Please would someone explain how much of the DLA you have to pay to lease one of these cars.
One of the ladies who came to our support group yesterday had a fabulous Nissan Qashqai, and she said it is paid for out of her DLA . I forgot to ask how much of the DLA (because the higher rate has different components doesn’t it). Do you have to hand over all your DLA, or just a particular component?
The care and mobility components of DLA are completely separate (at least at the moment!) so it is possible to be on High Rate mobility component without having any care component at all, and vice versa. It is the Higher Rate mobility component that you pay over for a Motability car and usually you sign over all of it.
There is a selection of cars; some for which need you to pay extra and some you don’t. There should be a current list on the Motability site: motabilitycarscheme.co.uk
Eliza
Thank you, well I do get the mobility component, because I get my DLA under DS1500 special rules, so I’ve booked to go on a test drive on Saturday - can’t wait.
Hi Lemongrove
I am on Higher Rate Mobility on DLA as well as middle rate care for my scoliosis (just another thing I have to deal with but thats another story!).
I have a Ford Focus on Mobility and yes it is the full allowance of the Higher Rate (around £200 per month currently). This includes everything including Car Tax all you do is put petrol into it thats it. I am due a new car as mine is 3 years old next March and I too am considering the Nissan Quashquai so will be interested to hear what you think of it.
Have fun
Tracy xxx
hi
I got a Nissan Quashquai via motability last july.I really love it.I have bone mets in my spine,so getting in and out of the car presents problems.Because this is higher getting in and out is so much easier.It is so easy to drive and quite economical.I also have neck problems from a car accident and find it easy to reverse because of the reversing sensors.Also has great visibility so i can see where I am going, or where I have been every time i get lost!
I just thought that I would point out that the high rate mobility DLA component is not automatically given within the DLA DS1500 special rules.
Whilst the special rules allows for automatic qualification to the high rate care part of DLA, in order to get the high rate mobility component as well, you should have substantial mobility needs.
Hello Roberta,
Well I’ve checked, and I am in receipt of the care and mobility component. I have bone mets, so I guess thats why I get it. My GP did the application, so I didn’t have to prove anything.
I think we should all be aware that when we receive any DLA at whatever rate we are supposed to tell them when there have been any changes for better or for worse, especially now they seem to be tightening up on benefits. Lesley if you have only recently received DLA they probably won’t be asking any questions for another 3 years otherwise they might be interested in your ‘cure’ from cyberknife. I am surprised your GP completed all the questions because there is quite a sizeable chunk in the mobility section that you are required to fill out yourself. I went into great detail in mine even though it was under DS1500, about the degree of bone mets and how this affected my ability to get around. What was also very interesting was that I did not claim the mobility part at first as I felt I was sufficiently able to get about, but did put in a request 2 years later, as things got worse. They agreed at the highest level and backdated it 2 years!
Roberta there seemed to be a period of time when the DWP looked as if they were giving the mobility part ‘automatically’! I don’t know how this was happening but several people around that time were posting about this.
Dawn
xx
Dawn, my GP kindly completed the form for me, so she was presumably of the opinion that I require the mobility component. As I still have metastatic cancer, the situation hasn’t changed since she completed the form.
I’m not sure what you mean by the DLA might be interested in my “cure from Cyberknife”. I don’t recall ever suggesting that I have been cured by Cyberknife. The skull mets have been treated, and hopefully I may survive longer than if I had not had Cyberknife, but I know very well that Cyberknife cannot cure cancer, and I have never suggested that it does. What it can do is help delay progression, but you know perfectly well that there is no cure for metastatic cancer, so I don’t understand the remark (maybe the Cyberknife has performed a humour bypass on me).
Maybe I’m being over-sensitive, but I sense I’m being told that I’m getting something that I’m not entitled to. If so I would like to point out that I do have metastatic BC in the bone, and given that I’ve paid quite a bit in tax over the years, and will probably never get a pension, I don’t think the £50.00 a week mobility allowance I receive is inappropriate or excessive.
As I stated in my earlier post I have been in receipt of DLA mobility and care for over a year now as I have a severe upper and lower scoliosis of my spine and I was forced to give up work and register as disabled due to this. I was supposed to be undergoing a major spinal operation this year in Southampton Hospital to try to straighten the upper spine as it is currently at a 75% curve and my ribcage is now sitting on my pelvis and I am in continual pain with this. Obviously this is now on hold for at least another year due to the cancer and treatment and Consultant at Southampton does not want to consider it until my body is fully recovered from the chemo etc. I have NOT advised DLA of the diagnosis of Cancer as I did not really see any point in doing so. Do you think I should advise them of it?
I did advise DWP as I am also in receipt of ESA Contribution based but they said that it does not affect my claim the change as I am given this benefit based upon 24 years of NI contributions.
Like you Lemongrove I have worked damned hard since leaving school at 16 and only had a three year break to bring up my lovely son before returning to full time work so I feel NO guilt whatsoever now but did initially as I was brought up that you worked hard for your living but I now realise without a shadow of a doubt that I AM entitled to what I am getting out.
Love
Tracy xxx
Well said Miniminx. Like you I also get contribution based ESA, and no doubt some would say I shouldn’t get that either, but i have worked da*n hard, and don’t feel I should feel guilty. the other thing, given that i have never claimed benefits before, and probably won’t get a pension. Also I failed to mention, I think one of the reasons my doctor wanted me to have the mobility element of DLA, is that I have also fractured two vertabrae, and get quite a bit of gip from that.
hi all
When I originally applied for DLA I did so because despite working full time for 38 years I was denied any benefits.Because I had not been working for a year caring for my mother I did not have sufficient contributions in that year to claim incapacity benefits.I had been DX with secondaries and asked CAB to help me fill out the form.I did not understand the 6 month rule,and apparently nor did they,and was granted the care componant at lower rate.This was around £17 a week and my only income, so I appealled as at the time i was having taxol chemo and could not get out of bed let along walk distances.I filled out the form myself and asked them to write to my onc.I wrote what seemed like reems pointing out how difficult daily life was and the likely progression of the disease,along with the fact I did not feel safe on my own.I was then granted both components at higher rate.
Without my mobility car my quality of life would not have been the same.I could not get in and out of the car we had previously,could not travel any long distances because it was uncomfortable and had no independance. I can now shop,although I still cannot do food shopping alone as I cannot push the trolley or lift it into the car.I can go to hospital appointments without having to ask other people to drive me, and I can get further than just a few hundred yards form home.I in no way feel guilty to have this or my blue badge. I worked all my life and never claimed benefits.
This week my pension went up by £2 so my husband will lose £2 from his incapacity payment.He also worked for 40 years prior to his heart surgery.Moans over!!
I love my car and am now off for a spin up town to the library,nice to know I can park right outside on the double yellow.
There has to be some payback for having this damn awful disease.
Hi Lucinda, I was interested to read your post as pretty much the same thing happened to me. I had worked for 25 years, then I had to move back to Scotland from London to take care of my dad who was starting to suffer from dementia. I didn’t get any carers benefit until a few weeks before my dad went into care because the local Jobcentre Plus messed everything up and told me I had to apply for JSA. I argued against this as I couldn’t look for work on account of my dad’s health. The messing about left me with a gap in NI of a few months. I then worked for a while as a temp after my dad went into care,when that ended I was signing on for NI only and no JSA as I didn’t have 2 years unbroken contributions.
When I was diagnosed my advisor at the Jobcentre told me to get a medical certificate then apply for DLA. I did this, but when the DWP contacted my surgery a less than helpful GP who I didn’t know told them in his opinion I wasn’t sick enough to warrant getting it. When I tried to appeal someone from a DWP call centre told me “breast cancer is no excuse for trying to access the benefits system”. (My GP surgery also sees a lot of drug addicts who are in receipt of DLA on account of their habits btw).
What really hacked me off about the whole thing was that my advisor at the Jobcentre was leaving work to go on Incapacity Benefit as her knees were giving out - she was only 35 and was grossly obese (every time I signed on she was eating chocolates and drinking coke at her desk!) and she was getting everything handed to her. To say I felt shabbily treated by the system is an understatement, especially as both of us had been higher rate taxpayers for about 10 years.
After living on saving for 8 months I contacted Macmillan and they helped us get £96 a week working tax credit as my OH had started a small business 6 weeks prior to me finding out I had BC. The DWP knew all this and didn’t give us any info!