What do people actually expect DLA to be spent on??

[Whoknowshey]

This comes off a thread I read recently where a poster was being criticised for spending DLA on a fridge .

Im curious as to what people think DLA / PIP should be spent on ? Due to various circumstances I am aware of what people spend it on and I also have a child in receipt PIP so I know how theirs gets spent . Some differs to how my child’s is spent. Some I agree with , some I don’t but the fact is it’s for the individuals needs and that varies massively. Especially with non physical disabilities it would be hard to spend it on things directly related to their needs but there are many ways in which it affects their lives that it can help with .

Some I have came across;

• theme park passes- the child cannot do what others can , going out with friends etc . The passes give the opportunity to enjoy childhood safely.
• Toys/ things for hyperfocuses - a hyper focus is a form of regulation . To some it may look like an obsession with a character but it’s actually a way for the individual to regulate.
• Towards the family income because parents cannot work.
• Furniture - lots can get destroyed due to the individuals issues.
• Save it towards the child’s future . The child may not ever be able to get a job and adult social care is appalling .

I think all those things are justified . But I have seen comments against that.

My child has PIP as a young adult. They have a part of the money as theirs to do with what they wish ( which can be wasted hence why they do not have it all and I am their appointee - but also they have no way of having extra money as cannot work nor claim any benefits , have to stay in education to hold on to that EHCP and to help with their life skills etc ) A part goes into the house because I care for them financially as though they are a child - yet usually parents do not have to do this with an adult child. They know exactly what they are paying for with this - rent, shopping etc, social groups. It doesn’t really touch what I spend on them as the majority actually goes on a mobility car , because they have to be taken to most places . This way they are paying bills etc as they see it - an itemised of what they pay - because I know if they go in to supported living it will be eaten up by that and I don’t want them to get used to just having all that money, I think the way I do it is justified as it is for their needs ( food aversions so more expensive shop , get through clothes very quickly due to sensory issues , hyper focuses , social groups specific to their needs ) .

A bit fed up of seeing people attacked because someone doesn’t deem what they spend as “ for their needs “ yet those needs are so vast .

Interested on thoughts.

It's almost as if the OP knew this would happen

such posts are always pretend innocent and intended to whip the significant disability hating MN subgroups into a frenzy. So much jealousy over someone's else's disabled child.

I told you, I have friends and family with disabled kids too. The social media family I referenced are interesting because they document their lives in ways that ordinary people don't. They give an insight into how they use things like the Disability Access System in theme parks, blow by blow, hour by hour. Do you think they lie about this? I don't know how they could edit the videos to do this and what their motivation would be? What would be in it for them?

Social Media can be completely artificial but it also can be incredibly real. Evidence from social media has been used countless times in court cases and to prove things like benefit fraud. I don't know why you're so keen to discredit it out of hand when social media and YouTube is also used to publicise the difficulties associated with being disabled. Do you dismiss all of this too?

My child's DLA goes on play therapy, tutoring, ARFID foods and private meds/Psychiatrist for ADHD (as waiting list for CAMHS was 4 years). Has numerous ND diagnoses and is rarely in school so I can't work full time. As a single parent our family would struggle hugely otherwise.

However, I do feel that there should be some form of means testing. I know a family with very high income and 3 ND children all getting MRC/LRM despite doing well at school. That's £16k a year which is crazy when the family is earning so highly. They also get extra money for each child for the council for activities as that's also not means tested.

16k?? Takes the piss, sorry

DD1 needs a wheelchair power assist. NHS wheelchair services have told us she needs a power chair but she doesn't qualify because their criteria is that they only supply power chairs to people who require hoisting. Fine. So we need to get a power assist. She can't use the Smart Drive, which is £2500 because she can't coordinate steering fast enough (LD). We've been told that the company who is assessing her is likely to suggest the Benoit Light Drive that comes with a joystick. It's £5235. That's an entire year of her PIP care component (her mobility component already goes on her car, which I drive her in).

Having a disability yourself, or being the carer of a disabled child, can mean you're unable to work as much as you would. It's reasonable for the benefit to plug that gap (it's unlikely to fully cover it though).

If you are eligible for DLA or PIP it's perfectly reasonable to claim it. Neither is means tested.

Other benefits don't require you to say exactly what it goes on, so why should PIP / DLA. It is household income which will go towards the living costs of the disabled adult or child. There are many hidden extra costs to disability.

And then the means testing costs the country more. You also run the risk of financial abuse

Some of us find pip doesn't cover everything so some will be much worse off than they already are

Don't worry, I don't spend my PIP on horse-riding classes, largely because I don't want to but also because I couldn't get on a horse even if I did want to. Nor, you will be relieved to know, do I know anybody who spends their PIP on this. What I think you have done here is taken one example shared on this thread, of one person who uses their disability benefits to pay for horse-riding lessons, presumably for therapeutic reasons, and made the ridiculous jump to the conclusion that that is what most people spend their DLA and PIP on which is, if you will forgive me for saying so, a trifle foolish.
As I have inferred, I am in no way a horsey person. However, I am aware that many stables offer special classes for children and adults with physical and mental disabilities and learning difficulties which many people find extremely helpful for their physical and mental health, a couple of minutes of internet research could have told you this. In a similar way, water therapy can be very helpful for many disabled people, do you have similar objections to disabled people using benefits to pay for accessible sessions in a public swimming pool? Given how limited places in hospital hydrotherapy classes are and for what short durations these courses last, it is the only way many disabled people can get the water therapy they need. Also, for those who may benefit from equine therapy, you may be surprised to hear that most NHS hospitals do not allow horses on the premises so paying privately is the only option.
I am sure you will also be delighted to know that I am lucky enough to have the kind of severe, immediately obvious and life-long physical disability that you probably think of as deserving of support, and your approval and the approval of all the other posters on this thread moaning about PIP and DLA claimants is, of course, my primary concern. You will also doubtless be relieved to learn that my PIP gets entirely spent on non frivolous things like adaptive technology, equipment and carers, allowing me to function from day to day and remain in employment meaning that, despite being a scrounging PIP-claimant I am also, shock horror, a tax payer!
I have to fund some of the costs of my disability from wages as PIP doesn't cover them all, so you will be relieved to know that I am actually worse off financially than a non-disabled person earning my wage would be.
However, I hate to break it to you, but I do also sometimes spend the money I earn on such non-essential things as new clothes, holidays, eating in restaurants and outings with my family. I know this must be upsetting for some posters on here to read as so many of them seem outraged at the idea that disabled people might actually be getting enjoyment out of life.

Well we have means testing for all manner of other things that cost a lot less. I don’t believe it.

Reform will make the necessary changes in a few years.

I assume the true cost is much more, but most of it is funded by charity with £10 per lesson for each kid.

Of course I understand prioritisation, but this has little to do with DLA. In fact it enables parents to sometimes access private services, relieving pressure on the NHS. Don't assume that we aren't very familiar with waiting lists.

I get that it's jarring if parents are using it for pocket money or airfix models, but I think they are in the minority. Though given it usually fits in the or, it's impossible to know where any specific pound is spent.

Perhaps there needs to be more emphasis on the increased costs within the DLA forms if that's a concern. So that people with increased needs but no increased costs (if that exists) can't claim.

For most of us though, the amount of DLA is a drop in the ocean compared to the true increased costs.

Is there a card you can use to skip queues in for example a post office or shop? I ‘can’t’ queue either because of my health and my health deteriorates if I need to wait. What is this card called

If you don't mind me saying, this is an outrageously nonsensical and offensive thread, even by the standard of some of the awful posts on this thread, which is some achievement!
Firstly, I think you will find that many parents of children in receipt of DLA also work, which blows that part of your spurious and illogical argument out of the water.
Secondly, arguing that non-disabled children should have the same access to a treatment which can reap physical and developmental benefits for disabled children is akin to arguing that it is really unfair for the NHS to waste money on providing a prosthetic leg to a child amputee when they wouldn't pay for one for your two-legged kid or won't pay for your child, without kidney disease, to go on a dialysis machine. Congratulations on winning the silliest comment of the thread award anyway!

Didn't quote the poster

It's called Home Delivery. Royal Mail and Evri will collect parcels from your front door.

I think this is the worst one yet.

If this is testing the publics mood, then there are some dark times ahead I think.

There's other issues alongside being an older, sicker, society - falling birth rate, job losses to AI.

More and more I think some kind of UBI is what's needed.

I think people should just mind their own fucking business. What people spend their own money on has absolutely nothing to do with anyone!

I get home deliveries but sometimes if I run out of something unexpectedly I need to go to a shop. I suppose that is poor planning though. I suspect I have some kind of condition that makes me quite dizzy and unwell whilst standing. I went to self service checkout and something went wrong with it so not so quick after all! Have had to abandon shops or really thought about it.

We spend our child's on fees for on-line schooling so she can be home educated and not attend mainstream. It won't cover everything and I'll pay a fair bit out of pocket. However we also spend more on clothes than normal people and my partner doesn't work so he can manage the house so I have time to work full-time from home and still also support my daughter by cooking meals specifically for her, attending some of her lessons, running her back and forward to specific appointments (he does the ones he can) related to her disabilities, etc...

Hilarious. Over a year with no suitable education. Yes i have submitted formal complaints via LA website, involved MP, Local County Councillors. Been dealing with SEND and inclusion, medical needs team, EHCP team, tribunal process underway.

There is no school in our county that can meet needs. They are now after a year with no/minimal provision. (At one point he got 1 hour a week, which built up to 4 hours and now he gets 9 hours a week, provision IN the home that LA insist I have to supervise) working on EOTAS. But even that I have to supervise, again formal complaint in as this is breach of Law, LA dont care.

DLA is going towards part of replacing wages as a solo parent. Child arrangements and prohibited steps mean no contact twith dad its not safe.

No family nearby, no one to look after youngest. Plus teenagers with additional support needs. In mainstream but school have just suggested part time timetable for one.

How exactly am I supposed to work?

Honestly what local authorities are legally supposed to do and what actuslly happens in reality are miles apart.

This should have been the first and only response, unfortunately people fell for it and gave ammunition to the benefits bashing brigade

I’m feeling that if anyone really wants to resent my disabled child, who will never live independently, perhaps instead they could direct their ire at the maternity unit and indeed the individual registrar who fucked up his birth so severely. The registrar, in due course, was promoted to consultant. My son, on the other hand, gets resentment on Mumsnet because a couple of times a year his adult care centre takes him to a theme park and I pay the £30 extra that they don’t subsidise.

Yes Reform will make the already disadvantaged in Society, even more so. Be warned!

What a sad sad thread this is. My LB just turned 4 and receives DLA and he has a blue badge. His DLA is spent on private therapies mostly (physio and SLT). We receive NHS physio/OT every 3 months and a call from NHS SLT twice a year. We pay privately to fill the gaps that the NHS can't. He has cerebral palsy from a brain injury at birth. I know many parents who have children with the same brain injury who haven't seen a physio in a year because the waitlist is so long and who don't receive SLT because the children are not deemed to need it due to their disabilities being so severe. Those parents also pay privately. I really wish I didn't have to get DLA for him. I wish he didn't need any of these therapies. I wish he was just NT and we didn't have any of these things to contend with, least of all some of the horrible things being said on here. I'd cut off my right arm for him to not be disabled and it's not something I ever wished for my child but you'd think by some of these comments, I've done it for the money.