Benefit Fraud?

[DrumrollPlease]

I have a disabled family member. She lives in a 3 bed home, which is filthy and a complete mess. She has carers who come in to cater to her basic needs, but they don't do the cleaning.

She also has 2 adult children who live with her (in their 30's). Neither of them pay rent or council tax, and one is a high earner (well over 50k) - this one has just moved back in, but is not officially registered as living there. The other uses her Motability car to go to work.

Now as she has housing benefit, PIP etc. Is this fraud? Should they be allowed to get away just 'sponging' off of her? They literally do nothing for her. I am tired on her behalf of seeing her confined to her room on a beautiful day like today, while the house is in squalor yet again only a few days after I helped to clean it. They never clean or help, and she is miserable, but seems to put up with it because they are her 'children'.

Mobility car abuse is rife around here.
My friend has just moved house quite far away - taking her mother's car with her so she can get to work. Her reasoning is that she still occasionally takes her shopping once a week.
When I see articles about people needing specially adapted cars as the only way to allow them a sense of independence having them removed after reassessment it makes me sick.
OP - bear in mind it'll probably be your friend that gets fucked over and they'll likely manage to stop some of her benefits while they 'investigate' personally I couldn't risk that.

RogueBiscuit that's not strictly true. We were claiming council tax benefit, and it was stopped because my 19 year old son lives at home and works full time. They wanted me to provide his payslips as they consider it to be family income. Apparently I should take his (minimum) wages to support the family.

A) You can get PIP even if you're a millionaire
B) Anyone can use the Mobility car as long as it gets used some of the time for the benefit of the disabled person (e.g. doing their shopping or taking them to places)
C) Housing benefit might be effected as they are classed as non-dependents I think, but I'm not sure.

Why would you report though? Just a question, but I couldn't get worked up over it. There are far worse things going on in the world.

It doesn't sound like OP wants to report her friend - more use the facts to aid her friend in making the 'kids' help out / take her out/ pay some bills etc -

Tobolsk I'm not going to shoot you, even though I'm disabled and have a Blue Badge. As I'm a wheelchair user, I don't actually need to park near the entrance of wherever I'm going, as I don't walk. What I do need is space to put my chair next to the car so I can transfer. If that's over the other side of the car park, fine.

In our area, at least, I don't know what sort of hidden disabilities would get you a Blue Badge. I think they are issued by district or county councils according to their own criteria.

These are the criteria for my council:

Who can have a Blue Badge?
You can get a badge without further assessment if you:
• receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the
Disability Living Allowance;
• receive a Personal Independence Payment for being unable to
walk further than 50 metres (a score of 8 points or more under
the ‘moving around’ activity of the mobility component);
• are registered blind (severely sight impaired);
• receive the War Pensioner's mobility supplement;
• are a severely disabled service person or veteran who is
compensated under the new Armed Forces Compensation
Scheme (AFCS);
• have received a lump sum benefit within tariff levels 1-8 of the
Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation) Scheme and has been certified as having a permanent and substantial disability which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking.
You can get a badge following an assessment if you:
• have a permanent disability that means you can’t walk or have
considerable difficulty walking;
• have a severe disability in both your upper limbs, you regularly
drive a motor vehicle and that you are unable to operate, or have considerable difficulty operating, all or some types of on- street parking equipment

I actually can't see how anyone with a hidden disability could possibly qualify.

Well toblosk ds 22 has a blue badge and has autism. We use the parking spaces nearest to the doors even though he can walk and run just fine because quite often he refuses to leave the car and in our local supermarket I can see him from the tills and the ladies in there will get my shopping for me. If he does come in with me seemingly nothing will spook him and I need to get him back to the car asap and so the nearer to the doors the better. When he was younger he had no sense of danger and so the shorter the distance between the car and the doors the more chance of keeping him in one piece.

"If you have a invisible disability. Do you really need a blue badge? If you can walk across the car park then do you need to be close to it? Surly they are for physical disabilities where you can't walk far?"

Someone with an invisible disability may well qualify for a blue badge, if their disability impacts their mobility, it's not always as straightforward as, physically capable of walking so therefore mobility is unaffected.

KitKats28

• receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the
Disability Living Allowance;
• receive a Personal Independence Payment for being unable to
walk further than 50 metres (a score of 8 points or more under

That's the two criteria that would usually qualify someone with an invisible disability for a blue badge.

KitKats ds gets his because he gets HR mobility component of DLA due to him having an arrested development. I imagine that many other people with a blue badge and an invisible disability qualify similarly.

Feral I understood the rules on cars had been changed and you have to live within a certain distance of the named person.
Also your friend will be missing out on a lot of money. The car is paid for using the mobility part of her DLA/PIP. People who do not have a car use it for cabs etc

tobolsk
My mum is in a wheelchair, so we don't need to be close to the shops. Actually we need the disabled space do we have room to get mum in and out of the car. If there is no disabled space, she can't get out. So the blue badge in our case isn't for distance, as she can't walk.

I think if she's declared it all is ok, from applying recently it depends if she's on income related ESA or contribution related. If it's income related, I think they would expect the high earner to cough up towards rent and bills. I'm sure the same applies for housing benefit.

Seeing as she's ill I would try and get all the facts, so she has a chance to rectify things, over just reporting her. If you're ill you don't always think of what you've mentioned.

The car, I don't really know if it's allowed. If it's not hurting you why would you be worried though. I'd say she was entitled from what you said.

I think the children need to do more.

tabulahrasa I'm honestly not looking to start an argument. These are just the criteria for my council. Others may be different.

I'm unsure though how if a person can't walk, and receives higher rate mobility, that it's a hidden disability. Surely it's quite visible if someone can't walk.

What I meant yo add us that an invisible disability, you might need the space to get in/out of the car.

It is very difficult to get a BB for a disability that isn't physical.
Its not impossible though. You won't get it automatically but if you have professionals backing you it can happen.

I left my last job in a low note though. Try as I might I couldn't get them to grant a badge to a family with 2 DC with severe ASD (one with epilepsy). The OT did an assessment based purely on if they could walk.
I was really upset. They were they only family I failed

Thanks for sharing The knowledge

To be named on the insurance on a Mobility car you have to live within five miles of the person entitled to the Mobility car Feral. So either your friend is driving without insurance or hasn't informed Motability of the change of address and so any insurance will be invalid.

I have a blue badge as I receive PIP for several health issues. The main reason I have a blue badge is due to toilet needs, I'm incontinent. It allows me to get into the shop or other place quicker to clean myself up, but my legs are just fine in themselves, so I am able to walk possibly even run for a limited amount of time (before my lungs give in) my disabilities are all invisible, which I hate sometimes as they are just as limiting but if I do ever need assistance e.g. To have the disabled toilet opened for me (I have a key for this now) I get "but you don't LOOK disabled!!" Or sometimes I get bollocked for parking in the disabled bay for the same reason. But my life is just as limited in some ways as some people's are with visible disabilities.

Please read no non dependent deductions are made when...

TheFirstMrsDV you are right. The rules have changed. The person driving the Motability car is only allowed to drive it for the purpose of taking the disabled person (who gets the benefits) around.

Example: I receive higher rate mobility PIP which is £50ish a week. If we got a Motability car, it would cost me all of that benefit, plus an up front payment of between £0 and £11,334.

The terms of the lease under Motability are as follows:

*We’ll ask you to make sure:

*The car is used by, or for the benefit of, the disabled person. This does not mean that the disabled person needs to be in the car for every journey. In practice, this means other named drivers in the household can use the car for shopping and other routine activities, as long as the disabled customer will benefit
*Only named drivers listed on your Certificate of Motor Insurance can drive the car
*That you let us know about any changes that may affect your lease.

*At the time of ordering your new car , you, your nominated drivers and the Motability dealer will need to sign a 'Statement of responsibilities and suitability confirmation' form to confirm you understand and agree to follow the terms and conditions for using your Motability car.

*Misuse would include:

*Not giving the disabled person the benefit of the car
*Driving whilst uninsured or banned
*Using the car in a criminal act
*Lending, sub-leasing or selling the car
*Using the car for unauthorised business purposes, for example, as a taxi or delivery vehicle
*Not taking proper care of your car

It's not quite as easy to get a Motability car as it used to be.

MrsDV that's awful. I would advise that if the dc have a significant learning disability alongside IQ below 70 they could argue for HR DLA and qualify that way or they could argue that the dc have an arrested development if their IQ is within normal bounds. It's difficult though if guidelines are written in stone with no consideration to the bigger picture.

Acccording to Motability

The car is used by, or for the benefit of, the disabled person. This does not mean that the disabled person needs to be in the car for every journey. In practice, this means other named drivers in the household can use the car for shopping and other routine activities, as long as the disabled customer will benefit

B) Anyone can use the Mobility car as long as it gets used some of the time for the benefit of the disabled person (e.g. doing their shopping or taking them to places)

I don't think this is right. Although Motability aren't fussy, in order to get the free road tax (which is used on the scheme) the vehicle should only be used for the benefit of the disabled person. That's not too difficult to argue if it's used for the benefit of the disabled person, their partner and their dependent children, but it's a stretch with adults who live in another household.

I don't know whether your relative is committing benefit fraud OP. You might want to warn her about it, as she's the one who'd be in trouble if she hasn't declared the children moving in to Housing Benefit. There'd be no consequences for them.

I know - I've pointed out that she'd be completely invalidated driving to work etc which God forbid could affect someone else if she's involved in an accident but we're working with stupid is as stupid does unfortunately.
She does give her mother £200 a month. I've pointed out that she could lease a car legally for this and give her mum the money back but no

Ds has an invisible disability and a bb. His is for severe autism, severe learning difficulties and severe behavioural difficulties. That combination has an enormous impact on mobility. It's not straightforward getting it though.