For those of you who think that DLA is straight forward look again, but good good luck. For those of you who know its a minefield you will know the pitfalls.

FOR THE LAST TIME OVER AND OUT CAROL

Re: disability living allowance
 

As the husband of someone who used to deal with people who were in the process of applying for DLA, she's advised me that the process of application is in no way a minefield, and is actually very straight forward.

In fact, I have it on her (very good and knowledgable) word that, in the majority of cases, people who have problems with actually getting DLA is specifically down to them not filling the forms in correctly, or not actually answering the questions that are asked. Maybe it's because they're thick :shrug:

Re: disability living allowance
 

I had a bad time with the forms for DLA, luckily I had someone from sight concern out to help me.

He also helped me when my sight got worse to re do them and got me through my appeal.

No doubt I AM thick because if I'd filled the forms out I'd have got smeg all.

Mind you I understand the questions have changed since my appeal came through last year.

Re: disability living allowance
 

The thing is dilli, that you have a specific issue that made it difficult for you to fill the forms in - the guy from Sight Concern did basically the same thing as Mrs Nug used to do as part of her job, which was help those who weren't sure to fill it in correctly.

There's no way that you're thick just because you may have filled it out incorrectly - the problems that you have with your sight mean that filling in the forms would automatically be more difficult for you than it would (for example) for me. Having said that, I'm frankly astonished that yours went to appeal.

According to Mrs Nug, the best thing anybody could do if they have to fill these forms in is to seek out someone for advice /assistance - if you need it, try your CAB or Council, and they can (hopefully) sort it for you.

Re: disability living allowance
 

You may well be, i am disabled and have gone through every version of form tribunal and Dr out there to prove my condition so i Know what you are gong on about BUT you wont win friends or gain suporters with the way you are posting


i am often ( not here that i have heard so far though many might just think it ;) lol ) am accused of being too involved with what i am saying but i must say i think i am fairly laid back compared to your posts

yes there are lots of things wrong and the papers and government both use the disabled either to cast them in the baddie role of scroungers we have to check on thoroughly till they squeal hen they need a bad guy to distract from something else

or as the ones they look after and care for when they need to look nice and cuddly themselves

but antagonising those talking about it wont change that

as to things like the changing of AA from an individual payment to a council run service must be fought but nicely explaining it is better than shouting

most here even those who do think that the disabled have lots of scroungers will understand that giving councils the money is hardly likely to make this part of the benefit better as they are unlikely to be able to provide the individually tailored help that that money can help get at the moment

calm down explain dont lecture you might find friends and support here then :)

Re: disability living allowance
 

Ah yes .... DLA forms, such a joy to fill in. :)

Re: disability living allowance
 

I'm afraid this is right. It took me 3 / 4 times to get the words right. Due to my condition, I get sevre dizzy-ness and have no hearing in my left ear, CAB are VERY good and dare I say it, know how to "work" the forms to your advantage.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I don't class myself as thick and i don't find DLA forms straightforward at all i find them vague, non specific and at times not wording the questions properly. I also fully believe that is deliberate and is intended to make the process far harder then it needs to be and isn't helped by the advice given from the DWP.

End of the day social services in relation to the disabled have proven time and time again to not be upto the job of taking care of those responsibilitys they already have with many not getting the help they should have. For me the idea that they will get my DLA horrifys me and is not something i would ever support.

Re: disability living allowance
 

keep in mind iv not read the thread yet so not sure what the fuss is about, but id just like to remind people that

David Blunkett MP looked to Repeal the blasphemy and blasphemous libel laws in 2004.
http://www.christiantoday.com/articl....laws/1584.htm
"Three years ago Mr Blunkett made clear that he favoured scrapping the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel."
"There have been no public prosecutions for blasphemy since 1922" because its assumed no commoner today knew it existed perhaps ?

Blunkett went on to win a libel case in 2006 after which he said in an interview he describes "as a period of reflection on how a libellous story - and his errors of judgment - led to his downfall.".

led the fight in 2008 for a change in the law so blind people will now be entitled to the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance.

however its not clear if he then claimed his entitled higher rate of Disability Living Allowance after getting the law changed in 2009

clearly he would have had problems filling in the complicated Disability Living Allowance forms as they dont supply braille DLA as standard down your local westminster job center plus.

it's unclear if his doctor, or indeed any disabled MP doctors has been involved in any slander cases, but judging from the passed dates, perhaps that will be a breaking news item in 2010/11:angel:

Re: disability living allowance
 

As i said in a previous post my dealings with DLA have been good, a doctor came to my house to give me a medical and in recent times my occupational health worker has always helped with filling in my forms. I guess if you get the right help in these things it is much easier.

Re: disability living allowance
 

you know not what you are talking about i suggest rather that taking the word of any one you sit down with out help and try and fill one in

the forms are designed to make it hard often hiding the fact that question don't all have to be answered and that some questions are not what they seem to be.

and you point of your knowledgeable wife is the point we make the forms shouldn't be stopping people getting DLA they should be helping them get the help not putting something else they need to learn how to do like a civil servant to get what they are entitled to and NEED

just for example the how far can you walk question which implies you have to tell them and doesn't explain that any distance after you get pain is not suposed to be counted or in my case doesn't apply as as soon as i am having an attack i cant walk

i have had a very knowledgeable civil servant turn up to tell me that i should still put a figure to who i politely told to go away ;) quoting the relevant legislation on the walking test :)

the forms are hard especial for those doing them the first time and those who are not used to civil servant gobbledy gook

Re: disability living allowance
 

I certainly do know what I'm talking about, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't take that tone, ta muchly. For the record, I have seen these forms and, whilst I don't think that I would have a massive problem with filling them in, I'm in the fortunate postion where a) I don't have to, and b) if I did, my wife would be in a very good position to assist me.

The forms do not stop people from getting DLA - the people who decipher the information in the forms do that. As such, not answering the questions correctly is the biggest hindrance that people have. At no point did I say that you have to have somebody help you; more that it is obviously of benefit to you if you can get advice from somebody who is trained in the correct areas.

Re: disability living allowance
 

roger, I appreciate you have not been treated well, but the forms are not there to help or stop people getting DLA - they are there to assess if they are eligible for DLA.

I found this presentation on the web, which although a year of so old, gives an overview (from the DWP's viewpoint) of what they do.

Some stats from it -

7000 staff support and process claims from
2.8 million get DLA
1.5 million get AA
1 million get, or should get Carer's Allowance

Every day, they get
3,200 notifications of changes of circumstances for DLA
3,000 new claims for DLA
1,500 notifications of changes of circumstances for AA
1,000 new claims for Carer's Allowance
2,600 notifications of changes of circumstances for Carer's Allowance

There are (imho) some useful contact numbers at the end of the document.

Re: disability living allowance
 

The walking distance question does specify 'before you feel severe discomfort'. It's just that I was recently told that the Decision Maker's ignore the severe discomfort aspect along with most(if not all) of the Law, the contents of their Decision Maker's Guide, evidence given to Commons Select Committee, House of Lords rulings etc. So it would appear that the rule of Law is ignored and whether you are awarded DLA is down to the whim of the Decision Maker.

Link to offical DWP Decision Maker's Guide (DLA is Chapter 61, PDF document)
Link to other DWP guides which might be useful which include all the legal rulings, including appeals.

Re: disability living allowance
 

The DLA form is quite daunting. Fortunately I have a wonderful Macmillan nurse who has completed the form for me. I wasn't even claiming DLA that I was entitled to until she suggested it!!!

I receive the lowest level of care allowance - about £70 per month. It is not means tested but I'm sure that will change in due course.

As has been mentioned before, subject to additional criteria, being in receipt of DLA can make a major difference to the WFTC payments.

Re: disability living allowance
 

What is WFTC ?

Re: disability living allowance
 

Working Families Tax Credits Paul :)

If you are on the lowest rate of DLA you can claim up to an extra £48.00 per week. Provided that your disability affects your working day in accordance with their guidelines.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Nugget you can't just take the form on face value you have to try and think how you would feel filling it in as that is an important aspect. I am a typical male i am proud and stubborn and hate to admit my limitations and while all of that is my problem it affects how i viewed the form and how i filled it in and some of the questions are purposely formed in such a way as to play to that and that is not just my opinion but also the opinion of many medical people i have talked to and a chairty that i finally ended up going to to fill it in. Thats the best bit of advice for anyone thinking of claiming DLA get someone that knows you well to fill it in for you as they will see you as you really are rather then how you want to think of yourself and the form will then have a more realistic and truthful aspect to it.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Rizzy, very good advice.

Re: disability living allowance
 

So very true Rizzy. If it were down to my husband he wouldn't even have the disabled badge for the car.
He needs the walking sticks he has but won't use them in public, preferring instead to lean on my arm.
The only time he allows himself to be called disabled is when he wants one of the kids to make him a cup of tea :)
Very proud and stubborn man.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I still don't like using my guide cane out in public after being told by someone that he didn't want to go out with me and it as it was embarrasing.

But I nearly walked in front of a bus the other week (Natalie stopped me or it woul dhave been a splatted Dilli) so I try to swallow my pride and use it now.

Re: disability living allowance
 

What a plonker! :erm: (that person, not you Dilli)

Re: disability living allowance
 

I can suggest an alternate use for your cane that will come in handy the next time someone tells you that..... :mad: :D

Re: disability living allowance
 

Thomas you can get and i would bet have much better friends then that trust me as that doesn't sound like anything i would call a friend i had a couple myself but now happily only have people who are more then content to have me around as i am :).

Re: disability living allowance
 

I can think of a use for that cane. It'll need replacing after though.

---------- Post added at 20:07 ---------- Previous post was at 19:43 ----------

Dilli, I don't mean to sound rude, but are you sure they are really your friends? In my experience when you are friends with someone, you deal with any differences they have (such as blindness).

For example, I work with someone who is wheelchair bound. He doesn't usually go out after work, but when he does, we just make allowances (things like going to the bar for him when he wants a drink etc). It's not embarassing, it's just life. People have different abilities.

Also, a few years ago, a friend had a blind girlfriend. Even though I didn't like her particularly (never worked out why, but we just didn't get on), if we ever went anywhere and my friend walked off somewhere (he did sometimes), I always made sure she was OK, and would help her go to wherever she wanted to (not sure what I would have done if she wanted to go to the toilet though :D).

Sorry if it sounds like I am ranting, but I've known enough disabled people that I do find it quite irritating that people define people by their disability, and not by the person themselves.

Anyway, to get back on topic. The problem with the DLA form is that whatever it is designed for, it feels like it's designed to prevent people getting benefit. In fact, the whole system feels like it's designed to stop people getting benefit (while I don't claim DLA myself, I've dealt with the DWP a few times).

Take for example the example of the doctors mentioned earlier. A friend had an assessment for DLA. The doctor came around. Interviewed my friend. Now, the surgery my friend had years ago was experimental then, and still not that commonplace now. As such, it's not surgery your average GP would necessarily know about (although theirs does, obviously). The doctor who was assessing didn't know about the surgury and immediately concluded nothing was wrong, so recommend the DLA be terminated.

Luckily for my friend, they are still in contact with the consultant who performed the op (the consultant said at the time of the op that due to the experimental nature of the op, my friend was likely to be directly or indirectly monitored by the hospital for the rest of their life). My friend contacted the consultant who immediately wrote a letter to the DWP pointing out that my friend is disabled, is eligible for DLA and explained both my friend's condition and the op. The DWP reinstated the benefit immediately.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I do not tend to go anywhere with him now ;)

Anyway yup, moving on and all that....

Re: disability living allowance
 

i bite on this one

those explain do they ?

in that case which of these is the correct definition of when sever discomfort starts

.when the pain starts

.when to carry on would cause pain then

.when carrying on would cause the pain later

oh and as it is explained in the notes

.when does the short stop bit apply

.if you just need to rest momentary before carrying on

.when a short rest allows you to continue

.taking more medication allows you to continue

any one who says from reading the notes that they could clearly answer those questions isn't being truthful in their answers

this is one the most appealed sections of this supposedly easy form as neither side seems capable of understanding the rules or the form or even what they are supposed to be checking via the question

see these and see if any you are much clearer after some of the explanations lol they some time just make it even more unclear ;)

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/dlalaw.htm#Virtually

http://www.lawcentreni.org/Resources...le%20to%20walk

and as more that 50% of appeals are successful it seems to me the forms are just as confusing for those who should know them like the back of their hands as they will see many many more than those filling them in my assertio that the question especially this one are not properly explain i feel is more that justified )

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/dis...29/dla-appeals

Re: disability living allowance
 

The guides are meant to be the basis upon which they make the decisions. I have been told by more than one person at the DWP they they are ignored. What is the point of the Law being made in the first place if it is going to be ignored. Is this ignoring of the Law, official policy and if so, how far up the chain did it come from?

Re: disability living allowance
 

thats an easy one to answer, and in reality its all down to you, me, and the other people of the nation for being so complacent in our duties as citizens. Of a democracy

i was told the other day by a senior dwp executive that they.."are only following orders"(names supplied if you care to pm me, carolwhitie@yahoo.co.uk

the problem we are all facing right now is that our civil service lacks strength of character in the top management whose lack of public accountability has turned then into indolent monsters who care nothing for the ordinary people. Read this please:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...ice-today.html

the DWP break the law and abuse human rights each and every day, causing unwarranted suffering to many and even death to some.

Until the public wakes up to the fact that they are not accountable to the people.... Then these things will continue.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Where you call people complacent i call them people who don't know how to raise their concerns and while it is easy for us on forums where we are used to voicing ourselves there are many people in this country that simply don't know how. There is a little truth in what you say carol but the way you have stated it here has done more to turn people off to the message your trying to convey then to sway then to your side and thats the important thing here.

Matters like this are defeated when people are given the message in a way that brings them along with you in opposition not when they see the message feel insulted by the way it was put across and decide stuff the issue. Trust me many calm heads are working on this and working together to bring a united front of opposition to this green paper it isn't simply not being opposed or fought and your fav website is far from the only one that is working towards getting this green paper binned.

Re: disability living allowance
 

There are so mnay people in the UK that simply dont want to know. They have grown idles and disinterested in most things outside theri daily grind. of there are those who "DON'T KNOW" but in general most people "DON'T WISH TO KNOW."

This could be one reason why election turn out is at an all time low and just 100 short years after a woman killed herself to get the vote for women. etc etc. In 1913, WSPU member Emily Davison was killed when she threw herself under the King's horse at the Derby as a protest at the government's continued to give women the right to vote.

Recently I was involved in a survey on child death in NHS hospitals. I was stunned ridged to fine that over 80% of all women interviewed, and there was over 1000 were unaware of the sad tragedy of the Bristol babies.

It is a well know fact that the average British person spends up to three and hours a day watching the tele.Soaps are the biggest attraction. With British children spending an average of five hours and 20 minutes a day glued to the box.

This I call complacency. I am really an not interested whether or not I turn people off, as I believe that I do not. More like shocking people more into thinking for themselves, as our grandparents had to do simply to get through their day.

AGAIN IT IS ANOTHER WELL ACCEPTED FACT THAT THE AVERAGE BRIT IS NOW GETTING TOO OBESE TO EVEN SWITCH THE TELE OFF AT NIGHT AND CLIMB THE STAIRS, SO THEY FALL ASLEEP WITH THE BOX LEFT ON IN THE BEDROOM.

I CANT SAY THAT I BLAME PEOPLE AS LIFE IN THE UK HAS BECOME A BORING DRUDGE FOR MOST OF US, BUT AT LEAST GIVE A THOUGHT FOR THOSE THINGS THAT CAN HARM US AND THE WELL BEING OF OUR FAMILIES.


I AM OUT AND ABOUT AT LEAST THREE DAYS WEEK CAMPAIGNING FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE MORE INTEREST IN THEIR SOCIAL WELFARE..................................I find it difficult to say more than that.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Do you think shouting helps you get your point across?

Can you post some links about your 'well accepted facts' please.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Any how there are changes proposed in a government Green Paper to the DLA and that Social Services should become responsible for all cases of folk on DLA and proposes that AA should stop.

Instead of all this invective why not do something positive about it.

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/dis...29/dla-aa-cuts

http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/...ving-your-say/

Re: disability living allowance
 

I have done something positive about it (including writing to my MP), and it didn't involve a site that prey on the very people it claims to help.

---------- Post added at 18:56 ---------- Previous post was at 18:48 ----------

edit - I don't think It'll do any good mind, but I guess it can't hurt ;)

Re: disability living allowance
 

A well known fact ?? Its a "well known fact" that averages dont really prove much.

If 9/10 children watched tv for an hour, and the other one watched it for 11 hours, you would say that the average child watched tv for 2 hours, which is twice the reality for 90% of them - just numerical nonsense.

Another well known fact ? - well known by who exactly ? I think thats just something you made up. Perhaps you could back it up with some evidence. In fact, how many "average" brits even have a tv in their bedroom (I dont).

Re: disability living allowance
 

Ahem, a slight aside -
I wonder why she bought a return ticket, then?

(as a matter of note, she also planted a bomb at Lloyd George's house (he did not know my father, btw) in 1913).

Re: disability living allowance
 

Can we possibly get back on topic?

I personally would like a discussion about the green paper proposalsand whether any thing can be done about them rather than all this bickering and off topic posting.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I don't think you CAN do much more than write to your MP and ask them not to support this and if they do why.

Me, I can't see social services knowing what to spend on me, they have been pretty inept so far. Out of my group I go to on a wednesday wher there are around 30 people with sight problems social services only seem to even see half of them. Of course that's just my own personal experience so elsewhere could be better.

I just get the feeling that it's yet another way to claw back cash from people that are least able to put up a fight.

I'll post any reply I do get from my MP, but to be honest I don't think I'll get one.