Getting worse??

[Washy]

I am on Incapacity Benefit from the UK - no problems, everything set up and handled very efficiently by Newcastle 3 years ago. E121 and husband covered etc. but what happens if my conditions gets worse?  Can I apply to UK or France for something like disability living allowance? Should I need a wheelchair or other aids in the future can I apply for any assistance with paying for these?  Do I contact Newcastle or CPAM?  I am worrying in advance, but any information would be useful. 

Thanks

Washy

[Ron Avery]

If you are not over 60 I would worry more about having to go back to the UK to register for work if I were you.  If the proposed reform of incapacity benefit and disability allowances announced in the Queens Speech goes through, (2 million people are now receiving it in the UK) you may have to make yourself available to work in the UK in order to keep your incapacity benefit and that includes doing any suitable work that may be offered. 

Although these reforms are aimed at the few who are shirking and adding to their dole by claiming disability allowances with the help of a friendly or threatened GP, it will also affect a lot of people who are currently receiving this allowance who perhaps could do some sort of work, but not necessarily the sort of work that they may have done in the past. 

[Val_2]

Yes, you may remember my recent posting about the SIL of our english retired friends here who is dying from Motor Neurone disease. He can hardly breath without having to use oxygen every so often,is confined to a wheelchair and dosn't have full hand power and he has to work a full week or else his incapacity benefit will be stopped. With the cost of taxis to get to and from this place of work which I believe just involves watching TV screens and a bit of writing he comes out at th end of the month about 20p better off. Its dam disgusting people are treated like this when so-called asylum seekers get everything handed to them on plate never having paid a penny into the system.

[Viv]

I couldn't agree more Val, though no doubt a few will complain because you've dared to use the 'asylum' word. But I'm sure the UK government could save a fair bit sorting out dubious claims by people who have put nothing into the system eg that 'rent a child'  racket a few months ago where African kids were being passed around so that 'families' could claim benefits. But, then of course the people you mention have a fully traceable history and are therefore an easier target.

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Yes, you may remember my recent posting about the SIL of our english retired friends here who is dying from Motor Neurone disease. He can hardly breath without having to use oxygen every so often,is c...[/quote]

!He has to work a full week or else his incapacity benefit will be stopped"

Is this really true ? At the moment nobody on incapacity benefit has to work in order to receive their benefit.  If this is true then post the details,  town where he lives etc on here so that it can be highlighted on the local BBC news programme, they are always looking for such stories. But does he have to work?  Have you asked him if he actually likes going to work and doing something useful,  even if it is only watching TV screens?. 

Val,  you know that your comments on asylum seekers are below contempt.  Don't be a  Sun Reader and confuse asylum seekers with economic migrants, they are not the same thing. Perhaps you should ask yourself why you would travel thousands of miles to escape to another country, perhaps they were in fear of their lives? Aren't you proud to have lived in a country where people feel free from oppression and torture?  If you like I'll send you some photos of the torture done to some asylum seekers and the bodies of their beheaded relatives.

[opas]

But Ron, I thought that Asylum seekers were supposed to go to the nearest safe country, the Uk cannot be nearest to anywhere...can it? 

I think anyone who lived in a reasonable sized towm in the UK must know at least one long term sick person , who has perhaps worked out at the Gym 3 times per week or completely renovated their homes or even danced around the garden thinking noone could see them (all the while going shopping in a wheelchair) all the while laughing at the system.

Mrs O

[Viv]

[quote]!He has to work a full week or else his incapacity benefit will be stopped" Is this really true ? At the moment nobody on incapacity benefit has to work in order to receive their benefit. If this ...[/quote]

Edit quoted wrong bit again!

I do agree Ron that they are not the same thing, I don't think most people  begrudge the genuine although Mrs O made a very valid point - but it does appear as though many economic migrants enter as asylum seekers simply to take advantage of the huge range of social security benefits available in the UK.

I do believe that Incapacity Benefit should not be a lifestyle choice for those too lazy to work. But I can understand why the genuine claimants are very worried and this 'not knowing' cannot be doing much to help their health. 

[Val_2]

Maybe asylum seekers is the wrong word and scroungers the word I should use instead. I know there are genuine asylum seekers who face death or torture in their own countries but as the other poster says,why the UK or France? And as for losing the benefit,yes,that is correct from the info my friends have given me BUT their SIL does enjoy his job and it gets him out of the house,its just the way it was done when he had to be wheeled into the local Job Centre by his wife to find such work that was upsetting too.

[GRT17]

so is anyone able to give Washy some help with her situation in France?

 

Re. people with disabilities going to the gym.

 I have recently seen quite a few at our local sports centre. One young chap with Motor Neurone disease being helped to use what muscles he can in order to keep some level of fitness. Several permanent, wheelchair users being helped, one of which was being lowered into the pool yesterday with a special hoist. Others who have suffered stroke and heart attacks are encouraged to use the centre. I think it's wonderful that they are helped and encouraged in this way and not just confined to the four walls of home.

 

Gill

[Viv]

I know for certain that you cannot get DLA if you are not in the UK.

I would advise Washy to have a look at the site which I will post here when I find it and try and determine for herself what she may be able to claim (and whether she is eligible being in France) from the UK first.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/

What , if anything, she can claim in France - will have to be answered by some one else!

[Teamedup]

I would contact the COTOREP and see what they said, and the CAF and my GP.

[opas]

GRT17, sorry perhaps I didn`t make my comment clear enough, I didn`t mean the sort of people you meant....I know that exercise is good for everybody, the ones I meant were the people who I used t meet there....bofore or after I had been to work and they would make comments about how they had got in free/reduced rates `cos they had spun the quack a line ,they no more had a bad back than I am a member of MENSA.

I have a friend in the UK who is wheelchair bound and had to fight tooth and nail for anything he needed for him and his young family ,then you listen to others who will boast quite freely what they have managed to squeeze out of the system and almost enjoy a life of luxury.

As TU said , try the offical bodies in UK or in France, It is the only way to get a streight answer.

Rant over.

Mrs O

[Benjamin]

Washy

It is only natural to plan ahead when you have an illness or disability which is progressive so I will relate our recent experiences which I hope will address some of your worries.

We approached COTOREP in January of this year for a disabled parking badge. They wanted evidence of my wife's disability in the form of her medical dossier. As we had only just come to France we explained that we did not have this and the disability had originally been diagnosed 27 years before so the chances of getting hold of any records were pretty slim. No problem they said, she can see one of our doctors. The disability was duly confirmed and they told us a decision would be made in about four months.

Bit of a long time for a parking badge we thought but we're new here and we don't really know the systems. Some five and a half months later and the parking badge arrived in the post one morning together with............... a CARTE D'INVALIDITE! So whereas in UK you can obtain just a parking badge, in France the system is much stricter but goes quite a lot further in confirming your illness or disability.

So far we have discovered that the invalidity card gets you a free TV licence and also an extra half part towards your income tax allowances so therefore our house with just the two of us here gets two and a half parts of income tax allowance without the hassle of having kids!. There may be other benefits (?) in having this card.

Also in January (busy month) we asked the chemist about a wheelchair for my wife. He arranged for the representative from the wheelchair supplier to visit and from several models one was chosen to best suit my wife's needs. We made an appointment with our doctor who issued a prescription for the chair which was supplied within one week. The representative submitted the prescription together with a copy of my wife's provisional CV on our behalf to CPAM and the cost was met in full. What the situation would have been had my wife have needed a very expensive or electric model we don't know. Which takes me on to E121's.

When my wife submitted her E121 to the local CPAM office she was required to give a written declaration that she would not claim any pension from the French state. Pension was the word used but on reflection this could have been used to include benefits also. Apart from that no other problems and the Carte Vitale took about a month to arrive.

I seem to think that I have seen some mention of something similar to DLA in France but I cannot remember where. From memory it is means tested and the income threshold is pretty low so you would have to be in dire straits financially to get it.

We previously lived in Spain and in 2004 I wrote to Newcastle regarding Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance. The letter was redirected to DWP in Blackpool who said that to claim Attendance Allowance you have to be over age 65 and my wife could not receive Disability Living Allowance whilst living abroad. By letter in August 2004 I challenged this by quoting EEC Council Regulations 1408/71 which appears to state that for the purpose of claiming social security benefits where residence is a qualification, residence in any other Member State counts as residence in the original Member State.

By August 2005, having received no reply, I wrote again with a copy of my original letter. To date I still have not had a reply.

This has seemed like writing War and Peace all over again but I hope our experiences help in your forward planning.

 

Benjamin

 

[GRT17]

[quote]GRT17, sorry perhaps I didn`t make my comment clear enough, I didn`t mean the sort of people you meant....I know that exercise is good for everybody, the ones I meant were the people who I used t meet...[/quote]

Mrs O

I understood your posting and I agree that of course there will be people who will scrounge wherever one lives be it France, U.K. or any other country.

I just wanted to make the point that there are a lot of disabled people who now make good use of facilites such as sports centres. I could be wrong but have the impression that this is a more recent trend that would probably not have been available to them say five years ago.

Gill

U.K. and 17

[Tony F Dordogne]

Hi Benjamin

Whilst it may be possible to qualify for DLA on a residency basis, to get the benefit whilst living abroad you have to have been first awarded it (I seem to recall) in 1992.

I have recently given up my DLA on those grounds, I qualified on residency in France but not on the other rules - fell short by about 6 months!

 

[Washy]

Benjamin,  thanks for such a detailed, on-topic reply.  As I said I am only trying to make future plans, especially since my husband is not a fluent french speaker.  Sorry for the delay in replying but I do not seem to be getting alerts for postings. Since I am receiving IB from the UK I am still using my european blue disability badge, on the very fwe occasions I need it.