If i give up work to look after my Autistic dd, what help/benifits will i get?

[Marne]

My dd has just been refered to a special needs playgroup which is 12 miles away, she is being assesed for autism. To be able to get here there and get my other dd to her school i will have to give up my job. My husband only works 30 hours a week so without my wage we will struggle. Will we be able to get any benifits etc to help us? I feel stuck as my work are getting fed up of me having time off to take the girls for apointments (my other dd has As), if dd gets in to this playgroup i will be using alot of time up to get her there, i would realy like her to go and if we have to cut back on things we will.

will the LEA not provide transport for the SN playgroup?

Regarding benefits - if you apply and get DLA for your DD you might be entitled to extra tax credits if your DH is on a low income. I think that regardless of DH's income, if you work less than 10 hours per week you would be entitled to Carers Allowance (but that's not that much think it's about £50 a week).

Before you do anything PLEASE check with Carers UK, Mencap or NAS about your rights. I believe that Carers now have a righ to flexible working and to be supported to start/continue work or study.

also there has been a very recent case in the papers which suggests duty of employers not to discriminate under DDA also applies to parents/carers of disabled children.

Thankyou, i will find out about DLA, i dont think my boss would sack me, they will just try and push me out IYKWIM, i work 4 days a week for 25-30 hours, if i need to get dd to playgroup this would be most of my work hours taken up, which will make it hard to work at all

Its so hard to know what to do,
If i stay home dd will get one on one from me and the chance to go to the play group but we will be skint.

If i stay at work we will have more money but dd would miss out on play group.

Dh is getting the forms for DLA, will she need to be assesed for this?

Do you get Child Tax Credits? If so, give them a ring and ask them for an estimate if you were to give up work. Also, if you get DDA for your DD, then you should get a 'disabled child allowance' in your tax credits.
I know it's an awful decision to make. Good luck.

DH works full time on a pretty decent professional wage and I stay at home with our 2 kids (one diagnosed autistic, the other being evaluated for ASDs) and to be honest, I'm pretty blown away by the amount we get in child tax credits plus DLA (middle rate care) and carer's allowance. We've yet to claim mobility for DS1, since he's not 5 yet, though we think he'd qualify for lower rate mobility and we haven't claimed for DS2, yet, since we don't have a formal diagnosis and I'm not sure we'd be awarded right now since he's only 2 and life with him is a breeze compared with DS1 at the same age.

You definitely need to explore all your options. Find out what work can do to accomodate you within the DDA, even if it means negotiating fewer hours or doing some paperwork at home plus find out what benefits and tax allowances are there whether you work outside the home or not. If your family income drops drasitcally, you may at least find you recover a lot of with with Working Families(?) tax credits on tp of Child tax credits.

If you earn less that £23.000 per household and have a disabled child you can apply for funding for things like washing machines / specialist toys & equipment / holidays (Haven) trampoline (to wear them out) you can only claim once a year but you can claim for up to three seperate thigs, take a look ... www.familyfund.org.uk

We too get working tax credits and child tax credits

Ouryve - my DS is 2 years old and I had a visit last week from Early Support co-ordinator who told me that I could apply for mobility when Ds is 3yrs old, although he is on high rate of DLA and I don't know if this makes a difference

Dd 2 is not 3 yet so we cant get mobility, should i be getting money for dd1 who has AS? We have never thought of claiming for her, do we need a diagnosis before we can claim?

I don't think you do. I think we applied for DLA before we had a diagnosis. Ring the Benefit Enquiry Line and ask. 0800 88 22 00

I think you can still claim the DLA, you might get a low or medium rate, but if you can get someone like a health visitor to support you claim it will help.