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?

I’ve DM’d you as similar circumstances. Happy to chat about our reasons and the feedback we received from DWP etc when claiming for our DD.

The issue is when something like DLA or PIP starts being means tested it means those just over the cut off are the worse impacted and face the biggest knock on from it.

Being disabled costs more. That is fact and that is why the government acknowledges it with DLA/PIP. It may be harder to absorb the costs if your low income but irrespective of income it still comes at a cost

It can be a lot more than £50 a week !

@Milesandmilesandmiles we’re also high earners and claim high rate DLA for our child. We put money into a trust for their future each month (whether this is the DLA or money freed up from the DLA is moot in my opinion - it all goes into the same pot). I also claim carers tickets where we can. Having a child with a disability is very, very expensive, particularly when there is very little access to things like speech and language therapy or physio on the NHS. I’ve never claimed any other benefit in my life but I feel zero guilt about this one.

And you think, with successive changes of government, benefits offer stability for life? Absolutely no reason why they can’t stash 100 quid a week away for her, and claim if it goes tits up and they end up skint. This ‘why can’t I/they have it’ attitude is why we are up shit creek without a paddle. We can’t afford to financially mitigate the individual circumstances of every person.

The welfare bill is terrifying and even Labour have admitted it needs to be brought under control.

I never cease to be amazed by the sheer number of posters on here who think these are moral issues and not financial.

And what is your suggestion if that person may never be capable of working or only a minimum amount? It is not expected of parents to need to financially or physically care for their children beyond childhood, those who may need a lifetime of care have to be recognised from a young age so the government themselves can account for future benefits budgeting.

If she is entitled to it that is fine. The point is it is to do with the extra cost of having a disability and is not means tested. If her disability doesn't, in fact, cause you/her to have extra costs associated with it, then your claim is likely to be rejected. If there area extra costs associated with her disability then, you are covering them. I could spend £20 a week on my son, £10 for his daily needs, and put £10 away for him. You could spend £20 a week for your daughter and spend £10 on her normal daily costs and £10 on extra disability related costs. She would not be getting the money put away that my son was because you were needing to spend the extra money on her disability related costs each week. That is unfair.

If they can, they should.

OP can.

We have zero hope of ‘budgeting’ for the sheer amount of ‘need’ the population now have. It far outstrips anything we can realistically provide. We have so many people claiming it’s actually frightening.

We are in exactly the same position. We claim it and use some of it for our autistic DC and save the rest. I feel completely fine about it!

Except that this is absolute nonsense. No -one - and I do mean no-one audits what the money has been spent on. It’s for the extra costs of disability - that can mean anything and not all of it quantifiable.

Would you apply that reasoning to child benefit and free childcare ?

I honestly don't know how we can continue with the welfare bill increasing as fast as it is and people getting the amounts they do. It just doesn't seem sustainable. So many people claiming DLA/ PIP/ AA, even before the huge amounts of UC people have to claim to cover massive private rents etc. I do worry what would happen if we had a really major economic crash or got dragged into a world war.

They’re clearly not issues for everyone though are they. Trawl through MN threads on child benefit and nursery fees and the entitlement is breathtaking. Having children is a choice. Disability isn’t. Why is it ok to expect the state to pay child benefit for unlimited children and then cough up with free childcare places, but not support disabled children or adults ?

Having a child with a disability forces lots of parents (mums) out of work or having to work reduced hours to accommodate various appointments etc. loads of people use the DLA money as family money due to the reduced income.

Agreed. I mean can you imagine how much time it would cost to audit what someone spent on DLA and whether it was okay? It can include taxis, heating, clothes, therapy, special toys, special foods, extra washing of clothes, replacing broken household items, etc etc. It would be impossible, and very costly.

People on here are literally obsessed with benefits and seem to think claiming them is a universal right and funded via some kind of moral fountain. It’s utterly bonkers and yet they’re the first to complain when cutbacks are made in other areas. We’re in serious shit because of our out of control welfare spending and the entitlement of the public that work or self sufficiency is very much optional.

216 replies and the OP hasn’t bothered their arse to come back to the thread.

And there will be less of it if OP claims.

Childcare is important though - it keeps parents working and in the long run they pay taxes. Someone needs to be paying taxes and currently we don't have enough tax revenue to fund the welfare bill ( or so we are led to believe)

I claim it as I need it for proof of disability sometimes. I give the money to charity though as I earn a reasonable income. There is no way I would keep the money if on 300k. You can save money for your DC yourself.

I disagree - it is not immoral to claim disability benefits for a disabled child whatever your financial situation. It is for the child.

At the moment, but people are not built to be lifelong ‘parents’ and work. What happens if their daughter needs high care beyond the education years? What happens if they become incapacitated, elderly? Do you have any idea of the cost of sudden need of social care in comparison to being in the system for years? The cost of DLA and the small doors that opens to further support now is far less than suddenly expecting the state to fully fund an adult with additional needs who was previously unknown due to parents thinking they could ‘cope’.

If you really want to solve the problem, firstly you have to stop subsidising employers to pay shit wages to their employees - the tax payer is effectively footing the bill for large corporations who are more interested in paying dividends to their shareholders and huge benefits to their execs than paying a decent wage to their employees.

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.

Then look at the absolutely massively unfit for purpose system of assessment for disability benefits and stop paying private companies bonuses for the crap assessments they’re turning out and put it back in the hands of doctors who actually know what they’re talking about and know the difference between a lead swinger and a genuinely disabled person. Finally stop awarding benefits for ‘health conditions’ which don’t attract regular cost. There is a massive difference between a health condition and a disability. Until the 1990s disability benefits could only be claimed by those who had a permanent substantial disability. Disabled people pay the price every single time there’s a round of benefit cuts. It’s time it stopped and we started to treat the sick, elderly and disabled with respect instead of making them jump through hoops and continually prove their entitlement when their conditions are never likely to change.

And if the country is skint then blame the Tories for feathering their own nests and squandering taxes on vanity projects.