The time has come for J to be recognised as an adult, in the eyes of his disability payments. As he is now 16, he has to move from Disability Living Allowance (referred to as DLA from now on), onto Personal Independence Payments ( referred to as PIP from now on).
We had a home visit by an assessor, who needed to see myself and J, to make a decision around whether he was capable of taking over his money, instead of me handling it on his behalf.
J was prompted by me to say "hello" to the assessor, and then proceeded to march in and out of the room, playing the Teletubbies intro theme tune on his iPad, burp with a lot of voracity, and say "pardon mummy!" in a very loud voice. He was just being himself!
The home visit did go well, and the assessor quickly recognised that J has no concept of money, it's value, or what DLA or PIP is all about - and she was not fazed by his lack of awareness or manners.
Soon after he turned 16, I received a letter from the PIP department, inviting me to begin his claim - as DLA has to stop at 16 (no exceptions). I telephoned the number at the head of the letter, and was greeted with a recorded voice, informing me that the number had now changed - the same thing happened when I called up about the assessor visit, three months prior! They are still sending out letters with an outdated phone number on - not something you would expect from such an official place.
Perhaps they have a bulk lot of these headed papers, and are using them up, before they begin using the correct ones?
The initial PIP claim (on the telephone) took around 25 minutes, and was pretty straightforward. Just ensure you have all the details of your child's GP, a specialist (if relevant), and your bank details (presuming that you, the parent/guardian, has been assessed as adequate in handling the child's payments) ready, so you are not fiddling around trying to find this information whilst on the call
There will be forms for me to fill out, on J's behalf, as well, and I was told these should arrive within two weeks.
I was informed that J's DLA would stop within 4 weeks of this phone call. However, I have since learnt that if your child has an 'indefinite' DLA award (there is no end date for you to have to re-apply and be reassessed for your DLA award money), this information is incorrect. There should be no stopping of any DLA on indefinite claims, until the PIP claim is sorted, and payment has been scheduled.
What did happen however was that J didn't (or rather my bank account didn't) receive his due payment of DLA. After chasing two phone numbers up about this matter, I was told that his DLA payment had been rescheduled for two weeks later, and the payment would be different - they are presuming that the PIP will be in place by then - however (!) the four week time period that is given for a new PIP claim, does not ever run to this time frame, and usually lasts a fair few more weeks, if not months - even if you submit all paperwork in good time, and have completed everything asked of, with no delay.
So we are in limbo at the moment. I'm waiting for the paperwork to arrive, and am anxious to get this sorted and in place. I have a little nagging worry that there will be more hiccups, telephone calls, chasing up answers, and maybe even a decision that J will not be awarded PIP (which is unlikely due the severity of his learning difficulties and need for adult supervision 24 hours a day, but it could happen).
I will hopefully have a positive update on here soon.
