dla & long hospital stays

[shazian]

Hiya, sorry to be a pest. WetAugust answered my queries before. I called to inform DLA my ds in hospital for up to 12 weeks. This was ok and advised to keep them updated, however when i asked is his dla affected they said yes the care component stops after 28 days (high rate care ds gets), as far as i knew it was 12 weeks is this right? Lady on fone quite abrupt and so i never queried just said id keep them updated.

www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/disabilitybenefits/Pages/DLAandAAclaimsandchanges.aspx

"Hospital stays can affect someone's entitlement to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Attendance Allowance (AA). The rules below apply to people getting care in an NHS hospital, or hospital care that's funded by the NHS. If someone gets private hospital care, their DLA or AA won't be affected.

For adults, DLA or AA stops after 28 days in hospital. When someone leaves hospital, they'll be able to start getting the benefit again. However, if the person you look after goes back into hospital within 28 days of leaving hospital, the two periods they're in hospital are added together and treated as one period.

When counting up the days in hospital, the day someone goes into hospital and the day they come out of hospital are not counted as part of the 28-day limit.

For children under 16, DLA will only be stopped after they stay in hospital for 84 days.

For more information, see going into hospital or the Age UK leaflet on going into hospital (PDF, 567kb)".

Thanks JsOtherHalf the lady on phone must have assumed my ds is over 16 years but he's only 11 so shouldnt affect him.

There were lots of different articles on this, but I prefer to link to one that you can use against them if they get it wrong :D

Hope your son doesn't have to be in hospital for too long.

Hi

Yes, I expect she assumed your son was an adult. Not all DWP staff are fully versed on all the benefit rules. It always helps to have links such as Jsotherhalf gave you so you can check you are being dealt with correctly.

Hope he's in and out of hospital in the blink of an eye

Many thanks JsOther & WetAugust looks most likely to be 12 weeks, im in glasgow he's in newcastle so can only visit him few days each week i know will be worth it but feel so lost without him miss him like crazy x