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Benefits advice

spudly

Hey all - I'm a newbie here so i hope this is in the correct area.

I have a 3year old son (nearly 4) who has recently been diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum.

I was wondering whether this might entitle us to any benefits (DLA, Carers etc..). I've been looking around on the site but i must confess to finding it quite confusing and wondered if there was anyone on here that might be able to help??

Regards,
Stuart

  • I contacted NAS and they sent me through an additional form to add to our DLA claim that asks specific questions about ASD, its really good, and I made an appointment with their telephone help line to go through the questions to make sure I have worded it well and to go over a few questions I'm unsure of, I've got to admit up until yesterday I was not 100% sure we should be applying, a bit of denial about how bad my Son is I think, but after a horrendous outing yesterday, that was ment to be a fun afternoon out, I couldn't trust my son to go any where busy on his own, i had to stop him twice from walking into he road as he got disorientated, really scary. The NAS have been so helpful, I'd make them your 1st port of call.good luck

  • Doing the forms on bad days and not stating that they are bad days is fraud. You're saying you need more help than you really do.

    There's a decleration at the end which says that you've given information which is true. By doing the forms on bad days, you've not given them true information.

  • stranger said:
    Doing the form on a bad day is fraud.

    No it's not.

    Making stuff up that isn't true is fraud.

    If you go to somewhere like the CAB for advice on filling out benefit forms, this (to put down what it's like on the worst days) is exactly what they'll advise.

    As long as you give a true representation of what it's like on those days, then it's not fraud.

    It's similar to if you're getting a little help with things - that help may mean that you're able to cope to some degree - but if you're, for example, filling out forms in order to get more support, you need to put down what life would be like if you had no support, not how it is with the help you do get.

  • Doing the form on a bad day is fraud. You have to explain how your child has more care needs than a child their own age. You can't get lower mobility until your child is 5.

  • In my experience, the best thing you can do is to start by making a DLA claim, this tends to be the gateway to other things i.e Carers Allowance.  You have nothing to lose by giving it a go, my daughter gets middle rate care and lower rate mobility on the 'label' of Autism. 

     

    Like Crystal said, gettting some help with filling in the form would be best as if you phrase things in the wrong way you don't get a penny.  Answer ALL questions as if it is a 'bad day'.

     

    Have you tried contacting your local Carers Group, they can be a great source of support.

     

    Good Luck! 

  • Thanks Crystal,

    I thought i was entitled to something but when i looked i thought it was suggested that only those with DLA could get carers and then only those with Mobility impairments could get the higher DLA rate. I don't think that my son would qualify for this and so i had assumed that he would qualify at best for the lower rate. There is something to suggest that he would have to wiat until he was five before he is entitled to this but i wasn't sure if I am reading it all correctly???

  • Hi - yes you can apply for both.  I'd check things out with CAB or your council's welfare rights dept.  The DWP dla form isn't particularly suited to autism so "experts" can be helpful in aiding you in completing it.  In my area a charity has a contract to do the carer's assessments, altho I don't know if that applies country-wide.  Also the benefits sytem is changing + I'm not sure how that affects children with regard to dla.  Others will be along to reply soon.