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?

100% claim it, she’s entitled to it

Claim it we are on a similar income and use it for weekly private speech therapy and yearly Ed Psych visits to school both of whom always attend Annual Review for my DS EHCP. They are both worth their weight in gold.

You will be taking the money out of the hands of those that are desperate for financial support.

We don’t earn even a third of that and still wouldn’t claim. (Also have a AudHD DD who has been unable to go to school for a year due to severe mental health issues and we’re paying for private medical treatment because CAMHS is woeful) but it doesn’t feel right to me to claim, benefits. They’re there as a safety net and I wouldn’t say we need a safety net even on our joint income.

Don't be ridiculous that's not the way it works
If a person meets the criteria than they get an award its non means tested so it doesn't matter if someone lives in a mansion with millions in the bank or in a council flat on benefits
If y a person doesn't meet the criteria,they won't get an award even if theirs income is substantially less than the Op,s.

Of course the OP should claim it, it's for her DD and claiming it now may impact future claims/entitlement.

Posters are forever using the word 'entitled'. The OPs daughter is entitled to the money, more so than many who claim and work their 16 hours etc.

If people don't like it then blame the system. It works both ways folks.

You absolutely should claim it for her, and do what you see fit with it, whether that’s spending it on her current needs or saving it for her future needs.

All those using David Cameron as justification are not seeing things clearly. The man is a multi millionaire. There was a moral duty on his part not to claim anything from the state, particularly as he then made it a damn sight harder for those who really could have done with some help to actually get some. ‘Entitled’ does a lot of heavy lifting in Britain today.

You are the one being ridiculous, the woman said she doesn't need the money. The Tories were about to reduce welfare, so taking from the pot unecessarily reduces cash available for others.

Well there were some ideas floated around but nothing g was set in stone ,and in case you have been living under a rock we now have a labour government
The Op isn't taking money from anyone

That isn’t the way benefits work. The cuts the Tories were about to introduce were ideological and unnecessary because they hate the idea of the welfare state. If cuts are made to disability benefits they will come in the form of tightened eligibility to reduce successful claims and so reduce the bill. You might also like to know that millions worth of benefits go unclaimed each year, and that when departmental budgets are allocated at each spending review these are taken into account and can actually result in DWP budget being reduced. To suggest that there is a ‘pot’ which will be exhausted so that people will go without is ridiculous. Disability benefits are universal for a reason - because the cost of disability is universal and as has been pointed out numerous times it isn’t the child who is earning £300,000 a year, it’s the parents - the DLA is for the child.

David Cameron, s son was profoundly disabled and i have no doubt would have been entitled to the highest rates of DLA
I'm on various Facebook group for children and DLA and everyday I see people trying to claim for the most flimsiest of reasons with no evidence and getting irate when they don't get an award.

DLA/PIP is meant to be claimed if you’re eligible, regardless of income, and it’s not intended as a safety net in the way that other benefits are - it’s designed to actively assess for and contribute to the cost of living with a disability. These benefits open the door to many more disability benefits and services and there is nothing to be gained from not claiming. Except perhaps a sense of self satisfaction, but that doesn’t help the children who are eligible. Your daughter is the one who is eligible, not you, so your income shouldn’t be a consideration when claiming a universal benefit.

Codswallop. That is not how the benefit system works.

It is indeed codswallop. Billions of pounds of benefits, including DLA and PIP, are unclaimed each year. No one will go without DLA because someone else claims it.

You don’t have to justify to anyone. But you expressed an opinion without explanation so you have to expect to be asked why you think as you do. No one is on their high horse - it’s a serious thread but you carry on with your silly emojis. I’m sure they’ll compensate for the lack of any coherent argument.

Unclaimed benefits are also taken into consideration when allocating the annual DWP budget, so not claiming benefits which you are entitled to take up can actually give the treasury a reason to reduce the overall budget. Lose lose.

No not at all it doesn’t work like that. Not that I should have to justify but my DS has 20 hours of speech therapy written into his EHCP plus the LA Ed Psych is supposed to visit once a year. None of it ever comes to fruition and when it does the quality of therapy is appalling so have no problem using DLA to pay for consistent and excellent speech therapy. I agree it is not to be abused on lip fillers and nails and would have no problem with having vouchers to pay my SALT or producing invoices to prove its being spent appropriately.

Whatever anyone says your daughter is entitled to it, and whether you use it for her additional needs now or save it for her future. Once the money has gone into the bank it makes no difference really which specific £s you use for each. It probably won’t be long before all disability help becomes means tested anyway - people seem to be so mean-minded and angry when they think someone is getting something from the state they aren’t. Given that is the case you do need to plan carefully for her future, and fortunately you are currently in a financial position to do so. But no one knows what will happen in the future, things can change so quickly so you need to prepare for the worst. Myself and my partner were both earning a good salary and the future looked bright, but then I got sick and he was made redundant. Everything can fall apart so quickly.
My neighbour, in his forties, is autistic, he is unable to find work, lives in a damp pit of a flat, spends his days getting baked, playing computer games and getting taken advantage of by an odd coterie of druggy mates. You obviously don’t want a future anything like that for your child. When she becomes an adult she will need to apply for PIP if it still exists, or something like it. I can tell you from bitter experience that the whole process is rigged towards denying people disability benefits even when they are clearly and obviously disabled. It is especially difficult for people with mental health or neurodivergent conditions as they simply can’t navigate the traps and pitfalls set up for them. Having a continuous claim record throughout her childhood will help bolster her case as an adult, regardless of the money. Don’t feel guilty about doing what’s best for your child, not ever.

Absolutely. I’m not sure about vouchers simply because there are things I need to spend because of my chronic health condition that don’t come under the banner of specialist equipment but cost more nonetheless eg taxis for short journeys, paying more for shopping because I need to get pretty much everything delivered, things like that. But that’s beside the point. I worked as a civil servant in a fairly senior position before I got sick. The people stealing from the pot aren’t working people, even very well paid ones. It’s the ones with real wealth who don’t work for a living but live off share dividends and own noddy businesses they set up purely to take advantage of government contracts, they are the ones stealing from the rest of us. What about the crown grant? The royal family are all multi millionaires, should they be claiming state support? But some people on here would rather get angry about a little girl with autism. Get a grip.

Fine shes entitled to DLA
As people say it a gateway benefit for support
So no probs from me
Maybe you could donate to charities for this?

I disagree. Save it for her future. You won’t always be there to support her xx

Dla has no bearing on ehcp applications. Dla is for daily living needs. Currently the op has not specified any needs.
to claim it and stockpile is an absolute travesty and mockery of our welfare system.
op you clearly do not need this extra money nor any of the alleged benefits from claiming it.
if and when your daughter requires extra support which you can’t other that is the time you should claim.
its not a just in case benefit and neither is it an infinite supply.
those advocating this application are justifying taking money from those who really need it.

The Tories were trying to reduce the welfare bill by making it more difficult to claim state support. Labour are doing the same in order to pander to right wing voters. They aren’t reducing the budget. It might interest you to know that the largest percentage of the welfare budget in the UK, at about 80%, is the state pension. With an aging population the cost of the state pension is only going to increase. But no-one rages about wealthy pensioners claiming state support, do they? More pensioners means that the elderly are increasingly important for their share of the vote. So they are trying to save money by taking it from people who can’t find work or are unable to work, parents of young children, the sick and the disabled. When the state pension was first introduced it was means tested. By contrast DLA/PIP had never been means tested as the money is for the additional expenses that are incurred when a person is disabled or ill, which covers everything and anything from therapy, transport, specialist equipment to the electricity bill to run such equipment. It isn’t a prize for being disabled, it’s there for a purpose.

I'm aware of that my son has been getting DLA since He was 3 he's 14 now and gets HRC and HRM under SMI rules.