To apply for DLA for DD when we have a household income of over 300k?

[Milesandmilesandmiles]

Just that really - we have an autistic daughter who needs support with most things (although is in mainstream school). Between us DH and I earn over 300k, so we don’t need the money. However, conscious that we won’t be around for ever and we could save it for DD’s needs as she grows. But is this what state benefits are for?

Why?

@Otherstories2002 - I earn my £100k plus to fund my own lifestyle. So I feel bad claiming £1300 after paying almost £30k per annum in tax? Do I fuck.

Exactly.

Is it really a gateway to additional support? Genuine question because two of my children get the higher rate DLA and doesn't seem to be any extra support, unless I'm missing something?

Agree you should and are entitled whatever your income. It’s for your daughter, who doesn’t have an income of 300k…

YANBU, you really should apply. It is for your DD, who had no income at all. It is for her, and like a few PP have already said - DLA opens up the gateway to further help too.
DLA/PIP is about giving the claimant a level playing field with people who do not have disabilities. Being disabled can be expensive, particularly for children.

Sorry @Otherstories2002, my rely was clearly meant for @Calamitousness

Posters saying on your income they wouldn't claim/morally you shouldn't. To hell with that OP!

The amount you and your DH pay in taxes is funding far more than most do. Just do it.

Because OP asked our opinions and that is mine

Helpful.

@Moonshine5 a considered, thought through opinion then? God the hating (jealousy) on high earners on MN is real.

As I said above, I claimed DLA for my son after he was dropped from the asd paeds - I used it as part of the appeal process to get him reassessed. When I initially claimed for my second son, his nursery got extra funding for SEN when he was approved. It was noted in his EHCP application and it will be vital in my other son’s application. Im am entitled to an additional bedroom rate (in private rental, my LHA pays for a 4 bed when I’m in a 3 bed) - this one is sneaky because you have to really deep dive into UC policy that even the staff are usually unaware of, if you have children who have middle or high rate DLA bedroom rates do not apply in the same way when renting. It helped with my middle son’s blue badge application under hidden disabilities as well (but some councils are really hard about HD).

You’ve paid your tax, claim it. All these people saying it’s not right; well it’s as simple as you have the right, exercise it. Moral judgment doesn’t come into it: the government says you can, you can.

I can wholeheartedly assure zero jealousy here and lol to you thinking I have to justify to you😂get off your high 🐴

Brilliant ideas.

As single parent of SEN kids, I am realising that we all need input and ideas too from other people and professionals. We need them to be travel trained, increasingly independent etc. We need our children to cope when we are in our dotage and beyond.

Having DLA and an EHCP up until the age of 25, being known to the services just helps them get the stuff they need to kick off adult life in the best way.

@PAYEohYEAY do you honestly think other people have to explain their finances and home circumstances and choices to you. No. We don’t. If you can’t believe that others behave differently to you then that’s fine. But don’t expect me to keep replying to your repeated tagging of me to explain my way of life and choices to you. I answered the OP. I don’t agree with claiming benefits when it’s not needed. I believe my role is to care for the people I brought into this world and that includes financially. And yes, as some other poster stated. If my child’s needs were so great that they needed more than I could provide for at the time, then yes I would claim. But I will not if I could avoid it.

This thread is the perfect MN storm. A heady cocktail of high income and disability. Those two potent sources of resentment on MN.

Raising a disabled child is really, really hard work. A privilege, but still hard work. A universal benefit that acknowledges the time and financial costs isn’t too much to ask.

I personally couldn't.

There’s no medal for depriving your child of something they’re entitled to.

So by not claiming something your child is entitled to because you think it’s morally wrong, the only person you’re cheating is your child.

Some people are not capable of working as they are too sick/disabled and realistically some may need support throughout their lifetime. Disability is not a lifestyle ‘choice’ and living with substantial disability is expensive. The disability benefits available - even paid at the higher rates for those disabled enough to qualify - don’t even begin to cover the actual cost. So your assertion that benefits need to be ‘short term’ is unworkable. And disability benefits, together with the Access to Work scheme can actually support more disabled people into work and help them retain it.

What needs to be done is a tightening of the system of sickness and disability benefits and a move away from DWP employing private companies to assess for these benefits, and back to suitably qualified and experienced medics who can provide proper evidence based assessments for proof of eligibility. More evidence from consultants and other health teams already involved with claimants needs to be taken into account because at the moment it’s discounted in favour of the assessors’ report, which follows a one size fits all format and is unfit for purpose.

We also need to return to a system where short term/temporary health conditions are discounted for disability benefits. There is a vast difference between a health condition and a permanent substantial disability. In the past only the latter qualified for benefits like DLA, but when the Tories introduced PIP it was expanded to include the former, and also for the first time, to include mental health problems. And before anyone flames me I realise that there are many people claiming for genuinely debilitating mental health conditions, but since the pandemic the number of people claiming for mental health has risen sharply and a lot of conditions are very difficult to prove or disprove. That is what has helped to balloon the benefits bill and it needs to be addressed. Depriving genuinely sick and disabled people of the benefits they need is not the answer - part of the solution lies in reforming the system to be more realistic about disabled claimants’ ability to work, and the level of disability related cost.

@Rosscameasdoody

Continue to curtail child benefit to two children and stop subsidising nursery fees. If people can’t afford to support their children they shouldn’t be having them. Stop landlords increasing their rents every time the rate of benefit goes up - in fact put a cap on how much rent they can charge to people claiming UC.

Except we have a falling birth rate - below replacement level, 1.49 in 2022 - and an ageing population. The benefits issue isn't going to go away, most money is spent on the elderly and there aren't going to be enough working age adults to pay.

As for OP, we get DLA for DS and are on less than £30,000 a year. Not bothered by OP claiming. There are reasons for claiming that aren't just about the money, though the extra is very useful for us.

The disability benefits available - even paid at the higher rates for those disabled enough to qualify - don’t even begin to cover the actual cost

In many cases I’m sure this is true, but look at all the posts on here who receive the benefits and ‘pop them in savings’. I’m seen them spent on days out, horse riding lessons and whatever else on here.

Spot on. It’s not the child who is earning a high wage, it’s the child who benefits from the state funding. Disability benefits are also the gateway to other disability services and in some cases it’s easier to obtain a blue badge and access VAT exemption.

Most people I came across professionally (ex disability outreach worker) who could afford to save their disability benefits did so, so that they could afford more than the bog standard and in many cases, unsuitable aids and appliances provided by social services etc. A few managed to save for a rainy day. But trust me, genuinely disabled people don’t waste their benefits. Most of them need them to make ends meet. And by the way - horse riding and other activities are highly recommended for disabled people who can take part, so nothing wrong with that. The benefits can be spent however the claimant wishes and in the best way that supports them - including days out. Guess what, those benefits are there so that disabled people can participate in society on a level with able bodied peers. It’s perfectly acceptable to spend it on a day out if that’s what the person needs.

I'm.not sure that's right I used to be a mental health nurse I qualified in 1996
Plenty of patients with long term enduring mental illness, s claimed DLA.