‘The DWP is taking away the only vehicle I can use to visit my husband in his nursing home and take him outdoors’ The wife of a dementia nursing home resident has criticised a “cruel loophole” in the benefits system that means she […]

The wife of a dementia nursing home resident has criticised a “cruel loophole” in the benefits system that means she will lose the only means of transport to visit her husband and take him outdoors.

Kay Hayes, 57, from Burford, Oxfordshire, said the specially adapted motability vehicle has been her “lifeline” allowing her to make the 28-mile round trip to nearby Faringdon to see her husband, Geoff, and spend time together as well as go out to meet family and friends.

“The vehicle has been our lifeline since Geoff moved into the care home,” she told i. “The vehicle has a ramp and a winch meaning I can go and collect him easily enough. We can go shopping together, go out with the family and see people. Basically, without the vehicle, he can’t go anywhere. He’s stuck. The nursing home will become a prison.”

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Mr Hayes was recently granted NHS continuing healthcare (CHC), which allows some people with long-term complex health needs to qualify for free social care arranged and funded solely by the NHS. As a result the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has decided to stop funding lease of the vehicle, which the couple have used since March and that had been paid for with Mr Hayes’s Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit.

Sarah Newton, the minister for disabled people, has previously said that people in receipt of CHC should have all their care needs funded through that, including their mobility needs. However, for many people like Ms Hayes with relatives in nursing homes many miles from where they live the reality means that the situation makes it almost impossible for them to see their loved ones. She has no other means of transport.

The couple, originally from Yorkshire, moved to rented accommodation in Burford in 2015 after they both retired and Ms Holmes became her husband’s full-time carer. She should be celebrating the couple’s 35th anniversary on Monday but has been left “in limbo”.

Motability, the car scheme company for disabled people, told Ms Hayes in a letter seen by i, that they have been informed by the DWP that the allowance which pays for the lease agreement with them has been suspended “due to [Geoff] moving into a care home”.

It adds: “Although the payments to Motability Operations for your car have been suspended, we will endeavour to support you whilst the DWP decide whether they will continue to do this.”

The case echoes that of Andrew Knowlman – an MND patient in the same situation whose motability vehicle was going to be taken away for the same reason. A disability charity stepped in to cover the cost of his vehicle after i revealed his story in February.

Ms Hayes, who is also dealing with her daughter-in-law’s recent diagnosis of breast cancer, has been left devastated by the decision. Like Mr Knowlman, she has also set up a petition on Change.org calling for the DWP to change its “crazy policy”.

She said: “We haven’t had a final decison from the DWP so I guess it could change, but I’m just treading on eggshells in case there’s a knock on the door in the next few days and they take the car away. I’m frightened Geoff will just deteriorate and die if I can’t get to see him.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “We want to ensure that every disabled person gets the support that they need. When someone comes under the care of the NHS all support is provided by them, so PIP will stop being paid at that time.”