Articles
Welfare Benefits
- Details
- Category: Information Booklets
- Published on Tuesday, 13 May 2008 22:30
- Hits: 76720
If having read this you think you qualify for DLA, please do the following:
- Keep a diary.
- Contact your local Department for Works and Pension (formerly Benefits Agency) and ask for a claim pack.
- Study the pack carefully, take measurements and make notes on a separate piece of paper.
- Write down everything you suffer from e.g. Irritable Bowel, Raynaud’s Disease. Do not assume that the adjudication officer or even the doctor knows that they can be part of the fibromyalgia syndrome.
- Go to or contact your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Welfare Rights office or disability agency such as DIAL and get help filling in the forms. This is essential.
- Keep a copy.
- If you are not successful you should ask for a review and failing that you can go to appeal. You have only one month in which to appeal.
- Get help from the CAB or Welfare Rights for a review or appeal. Ask if someone from one of these organisations can represent you – if they can you have a considerably higher chance of winning your appeal (probably 30% higher). Please note it is now necessary to ask for an oral hearing if you wish to attend the hearing yourself.
- If your appeal fails:
- a) You can apply again after 1 month. Prior to this they will look at your previous form.
- b) You will be told that you can appeal to the Commissioners. N.B. This can only be done on a point of law, not on the basis that you do not agree with the decision.
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- National Helpline 0300 999 3333 (10am - 4pm Mon - Fri)
- Benefits Helpline 0300 999 0055 (10am - 12pm Mon, Wed and Fri)
- Complimentary information booklets for doctors and other professionals (fully referenced)
- Books and videos
- Website Contacts with legal specialists
- Conferences
- Local support group and helpline contacts
If your Health Care Professional needs some education in fibromyalgia you can request that an FMA UK Health Professionals Pack is sent out to them. All we need is the name of the Health CareProfessional and the address of their practice. We will then send a pack to their surgery addressed from us to them.
You can request a medical pack using this form.
You can find a Support Group near you by contacting the Regional Coordinator for your area. If there does not happen to be a support group near you then maybe you can join with some other members and set one up. Support groups provide a social benefit as well as the opportunity to share tips on coping with fibro. They come in all shapes and sizes and we are often told how they have helped people.
