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.

One of the concerns about the PIP mental health assessment is that just attending the face to face assessment is used against the claimant. The logic used is that if the condition is as severe as is being claimed, the claimant wouldn’t be able to leave the house. Similarly, if the claimant doesn’t display any open signs of distress during the assessment, knows why they are being assessed and can meet the assessors’ eye and converse with them, that’s enough to disqualify them in certain circumstances. Catch 22

People seem to think that we have a special pot labeled 'disability' where the PIP/DLA money goes.

It is to be spent only on wheelchairs and physio and incontinence pads.

In reality we have a bank account, money goes in it, money comes out on whatever it is we need and we're not allocating it as special money for some things and normal money for others.

Mine goes in my bank along with the money I earn from work, and my UC which I have to fill out expenses for every month as I am self employed.

How on earth am I to account for which £1 is spent on which thing?

There is a set amount of money the government has decided someone in receipt of enhanced PIP or standard PIP needs.

IF someone spends that on cake and DVDs on model trains, it makes absolutely, precisely, fuck all different to the tax payer than if they spend it on physio and a wheelchair cushions.

They don't get MORE money if they run out.

And if you think 'yes lets means test it and make disabled people account for everything' then you've absolutely no idea how much that would cost to administer and manage, both for the government and for disabled people.

It would add millions, possibly billions to the bill to the tax payer.

You would have people suffering as they can't sort out the accounting, or don't understand what counts/what doesn't, and are going without things they actually need because they're concerned someone thinks they're 'cheating'.

It would be a fucking nightmare, and an expensive one at that.

It is slightly different if you're a parent with a child on DLA, or on PIP who needs their money managed for them. In that case you probably do need to do some accounting so it is transparent that the recipients money benefits them specifically (not parents pissing it up the wall on fancy plonk and expensive make up whilst the kid goes without things they need).

However - that still doesn't mean that when someone says 'my childs DLA meant we could get a fridge and hire a skip to get some stuff shifted' that they've misused it - thats just short hand for 'we can now afford to replace items we need/get on with jobs that need doing, because our finances are no longer so tight as some of the extra costs of our child are now being met'.

I was just pointing out that regardless of whether you think it is a good idea or not, Labour are unlikely to have time to implement it.

I personally know (through an association) of several people claiming dla on false grounds; their children have SEN but they exagerrate the day to day difficulties and noone is none the wiser. These are women that work while their children are in full time education (mainstream with support) and their DCs adhd/autism/mh problem has no financial impact on them. Only one of them uses the money to get private therapy for her son. The others are saving their dla for cars/holidays/children's savings. It's almost 10 k per year so I understand the temptation to exagerrate. And the psychiatrist will write what the parents tell him. They can't do anything else because they are not in their home so how would they know?
In other countries you get "dla" but you have to send in yearly reports on spending for the child in lien with his needs and with bills to show for it.

I put DS' towards the cost of SLT/OT/tutoring/adhd medication and 1/1 swimming as he wasn't allowed in the main group. Still cheaper to have a NT child!

Although my travel difficulties are related to my autism, the challenges I experience and get high rate mobility for are; intense anxiety when travelling, difficulty using public transport due to sensory or crowd-related stress, reliance on familiar routes, and distress on unfamiliar journeys, could equally affect someone whose main or only condition is anxiety. In other words, these factors aren’t exclusive to autism, and someone with severe anxiety could also be eligible for high rate mobility.

And wouldn’t cover the needs of disabled people the way it does now. Which, reading through this vitriolic, spiteful thread, is clearly what some people want.

Do they tell you this?

They openly admit to a stranger that they commit benefit fraud and exaggerate?

Or are you just making assumptions?

House repairs, extra food, extra energy bills, endless extra clothes due to sensory issues.
I've spent about a billion pounds in primark and M&S on getting the right bra's for my teen. I could never do that with just my earnings. She doesn't have meltdowns over clothes these days as I can buy such a selection of sizes and styles of everything so she can see what feels right. DLA has been a bit of a game changer for us.

@HomephoneaDLA is not being reassessed at the next budget! I’ve no idea where you’ve got that rumour from. Nothing has been reported whatsoever. Once a DLA claim has been awarded for a set period, they don’t just randomly reassess!

Notability cars for ADHD

With PIP, in order to be eligible for the motability scheme you have to be in receipt of the enhanced mobility competent. So you have to score 12 or more points. There are 2 mobility activities. One is moving around and the other planning and following a journey. Someone with ADHD alone won’t score under the former. Some may score some points under the planning and following a journey activity. In order to score 12 points under that, you have to prove you cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. Many with ADHD alone will not be able or do that.

With DLA, in order to be eligible for the motability scheme you have to be in receipt of high rate mobility. That can be even more challenging to prove for claims involving ADHD - you only have to look at the case law from earlier this year to see that.

I agree, and the posters who have taken the time, and energy to give details, or descriptions of the type of costs they meet, and the benefits to their children, because of whatever activity, etc that the money enables, is just met with whataboutery. I see it all the time here. This thread is another level though, sadly.

Of course I don't think losing things alone would qualify anyone for PIP. It can form part of the evidence for struggles related to for example preparing food.

So you were being completely disingenuous. Other evidence would be earning the pip then, not losing things .

Congratulations for reiterating something that comes up depressingly often on these threads and is rarely if ever true. There is no prescribed way DLA is to be used, so the people who are saving it aren’t doing anything wrong any more than the person using it for therapy. And there is nothing wrong with the parents working while the children are in school - these are benefits meant for extra costs, not income replacement. You would have to know everything there is to know about someone’s disability and the care they need, to know whether the claim is fraudulent and I don’t know anyone who would admit to claiming fraudulently even if they were. And yet MN is full of people to whom these admissions are made regularly, apparently.

And the notion of a consultant writing in a report exactly what the disabled person or parent tells them to is utterly ridiculous. What the doctor doesn’t see because they are not there 24/7 is estimated on the balance of probability of it reasonably forming part of the symptoms or effects of the disability. We’ve now left the area of assessors not knowing what they’re talking about, to consultants being in collusion for benefit fraud. Laughable.

It’s almost impossible to identify in advance all of the categories of things that you might need to spend PIP/DLA on until you are in the situation.

DS2 is at Uni and gets higher rate PIP as he recently became legally blind (some limited usable vision.)
Obvious expense - a long cane (white stick) for navigating busy areas
Less obvious expense - a rice cooker to reduce the need to pour boiling liquid out of a saucepan into a colander when you can’t see very well
Obvious expense - a talking food thermometer to check meat is properly cooked
Less obvious expense - a new phone that has better AI for reading and replying to emails, texts and information requests

We’ve told him to spend some of his PIP on Uber/taxis at night if he is struggling to find a bus stop or see the buses coming. It’s better he pays for a taxi and goes out than stays in his room.

The whole point is to support him in living as normal as life as possible despite the challenges of his disability.

Weird how they never report said fraudsters either.

Even weirder is their need to come on to every thread like this one, to rehash the same old story. I highly doubt that they can report a figment of their imagination though.

No, it doesn’t. Preparing and cooking is assessed on whether you are physically capable of chopping peeling, opening cans and packaging, and using a hob or microwave. Losing ingredients or utensils, carrying and fetching, and bending to use an oven aren't assessed.

Much better to come onto MN and moan about it on threads like these, even though it’s batshit and they know it.

My son's goes in the family pot, anyone who has a problem with anything we do with it can try walking a day in our family's shoes. They would soon be handing that money back.

This is it in a nutshell. It’s been said in many different ways over the course of the thread but still people are clinging to the outdated view of disability and insisting it’s meant for ‘disability things’. Can’t decide whether it’s ignorance, stubbornness or just plain stupidity. Could just be spite of course !!

I think this thread is the ultimate demonstration of people seeing the money and not considering the disability that goes with it.

Also, for some children the rides actually regulate their sensory system. So whilst the theme park may have stressful elements, it's balanced out with rides that re regulate them. Legoland also have a lovely sensory space for breaks which we would use several times a day when visiting.

"About 3.7 million people of working age receive health-related benefits. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the bill for health and disability benefits will reach £100bn by 2030."

Reference - www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg3jl0ylkyo.amp

This is an absolutely insane statistic. To put that in perspective, 100bn is approaching the entire education budget. We can't afford it. Unfortunately it's not just a few people taking the mick out of everyone, including people with real need. It's vast numbers. What cannot go on, won't go on.