this question please. I have applied for my blue badge renewal, they have sent me a letter to say i need to get in touch with WORKS & PENSIONS!!! my payment says indefinitely they say they need to know the end date. I said indefinitely means to me to be just that ( when i pop my clogs) .
Does anyone on A4A know what this means exactly, has anyone else had this happen please. I have never had this before in the 10years i have had my blue badge. Puzzled really
My wife is also a blue badge holder with an 'indefinite' date, however i think the current gov's' have a go at the easy target' means everyone will be reassesed so they do not fester (their words not mine, direct quote) on lifelong benefit
As someone who gave up a well paid job to care for my wife, I find the current cutbacks biting hard.
Thank god for the allotment as it is my escape for an hour or two.
Hope that helps
regards Ian
Edit, found the news item http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18054734
Thank you Ian, maybe that is what it is.
I am going to phone them tomorrow & ask , i have to ask them to fax my details.
I can only walk 50yds & that is with pain. There are times when it all gets to much i understand how you feel.
They will not operate because of complications with other health issues, there are days when i could beg them both knees are so V, V painfull.
All the best to you & your wife.
Regards Rosebud.
BUMP
Hello Buds :-* Pleased I saw this before I went to bed and a quick reply. As Ian said, reinforced by the newslink he gave, you're up for re-assessment, so bite the bullet, do what you intend to do, it's gotta be done :-\
Any consolation = my great friend who was born with a deforming disability which affected her growth and the strength of her bones and who was in a wheelchair from the age when she could fit into one, had EXACTLY the same letter as yourself early last year and an appointment was made for her to attend her 'assessment' interview.She died before she could attend - she was 46......
The year previously, btw, she had to attend an interview to assess if her circumstances had 'changed'? Adding gross insult to gross injury her assessor (remember my friend was not only a small person but also had frog-shaped splayed legs = hence the wheelchair and adapted car so her disability was patently clear to see and patently would never change?)........was a BLIND lady :-X
Keep breathing Buds - lots of you in the same position as yourself, hard, so hard, for the genuine claimants.....
I expect they are checking up that you are still in the land of the living. There was a news item the other day that said that a large percentage of the blue badge holders have passed on but the badges were still being used.
I know this is such a problem for you, my daughter has a blue badge. But also I do think it is important to keep a check on things. I often see people with a blue badges parking in very inconvenient places then getting out of their cars and almost running up the road.
While quite a few people who really need them have had them refused.
Hi ACE & Digeroo, you are correct the major problem is the abuse of the blue badge byother people (friends/family members) using the badges when the holder is not present as an easy/cheap parking option. However will not be resolved by reassessment, remember that those who were given indefinite Disability living allowance awards have already gone through rigorous checks with hospital/ doctors reports which says their illness/disability is lifelong/life shortening , others will have already have had a time limit on their award for review.
Not wishing to hijack rosebuds thread or turn it political, its down to the Gov's welfare reform bill, looking to pick off easy targets to balance their books, unfortunately the elderly and disabled have got caught up in this. I gave up work 4 years ago to care for my wife and for 3 years had to use my savings to liveon (money put away for our retirement), now I am getting some benifits they are trying their best to cut those.
Two years ago we moved into an adapted 2 bed bungalow, no stairs, access ramps wet room etc on an estate of 15 houses for elderly/disabled, with next years reforms we will be classed as over occupying the property as we are only a couple and do not need 2 bedrooms (the entire footprint of the house is 20.5ft x 32Ft). We are the only house affected because the rest of our neighbours are over retirement age (and mostly living on their own)
http://newsandstar.co.uk/news/news-focus/government-s-welfare-reform-bill-is-kicking-us-while-we-are-down-1.922706#
As I said before the allotment has become my escape for a couple of hours each day, lets hope we can stay and enjoy it
.
Sorry for the rant and for hijacking rosebuds thread.
Regards Ian
Rant away. Can you get a divorce? ;D Then you will need separate bedrooms. Seems the rent is very high for such a small premises. Landlords are making a profit charging a two bedroomed housing allowance rent for such a small house.
I know how things are they withdrew my daughters allowances because she did not attend a job interview. She cannot walk or talk and cannot feed herself and needs 24 hour care, what sort of job was she supposed to be able to do? In the end I agreed to take her to Tesco, but the father of one of her school mates spotted the 'mistake.'
It must be costing quite a lot to do all the reassessments.
Why not simply say, "31st December 9999"?
UPDATE
After 4 phone calls this morning i was eventually told there was a mistake Mmmm!!!! they asked me to ring pensions again & ask them about a letter they sent me 12years ago stating my money was indefinite, the lady laughed at me.
Then another phone call this went on for just short of an hour with the times they put me on hold. I got very cross & said i was going to put the phone down because they kept repeating the same thing & getting knowhere, i said i would ring my MP to see what he thought the word indefinitely meant. They promised to ring me back & did to say all i need is an up to date letter to say my entitlement & it would suffice for years to come. Thank goodness somebody saw sense.
Later on i got another call to say how sorry they were telling me the government changed the way people get blue badges now. On the 1st April, to stop the abuse of badges which i told them i fully understood & thanked them for their call.
PHEW!!!!!glad that saga is over. ;D ;D