My son, who is in supported living, recently has a "light touch" financial reassessment by Lancashire County Council of his Charges for non-Residential Care Services which included a request for the details of any new "Disability Related Expenses".
I informed them that his new Motability contract had required a large deposit (almost £5,000) because the mobility element of his PIP wasn't sufficient to cover the hire of a 9 seater car. I also explained that his behavioural issues meant that there needs to be an empty row of seats between himself and the driver. He has a long history of smacking drivers on the head whilst the vehicle is moving, the risk of this happening again needs to be mitigated by the empty row of seats.
Unbelievably, they have said that this cannot be counted as DRE! Obviously we plan to appeal this as he wouldn't need a bigger vehicle if it wasn't for this aspect of his disability. He has long had a diagnosis of severe autism with associated severe learning disabilities, has a developmental age of around 4 and is almost non-verbal.
Has anyone else had experience of appealing against this type of misinterpretation of government guidance in judging what is and isn't a DRE?
I'm so annoyed by this that I'm giving myself a week to calm down before I respond in a civilised manner :-)
Thanks in anticipation
Dave