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End of Motability concessionary period pending DLA appeal
Been informed today that Motability will no longer allow DLA appellants to keep their vehicles until their appeal is determined. This is because of the delays in the appeals system which makes it hard for Motability to financially manage if client loses case. This is clearly a side-effect caused by the clogging up of the system by ESA cases that should have been dealt with properly in the first place.
Hi Stevegale,
Yes, it is true Motability will now take cars away- one client gets his taken tomorrow. I wrote to the chief exec. of Tribunal service about this. No reply as such- I had hoped that if the case could be listed before end of October, Motabilty would consider delaying removal- however I have had a reply stating that the case has been referred to the Judge for his urgent consideration. This is becoming quite a common problem with our office, and with cases taking up to a year or more to be listed it will affect many more of our clients. We have many DLA clients appealing refused renewals who rely on their Motability car - we live in a very rural area- many of them do not have the income to buy another vehicle, and the non-existence of public transport isolates them further. Hopefully if we all complain enough, something might get done?
Lid26
Back to flamin square one.
I seem to remember that pre the sensible ‘keep the care whilst appeal on-going’ times’ Motability would allow claimant’s/families to continue to keep the vehicle while the appeal was heard IF they (clients) kept the payments up.
Am I right in this or just having a late Friday ‘false memory’ episode, while dreaming of a cold cold beer?
Funny how the reality of the grind-you-down world of disability benefits contrasts with the fantasy world highlighted in a a certain ‘newspaper’ this week.
Looks like someone’s been thinking about that Dan!
Motability have announced some changes in response to (presumably) the Mail article:
Buried away in that statement is the following:
* we will now only accept nominated drivers who live within 5 miles of the customer in order to minimise the risk of the car being used other than for the benefit of the disabled person
Helen from Every Disabled Child Matters reports that she has spoken to Motability about their concerns over this policy affecting disabled children badly, for example, children living in residential school more than 5 miles from their parents, where parents have separated and live more than 5 miles apart, and where other relatives who play a significant caring role, such as grandparents, live more than 5 miles away.
If we hear more, I’ll let you know.