DASCAS

Our Disability and Social Care Advice Service (DASCAS) team give Wandsworth residents independent advice about disability benefits and services for disabled people. DASCAS offer telephone advice, home visits and advice appointments to people with disabilities and the friends and relatives who care for them.

Coronavirus closure

We’ve closed our offices to the public due to the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19). We’re now only offering appointments by phone and are no longer taking new referrals into DASCAS.

if you’re a member of the public and need help with a new issue you can call our Adviceline
if we’re already helping you we’ll continue doing this by phone
if you already have an appointment booked we’ll be in touch about making this a phone appointment

Find out how to refer to us if you’re a professional or partner working in Wandsworth.

If you have a form you need to complete

The government is currently recommending that people only go outside for food, health reasons or essential work. In response to the outbreak many organisations are restricting or closing face-to-face services. You may find it more difficult to access services, particularly those that rely on volunteers.

The DWP have stopped new medical assessments and have extended the deadline to return forms by 3 months. If you need help with a form you can:

call the DWP to confirm whether the deadline has been extended and get help when services reopen
complete the form with a friend of family member using the guides below
call us if a phone appointment would help you complete the form.

Check GOV.UK for more information about making and managing benefit claims during the coronavirus outbreak.

Requesting an extension

You generally have 1 month to complete and return a benefit form. If you miss this deadline your claim may end and you could lose out, but the DWP can agree a new deadline over the phone. If you received a form recently the deadline should be extended by 3 months automatically but you may want to check whether you need to request an extension.

You can do this by calling the phone number on the front of the form and explaining why you need more time. You should say that you normally get help with forms but can’t at the moment due to coronavirus. Citizens Advice have a guide to sending in Personal Independence Payment claim forms that explains how to do this in more detail.

If you’ve already missed a deadline you should call the DWP as soon as possible and explain what happened.

Guides to filling in benefit forms

Attendance Allowance:

ESA50 and UC50:

Personal Independence Payment: