Wrong rate disabled child element

lacie22

Hi everyone. My son has been receiving dla hrc for around 4 years. I've discovered yesterday that for all of that time we've only been getting the low rate disability element. I didn't know there were different rates and so I just accepted what they gave us. Will they have to backdate it all or can they say no? 

Thanks

poppy123456

It should be backdated to the assessment period where his DLA was awarded from. Did they know he's claiming HRC?

lacie22

Poppy that would be amazing as they've been underpaying by £310 a month for 4 years. It's a vast difference. It's been a long time so I don't recall conversations etc but when I asked for them to add the disability element they no doubt would/should? have asked me which rate he receives? 

poppy123456

That will be this years rates, the rates in previous years would have been lower. There shouldn't be any issues with them backdating it, we've had threads here in the past where the same has happened.

Before they can pay what is owed they will need to recalculate your past statements. This will tell them how much you've already received against what you should have received. You will then receive the difference between the two. Once this is done the new statements will replace your existing ones so you may want to take copies of those now.

lacie22

Ah of course. Thank you Poppy. I'll keep everything crossed 

poppy123456

Deppi said:

poppy123456 said:

It should be backdated to the assessment period where his DLA was awarded from.

In a case like this one, the money they will get, will it be classed as Savings? and in this case where the amount will be quite large, will it cause issues with their UC claim or other benefits?

No, not at all. Money owed is disregarded from savings for 1 year and this applies to all means tested benefits. Same rules apply to all lump sums you receive from all benefits. Some that are official errrors are disregarded for the life time of the claim, if it's more than £5,000.