Hi, my name is Juejue66!

Juejue66

Hi, in April of this year my husband received a letter regarding sdp saying he may be entitled from December 2018 to October 2024, he used to claim Incapacity benefit from 1996 and then it changed to ESA, he also claims high rate daily living (pip) , I work but also claim pip and get low rate daily living and high rate mobility, I started to claim this in December 2018, and also claimed child tax and working tax credits due to having my grandson living with us from the age of 5.He is now 19 and still living with us , I did seek advice before filling in the form and they seem to think it’s been overlooked and it’s come to light when I did the migration form from tax credits to universal credit, I’m just wondering how long it will take for them to be in touch with us and should we have been eligible for the couples premium.

chiarieds

Hi @Juejue66 - & welcome to the forum. I'm sorry I don't know how long it will take for the SDP backpay to be sorted, however, I can say that due to the benefit your husband was receiving, it would also be the fact that if you were receiving the daily living component at the time, then that's why your husband should have qualified for the SDP (as you have to live on your own with no other adults unless they receive a qualifying benefit such as the daily living component of PIP), & so long as you weren't claiming Carer's Allowance for looking after him at any time.

If you weren't receiving income based ESA (there are other benefits, but not PIP, & some other criteria) then you wouldn't be eligible for the couple premium, sorry. Please see: https://www.gov.uk/disability-premiums/eligibility

Juejue66

oh right , I thought it was because I’d started to claim pip that he was entitled with it only being from the date I actually claimed it from to the date our grandson left college and our family allowance and child tax credits stoped , if you say he is entitled than why wouldn’t he have been entitled the past ten years since he started claiming pip?

chiarieds

Hi again @Juejue66 - you're correct that your husband was entitled to SDP starting from the date you claimed PIP as you were awarded the daily living component, & until your grandson turned 18. Sorry, I was forgetting to add him into the equation.

So, your husband was eligible for the SDP as he claimed i-r ESA & has an award of the daily living component of PIP but he wouldn't be able to claim it with anyone living with him that was 18 or over unless they also had an award of, in your case, the daily living component of PIP, & were not claiming Carer's Allowance for looking after him.

As you didn't mention when you started a claim for PIP, I could only say that in your circumstances your husband was eligible from that date once you knew you'd been successfully awarded. You both needed to have this award of PIP for him to qualify for SDP.

I gave the link above, which you just need to click on, so you could see this info on the Govt's website

I hope all goes well with his claim, but be aware that when he hopefully receives his backpay, he should notify UC, as, if it's over £5000 (if paid it doesn't matter that he'll receive this in a few different amounts at the same time), then it would have been disregarded as capital whilst he was on ESA, but there is also 'transitional protection' regarding this as you had to migrate to UC & it should be disregarded indefinitely). Keep any letter regarding this backpay safely.

Juejue66

ok thank you , I was led to believe that while my grandson was a dependent, still at college and still entitled to child tax credit and family allowance until he left college in the June of 2024 that even though he was 18 in the January of 2024 he was still classed as a dependent?

chiarieds

Hi, the DWP don't always give sufficient info so I've been checking elsewhere. You are correct as he was still considered a dependent as you were claiming child benefit & tax credits whilst he was still in education. Keep those letters safe too!

Juejue66

thank you for your help , they will already know this because it was when he left full time education I had to migrate to UC and so all this then came to light