Mother Faces Heat Or Eat Choice After Toddler’s DLA Cut

I have always hated authorities who think they know children better than their parents do.

The mother of a 20-month-old girl with a serious heart condition says she is being forced to choose between heating her home and eating after one of her financial lifelines was cut.

Cat Halliday, of Wood Street, Sheerness, has discovered she is no longer entitled to the £200-a-month disability living allowance (DLA) she was receiving to help towards daughter Tiffany’s care.

The youngster has three holes in her heart and suffers from feeding and weight problems, poor circulation and a lowered immune system.

She has a likelihood of being autistic and an enlarged heart, pulmonary stenosis and a ventricular ring.

Tiffany is also suffering from hypermobility and has throat problems that may require an operation before she has heart surgery next year.

Miss Halliday, who cannot work because she cares for her daughter full-time, claims the Department for Work and Pensions has stopped the benefit as it ruled Tiffany did not need more than an hour’s care a day. Miss Halliday insists she does.

She mainly uses the money to pay for heating, which needs to be on constantly due to Tiffany’s increased risk of conditions such as pneumonia and hypothermia.

The 25-year-old said: “Everything goes towards her care. There are days when I will stay up all night two or three days running to do a drip feed every few minutes or keep an eye on her breathing and massage her joints.

“Because she needs to go to the hospital so much, all of my remaining carer’s allowance is spent on travel to and from Medway, Sittingbourne and London.”

She added: “I’m scared the DLA is going. I’m faced with picking between heating my home and food.

“I will go without to make sure Tiff gets what she needs, but it shouldn’t have to be like that.

“I feel like her human rights are being taken away – and she’s being punished for being ill.”

Miss Halliday plans to ask the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to reconsider its decision and she should get an answer within about two months.

If she is unsuccessful, she can appeal again – but it could take a year before the case is resolved if she does.

MP Gordon Henderson has taken up her fight and has written to work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

He said: “I’m very concerned, not just for Miss Halliday, but for any other people in a similar position.

“I’ve written to ask him to look into the situation to find a way of either reducing the length of time that appeals take or providing some form of benefit until such time as an appeal is heard.”

However, Mr Henderson is also concerned about interim benefits. If an appeal was refused, any money paid would have to be returned.

A DWP spokesman said: “Disability living allowance isn’t generally paid on the condition someone has, but because they have specific care and mobility needs.

“All young children have care and mobility needs, but parents can claim DLA for children who need a lot more help or supervision than other children of the same age.”