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A Massive good luck from me to this very hard done to family xx
Landmark DLA takeaway case heard at Supreme Court this week
A family from Warrington will challenge the government rule that removed their hospitalised son's Disability Living Allowance (DLA) at the Supreme Court this Thursday 26 March.
Continue reading to find out more about our Stop the DLA Takeaway campaign and how you can show your support by signing our petition.
Landmark case
The landmark case is the culmination of over four years' tireless campaigning by the Mathieson family to overturn the unfair and financially devastating regulation that suspends DLA after a child's first 84 days in hospital.
If successful, the case could help hundreds of the UK's most severely disabled and sick children and their families who are being denied vital financial assistance at a time when they need it most.
Unfair rule must be scrapped
The government justifies stopping DLA when a child spends a long time in hospital by arguing that a patient's needs are fully met free of charge by the NHS. However, research we carried out with the Children's Trust [PDF]shows that without a parents' input, a child's needs are not fully met in hospital.
We estimate that there are 500 families affected each year by this rule. Most of them are severely disabled children who need round the clock care that even the best equipped hospital can't provide. Most parents in this situation are providing the same or more care and their costs increase.
Mathieson family's tireless fight
Cameron Mathieson spent more than two years in hospital with cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. His family argues that they acted as full time carers until the five-year-old's death, in October 2012.
They decided to continue their legal challenge in their son's name so that no other family with a disabled child who spends long periods in hospital has essential financial support taken away from them.
Craig Mathieson, Cameron's father, said: "While Cameron was in hospital my wife and I remained his primary caregivers and one of us stayed by his bedside at every waking moment, caring for him, nursing him, giving him medicines, keeping him happy and bringing his brothers and sister to see him and play with him.
"We provided far more than the nurses on such a busy ward could have done in their hourly checks. Yet after 84 days his Disability Living Allowance was suspended, along with Carer's Allowance and our national insurance contributions, heaping unbearable financial and emotional pressure on us as a family."
Show your support - take action today!
Our Stop the DLA Takeaway campaign calls for the rules which stop DLA payments to children when they have been in hospital for over 84 days to be scrapped.
Take action and sign our petition to show your support for the Mathieson's this Thursday and to keep up to date with all of Contact a Family's campaigning work.
http://www.cafamily.org.uk/news-and-...urt-this-week/
Landmark DLA takeaway case heard at Supreme Court this week
A family from Warrington will challenge the government rule that removed their hospitalised son's Disability Living Allowance (DLA) at the Supreme Court this Thursday 26 March.
Continue reading to find out more about our Stop the DLA Takeaway campaign and how you can show your support by signing our petition.
Landmark case
The landmark case is the culmination of over four years' tireless campaigning by the Mathieson family to overturn the unfair and financially devastating regulation that suspends DLA after a child's first 84 days in hospital.
If successful, the case could help hundreds of the UK's most severely disabled and sick children and their families who are being denied vital financial assistance at a time when they need it most.
Unfair rule must be scrapped
The government justifies stopping DLA when a child spends a long time in hospital by arguing that a patient's needs are fully met free of charge by the NHS. However, research we carried out with the Children's Trust [PDF]shows that without a parents' input, a child's needs are not fully met in hospital.
We estimate that there are 500 families affected each year by this rule. Most of them are severely disabled children who need round the clock care that even the best equipped hospital can't provide. Most parents in this situation are providing the same or more care and their costs increase.
Mathieson family's tireless fight
Cameron Mathieson spent more than two years in hospital with cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. His family argues that they acted as full time carers until the five-year-old's death, in October 2012.
They decided to continue their legal challenge in their son's name so that no other family with a disabled child who spends long periods in hospital has essential financial support taken away from them.
Craig Mathieson, Cameron's father, said: "While Cameron was in hospital my wife and I remained his primary caregivers and one of us stayed by his bedside at every waking moment, caring for him, nursing him, giving him medicines, keeping him happy and bringing his brothers and sister to see him and play with him.
"We provided far more than the nurses on such a busy ward could have done in their hourly checks. Yet after 84 days his Disability Living Allowance was suspended, along with Carer's Allowance and our national insurance contributions, heaping unbearable financial and emotional pressure on us as a family."
Show your support - take action today!
Our Stop the DLA Takeaway campaign calls for the rules which stop DLA payments to children when they have been in hospital for over 84 days to be scrapped.
Take action and sign our petition to show your support for the Mathieson's this Thursday and to keep up to date with all of Contact a Family's campaigning work.
http://www.cafamily.org.uk/news-and-...urt-this-week/
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