DLA/carer’s allowance

[lilyfire]

I have a friend with a 16 yo DS who very clearly has ASD but has never been diagnosed. She has recently separated from her husband and can’t get any support from him financially. Her son has always been home ed. His needs are quite extreme and he has OCD and serious anxiety. He hates her leaving him and can need support with things as simple as washing his hands. She now has no income and needs to claim benefits. She’s been told she can’t claim as a carer without a diagnosis. The worry is that this may take ages. My question is if she could get a private diagnosis would this be acceptable for purpose of benefits? Does anyone have experience of how much this costs roughly?

Does he get pip? It’s not a diagnosis that entitles carers allowance it’s dla or pip and as the child is 16 it would be pip

Its needs based not diagnois based. It might be harder to get it as she may need someone who knows the child to write a statement about them. With my kids dla i've used teachers and social workers. I dont know what home ed'ers do

Many thanks for your replies. So really just a case of completing the forms for PIP rather than needing to have anything in writing saying he has ASD? He doesn’t get anything at the moment.

Does he have any reports and stuff?

You don’t need an actual diagnosis to claim PIP as it’s based on the the needs but she will struggle if she doesn’t have anything from professionals to back her up.

She would have to apply for PIP for him as he's 16. It won't be easy to get and she'll probably have to go to tribunal as they are refusing a lot of people who are entitled to it, especially with ASD. She needs to gather as much evidence of need as she can. He doesn't officially need a diagnosis but it is harder without one, even though it shouldn't be. Get him started on the diagnosis route as soon as you can, it can take two years. In the mean while reach out for help, get every need documented if possible and get someone who knows what they're doing to help with the forms, not CAB! But a disability charity etc (This is my job and we get a lot of Mandatory Reconsiderations/Tribunals directed to us because the forms weren't filled in properly by CAB).

Once he gets PIP she can apply for carers allowance if she earns less than £123 per week, Carers Allowance is taxable so if she claims Tax Credits and certain other benefits she will have to make them aware that she claims this. Even if she earns a little more and isn't entitled to a paid amount she may be entitled to have her NI paid for her. Also if she gets PIP for her son and also gets Tax Credits she needs to inform them within a month of getting the award and the additional award will be added on and2 should be backdated to the start of the PIP claim (I'm not sure if this applies to UC)

She can also apply for a personal budget for him education to employ tutors etc, she needs to get advice on this from her local SENDIASS service:

councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/information-advice-and-support-services-network/network-section?page=17&return_type=page&return_section=32

They offer impartial legal advice on education right etc.

I wish her luck.