Today I got a new set of DLA papers to be completed for renewal I think they call it. I was in bed at the time and when my husband came to wake me up he told me that it had arrived. I knew a great guy called Dave, who works as an advisor at a place that deals with Employment & Welfare. He's absolutely brilliant, has helped me with two DLA forms so far. My first form went through an appeal process which I later won, the second one was a bit more straightforward and went through quite quickly. Now today I found out that where he works doesn't get any funding and now to fill forms in etc he now charges £125! That's if you win of course. As anyone in my position knows being on benefits certainly doesn't mean that I have money to burn. I have two children and a mortgage to pay for, I struggle just to have any more left at the end of the month so where in the heck am I supposed to find this money? I know that the CAB are available but my local one is being closed due to lack of.. you guessed it funding!!!. Luckily, I have photocopies of my original form that was used for the tribunal, which my husband can now go through and make the necessary changes. It astounds me that people like myself and others in this group need advice and help and where are we supposed to go now??
Sorry for this rant peeps I'm just so unhappy. Wish me luck for my renewal xxx
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babebatista
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Good luck with your renewal my son and I have had ours recently both were received and decision made within two weeks same rate but both indefinitely instead of yearly so I know it will be October 2015 before we get assessed again at the earliest... I have always filled in my forms myself putting in everything but the kitchen sink and its always worked for myself and my son.
Oh dear, I'm so sorry that you will have to go through all this pallava, but as you said I think you may have found the right way forward by using the forms you've already done and have hubby go through them with you and update them. I got the brown envelope yesterday and feared opening it, but I have been kept on at the same rate. I do so hope that it will all go smoothly for you and that in a couple of weeks you'll hear good news. Foggy x
I recently got my renewal forms. Fortunately we photocopied the last forms. However on answering the questions we realised just how bad I have gotten. I had an appointment with my GP last week, as I walked or should I say slowly hobbled into her surgery, she noticed how slow and just how bad my walking has become. She then told me she had received a request for medical report. She has assured me she will be telling them everything from the memory loss, lack of sleep due to pain or just plain inability to get comfortable. She was astounded to hear that I had to stop 3 times on the short walk from the car park to the clinic. Se is also recommending that I be awarded the higher rate of mobility so I can apply for a blue badge.
Now the wait begins, while the bigwigs who have no idea what we go through just to get through each day, make a decision without even seeing me
Unfortunately that is how things are going to be now that this Government has removed funding from the likes of CAB. In just over a week will be stopping Legal Aid for benefit appeals and if you are appealing ESA they will no longer be paying out ESA at the assessment rate whilst an appeal is in progress!
Can I just point out, that you don't need to have higher rate mobility to get a blue badge. It helps if you have it but if you don't, still apply if you have problems walking. When I applied for mine a very nice man on the phone asked me how far I could walk without needing to stop and he used the length of a football pitch as an example, when I told him that i could only manage to walk about a quarter of it (approx 25 yards) I was immediately awarded a badge and this was before I was awarded the higher rate mobility! Its always worth asking, the two don't go hand in hand.
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xx Tina
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