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Welfare Benefits

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Category: Information Booklets

Published on Tuesday, 13 May 2008 22:30

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This article has been extracted from the free Information booklet that FMA UK provides. To have this information presented in a professional A5 booklet, as well as the other articles please request one from the office. The material in this booklet is from an older version of the booklet, please check the link above for current content.

The two main welfare benefits that people with fibromyalgia may be able claim are Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance.  Neither fibromyalgia or any other illness is an open door to any benefit. What matters is how the illness affects you. It may be that you suffer from another problem as well as fibromyalgia; this should not matter as any judgement should be based on the amount of help required.

What the illness is, may however, have a bearing on deciding for how long you should be awarded a benefit. In recent times it has become far more difficult to get DLA or for it to be accepted that you cannot work. You may know of people who do not seem to  be as disabled as you are, who have been awarded one of these benefits whilst you are struggling to get anything. This unfortunately is not uncommon.

DLA
There are two components to DLA – mobility and care. Even if you only fill in details for one component the other will be looked at also. Therefore it is advisable to fill in both parts. The mobility component has a low and high rate. You cannot apply for one rate in particular, as it is up to the Adjudication Officer to decide which, if any, you qualify for. If you re-apply for DLA (either components) you could lose what you already have.