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Severe Disability Premium
starbuck
Member Posts: 144 Courageous
I was just clearing through some old paperwork and found a letter for my daughter from 2017. I don't remember seeing the letter at the time.
She's on esa in the support group and this letter asks if she is eligible for the Severe Disability Premium because she gets pip.
I haven't much of a clue about how benefits work. I would have thought she wasn't eligible for this premium as she lives with her family. I get carers allowance for looking after my husband.
I doubt if she's missed out on any payments but thought I'd better check before I throw the form away.
She's on esa in the support group and this letter asks if she is eligible for the Severe Disability Premium because she gets pip.
I haven't much of a clue about how benefits work. I would have thought she wasn't eligible for this premium as she lives with her family. I get carers allowance for looking after my husband.
I doubt if she's missed out on any payments but thought I'd better check before I throw the form away.
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This was not to be the case. Like myself, all my friends who tried to assist me in filling in my original DWP forms are grads of higher education, but also couldn't work out how some questions and 'parts' should be answered in relation to other parts. In the end, we gave up bothering. However, after a few years of being unable to find sit-down work, and avoiding filling in the DWP forms (and using up my savings) someone finally advised me to use the services of a disability centre to help me. The disability centre staff were brilliant and reassuring. I believe that due to lack of funding, there are now fewer centres since 2014, but if you are lucky to have one nearby, I would recommend going along to speak to them after lock-down if you cannot get the info you need on this site.
Although the disability staff in my case knew what they were doing and were up to date with all new benefits, my forms still came back to me, asking for more information. Information the DWP had already been given. The exact same information was sent back to them again. A few weeks later, the same information was asked for again. I was in despair, as the DWP had been given everything they needed, and more besides. I was next visited at home by an assessor who ignored all doctors' reports and failed to record any important information given to her. After many months,I was finally awarded ESA. Months after this I was informed I should have been claiming PIP.
In June this year, I received a letter from DWP which I was afraid of opening, but I opened it after a few days. and was told they may owe me some money for SD premium. I thought this allowance was already being paid to me. I filled in the form, and because I did not hear anything back, I thought I was not entitled to anything more. I received two more of these forms over the past few months, and filled in exactly the same information and sent them back. I heard nothing at all from DWP, so assumed I must not be entitled.
Yesterday, I ignored a phone number several times, because I did not recognise it. In the end I picked up the phone to tell whoever it was to stop using my number, and was shocked to find it was someone calling from DWP to tell me they thought I may be entitled to SD premium and could they ask me some questions which would be quick and easy. I was reluctant, as I had not a good sleep. The lady I spoke to was genuinely very nice which shocked me, tbh.
Had she not known the precise date of my original claim in 2014, I would have felt I was being scammed. She told me that from the information I had given her, she could see I would be receiving a considerable sum of money within the next two or three weeks, but did not specify how much it would be.
I have read SUCH stories of other people on here, but never expected in my wildest dreams this could happen to me, so would tell everyone who keeps hitting brick walls with knock-backs from the DWP, to keep going.
Many thanks to Poppy and Adrian for guiding so many people through the DWP minefield I am sure you must have saved and enhanced the lives of many people who visit this site.
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God only knows how people without internet access ever manage to muddle their way through the form filling for their benefit entitlements. Whereas everyone who accesses this site, can see they are not alone in their battles, and that if anything can assist them, the information will be made available to them, for them to start taking the necessary steps to resolving problems, which can at times seem so overwhelming.
Scope has definitely made a difference to the disgusting societal narratives which forces so many people to feel ashamed about claiming and receiving entitlements. Thanks to all who have contributed.
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Really hope the dwp have turned over a new leaf, and their staff are starting to accept that they are not giving us their own private savings when we claim money we are entitled to lol
I have known a number of great people who went to work for the dwp, and who could have made a difference in the way people are spoken to, but they had to leave because of the way they were trained to "deal with claimants". The lady I spoke to this week was so kind and considerate compared to everyone else I have ever spoken to at the dwp. Besides cheering me up with this news, she may have tempted me to start answering unknown numbers calling my phone!
Wishing everyone else success in their current claims. Please don't be disheartened or lazy like me when the dwp do not acknowledge forms you send back. Keep in contact with them. Because even a tiny bit of extra income in your pocket, can be life changing! My specs cost a fortune because of the lenses, and it is a long time since I had a spare pair. So it will be a great treat to buy some without concerning myself with the cost.
I am in an age group where I get inundated with all manner of scam phone calls, so her knowing of matters only myself and close friends knew about, made me realise her call was genuine. She had no sooner put the phone down, than I received a call asking me how old my boiler was, and a few minutes later, another call asking if I had a funeral plan in place. lol This is why I get sick of answering unknown numbers lol
@woodbine's comment was most likely not aimed at you. There has been few members asked questions on this thread, so it has started to get confusing. This is why it's always better to start your own thread with any questions.
Would urge anyone still upset or in panic about doing the paperwork, to pluck up the courage to get in touch with the DWP and find out if you are entitled to SDP. It goes without saying that the back payment can be life changing, but so could the extra money you then get paid every fortnight.
Good luck to all of you who apply. All the information you need is supplied on this site, and it appears the DWP has outsourced the claims for this benefit to companies who are not yet trained to be unhelpful to us customers :-) Rule number one, is of course to always be polite to DWP staff, and allow them to feel powerful. Because they have the power to end your call if they detect you being 'emotional' or getting heated.
This is not to say we should appear weak, but it does help to show we know what side our bread's buttered these days. The only explanation I have been given regarding my personal claims having been such a nuisance and hard work, is because I "fell through the gap" because I had never made a claim since leaving school. Make of this what you will. It was explained to me that the systems changed a few years ago, and they had to spend a lot of time having to refer back to 'old systems'. And I quote "It's a bit of a phenomenon to have never claimed before. Are you sure you haven't claimed before?" Thank goodness the inland revenue is always on top of their game, is all I can say. Without them, I would probably still be lost in the gap I'm supposed to have fallen through when I became ill :-)
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Spare specs are now on order; a few items purchased from my long "Wish" lists; donations made to my favourite charities who give direct help to people and animals; Scope's to be sent tomorrow. Oh, and the heating's been turned up a degree or two this past couple of days.
What a strange year this has turned out to be. Seasons greetings to all xx
New slippers are next on my list. Bit extravagant, because there is nothing wrong with the ones I'm wearing. I know some people will know what I mean when I say I am sick of seeing the same slippers on my feet, I don't walk around in them enough to ever cause them to wear out
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Now they've spoilt the surpise
That will depend on which group exactly that you're in and the reasons why you claimed UC when you were previously claiming ESA.
That's not possible DWP would never do that, you have to claim UC yourself, it's not automatically done.