Registered disabled?

Mama Caz

Holding a Blue Badge does not equate to being ' registered with a disability.' so be careful to understand 'the system'.

There are many factors as to 'help' your mother may or may not be entitled to such as her age, financial situation , existing benefits etc etc.

Seek out information , you might be pleasantly surprised .

www.scope.org.uk/support/disabled-people/becoming-disabled/overview

You will see that there is now no such thing as being ‘registered disabled’. Just don’t tick the box and carry on with the rest of the application.

And this helps but warns that the number of discounts is limited - charming
www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme/low-income

That's what I thought, Pogs, hence my question here

I already think she fulfils the basic criteria for the discount in question (income/percentage of income spent on energy/age, but don't want to miss any other things that might boost her chances of getting it.

Before posting, I did a quick Google search to try to try to find out exactly what 'registered disabled' means, but didn't find a definite answer. Looks like I will have to dig a bit deeper.

Out of interest I googled my supplier (EON) and they have no more discounts left for 2017/18. Why not check directly with your mums supplier before spending an6 more time filling in the form?

I know this is a bit late to tell you now but you need to apply in September if you can (useful for next year hopefully). If you get in touch at the beginning of September and they haven't started, keep trying.

The first tranche of the money each company has put aside goes to the core group. If your mum gets Pension Guarantee Credit she will be in this group and get it automatically. If not and you have to apply, as you are doing, put every diagnosis of any illness she has in. Some of them trigger the various companies 'yes' category.

Outside the core group the companies can (and do) use different criteria to decide who gets the discount and who doesn't.

You may know all this so my apologies but I have picked up things even social workers don't seem to know about from forums so tend to put more rather than less.

Just another thought. It is not transferable so if you are doing the good daughter bit and checking she is with the best provider you need to time any change to fit in - the summer really.

The energy company sent an email to my (late) dad only three weeks ago to make him aware of the scheme and saying there was still time to apply. They do point out that it is given on a first come first served basis, so I don't hold out too much hope for this winter now (and I don't even know if my mum will be considered yet as the account has literally only just gone into her name!), but I figure there is nothing to lose by trying.

Incidently, once I had decided how to answer the disabled question, the form only took minutes to fill out.

Thank you all for your input. It's very useful and informative, as always.

One of my bug bears is how badly designed so many forms are - eg still asking about being registered disabled when that hasn’t existed for years and years. I recently reapplied for my blue badge and the form and the very poor quality of the soft wear had me tearing my hair out.

Software

I think there was something in the papers years ago (way back, when that was how we got most of our news) about the forms that asked much older people if they were pregnant. I have had a couple, I think that were about disability, that still do that. The great thing is that when you do them on line they are set up to jump such questions and the reams you don't need to answer. Even putting in my mother's date of birth - 1920 - can cut the questions in half. I like the online forms generally - but I do have to agree about the blue badge form. I actually got an apology for an email filling that in triggered.

After I’d filled mine in I rang the council to complain. I was able the speak to the manager of the Blue Badge team who took down my comments - won’t hold my breath. But what she did tell me that certain B.B. holders could fill in a very short form just certifying that nothing had changed since the last application. She will now put me on that list for next time - I told her it was disgraceful that they didn’t let people know about that.

No such thing and has not been for decades. You decide if you consider yourself to have a disability or not.

When I got to the third and final page of the form, it said what type of documentation they might ask to see to back up different claims, and they mentioned things such as DLA and PIP. I think there was a third one too, but i can't remember what it was but it seems that I did right not to tick the 'yes' box.

Registering as disabled ended in 1995 with the introduction of the Disability Discrimation Act, now The Equality Act. As mentioned in an earlier post the definition of disability is decided by the person. I think disabled people had a card which could be used to prove disability. Many organisations used the card when necessary to give concessions such as reduction in fishing licences, or whatever the service being provided. Large employers had a legal responsibility to employ disabled people as at least 3per cent of their workforce. Public services employed more than that to "set an example".