Hi ladies
It’s my last blast tomorrow (7 July) but have been feeling despondant and annoyed because I have had my council tax benefit application refused and DLA refused (after waiting for two months plus to hear).
It feels so unfair. As a household we have lost 80% of our income as OH has been off with depression since before my dx. Born here, lived here all my life, paid taxes etc since starting work at 17…grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I hope you will forgive me my little rant. I shall begin looking at the figures the council tax people have come up with tomorrow and see if I can make sense of them, I get all the good jobs don’t I.
I hope everyone else on radz is doing ok.
Dawnflower
Dawnflower can you appeal? Did you fill in the forms for DLA by yourself or get an expert to help you? Even valid claims do seem to be rejected sometimes.
If you answered the questions by yourself contact the McMillan nurses or CAB they can help with this, expert advice is needed to make some claims acceptable. Doctor’s letters also seem to help. AND you always need to answer the questions as to how you function with as you are on your worst day.
If you did not get help for the original application please do appeal with expert help. If you were then to be accepted your claim I believe is backdated to the date of the original paperwork.
Good luck
Margaret
First of my rads tomorrow
Hi Dawnflower
i echo what Margaret said - mind you CAB are so busy. What about a voluntary organisation that offer advise - we have one in our town and they are great, sometimes the local council can give out names of other orgs too.
to underline: You have to state worst case scenario.
Its a huge form so hope you can appeal…
good luck
Shame you have this extra hassle when you are dealing with your rads. I was lucky in that I was on full pay but I did have a lot of hidden expenses during my treatment - unfortunately I was in the bracket of earning too much to claim any help but not enuff to have any spare cash … was a night mare and am just starting to get back on track financially now.
Hi Dawnflower
Congratulations on getting to the end of your rads, shame you have to deal with this hassle as well.
CAB can do a benefit check to see if you are getting all that you are entitled to receive including housing benefit (if your renting)and council tax benefit. If you have a mortgage and get IS there is a waiting period of 39wks before you can get help with the mortgage, interest only.
DLA is tricky and as others have said you must appeal and within 1mth of decision. If CAB can’t fill in the form they will know of organisations that are experienced in completing the forms, some even take cases to appeal. You should check out your husband rights too, I have known people receive DLA for depression. The time criteria is that you have to have had the illness continuously for at least 3mths and continue to meet these conditions for at least a further 6mths. Keep a diary of the effect your illnesses have on your lives, break it down into hours from when you get up to when you go to bed, it helps when completing the forms. If you want an idea of the criteria they use to decide DLA cases it can be found on www.adviceguide.org.uk. Click on benefits then benefits for the disabled.
Good luck
Caz x