to think this DLA claim must be fradulent

[BalloonTwister]

Next door neighbour asked me yesterday if she could put me down as the second driver on her new car.

Had no idea what she was talking about so she whipped out a Ford brochure and informed me that she is getting a new Meriva and needs to put someone down as a second driver, but her Mum lives 6 miles away.

Still not got to the bottom of why she needs a second driver, but she did tell me that she's entitled to the car because she's got bad knees, in fact she says she has no knee caps at all!

Neighbour and I attend a slimming class together, and she needs to lose several stone, (which can't be helping her knees) but her weight doesn't stop her walking with me, 6-7 miles, up and down hills, with a pushchair, 3 times a week, and attending a Zumba class with me. Nor does it stop her having regular stalls at bootfairs from 6am til 2pm on Sundays.

Surely if she can manage all that, she shouldn't be entitled to a new car for her 'disability' when so many other, genuinely disabled people struggle to get any help at all? She doesn't even use her current car very often, she walks everywhere!

With crutches even.

I've just sent off my DLA application.

...no, honestly, I have. I have congenital hip dysplasia, a condition where my hip sockets are too shallow and don't cover/hold enough of my thigh bone. This means the ball part of the joint at the top of my thigh catches, grinds and rubs on the tissue and bone beside it. Sometimes I can feel the ball trying to dislocate. I'm on the waiting list for operations to (essentially) rebuild my hips. I take morphine twice a day, more if the pain is more horrific than normal. I've just started university again and I would be lost without their student disability team. I'm terrified about people knowing IRL about my DLA application. They'll think I'm not disabled enough, despite most days spent feeling my joints slowly pull apart. There are days when I can walk short distances without crutches; there are more days when the pain is so bad I can hardly think. It ebbs and flows all day, everyday. Not even the morphine gives me any respite. My life is on hold until I can get my hips rebuilt (I'll likely need total hip replacements when I'm nearer to 40, too). I'm so tired of the constant pain, of beating myself up because I can't stroll with DS or go out on bikes as a family, of hobbling around on crutches whilst most other 28 year olds walk. If DLA can make this a bit less of a struggle I'll be so relieved... But perhaps I'm just not disabled enough?

(tl;dr - YABU to report, YANBU to decline being a named driver).

I have a family member who was turned down for dla and she was virtually housebound and could not do a thing because of her legs. She could not go out unless she was aided and was put into a car as a passenger. Because she could get about very slowly on two sticks she was turned down. This story sounds very weird and doesn't seem right but i know it does happen. Man opposite me has been claiming for years and you should see him on his roof at christmas putting lights up! And how quick he carries bags of cement in over his shoulder. Trouble is, when they get to a certain age they don't seem to bother about checking. He is in his 70's and never did a days work in his life. Neighbour next door tried to report him anonymously and she was told she had to give her name so she didn't bother. There are many swinging the lead and you can't blame the person claiming if they are going to get given money can you? Don't forget alcoholics and druggies get plenty of benefits too.

Ibiza. Do you live with the man across the road? Do you see what drugs he takes for his heart, his pain, his arthritis or even his depression?
No. Butt out. As people keep saying, it's not all about looking physically well.

I am very surprised that she is receipt of DLA at middle or higher rate, which she would have to be to get mobility if she can walk so far... because if you can walk or self propel in a wheelchair more than 50 metres with stopping due to discomfort, in DLAs eyes you are capable of running the marathon....

If her disability is allegedly due to her knees I cannot see she would be able to do this, but what you have to take into consideration is that there maybe some MH issues that are not obvious to the casual observer.... but what you have described leads me to think that yes she is getting a benefit she is not entitled to which maddens me as a Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferer who cannot even contemplate partaking in a slow walk to the corner shop never mind the activities that she is doing, has been turned down for DLA. So in your position I would report her as it's people like her who are feeding the "Benefits Scrounger" tag given to people who are genuine.

Just as an after thought isn't the Meriva made by Vauxhall?

Someone who can walk 6 miles every other day is almost certainly not entitled to the Higher rate mobility component of DLA which is required to get on to the Motability scheme. It is conceivable, but unlikely, that this is not fraudulent. If she told them the truth when she claimed, and there hadn't been any change in circumstances, but the DWP had just got it wrong, then this wouldn't be fraudulent. I would report her.

I don't understand why people are so defensive about DLA. AFAIK it is more difficult to get it now as more people are assessed by ATOS. Often in the past claims would be allowed on the basis of the application form, perhaps with a brief GP report.

I don't think the OP would be at any risk of getting into trouble as a second driver, provided that she only drove with the DLA recipient present, or on journey's for her benefit, eg collecting her prescription. Don't really understand why she would want OP on there though.

question
is the op the lady's doctor?
if not how can she have any idea what disability the woman has.
we seem to have a lot of threads at the moment where people are diagnosing disability.
a trained profesional is the only person who can do that, and they would have to know the person,

From next year, everyone in receipt of DLA is going to be reassessed by ATOS anyway:

www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/focus-on/item/2479-welfare-reform-your-questions-answered/2479-welfare-reform-your-questions-answered?start=4

Atos are a shower of b'stards.

Particular criticism has been directed at Atos over the ability of its staff to deal with complex mental health issues and patients with varying conditions. Doctors receive eight days of training in disability before being allowed to assess patients and nurses receive a seventeen day training course accredited by the University of Derby. In August 2012, Atos Healthcare claimed they had appointed 60 Mental Function Champions to provide additional training.
A very common complaint is the refusal of the assessors to make eye contact. Atos assessors have found patients with terminal cancer or severe multiple sclerosis to be fit for work.

oh well people like the OP will be happy. they can smile as disabled people loose DLA

But that's not going to happen, amicissimma. Not via ATOS, anyway. However, when she does lose the benefit that enables her to work, that I imagine, will be a different story.

My husband has MS amiciss.
He works. Always has.

If he loses his DLA it is unlikely he will be able to continue to do so. He cannot work without his car.

If he cannot work I will have to leave my job. My hours will not enable us to claim TCs. So I will have to leave my skilled but very part time job and find more hours.

Except that my husband is unable to take the children to school or pick them up and would not be able to manage extended periods of sole childcare.

So I would have to
well actually I dont know what I would do. I dont think that far ahead just yet.

I am very surprised that she is receipt of DLA at middle or higher rate, which she would have to be to get mobility if she can walk so far... because if you can walk or self propel in a wheelchair more than 50 metres with stopping due to discomfort, in DLAs eyes you are capable of running the marathon....

I don't get your point! DLA Care component is paid at low,middle and high rate for frequent attention during day and/or night. You don't need to have mobility as well. Mobility component is paid at low/high rate . Depending on difficulties you can have a mix/combo of both, or just one or other.

oh well people like the OP will be happy. they can smile as disabled people loose DLA

FFS no one is thinking that. Most people i know want extra care/help.financial assistance for people with disabilities that genuinely need it. But that doesn't mean that we should turn a blind eye if we reasonably think someone is receiving money that they are not entitled to. Or should we just turn a blind eye, afterall it is only £600m that is overpaid. (And i feel the same way about tax cheats/manipulators and benefits cheats/frauders

Most over payments are due to when people reach pension age and their DLA changed over to attendance allowance- its a DWP error unsurprisingly.

Just as an example, the weekend she picked up her new car, she came to stay with us and we went into London for a day out. We must have walked - at a guess - about 3 miles round town. Possibly more. She was so active we were joking and saying 'ooh you'd better hope the car people weren't watching you

Maybe she was dosed up on painkillers and trying to have a nice day out? maybe she was so worn out by it that she spent the next week either in bed or just shuffling round her home~?

My Mum is disabled with arthritis and would try to be normal for a day like that but then spend at least 2 days afterwards totally wiped out and in pain for her troubles.

Susanne you can have one or the other or combinations of care and mobility elements, but mobility at the higher rate is needed to have a car. This is only granted if you are entitled to middle or higher rate care component. You can't get higher rate mobility with lower rate care. If that makes sense

Link to criteria which shows this only applies to severe mental impairment, sorry, I was wrong.

But that doesn't mean that we should turn a blind eye if we reasonably think someone is receiving money that they are not entitled to.

So what medical qualifications do you have that enable you to "reasonably think someone is receiving money that they are not entitled to"? Do you have CCTV in their house 24/7 so you can assess what they do when they're not out in public putting a brave face on / pushing themselves to the limit to not be even more of a burden on their family / friends / colleagues than they already feel themselves to be? Do you have a working knowledge of every diagnosable disability and the differing constraints that they can all can place on different individuals?

It doesn't matter what you think about someone else's level of disability and/or the financial support they get to deal with this unless you are their GP, consultant or the person assessing their DLA claim. In fact, it has fuck all to do with anyone else. I loathe, despise and detest this culture of spying, mistrust and cowardly anonymous reporting that particularly targets those with hidden or variable disabilities.

My husband has a mental disability. He worked all his life, including from diagnosis in his 30s to the point in his early 50s when his condition had deteriorated to the point he could no longer cope with even a basic admin role (having been a professional engineer). On a really bad day, he can't be trusted to go to the local shop alone as he will forget the item(s) he went for and almost certainly leave his card or wallet at the checkout. On the worst days he can't get out of bed. He wakes up screaming or sobbing in the night from night terrors and paranoid thoughts and is exhausted. He is on a cocktail of three daily drugs to maintain a semblance of normality. He doesn't qualify for free prescriptions so his DLA goes towards the cost of his medication. But if you saw him on a good day, out for a walk with me, smiling and pointing at nice things in shop windows, you and your ilk would no doubt assume he's "not disabled enough" to qualify for DLA.

Have just completed a survey for the NAS about disability hate crime. They did ask if I had encountered disability hate online, and of course I did name here...

you and your ilk would no doubt assume he's "not disabled enough" to qualify for DLA. No, actually i wouldn't, My fil is disabled, he gets the higher rate and mobility. I know he had good days and bad days. But if i knew he was able to walk 6-7 miles, up and down hills, with a pushchair, 3 times a week, and attend a Zumba class, then yes, i probably would question whether he really was entitled to it.

Regardless of the fact that for all we know, this person's exercise regime may have been agreed with a consultant / physiotherapist / healthcare professional and without it, their disability may be substantially worse?

Well that did cross my mind, Orange - my friend without kneecaps has to maintain a daily exercise routine to keep her knees flexible - if she doesn't her legs tend to seize up. As well as taking the dog out walking, she has a walking machine in her house, a cross trainer too. Her daily exercise must take a minimum of an hour.
(but she doesn't, afaik, claim DLA)

OP, If you truly, truly believe that she is claiming fraudulently then what is the point in this thread, you aren't really asking anything or hoping to achieve anything, you said you don't want to report her...

This woman sounds like she thinks you are friends, you do an awful lot together and you seem to know her rather well enough, you know a lot more information about her than any of us and whilst your opinion may mean nothing you are the only person able to make a judgement it

I don't see the point in this thread, so what if it is fraudulent... none of us know her we can't report that's down to you, why did we need to hear it?

you could google ''what to do if you suspect someone is claiming fraudulently'' easy enough, and you wouldn't upset half as many people

This thread has no aim...

Based on my limited knowlege from fil, to be eligible for the mobility scheme you have to be on the higher rate of mobility allowance, and to qualify , "your disability must be severe enough for you to have any of the following walking difficulties, even when wearing or using an aid or equipment you normally use:

?because of a physical disability, you are unable or virtually unable to walk without severe discomfort, or at risk of endangering your life or causing deterioration in your health by making the effort to walk

?you have no feet or legs

?you are assessed to be both 100 per cent disabled because of loss of eyesight and not less than 80 per cent disabled because of deafness and you need someone with you when you are out of doors

?you are severely mentally impaired with severe behavioural problems and qualify for the highest rate of care component

?you need guidance or supervision most of the time from another person when walking out of doors in unfamiliar places

?you are certified as severely sight impaired by a consultant ophthalmologist, and you were aged between 3 and 64 on 11 April 2011; you must also have a best corrected visual acuity of less than 3/60, or you must have a best corrected visual acuity of 3/60 or more but less than 6/60 together with a complete loss of peripheral visual field and a central visual field of no more than ten degrees in total".

From the information the op has been given from the neighbour, i would not have thought it unreasonable to think that the neighbour doesn't qualify. Im not saying im 100% right, the neighbour may have a hidden disability etc.

Personally i wouldn't report anyone, even if i did suspect something wasn't right, but I would judge anyone who did on a reasonable assumption (i.e. not out of spite).