ESA Disability Premiums - confusing

tractor

I am confused by the three types of "disability premiums" for adults:

• disability premium,
• enhanced disability premium,
• severe disability premium

What criteria does DWP us to determine if a claimant comes under the disability premium, or enhanced disability premium, or severe disability premium?

There's no explanation at https://www.gov.uk/disability-premiums

My son doesn't get any of the above disability premiums with his ESA. Instead he gets something called "Disability Income Guarantee"

Any insight would be helpful.

Thank You

Chris75_

I believe the Disability Income Guarantee is in fact the Enhanced Premium.

Kimi87

Yes Disability Income Guarantee is the Enhanced Disability Premium.

Scope has an information page:

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/disability-premiums

tractor

thanks for confirming.

Kiki23

Sorry to jump in on someone post but id really like @Kimi87 advice please as I wanted to pick your brains on something….😸

I was reading up on disability premiums recently (on Legacy benefits) and found out some interesting information that I hadn't noticed before but am not sure how true it is or if Ive perhaps read it wrong….

Ive been claiming ESA and have ever only received the SDP & EDP (Prior to moving to UC yesterday) Im also on High PIP and was claiming HB

In the past, I was told because im on IR ESA I was never allowed to claim the disability premium. however I read something lately that has made me question something regarding being able to receive all 3 disability premiums

I was told that if one was claiming IR ESA they were not allowed to claim the "disability premium" (£43.20 a week) This information has been made clear on many pages , discussions and forums

However,

I was reading something on scope (Ill attach the page on here) and im sure it says that whilst you cannot add the "disability premium" if your on IR ESA, you may still actually be able to ADD IT, not only to your claim of Income support, BUT it could be added if you claim housing benefit too….What does "you could add it to your HB mean?????

Ive never seen or heard of that before Kimi and im just very curious to know if this is the case (Im still not sure if Ive read this all correct so please forgive me if ive read this link all wrong) and, if out of the blue its true, how many more people receiving SDP and EDP on IR ESA AND HB may have missed out on the 3rd premium possibly????? Hmmm

Anyway ill link the scope post and will wait for your knowledgeable self to respond 😊

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/disability-premiums#Check-if-you-have-a-disability-premium-click

Also, going by the information on the scope page (Please read below)

Disability Premium eligibility criteria

The criteria for the "Disability Premium" (for myself is that im on PIP) But Ive also been on IR ESA which is why I always thought I could never apply for that particular disability premium….

The next thing it says under the criteria section is "If you’re eligible, you can "add the "Disability Premium "to -

• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Housing Benefit (Kimi, even though ive been on HB for over 20 years ive never seen this being a part of the criteria/eligibility for disability premium before)
• Income Support

It then says,

"You cannot add "Disability Premium" to your income-related Employment and Support Allowance BUT YOU CAN get Disability Premium at the same time as one or both of the following, EDP SDP, so im just thinking if you get HB can you still get it added????? (even though it wont be added to your IR ESA) If that makes sense

Why im so confused with all this wording is I suppose if it said "You are not "entitled" to the disability premium" it might have made things easier to understand but because its using the word "add" thats what im finding confusing

So all in all im just questioning, that even though we have been told in the past that we cannot claim or add a 3rd premium because were receiving IR ESA, could it have still be "added" to our housing benefit instead if we were claiming HB????? (Im not even sure how one would add it to their HB)

Maybe Ive read and interpreted this all completely wrong and will feel a right old fool after reading the responses 🤪

Anyway thank you for reading Kimi87 and I look forward to your thoughts and explanation regarding this when you have time

Kind regards

Kiki

Kiki23

https://www.gov.uk/disability-premiums/eligibility

@tractor

Dont know if you have read this

Kimi87

It's important to say at this point I am not a trained benefits advisor.

However my understanding is you cannot get all three Disability Premiums paid with IR ESA, regardless of whether you get Housing Benefit.

You can check my understanding with someone from a local welfare rights organisation.

https://advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk/

Kiki23

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1082526#Comment_1082526

Good morning Kimi and thank you for your message. I suppose because of the information on the scope link I thought perhaps you may have seen something on there regarding what I was seeing (The ADD on bit regarding the HB)

But yes, I will try to call ESA and see if they have any information as suggested

Once again thank you for your time

Kimi87

I wouldn't recommend contacting the DWP/ESA for benefits advice.

They administer claims rather than know the ins and outs of the system.

The link I gave lists independent welfare rights advisors who do usually know the system much better.