My son had a lifetime award of DLA taken away.

smf412

My son was given a lifetime award of DLA at 16 bc it was clear then he wd have difficulty getting or maintaining a job. He is 32 now and bc we are lucky enough to be able to afford it, he now lives independently in a flat. His DLA was taken away and when I said to someone at the benefits office that he had a lifetime award, I was told it was the lifetime of the benefit not the person! When we applied for PIP and went for the assessment (keeping in mind I’d discussed with him all the answers I gave and why) he contradicted practically everything I said so wee got nothing. I cdnt follow it up bc I have my own health issues and he can’t do it so he now receives nothing other than what we give him every month. I have tried to talk to him about applying for either PIP or ESA but he actively avoids the entire subject. I’m at a loss what to do but now we have a situation where he is having to pay full council tax (or rather WE are) bc he wd only be entitled to a reduction if he was on benefits. It’s a vicious circle and I’m utterly exhausted. I’ve tried the CAB and they didn’t have any answers so any advice wd be welcome.

poppy123456

Does he work at all? Is he claiming Universal Credit?

For PIP, even those transferring from DLA are not automatically entitled to it. Whether there's any entitlement will depend on how his conditions affect him. It's not about your ability to work (neither was DLA)

If the decision on his PIP was made less than 13 months ago he's still within the timescale to request the Mandatory Reconsideration. He will need to give a reason why he didn't request it within the first month.

If he's outside of those 13 months then he's out of time to challenge that decision and he will need to reapply. He can get some expert advice from an agency near him, which I would advise him to do. Reapplying using the same evidence he previously used could see another refusal.

Albus_Scope

Hey @smf412 and it's a warm welcome from me too.

I can see our regulars have already given some top advice, but I just wanted to pop in and say a quick hi. I'm hoping this can all get sorted out for your son quickly. 😊