HUNDREDS of Barnsley teenagers with complex needs have been stripped of their disability benefits after their 16th birthday despite being in receipt of vital payments throughout their childhood, shocking new statistics obtained by the Chronicle have revealed.
New Department of Work and Pensions figures reveal about 600 young adults - who had received child disability living allowance (DLA) before attempting to move onto the personal independence payment (PIP) structure - were rejected.
The DLA rate, which depends on the level of help the child needs, is between £28.70 and £184.30 a week - the same rate as PIP.
A total of 2,123 had attempted to move onto the points-based PIP but only 1,554 were allowed to transition.
Disability charities including Scope have blasted PIP assessors for displaying a lack of knowledge about would-be claimants’ complex conditions and subsequent needs.
They revealed that one person who was rejected was an epileptic young woman who had her claim thrown out because she had been seizure-free for several weeks, despite the unpredictable nature of the condition meaning she cannot work and has to be constantly supervised.
James Taylor, from Scope, said: “It is worrying that such a big number of young disabled people are losing out on financial support as they reach adulthood.
“The new government needs to look at the real reasons behind these figures and work with disabled people to fix our broken welfare system.
“In every local authority area since 2013, teenagers have had PIP claims rejected, despite being eligible for support in childhood.
“Life costs a lot more when you’re disabled and benefits are an absolute lifeline to help cover those extra costs.
“We know disabled households face hundreds of pounds in extra costs every month.
“The costs range from things such as equipment, extra support at home and getting out and about, to needing taxis because public transport isn’t suitable.
“Our benefits system is incredibly complex, adversarial and difficult to navigate, so we know the transition to PIP can be challenging and stressful.”
Around 560 successful young claimants in Barnsley saw their benefit award rates increase or stay the same after moving to PIP - but hundreds had their awards withdrawn.
Disabled rights group Fightback4Justice founder Michelle Cardno urged the government to follow Scotland’s example and raise the transition age from 16 to 18.
“Some claimants do end up getting more under PIP’s different criteria than they did under DLA, but there are many not getting it at all,” she said.
“A lot of young people are not getting PIP because they are expected to be able to manage - there are a lot of assumptions that a child of 16 should be able to manage a condition like diabetes, for example.
“Young people are treated as adults from the day they reach 16 but it should be transitional - steps should be taken and it shouldn’t be as simple as ‘the form hasn’t been returned on time, so no PIP’.
“We had a client with half a heart who received the high rate of DLA all of her life, but on the transition to PIP was refused completely and awarded no points at all because she had a little job.
“She was waiting for a heart transplant, her condition is significant and she will never improve but because she tried to have a little bit of a life - with significant help from those around her - she didn’t get PIP.
“A lot of this happens over the phone and it has never been a transparent process.
“Losing the benefit can have a huge impact - if you are a parent who is a carer you still have to be around to look after your child, but the DLA stops, the Carers’ Allowance is stopped and there’s a backlash on everything else, including Universal Credit.
“These parents can’t go back to work as they still have that child to look after, but they’ve lost their allowance and the mental health of everyone involved is damaged.
“Everything goes in one fell swoop and it is devastating for families who are losing benefits, who cannot then pay their rent or get their child to hospital because their car has been taken back.
“Then there’s the stress of appealing, which can take a year to get to, with no money in the meantime.”
