Disability Living Allowance Under Threat

[DESCO]

Just found the above, Disabillity Living Alowance and Atendance Allowance is under threat, if you know any one claiming either please bring to there atention. See;-

 

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/disability-living-allowance-%28dla%29/dla-aa-cuts

 

Please take the action don't just let it happen.

 

Thank you

 

 

Dave

[Basil]

To be honest I believe it is not before time. There is wholesale abuse of these benefits, see it every day two doors away, so welcome any changes.

 

Bas

[DESCO]

Basil - 2009-08-08 8:16 PM

 

To be honest I believe it is not before time. There is wholesale abuse of these benefits, see it every day two doors away, so welcome any changes.

 

Bas

 

Only hope you never need either or you could regret the decision. Why not report it if they doing wrong.

 

 

Dave

[Basil]

Possibly, maybe, but I doubt it. I don't believe that those in genuine need will not be looked after. The current system is badly abused and unsustainable.

 

Bas

[BGD]

The Taxpayer-funded benefit is potentially a good one.

 

But, just like Invalidity Benefit, it has been and is continuously being abused by a proportion of the claimants.

 

The people who are claiming it but who are not entitled to is are committing Criminal Fraud.

They are stealing these moneys from the taxpayers who work long and hard to earn the money from which the taxes are taken to pay these thieves.

 

If honest people are not prepared to report those that they know are stealing money from taxpayers by lying, as criminal fraudsters, then their inaction in the face of such criminal activity; alsongside that of the thieves themselves; threatens the whole scheme.

 

In Spain there is a widely advertised "freephone" number that citizens can call to report Benefit thieves within the Spanish Social Security system.

There must be some similar "Whistleblower" anonimous reporting system in the UK too nowadays..........isn't there?

[Syd]

It takes a medical before you can receive DLA so if anyone is abuseing the system it has to be because of some doctors negligence, attendance allowance follows on from DLA almost automatically at varying levels I believe.

 

Doctors are not infallable plus some conditions do improve but there seems to be no check system in place, say a new medical every two years or so.

 

My son receives these benefits on merit and it really gets up my nose when I see it being abused so I go out of my way to report it immediately.

The system needs urgent overhaul, like most of our benefit system.

[michele]

Well I tell you what if they were to take the girls and give it to the social that would be a sorry day . A it is I fight like tooth and nail now just for basic needs equiptment .

 

So buy giving it to them they think the abuse will stop ? what a load of cods .

 

My sister has neurafibromatosis NF1 Elephants mans disease to anyone else . She works always has she gets the lowest some days she cant even move and she had to have a medical . And just last week a lady visited my house took one look a fred and left something to do with them reaching 16 ...anyway its discusting .

[DESCO]

It's people like Basil who do not help the system, see someone cheating the system and sit on their butts and do nothing but complain about the abuse.

 

I am not so sure that people would be looked after, look how they are looking after troops returning hurt, I dont think they are being looked after, or treated well. Any thing to save money.

 

 

Dave

[ROON]

Trying to keep blood pressure down here!!!!! It is a postcode lottery. PEOPLE DO NOT GET LOOKED AFTER JUST BECAUSE THEY NEED HELP .... I CAN ASSURE YOU OF THAT.

 

My parents are both now in nineties and both have cancer ... my dad is classed as terminal even though they don't know how long he might fight on. Both have senile dimentia and it affects them both in totally different ways. On top of that mum can hardly walk.

 

I myself have health problems but because I smile through the pain and try and look 'normal' I am expected to look after them single handed ... no help at all. I am an only child, no uncles or cousins etc..... as long as I struggle then they are happy to let me do so. If I ask for help .... e.g... can the district nurse call (she stays all of five minutes) every fortnight instead of six weekly... Yes of course.... Huh in my dreams..... Can I have help and advice with dad['s bowel cancer ... yes we will arrange someone to talk to you .... huh.... in my dreams ..... can I have a wheelchair that is not so heavy it would take the Hulk to push it not me with lymphodema and all the cancer probs ...... yes sure .... huh in my dreams. And so the Waiting Game takes on a whole new meaning...... They can't get Disability Allowance because they were over 65. I can't get Carer's allowance - it stopped when I reached midnight on my 59years 11months 30days of age ..... just when I probably needed it most. Don't get me started about people who need help get it..... I have been suicidal at times and desperate .... Altzheimer parents is difficult enough to deal with ... but I can't even commit suicide. Who would look after them as I do? Who would help my daughter with mental health problems? Answer not one bugger would. I could go on all day. Oh and just as an extra for the waiting game, I was told at my last visit to my own hospital that an appointment would come through for me to see another surgeon at the end of July ... this was an urgent appointment they said.... as it is still not clear whether my cancer has spread..... Watch this space... it has STILL not arrived. Don't get me onto people who genuinely need help get it .... this is a bloody farce. And I don't normally swear.

[Basil]

DESCO - 2009-08-09 12:16 PM

 

It's people like Basil who do not help the system, see someone cheating the system and sit on their butts and do nothing but complain about the abuse.

 

Dave

 

Interesting that you can make a statement with absolutely no knowledge, still I would maintain your right to freedom of speech however misguided you may be!

 

Bas

[Basil]

Michele has a clear case of need to be helped, others may well have too but I have no knowledge of their particular problems. As is usual those that abuse the system stop people like Michele from getting the help they need and deserve and they also reduce the available pot for those that need.

I would hope and expect those in real need will still get the help they deserve under any new method of support but it sometimes needs an overhaul to weed out the less deserving.

 

Bas

[Syd]

I can fully understand ROON's rant and I greatly sympathise with her, but by comparison to Michele and myself, and I know nothing of Michele's struggles other than what she has occasionally mentioned on here, ROON is a comparative newcomer to this struggle to get what we think is our entitlement, or the entitlement of our dependents.

We will both have struggled for every single day of our childrens lives, 22 years in my case, and mostly it has been an absolute waste of time.

 

It is not an isolated matter that the needy do not get the help that they so urgently need, it is totally endemic throughout all of the service providers.

 

Because of our fights to get our son help, at one time, my wife and I were practically barred from my sons school and from the local hospital too.

 

Also, because of the total indiference shown by almost everyone who should/could have helped my son I hereby personally wish upon ALL MPs, every consultant, and everyone involved in disability and education provision in Sunderland a very severe disability that will be both painful and progressive

[colin]

ROON - 2009-08-09 4:26 PM

 

Trying to keep blood pressure down here!!!!! It is a postcode lottery. PEOPLE DO NOT GET LOOKED AFTER JUST BECAUSE THEY NEED HELP .... I CAN ASSURE YOU OF THAT.

 

For a long time the only help we got was from Macmillan, when gf got swine flu and was unable to get her mother out of bed suddenly everything changed, doctors, rapid responce team and social services all wanted a piece of the action, ok it's never going to be easy, but every little helps.

[602]

Hi,

 

A new neighbour moved into the street. Paid £70,000 for his house on a mortgage, despite being on benefit. He was receiving £1500 an month in cash and kind. Mid-50s, last job seems to have been milk monitor at school, claimed to have 10 children scattered round the world, and still breeding. Daimler Jag, and a stretch limo parked outside his house (OK, outside his neighbours houses). Said he couldn't work because of a bad back - which didn't stop him swinging a sledge hammer.

 

Holidays in Dominican Republic, Belgium and Japan. Got his money back for the DR holiday.

 

He moved from his last house when somebody torched his car. He moved from our street when somebody slashed his tyres. Sold his house for £110,000, a profit of £40,000 in two years. Did he have to refund any money. No!

 

The system is all wrong!

 

602

[BGD]

602 - an honest question: but did you report him for Benefit Fraud?

 

If so then good for you.......he was stealing taxpayers money that should have been spent on actual deserving cases such as those mentioned above by other posters.

 

If not, why complain that "nothing was done".

 

Stealing taxpayers Benefits by lying and defrauding is NOT some sort of "victimless crime".

Every single pound stolen by a lying, dishonest Benefit thief is one less pound available to help thos who are really in desperate need of help.

 

Unless honest people have the guts to stand up and report the cheats and the thieves for their stealing, the money will continue to be stolen by those criminal fraudsters and Benefit Cheats rather than being available where it really is needed.

[602]

Hi BGD,

 

No I didn't report him. Why? Probably LMF. He's a big bloke, I'm 70 and too old to go rolling in the gutter.

 

Yes, there is an anonymous phone line to report benefit fraudsters. But more than once I have known the fraudsters be warned that the snoops were going to be in their area on a certain date, looking for specific names.

 

In the past, I have reported the location of stolen cars to the police. Plod made no secret of who made the report. Its most inconvenient to find a concrete building block in your caravan, with a similar size hole in a double glazed window ...... mid Winter.

 

602

[michele]

You know what .I think we are all runing away with the idea that there are loads of cheat s..Ok maybe some and usually cheating something like a Disability parking bay .Other than that i cant see what they cheat after all they send a Dr around so in the death its up to what they put isnt it .

sad thing is the Dr's sometimes dont know there a**e from their elbow and sadly miss the genuine ones.

 

I can honestly say hand on heart that everything we have ever asked for for the gilrs has been a struggle .

DLA is there to enhance the life of the disabled person that enhancement may come in clothes toys a M/H what ever the person see's fit .

 

I just know that I have fought tooth and nail for everything for the girls down to a chair to allow fred to eat at the table and a specil needs cot to allow her to sleep safely and never ever have i been given these things without a massive fight and the ss budget rammed down our throats .

If they take the DLA away how can I purchase these things .

Might add that this is not what i soley use it for . Also a point i wish to make is when the children are in the care system its not uncommon for the Social services to think that they have a god given right to tell you how to spend it and when to spend and on what . I often have had to remind them that its nothing to do with them its given by the govnerment and not the social to enhance their lifes and as long as I sleep easy which we do thats all that matter s.

Anyway attaching something I hope it came yesterday .Oh and finally I am still after all these years sleeping on the front room floor with Fred you see we can't leave her she is to poorly we cant get her upstairs and she is to heavy we would drop her or fall .She isnt suitable for a stair lift and we are awaiting on a promise hahaha a lift that sits in the corner of the front room .And all the social say its use your DLA haha laugh a minute isnt it .

 

Dear michele,

 

Persuading disability charities to speak out against the threat to disability benefits is absolutely crucial. Unless leading agencies like Mind, Arthritis Care and the MS Society are prepared to openly oppose these proposals it will be very difficult to halt them. The government will be able to argue that they consulted with 'stakeholder' organisations and they supported the green paper.

 

So whether charities are swayed by the strength of your arguments or alarmed by the prospect of losing members who feel abandoned by them, it's vital that they commit themselves to defending AA and DLA. So far only RNIB has been courageous enough to risk the wrath of six secretaries of state rather than desert its members.

 

So what we're going to suggest you do today is to get in touch with a local or national disability organisation, preferably one that deals with a condition that affects you or someone you care for.

 

Even if all you can manage is a quick email saying:

 

'What are you doing about the green paper plans to abolish some disability benefits?'

 

that will be enough to make them realise people are aware of, and concerned about, the issue.

 

But if you feel able to write in more detail, below are some of the points you may want to make. We haven't written a standard letter or email for people to copy because we think that they may quickly be dismissed as just a sort of spam.

 

1 Explain very briefly that you are concerned about the proposals in the Shaping the Future of Care Together green paper to integrate some disability benefits into a new funding stream for a National Care Service

 

2 Explain why DLA care component or AA is important to you.

 

3 Point out that it's vital that their organisation work with other disability charities to fight with you on this issue, because the government will find it hard to ignore a wide coalition of disability organisations.

 

4 Point out that RNIB have put a statement on their website saying they will oppose the scrapping of AA and other disability benefits and that if such a reputable organisation is prepared to do this then there's no reason why every disability organisation can't do the same.

 

5 You might want to explain that at the moment the campaign against abolishing disability benefits is being led by a private sector company and that you think this is highly inappropriate, it ought to be a coalition of charities leading the way.

 

6 You may also want to suggest that if charities look the other way as their members are deprived of a vital part of their income then it may result in charities getting a great deal less support, fewer members and fewer donations in the future.

 

7 Most important of all: ask for a reply. And if you don't get one, keep going back until you do. And when you do, send us a copy and we'll publish at least some of them. Or if you're a Benefits and Work member, post the reply in the forum here:

 

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=showcat&catid=13

 

If you'd like to contact more than one charity, then members of the Disability Benefits Consortium are worth considering. This is a coalition of charities which "aims to lobby and campaign on welfare benefits as they relate to disabled people." Clearly they are the people who should be running this campaign, rather than Benefits and Work.

 

You can find the email contact details for all these organisations on this page:

 

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=13&id=10362

 

Another possibility is the members of the green paper stakeholder panel. There's a list of the members here, though we haven't had time to research email addresses - volunteers to do so would be very welcome:

 

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=13&id=10356

 

If you want to be getting on with other things rather than waiting for next weeks' email, then there's a few suggestions here:

 

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/disability-living-allowance-(dla)/dla-aa-cuts/take-action

 

Thank you again for signing up to the No More Benefits Cuts campaign. At the time of writing you are one of an astonishing 13,815 people who have done so in less than a week.

 

You can read more about what's been happening, from RNIB's statement to details of a local campaign in deepest Cornwall, on this page:

 

Many thanks also to everyone who's been in touch. I do apologise if we haven't replied to your email or returned your call - there have been many more than we could cope with. But we do very much appreciate hearing what people have been doing.

 

Please feel free to forward or publish this email.

 

Good luck,

 

Steve Donnison

 

 

 

[DESCO]

Hi Michele

 

Have also received copy of the above, and am at present contacting all the organisations listed on this letter, lets hope we can persuade more to take a stand like the RNIB and put their money where their mouths are. I would have thought that they all would want to help not just sit back and do nothing.

Lets hope we can persuade the others to join in as well.

 

 

Dave

[602]

Hi,

 

I sometimes wonder if the charities and other organisations trade with the authorities. "We'll support you with that, if you agree to this" sort of thing. How many times have you thought that the motoring organisations are working against your best interest?

 

I am in favour with making life more attractive for those that are disadvantaged. But there are some people who have decided that there are advantages to being disadvantaged. And thats where the problem is.

 

The law requires that if you have a medical disability which may affect your driving, you are required to inform DVLA. I wonder how many people have declared a ficticious disability to gain a financial or other advantage, and would they have done so if it would have put their driving licence at risk?

 

I understand that 25% of the population of Neath are registered disabled.

 

602

[michele]

What are they offering if they take this away ?.

[Mel B]

On a different tack, you ought to work at some educational establishments and see what rediculous amounts of money they get handed out to them to pretty much spend as they wish ... I see it every day and it makes me sick.

 

And don't even get me started on the money for 'environmental related' things ... 'join this or that club and get a better rating' ... yeah for £30,000 plus - what a bl**dy waste yet we can't get any help in the office for our busiest time of the year, just for a few weeks, instead we're expected to slog our guts out ... it's madness! >:-(

[catinou]

I have the utmost sympathy with anybody struggling to get help - I had similar problems when looking after my grandfather and both my parents before they sadly died. As my husband works in the Health Service I learned very early on how to complain and how loudly it would be needed - LOUDLY!!

 

I would advise Roon in particular to call the hospital re your "missing" appointment for July and complain very loudly - mentioning possible failure on their part to meet government guidelines and targets (without need for details of these) usually this is the prod you will need to get your appointment through without delay. The worse thing hospitals can have, believe it or not, is a complaint about a target *-)

 

It used to be that patients were "afraid" to make a fuss but it really can improve your personal lot if you ask about complaints procedures and details of who to write to. It is your legal right to be given this information. I can assure you that all written complaints have to be dealt with and investigated thoroughly and the patient notified of the outcome within a certain time.

 

I know it can be daunting but I found that where family (or own) health is concerned it is worth being determined and fighting for. ;-)

[flicka]

Basil - 2009-08-08 8:16 PM

 

To be honest I believe it is not before time. There is wholesale abuse of these benefits, see it every day two doors away, so welcome any changes.

 

Bas

To be honest I am appalled Basil, I hope you never need it, but I resent very much your comment.

If you have not been there you have NO understanding of what DLA is about. Irrespective of any system there will be some who abuse the system. With the criteria to qualify for DLA our experience suggests there are more people NOT getting any benefit , than those abusing it.

Life is difficult enough for people with disabilities, without the stresses of constant form filling and having to pay premium prices for any product labelled "Disabled"

Unless you are prepared to get off you butt and do something where you know there is abuse, you do NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to make the comment above.

A formal retraction to the thread contributors, would not go amiss. >:-( >:-(

[Basil]

flicka - 2009-08-13 10:38 PM

 

To be honest I am appalled Basil, I hope you never need it, but I resent very much your comment.

If you have not been there you have NO understanding of what DLA is about. Irrespective of any system there will be some who abuse the system. With the criteria to qualify for DLA our experience suggests there are more people NOT getting any benefit , than those abusing it.

Life is difficult enough for people with disabilities, without the stresses of constant form filling and having to pay premium prices for any product labelled "Disabled"

Unless you are prepared to get off you butt and do something where you know there is abuse, you do NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to make the comment above.

A formal retraction to the thread contributors, would not go amiss. >:-( >:-(

 

Once again, as you obviously have not read through the thread, I find it interesting that you can make a statement with absolutely no knowledge, still I would maintain your right to freedom of speech however misguided you may be!

There will be no retraction and I stand by my origional comment, I will be glad to see the system reformed. You are entitled to your opinion, I am entitled to mine.

 

Bas