**Please read** Help Contact a Family stop the DLA takeaway

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

Contact a Family and The Children's Trust have launched a campaign -
Stop the DLA Takeaway - and we are looking for support from you. It
won't take more than 30 seconds of your time, but could make a real
difference to families when their child is in hospital.

We are calling for the rules to be scrapped whereby a child's DLA is
taken away when they are in hospital for more than 84 days. This is
penalising families at a particularly distressing time of their lives.

Contact a Family and The Children's Trust are submitting a joint
response to the Department of Work and Pensions consultation on welfare
reform calling for the Government to change the rules. We are asking
people to show their support for the campaign by e-mailing the DWP
themselves. It won't take a minute and the more support we receive, the
greater chance we have of achieving fairness for families when their
child is in hospital.

It couldn't be easier - Visit the campaign page on the Contact a Family
website here
Click on the link (Click here to e-mail the Government) which will
automatically generate an e-mail addressed to the DWP consultation. It's
written and ready to go!
Press send.

The consultation ends this Friday, 1st October, so please remember to
submit your response soon. If you can't respond by 1st October, you can
still support the campaign by visiting www.cafamily

Thanks

.

Thanks, I've done it.

Done

Thank you

I'm not challenging this; I just don't get it and wondered if someone could explain: if a child has been in hospital for 84 days, haven't parents saved on food (in most cases), washing, days out, childcare etc. etc.? Why are CAF saying that costs go up in hospital? I'm genuinely ignorant as my son only ever spends a couple of days at a time in hospital.

I generally find it more expensive when my dd is in hospital as she usually isn't in a our local hospital so I'm living away from home. You don't save on food because you're stuck at the hospital buying food for yourself, even if you are going home at night(and often for your child who won't eat the food on offer), also you may be paying for parking, travel costs, you may be having to take time off work (often unpaid), having to find and pay for childcare for other children. There's a whole host of expense.

If you have a motability vehicle having your DLA stopped can put that at risk too.

Thank you. Understand it now and will go and do it. Hadn't thought of any of that!

dd was recently in hospital when she needed surgery after a dog attack - she was away from home & the three days cost us well over £500 - unpaid leave for dh, childcare, petrol, parking, food, accommodation. It was a nightmare.

Ta muchly .

Another problem is all the benefits that are tied to DLA. If you get Income Support on the basis of being a carer, that would also stop and you'd be expected to go on JSA instead. Can you imagine having to go to the Jobcentre and explain that you can't take/look for a job because you're too busy visiting your child in hospital?

This sort of OP makes me cross as it's misleading.

It's not that they have just started to take DLA away for hospital stays over 84 days - that's something that has always happened.

It was the same when DS was at residential school - it stopped after so many days back at school and restarted again when he came home.

Not saying that the DLA rules shouldn't be changed BUT the way this was posted is scare-mongering as DLA itself is not under threat.

Rant over

DH DLA was stopped when he was in hospital for 16months (stopped after 2months IIRC). However the continued to pay for his mobility car during that time.

WetAugust thanks for posting that.
I do think there is way too much scare mongering going on, these rules have always been in place, DLA is to cover the cost of Care, so if you are in hospital the care is supposed to be free, doesn't quite work though as if you have a disabled child you have to stay an do care your self.

Point taken 2shoes,

Misdee has made a valid point that it's the Care element that is temporarily withdrawn - the Mobility element is unaffected.

I never could get my head around that one

I presume you loose your cares allowance as well, that bit seems daft as you are still caring.

Also, household budgets don't work so that you can separate things for the child separately just because they're not at home. E.g., with DLA you might have a budgeted for higher rent/mortgage so you can afford somewhere with a garden/unshared bedroom. The higher rent/council tax isn't going to stop just because they're not living there. Or you might be saving it for the cost of a holiday/helper/specialist equipment - you still need to keep up the payments.

WetAugust. I apologise if you think my OP was scaremongering or misleading - I don't feel that it was either of those things. Nowhere in my post do I say this is a new thing and nowhere does it say that DLA is under threat. It has always been the case that DLA has been withdrawn and it has always been the case that this puts many families under added financial pressure.

2shoes - you can lose carers yes.

Also if your 'child' is considered an adult by the DWP (over 16) the DLA stops after 28 days I believe.