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 and DASCAS
Due to the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) we’ve closed our offices to the public. We can’t offer you a face-to-face appointment or home visit but we can still advise you by phone or email.
If you’re not sure whether we can help without seeing you face-to-face, please get in touch so we can discuss your issue and individual circumstances. If we can’t help you by phone we’ll put you on a waiting list for an appointment after the lockdown ends. If you’ve been asked to isolate for longer, we’ll discuss other ways to deal with your issue.
At the moment we can help you to:
- check that you’re getting the right benefits
- apply for benefits or complete a form, if we can do this by phone
- get emergency supplies because you don’t have money or can’t leave the house
- find out about services that can help if you’re isolated.
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 were due to be reassessed in the next 3 months they’ll also extend your award by a further 6 months.
If you need help with a form you can:
- complete the form with a friend of family member using the guides below
- contact 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.
Guides to filling in benefit forms
Attendance Allowance:
ESA50 and UC50:
- Citizens Advice – claiming ESA
- Citizens Advice – help filling in your ESA50 form
- British Legion – a Basic Guide to Claiming Employment & Support Allowance
Personal Independence Payment:
- Citizens Advice – how to claim PIP
- National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society – how to claim PIP
- Down’s Syndrome Association – PIP guidance
Contact DASCAS
To help us provide the best help please answer the following questions and give us much information about your enquiry as you can.
Your personal information
When you contact us we may ask you for your personal information in order to help us advise you. We’ll ask you to confirm that you’re happy for us to collect and store your information and we won’t share it without your permission.
We follow the Citizens Advice privacy policy. Our information charter has more information about how we store, share and protect your personal information.
Complaints and feedback
We have a complaints handling procedure, please let us know if you want us to send you a complaints leaflet.