DLA mobility supersession for pensioners

I have a client who is 76 years old
He is blind from birth, and is in receipt of lo mob and middle care DLA

The law changed in April 2011 to uprate the DLA mobility component from low rate to high for people whose visual acuity dropped below a certain level. This client is completely blind and meets criteria

I know that people over 65 who make a new claim for disability cant have mobility, as AA doesnt allow for it, but are the DWP correct in saying they cant supersede the decision to award hi mob to my client as the change of law occurred after his 65th birthday? They refuse to award on that basis.

I dont want to appeal this if it turns out im wasting my clients time, but im sure ive had a client who was awarded hi mob after their 65th birthday following a DLA supersession. Or mebbe i dreamt it!

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks In advance

What age was your client when they started to meet the conditions for HRMob? There could be an argument that if they met the conditions for HRMob before they reached 65 then a supersession for HRMob can be requested but if they only started to meet the conditions for HRM after age 65 I don’t think there is anything you can do but happy to be proved wrong 😊

benefitsadviser - 19 May 2016 02:38 PM

You won’t have dreamt it.

It is possible for supersession to award DLA HRM for the first time after a claimant has turned 65 so long as it can be shown that they in fact met the qualifying conditions before they turned 65.

Your client’s situation is different - although he has always had the same level of visual impairment, the law that allowed a person with that level of impairment to qualify for HRM didn’t change until after he was 65. So he cannot show that he met the conditions when he was 65.

Of course, the fact that a person who was in every other respect identical to your client - but with a birthday in May 2011 - could now qualify for HRM would be unfair.

I would have thought there would have already been some discrimination challenge on this, but I cannot recall one….

Thanks folks

At least i know i didnt dream it!

Very unfair, but as welfare benefit advisers we know thats how they roll

I don’t know - you might be on to something…..