Changes to the Disability Living Allowance

From 11/4/2011 the law is changing to allow Severely Visually Impaired People to be awarded the Higher Rate of the Mobility Component.

To qualify for higher rate mobility component you must be certified as severely visually impaired and either:

have a visual acuity of less than 3/60. (This means you can only read the top line of an eye test chart from 3 metres away); or if your visual acuity is more than 3/60, but less than 6/60 (this means that you can only read the top line of the eye test chart from 6 metres away) you must also have a complete loss of your peripheral vision and severely restricted central vision (this means no more than 10 degrees in diameter), sometimes called tunnel vision.
If your sight is too poor to be measured in this way, for example you can only 'count fingers', or you only have light and dark perception, you will qualify. If your visual acuity is better than 6/60 you will not qualify, for example if your acuity is 6/36 or 6/18.

You can only claim if you are between the ages of 3years and under 65. You can not qualify if you are 65 or over on 11/4/2011

The DLA unit will call you if you currently receive DLA and will then send out a short claim form which must be completed and returned with a copy of your Certificate of Vision Impairment.

This exercise will commence from 15/11/2010 and will continue until March 2011.

You do not need to contact DLA unit....they will call you.

Incapacity Benefit

Those people who currently receive Incapacity Benefit (IB) will be transferred to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). This exercise will begin from February 2011 and may take until 2014 to complete.

The medical test for ESA is a lot harder so please take advice when completing the enquiry form!

If you have any questions about the above or need help to complete any form please call Ruth on 01872 266711.