Suggestion: A friend of mine recently suggested I should apply for DLA – it had never occurred to me to do so, I didn’t know it wasn’t means tested, etc.  There’s something called the ‘cooking test’: could you, if required (whether or not you would normally choose to do so), prepare a traditional meal from raw ingredients on most days of the week?

Well, I certainly couldn’t – couldn’t cut raw meat (not that I would want to); can’t peel and chop any hard vegetables; can’t lift and tip a pan full of water to drain it; can’t wash or dry heavy pots; can’t apply pressure to scour a pan.And can’t do all of this most of the time.  Also I have trouble with buttons and shoe laces.  Etc I got a form from the Benefits Agency (‘form’ = 2 books to fill in!!) . . . and within 2 weeks got a letter to say they’d given me the benefit (to be reassessed in 12 months).

No fuss, no hassle, they didn’t even write to my GP. Its worth about L54 a month – probably what I spend extra in Sainsbury’s buying ready prepared and microwaveable vegetables etc.