Severe Disability Premium sofa surfing?

bubba23

Hi all

I currently get ESA and PIP. Never got the Severe Disability Premium as I live with someone. No one claims carers for me. Due to my mental illness I have put a lot of strain on the person I live with. They asked me to move out. I will be "sofa surfing" between my sisters house and and friends until I can get myself re-homed. I will only be living place to place but my sister or the person I used to live with would help me out by letting my revive letters to their house and give the address to ESA as my temp address. 

My question is when I go homeless in a few weeks (they gave me time to work out who can help) can I start claiming the Severe Disability Premium? I wont be living with someone fully just finding places to stay day by day until I am sorted. The extra Premium money would go a long way to help me find a place.

Thanks for the time.

Ami2301

Hi @bubba23 welcome to the community! I am so sorry to hear about your current situation. In regards to your question, I am unsure. However, members of our community will know and will be in contact with you soon to advise

Have you heard of Shelter?

Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services..

Dotty123

I got told anyone so much as comes near you you get declined best seek advice from benefit place stay on there good side good luck 

poppy123456

Dotty123 said:

I got told anyone so much as comes near you you get declined best seek advice from benefit place stay on there good side good luck 

I have no idea who told you that Dotty but it's not correct. There are certain circumstances when living with other people that claiming SDP is possible.

In the situation of @bubba23 i'm unsure. However, as the sister is one of the ones they'll be sofa surfing at then i'm going to say that no, they won't be entitled to claim SDP BUT i will advise them to speak to a local advice centre near them for further advice.

Dotty123

Ok sorry 

Dotty123

Poppy how long do I give esa to sort my letter I got mine 17/4 they say they don’t have it doi contact tribunal that sent it 

poppy123456

Dotty123 said:

Poppy how long do I give esa to sort my letter I got mine 17/4 they say they don’t have it doi contact tribunal that sent it 

It can take 10 working days for DWP to receive anything. On top of this it could take another few weeks for your payments to start. Backlogs cause delays with everything unfortunately.

Dotty123

Why did I get my letter Easter Saturday I rang tues they havnt can I email tribunal who sent letter ask them to contact esa she wouldn’t even take my ref 

poppy123456

DWP have 1000's of mail to process everyday, unlike us. When letters are sent to DWP they have to go through a mail sorting process first and this is why it takes longer.

There's no harm in contacting the Tribunal to ask if they contacted DWP but there's nothing more they can do and you may not even receive a response straight away from them either. Your payments re-starting can take a few weeks as i previously advised. There's also most likely bigger backlogs because of the Easter weekend too and that will only add to the delay.

Dotty123

Ok thank you 

Dotty123

My tribunal letter was sent out dated 17/4 I received it sat after good fri when rang dwp they said hadn’t got it do you think if I ring them in morning they will have it yet thank you x

poppy123456

I have no idea, sorry.