Is house maintenance relevant to DLA?

Nervy wrote:

DLA isn't there to pay for house-maintenance, on the other hand, your failure to be able to cope with looking after the place might be useful supportive evidence if you were going to show that you were at risk of self-neglect. I think that you would need to explain why you were mentioning it in relation to a specific question.

I think it may relate to Question 46 on the claim form about neglect: last winter our boiler broke down and we put up with the cold. The cooker i think maybe leaking gas, my dad opens the window after its been on.

I think it also relates to motivation - to ring up for a boiler repairer, talking to house maintenance professionals and choosing one at a decent price, looking through the yellow page or searching on the internet all takes time and effort something i've never had to take responsibilty for and i have difficulty learning about this - thus learning difficulties.

My concern is i'm just thinking if the house maintenance is neglected then they think its my dad who has mental health problems and then think see a reason why i lack motivation is because they think of me being like a carer?

Is it possible to be a carer and claim DLA at the same time?

Infact could you claim Carers Allowance and DLA at the same time?

You can be a carer as well as claiming DLA, although only if what you do as a carer is consistent with what help you need yourself. The most obvious example of this would be if one person had mobility problems and the other person had mental health problems. The person with mobility problems could provide the motivation and organisation and the person with mental health problems could provide physical assistance.

However, I'm afraid I can't give specific advice on your individual case, only general advice.

Nervy, how old is dad? If he is over retirement age, maybe you could phone your council and ask for the number of your county's "staying put" or "anchor" agency. In Wales they are called "Care and Repair". They exist to help older people to remain in their own homes, including finding funding and contractors to deal with maintenance issues. The gas one sounds serious, please don't neglect it? Would hate to open the newspaper to find your home had been blown into the hereafter by a leak...

dad is well past retirement age, he's 78

I suppose my caring abilities have been limited because of my mental health problems. How is caring for 35 hours a weeks defined? Is calling up and choosing plumber a form of caring?

There is a huge range of what constitutes care, including simply keeping an eye on somebody because they have become frail, some people aged 78 can look after themselves quite well and others can't. Why not phone the CAB or Mind, and get some advice which is specific to you and your situation? Mental health problems can make it very hard to wade through all the paperwork yourself.