No mobility support for those over pension age

[AIMD]

I have been trying to support my parents access any support they might be eligible for. My mum is retired ( above state pension age) and disabled and her needs are growing. Her needs are related to disability rather than age but age obviously doesn’t help.

I’ve been shocked to find that there is no help for them with regards to mobility vehicles. Because mum is retired she can’t get the mobility element, or any element, of PIP. The annoying thing is had she applied before she retired she would still be eligible post retirement and she would have undoubtedly been eligible before she just didn’t claim (anything).

I guess I’m wondering if other people find this shocking too?

So an elderly person (or someone over state pension age) can’t get help with mobility vehicles no matter how low their mobility is. It shocks me especially because presumably many will have partners caring for them who are themselves elderly and will struggle to get them out of the car.

I think it is because the assumption is everyone over the age of 60 will have some mobility restrictions. If you claim before the age of 60 you have effectively proved that your disability is there without the added issues of age.

I imagine the same as pp.

Cut off age for PIP is 65 or state pension age, whichever is higher, but @Leah2005 is right about the reasoning behind it. it does seem too low to me. 70/75 would be fairer.

I think historically there was a mobility component to attendance allowance, many many years ago but it was removed on the grounds that too many qualified for it due to age related illness.

The only options available are a blue badge via application (though some councils are very reluctant to give them to over 65s as well) and attendance allowance (which is the equivilent of the care element of PIP).

My nan is in her and gets PIP including the mobility element.

Oops - is in her 70s*

Oh sorry! I completely missed in OP that this was a new claim, and got even more confused by the replies

Yea they have attendance allowance and a blue badge. Ta just so frustrating because she would have been eligible had she applied before she retired but they just were proactive about accessing things like that. Now I’ve taken it on it’s too late.

@Leah2005

I think it is because the assumption is everyone over the age of 60 will have some mobility restrictions. If you claim before the age of 60 you have effectively proved that your disability is there without the added issues of age.

Yea I understand that. It’s just doesn’t make sense when you think that even if someone’s mobility is low because of age they still need access to a suitable vehicle and most likely their partner is older too or they live alone. Imagine it’s lots of small things like that that lead to some people ending up in residential homes before they need to.

I dunno - I have a few friends to get mobility due to mobility related issues (and rightly so) but they are way more mobile than my mum. So the only reason my mum doesn’t get it is because she’s old. Just feels very unfair.

Guess I’m just venting.

You can’t get carers allowance either if you give up work to care for a loved one but are over the age limit

@AIMD

Yea they have attendance allowance and a blue badge. Ta just so frustrating because she would have been eligible had she applied before she retired but they just were proactive about accessing things like that. Now I’ve taken it on it’s too late.

Great. I just wanted to make sure you were aware.

I completely agree that it's wrong, as incidentally did many disabled people when mobility element was removed from attendance allowance, that it was very unfair. Sadly the government only saw pound signs, not the effect the removal would have on people.

Your mum can apply for Attendance Allowance. Even though there is so specific mobility component, if her mobility is poor it will affect all manner of other daily living activities so she will likely qualify. In my opinion AA is very easy to get, much easier than PIP. If people are on PIP prior to state pension age, then they continue on it and if they already have the mobility component then that continues past retirement age, but cannot be added after retirement age. In this respect it does seem very unfair that two people can have similar mobility problems yet one gets potentially an extra £60 a week or a mobility car wheras the other doesn't.

@Babyroobs the op mentioned her mum gets AA in a later post.

Yes I knew about this. In the context of how shit the benefits system is, it doesn't strike me as that unfair.

The thing is until you are trying to access support from the benefits system you don't realise actually how shit it is. There's a huge amount of PR gone into "the genuine will get helped" and it's, literally, five meaningless words.

People are losing benefits right now because their care and medical treatment ceased last March due to covid. Some areas there's no welfare support, no way to get yourself to court to appeal as taxis aren't running.

But, the government when asked about this just say there's "extra support". There isn't. It was passed in law to stop assessments for the disabled last year for care packages from local authorities for up to two years to concentrate on those with covid.

I'm not in anyway dismissing covid, I've lost someone close to it and seen others suffer dreadfully. But until people actually try to get some of this support they honestly don't know how hard it is.

@Becca19962014

The thing is until you are trying to access support from the benefits system you don't realise actually how shit it is. There's a huge amount of PR gone into "the genuine will get helped" and it's, literally, five meaningless words.

People are losing benefits right now because their care and medical treatment ceased last March due to covid. Some areas there's no welfare support, no way to get yourself to court to appeal as taxis aren't running.

But, the government when asked about this just say there's "extra support". There isn't. It was passed in law to stop assessments for the disabled last year for care packages from local authorities for up to two years to concentrate on those with covid.

I'm not in anyway dismissing covid, I've lost someone close to it and seen others suffer dreadfully. But until people actually try to get some of this support they honestly don't know how hard it is.

Appeals for PIP are being done over the phone at the moment? AA is still bein awarded, many don't need an assessment, PIP assessments are going ahead over the phone although are taking a bit longer than normal.

@DaisyDreaming

You can’t get carers allowance either if you give up work to care for a loved one but are over the age limit

That's because it's an overlapping benefit with state pension. You can still get a carers premium if on pension credit or carers element on UC if a mixed age couple.

@Babyroobs my phone blocks witheld numbers. It operates a whitelist only that is in place for safety. It means I cannot have any medical care or treatment or social care or any assessments done. My device I use to access MN is inacapable of running zoom type programs as well.

A mess to say the least.

I understand people are working from home, hence withholding numbers but my reason for operating a whitelist (a service that I pay for monthly) is for safety reasons and cannot be withdrawn by me; it's possible for blocks to be removed e.g. NHS (who are in work) but they refuse.

Apologies @AIMD for slightly derailing your thread with my 1am ramblings!