 |
 |
Very interesting and useful Chris. I'm considering writing to the carers of all of my patients with dementia, most of whom look as though they would qualify without difficulty for the council tax discount. The DWP defnition requiring 'Arrested development or incomplete physical development' must take place before the brain is fully developed, which will be before the age of 30 (R(DLA)2/96) is plainly age discriminatory, though whether legally so is another matter. If there is no equivalent benefit entitlement to those with late onset severe mental impairment it seems to my non-legally qualified mind plainly ageist. After all the needs and impact upon the carer can be as severe. Is anyone aware of an alternative route to claiming higher rate mobility allowance for older people with severe mental impairment, for example the wandering, no awareness of danger, need constant supervision dementias? > -----Original Message----- > From: GP-UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris Salter > Sent: 27 March 2009 20:02 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Council Tax Discount - Severe Mental Impairment > > Hello Adrian and GP-UK, > > On Friday, March 27, 2009, at 9:51:41 AM, Adrian wrote: > > > 2009/3/25 Stephen Meech <[log in to unmask]> > > >> Ditto. > >> > >> They're not issued by the DWP (for which the regulations have > >> particular > >> provisons) so there is probably an entitlement to a fee. > >> > >> The other issue is that the definition of severe mental > impairment is > >> pretty vague. > >> > > > It is defined... vaguely. > > If it helps I have extracted a few relevant paragraphs from > the current edition of the Disability Rights Handbook into a > PDF and uploaded it to my web site. > > http://www........................./downloads/smi.pdf > > The first extract concerns exemption from council tax benefit > and doesn't really define "severe mental impairment". It is > just one of three conditions for exemption the other two > being medical certificate to that effect and being entitled > to one other benefit such as incapacity benefit. Baring in > mind that council tax is administered by local authorities I > assume the latter forms the only indirect involvement of the DWP. > > The second extract concerns the Mobility component of > Disability Living Allowance *but* offers a more detailed > definition of severe mental impairment including the following: > > An IQ of 55 or less is generally taken to be 'severe > impairment of intelligence'. But an IQ test is not the only > measure of impaired intelligence. Some people, such as those > with autism, may do well in abstract intelligence tests but > cannot apply their intelligence in a useful way in the real > world. For them, an IQ test can give a misleading impression > of useful intelligence. Therefore, if IQ is above 55 or there > is no IQ test, the decision maker must consider other > evidence, including evidence of impairment of social > functioning if that has an effect on useful intelligence. For > example, having no sense of danger may indicate a severe > impairment of intelligence (CDLA/3215/2001). > > End Quote > > Regards to All, > > Chris > > > > -- > Chris Salter mailto:[log in to unmask] Lincolnshire > Post-Polio Network http://www.lincolnshirepostpolio.org.uk/ > Polio and Post-Polio News > http://mt.lincolnshirepostpolio.org.uk/pandppnews/ > > ********************************************************************** This message may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies. Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform us that this message has gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation. NHSmail is used daily by over 100,000 staff in the NHS. Over a million messages are sent every day by the system. To find out why more and more NHS personnel are switching to this NHS Connecting for Health system please visit www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail **********************************************************************