To think that being Tory doesn't make you thick?

[RainbowSheep]

Ok, my family are all very liberal (I mean my parents, aunts & uncles, who incidently have all had lots of money & opportunities throughout their lives). Their parents (who were poor working class) were more conservative as are me and my brother, who are both pretty poor. We recently had a family get together where I was told by my uncle (university lecturer) that Tories were unitelligent and I was beginning to sound like an idiot for having conservative views... I don't think I am particularly right wing.

Because, believe it or not - MORE THAN 99.5% of people who claim DLA are HONEST about it. There is a statistic, released by the DWP themselves that shows that for DLA, there is a combined rate that covers both fraud and DWP error of just 0.5%.

So all of those who believe these stories you read in the newspapers about how someone who gets disability benefits and is caught playing football etc, need to look more closely into those stories. DLA for ADULTS is paid as an in-work benefit as well as an out-of work benefit.

DLA is not about whether you are unemployed or not, or whether yopu CAN work or not - it is paid in respect of the fact that HAVING that disability will cost you extra money, for transport, for equipment that the NHS doesn't cover that is still essential, and also to show that not only is it harder to GAIN employment when you have a disability, it is harder to KEEP employment when you have a disability, and you may need to take more time off sick from work, often unpaid, than someone without disabilities.

But getting back to that statistic - there is a combined DWP error and fraud rate on DLA. Which means that more than 99.5% of people claiming it are honest and truthful about their child's care needs.

Hardly the scare tactic headlines spouted by the Tories, is it? Doesn't make such good copy, saying that less than 0.5% of claims are fraudulent - and it could be a lot less because the DWP won't release separate figures for fraud and DWP error, despite FoI requests...

So it could be that MOST of that 0.5% is down to DWP error...

DLA is not to cover unpaid sickness leave or to some how make up for the fact you have a disability so it can put in at a disadvantage in the job market.

DLA is split into 2 parts
Part 1 is the Care component and that again is split into 3 different rates. The rate you get is dependant on your care needs, not what disability you have or who is doing the caring.

Lowest rate
If you need help for some of the day or you are unable to prepare a cooked main meal.
Middle rate
If you need help with personal care frequently or supervision continually throughout the day only, or help with personal care or someone to watch over you during the night only, or someone with you while you are on dialysis.
Highest rate
If you need help or supervision frequently throughout the day and during the night.

Part 2 is the Mobility component and again is split into 2 different rates and is assessed on individual circumstances.
Lower rate
If you need guidance or supervision out of doors.
Higher rate
If you have any of the other, more severe, walking difficulties.
You may be entitled to only the care component or only the mobility component, or you may be entitled to both.

It is paid in respect of additional costs incurred by your disability. Yes, there are criteria, that you have stated, but the reason (rather than the criteria for claiming) for DLA to exist is to cover the additional costs incurred by your disability. Which may not be why they GIVE it to you, but it is why you CLAIM IYSWIM.

In that paragraph, I was talking about the USES for DLA, and trying to get across that it is NOT just an out-of-work benefit.

DLA has such a low fraud rate that the media hype surrounding 'benefit scroungers' is very misguided at best, and propoganda at worst.

Huntycat on the whole i was agreeing with you but i dont like the fact that it is sometimes seen and put across as some how being a bit of compensation for being disabled in someway.

DLA is very difficult to get and in the case of a child who has a disability, you need a paediatrician to sign the forms in support of your application.

Most children with a disability have sleep issues ime. It comes with the territory generally. When people don't get higher rate (who should). It is often the case that they haven't used the correct words in the application and the assessor can ignore points which are not made with words having legally supported definitions previously established in case law.