Got to pick a pocket or two......

I’ve gone all Dickensian with possible pneumonia!  I know it’s not unheard of in this day and age as a friend of mine who also has a son with ASD had it a few years ago, it ended in Pleurisy – not heard that one for a while! I’m really not after reams of “get well soon” or “poor you” we all get sick this time of year.  The dog is constantly with me being all concerned, not sure if it’s more about the possibility of his next meal being at risk or my wellbeing but at least he’s trying.

I guess we all go a bit Dickensian this time of year, thinking of Christmas, good will to all men and all the poor and lonely.  I know the DWP do as I’ve just received my sons Personal Independent Payment forms and have to return them by 28^th December so that they don’t stop paying him. Merry Christmas!   I’ve also recently completed their fitness for work forms for his Employment Support Allowance and am awaiting a decision as to whether he’ll have to attend an assessment. (oh and btw DWP your envelopes are not fit for work as I couldn't fit all the evidence in, see photo below)  He’ll probably have to have an assessment for his Personal Independent Payments too.  Then there’s the Local Authority and I’m still awaiting a draft amended Education and Health Care Plan from last June from them to see if additional funding for him will be available for the rest of this educational year and next.  I’ve made enquiries about an independent Educational Psychology assessment for this as it is likely that the LA will try and cease the EHC plan saying now he’s 19 there is no longer an educational requirement for one.

A couple of months ago the DWP stopped my sons ESA payments saying that they had not received his latest doctors certificate, which I knew I had sent.  They tried to tell me they hadn’t received it and that we’d have to make a new application (which can take weeks). I refused. They looked into it and finally admitted that they had received it but it had been deleted off of their system in error.  The payments were reinstated and back dated. 

The same week the Local Authority then tried to tell me that they had sent a final amended EHC plan back in June.  When I told them that they hadn’t as I had not received a draft, sent back my amendments or accepted a final plan they rang back and told me it was an error and that they were looking at last year’s records.

Cock up or conspiracy? Hmmm you can make your own judgment on that but here’s the reality; My son needs financial support, he’s unable to get a Saturday or part time work, as his peers do, because no one will employ him and its very likely that without the right support he would struggle even if they did.  We have to prove that to the DWP.  Thank God I’m here to help him, if he was on his own he would have been left without payment a few months ago.  No food, no money for travel to college and where the hell would he live?  Without support in his college placement he would not be able to cope with the academic part of the course or keep up with the Maths and English that the government insists be part of his course, in short he would fail.

So the new year brings a possible onslaught of 3 lots of  assessments where he’ll have to talk about his difficulties, what he can’t do, what he needs help with and why he can’t function like the rest of us.  I do not know what the impact on his self esteem will be but I know I’ll have to be with him all the way riding the waves of hopelessness that he’ll feel.

Yes I want him to be financially independent, so does he, yes I want him to make it to Uni to study Bass guitar, so does he and yes I would like to see him living by himself and looking after himself, so does he.  But he can’t do it without support.  He has a diagnosis of Autism, for that there is no cure.  He will always need support. 

Oh and incidentally I’ve just had a call from my partner saying that we have to pay for my sons prescriptions now.  How would he do that if he had no money??

I do not want to fiddle the system, get whatever I can or bleed it dry for all eternity.  So DWP I hope the ghost of Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future come to visit, most of all Christmas future.  We are not Dickensian.  People have died, people are dying and people will die whilst waiting for your decisions and being on the receiving end of your cock ups. 

So if you’ve got to pick a pocket or two choose someone whose pockets are full.  Oh and stop bloody consulting with us, you know how it is, now do something about it.  I’m tired of talking.  In fact I’m just bloody tired. 

Cough!