Adult Disability Payment - Teenager

[Pootle40]

I am dealing with a really frustrating scenario. My teenage son (16) has dyspraxia so the fine motor skills, memory and timekeeping are affected. He is still in school full time. He knows of many other peers (similar to him) who are receiving Adult Disability Payment. I’ve explained to him that while he has the condition he lives at home with us, has everything he needs and doesn’t have ‘extra costs’ associated with his condition. He thinks we are being blockers. He went ahead and made an application behind our backs. We received three follow up letters requesting further evidence and I put them all in the bin as I morally disagree (of which he is aware). I grew up with a severely disabled single parent who could not work and had two children so I have a very clear view of what I think the purposes of these payments are. My son, I think, sees this as pocket money. I asked him to name one extra cost he incurs because of his dyspraxia and he can’t. He simply thinks he’s entitled to it and no explaining is helping. So frustrated. I don’t think I am being harsh but surely he can’t just claim money because he has a life long disability?!

OP’s DS doesn’t have ADHD. Even if he did, ADHD isn’t about ‘popping a pill’.

ADP, which is what the OP is talking about rather than PIP, is not based on diagnosis.

ADP and PIP are not an out of work benefit.

But surely it’s not the same thing? You cannot get a state pension until age 67 and then only if you’ve paid at least 35 year of contributions towards the pension.
Thats totally different from other benefits which can be claimed without having contributed for anywhere near 35 years

You can also get a state pension with zero contributing years. National insurance credits count.

You don’t know he’s been successful - he needs to see his mail. My FIL is in his 80s, one fake ankle, walks with 2 sticks. Is awaiting 2 operations (one to fix something wrong with his arm and a pacemaker). He’s had to buy special cutlery to eat, he needs help with shopping and cleaning - ideally paid for help. Has to get lots of taxis due to mobility problems. Has the support of occupational health for aids and he doesn’t qualify for the adult disability payment! So I doubt your son has been successful.

PIP isn’t an out of work benefit and there’s not a diagnosis that exists that will qualify you for it.

it’s always based on personal care and mobility. There are no figures that break it down but it’s very unlikely that people who only have ADHD would qualify, it shows up in the stats because people with other disabilities also have ADHD. For instance autism and ADHD are very commonly occur together.

One thought - a different angle could be to point out you currently cover all his additional costs, but if he wants to take an independent approach thas absolutely fine. Here’s your estimate of the bill for what you currently provide.

And then with the factored in as an either / or he can consider whether he wants your support or state support.

(I agree, it’s an utterly ridiculous system and when viewed as part of the overall approach that our government has on welfare state in Scotland leaves a massive question on how long the magic money tree idea will continue to run). Sadly it seems there are still a significant number of magic money tree recipients who voted the same party back in again.

You realise it’s basically the same as PIP in the rest of the U.K.?

The differences are that they use people’s medical records instead of an unqualified assessor and that if someone contests the decision it’s someone with a relevant qualification that assesses them. Also they’ve got rid of the 6 month rule for terminal illnesses that meant people that lived slightly longer than that got all their benefits cut.

But it’s not some extra additional benefit, it’s instead of PIP.

I am fully aware that it is one component of a mind boggling welfare state thats developing in Scotland. Whether one component has similarities to something in the rest of the UK or not and whether thats done better or worse than elsewhere i cant get overly excited about.

The magic money tree fundamentally doesn’t work (as demonstrated by the budget deficits). And it works even less well when those championing it have also gone to reasonable efforts to crush the business areas that bring revenue into the Scottish state.

I wouldn’t have binned the forms, he’ll only resent you and think you’re the reason he’s not getting money. I’d of told him to fill it in honestly and provide the evidence they are asking for. If he’s not incurring extra costs due to his disability and has no evidence to provide then he won’t get it anyway.

The point is that it’s the same money - it already existed, it was already being paid out.

They haven’t invented some new benefit. It’s the same qualifying criteria, they’ve just removed some unnecesary red tape and made it harder to commit fraud (not that PIP has a high fraud rate to begin with).

How rude, to call her an idiot. She’s asking for advice in a balanced way. Trying to encourage her child not to be entitled and expect money for nothing. If someone disagrees with you they are not an idiot.

It’s not really though. The Scottish government gets the equivalent amount as PIP (per headcount) as they have in rUK to distribute to welfare recipients. BUT they pay recipients more than rUK and they are far less rigorous in assessing people, such that the Scottish government has to add £770m every year over what the receive from rUK to the ADP alone. Thats how lax ADP is in Scotland. Considering free tuition fees only costs £130m a year more than that it shows what a huge freebie it is.

It is very very doubtful he would receive PIP. Let him apply and get turned down. The forms are very rigorous and the condition and symptoms you describe wouldn’t score the points he would need.

You are a complete idiot OP! The money that he’s entitled to could help him purchase him aids to help him through the rest of school / college or university. It will help him through his adult life. ADP is not means tested.
Also by claiming ADP he will be entitled to a concession bus pass which will be valid for the rest of his days not just until he is 22. Are you embarrassed that your son has a disability and wants to claim a benefit that he’s entitled to?

@Nemorth Hi if your fil is in his 80s he won’t qualify for ADP but he will definitely qualify for pension age disability. It’s the new name for attendance allowance. This is for people who are over pension age but had never claimed for ADP previously. Hope this helps

But he won’t qualify if he needs it for aids to help him through school/college. There’s different funds available for students with those sorts of needs.
ADP is not for mild disability. It’s based on a person being disabled to the extent they need help with ordinary every activities like getting dressed, cooking a meal
or finding their way around their local area.
I suspect the OP knows her DS doesn’t need her help with these.

Less rigorous as in not as hard work sure, less rigorous as in thorough - absolutely not.

ADP isn’t lax, PIP isn’t fit for purpose. Deciding whether a disability benefit is going to be paid with no involvement of any agencies working with the person is ludicrous enough, nevermind having assessors that have not enough knowledge to do the assessments fairly.

There are many many issues with how ADP has been implemented, because completely par for the course the SNP came up with something that should be an improvement but didn’t put it in place properly and didn’t get the staffing and infrastructure in place.

But SNP bad, no magical money tree isn’t a fair criticism of it.

"It is illegal to open and destroy someone else’s post and doing so to stop them receiving benefits is a form of financial abuse."

This

Oh for god's sake, this is everything that is wrong with this country, you shouldn't get money for the sake of it so you can have luxuries without getting off the sofa to earn it! Who gives those that work a free deposit for a house or money to buy a car! Encouraging people to come out of school and sit benefits for life is wrong! The OP is doing the decent thing because she doesn't want her son to be a waster! He needs to aspire to find ways to earn a living, too many kids are going to come out of school wanting disability benefits for every little thing if this country doesn't stop encouraging it.

We can't go on at the rate we are with labelling every other kid as having something that warrants stepping out of school and straight on to benefits! You are going to have a situation in the future where these generations of kids are going to grow up and refuse to work because the syndromes people have always lived and worked with are suddenly too much for today's princes and princesses and benefits will end up being dramatically reduced because there won't be enough working tax payers to fund it.

My son is 20, and has claimed DLA/PIP since he was about 15. He has ADHD.

He has battled with mainstream school and even worse with A level college. He was essentially kicked out because he was at risk of failing. He has had two jobs, but lost both due to not being able to manage his time, his emotions, his work flow, and was bullied by colleagues in one.

His PIP gives him independence without feeling like he’s a complete failure, he doesn’t have to ask us for money for when he wants to go out and do things with his friends or girlfriend.

i think your son should be allowed to apply for the benefit. If he’s deemed to be suitable, that’s a decision taken by professionals who see many applications and can differentiate between fakes and genuine needs. You have no idea if his dispraxia will affect his ability to get or hold onto a job, or if it puts him at a disadvantage against other applicants. There are different levels of benefit, and he may qualify for one and not the other, or none at all. But at least allowing him to apply, with you supporting him to fill out the form, means he can’t blame you one day.

Hang on minute, you want working taxpayers to pay for people to sit around and have everything for free but you don't want them to have the money that they've paid in once they reach the end of their working life? What do you expect them live on? Some people's workplace pensions aren't going to be enough to get by on especially if they've been in low paid jobs all they life. You want people that are capable of working to have the choice not to but you want people who've worked all their lives to be in dire poverty in their older years? Jesus you are that typical benefit champion that encourages people to think that to work is to be a mug!

Dyspraxia is a real medical condition. Adult disability payments is not an out of work benefit. You can receive it in employment or education.

The majority of people with dyspraxia as their only medical condition will not meet the criteria for Adult Disability Payment. Many people with dyspraxia do have other medical conditions that will mean they qualify.

The op presumably likes her son and wants to have a good relationship with him as he grows up. In my opinion it is not worth arguing with him to prevent him applying for something he is unlikely to receive. He currently thinks my mum is stopping me getting this money. If he applied he would almost certainly be turned down ( unless he was very severely affected by his condition) and he would not get the benefit but he would not be blaming his mother.

People have had ADHD for generations and worked and lived normal lives! My brother has always worked and was finally diagnosed last year at 52, yeh it causes issues with his focus but he's never needed to sit at home on benefits and neither does his mates that he knows that have it.

I find it appalling that school kids are being given free money at 15 and encouraged to think they need a life on benefits when they really don't! I don't know if you are life long benefit claimant and that's why you don't care much about normalizing your son but we can't afford to buy free lives for every other kid whose being corrupted into this mindset! There won't be the money to buy these lives when most of these kids have been told not to bother working.

I aren't saying dyspraxia is not real, what I'm saying is every other kid seems to get diagnosed with something now and we are turning all these things into money spinners and misleading kids into believing they shouldn't work because they can have free money! I've just responded to a woman whose 15 year old started getting free money at 15 just because he got diagnosed with ADHD, he didn't need that money, what they've done is corrupted him into thinking he can't live a normal life, he's a bit older now and struggles to stay in jobs because he's been conditioned to think that he can't work and he's been given free money since the age of 15 and he thinks why do I need to work! Kids are being corrupted and this is going to come back and bite the UK on its arse big time eventually.