Odd find, secret DLA allowance....

[sooperdooper]

I live with my DP, we're getting married later this year

I was just doing some tidying up, and sorting out a pile of paperwork/letters etc on the kitchen table, putting stuff in the pile to shred/file away etc

And I've found a letter, to DP from the DLA, about Disability Living Allowance, that he's getting nearky £400 a month on a higher rate care & lower rate mobility allowance - which I had no idea about whatsoever?

I wasn't snooping, just sorting through what was important and what could be thrown away, it wasn't in an envelope, just in with other letters on the table

I know his in his family there is a medical history if disabilities - his brother has spina biffida & learning difficulties, and his sister has spina biffida but works normally although I know she does suffer a lot of pain sometimes & has had so many ops over the years to enable to her now live a fairly normal life

But he has never, ever told me her receives DLA, it's so strange and I just don't know what to think

He's at work today and then going to a friends tonight from work, I won't really see him until tomorrow, but this is just so odd

I don't even know what advise I'm looking for really, guess I'm just confused

I agree serialkipper, I'm not going to ring him, cause a scene and demand he comes home now, it'll keep until tomorrow

It could be an error of some sort, I've had massive issues with the tax office before with them saying I owed money and stuff and it was all nonsense, I'll see what he has to say

I can't see why he'd deal with his brothers affairs, when his brother lives with his mum & dad and they're perfectly capable of doing it, but there is a slight chance I suppose

We are speculating because that's all we can do. Either its a mistake, if so has he forgot to mention it or kept it from you. He has a condition that you are not aware of, if its the higher amount you would be aware. Or its fraud. If I were you I would ring him and ask. If you mention you found it while tidying rather than accusing him you can judge his reaction. If he gets defensive, he is probably hiding something. Either a secret illness, making and illness out to be worse to get the higher rate or complete fraud. None of its good tbh.

I can't talk to him while he's at work and I'd rather talk to him tomorrow than ring tbh, it'll keep until tomorrow

I'll just say I found it when I was tidying up and what is it, I'm going to keep an open mind and not accuse him of anything, there are lots of possibilities, none are good, but I can't judge until I know what he has to say

If that's the case and you're not going out of your mind then leave til tomorrow.

Even if he & his brother lived at the same address, if the name/NINO on the letter is his, it's highly unlikely to be a DWP mistake. Their claims would not be linked, they're separate people, so this sort of crossover mistake could rarely happen. Not to say it's impossible, but I very much doubt it's an error if the details match.

Well obviously we're all fascinated, but this is something you need to deal with in your own timescales OP.

I'll let you know what happens, I just want to talk to him properly face to face rather than when he's either driving or already at his friend's house

Does he get paper statements for his bank account? Or download them into a program - Excel for instance? - might be worth having a look on the pc.

Is it his own national insurance number?

It couldn't be someone else's with the same name - how would they manage to send it to the address of another person with that name?

What did the letter say? Did it imply this was a longstanding agreement?

Is there any chance his parents are preparing to hand over some/total care for his brother to him? Hence the letter being forwarded to him by them?
The NI number/who is it addressed to is key really.

The potential second question in all of this (as you are getting married soon) is what is he doing with this extra £400 every month.

I may be wrong but am guessing you have discussed your incomes in order to come to an agreeable budget for day to day living. Does his income he has told you about include this £400? If not why not and what is it being used for?

The fact its a claim from THIS April means its a new claim - and very possible a DWP fuck up! HMRC/DWP do manage to fuck up in spectacular style often from time to time. Anyway hope you get to the bottom of all this soon.

Not necessarily a new claim at all. Rates of benefit change in April and a letter detailing the new amount is sent to everyone. It looks pretty similar to the letters sent at the start of/renewal of a claim.

... so?

That is very odd. I get high rate mobility because I can only just walk to the car if it's directly outside and mid rate care because my hands spasm so I have difficulty with things like carrying food on a plate. Compared to others I probably just scrape into the category for mid rate care, but even then there is no way you could spend more than a few minutes with me and not realise I am disabled...

Is it possible he is claiming something instead of his parents/his brother and giving them the money for some strange complicated reason??

There is something odd about this thread.

Mmmmm. Strange.

Would really like to know what the explanation was for this. When you get a minute OP pop over and let us know please.

Any update?

(My thought was that the OP's DP was paying for the nursing care for his DB so he was making the claim, not the parents, I know when my Nana moved in with my parents and needed care, even though it was my mum who was the primary carer, it was my dad who made the claim for the carers allowance for various dull/financial reasons)

I don't think we can read anything into the fact that the OP hasn't updated. Not everyone lives their whole life on mumsnet like me OP possibly just hasn't had chance to log back on. Or the talk didn't go well and she has other things to deal with right now.