Backdated sdp payment , will it effect my esa claim in the future?

Swept2000

Hi, i was recently sent a severe disability premium form to complete and I have been awarded a large backdated sum of money as I wasn't aware I was entitled money for over a five year period. As delighted as I am in confused to how this will effect my claim to esa as the sum was over £10k. Do I have to spend this money before a certain period of time elapses?  Is it classed as savings? 

I've searched the Internet but can't find any information as to where I stand so many thanks in advance 

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community, glad you have joined us I have an idea of the answer to your question but I dont want to give you wring advice so I will tag in another Champion who has the answer @poppy123456 can you advise please

Adrian_Scope

Hello @Swept2000 and welcome to the community.

This backdated money should be disregarded for the life of your ESA claim. 

poppy123456

Adrian_Scope said:

Hello @Swept2000 and welcome to the community.

This backdated money should be disregarded for the life of your ESA claim. 

Hi @Adrian_Scope

I don't think that's quite correct. I believe that amounts over £5,000 are only disrgarded for the life of the ESA claim if it was DWP offical error. This wouldn't be classed as an offical error because the SDP isn't automatically awarded. In this case it will only be disregarded for 1 year.

This was taken from the following link. https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-do-savings-and-lump-sum-pay-outs-affect-benefits

In some cases, this payment is not counted as savings for one year and will not affect your income related or means tested benefits during this time.
However, where benefits have been underpaid because of:

• an official error
• an error on point of law

any payments over £5,000 can be disregarded for the length of the claim or until the award ends.

Swept2000

Hello guys and many thanks for the replies. I should of added a little more information in my original post. My claim for esa and pips started inx2015. Last month my pips award was confirmed for another 2years. A week later I received the sdp form to return with a hand written memo to fill in the form and return as I may be entitled to the benefitbwhich I have been awarded. Now I wasn't never told about this benefit and the backdated payment amount leads me to believe that I was entitled to it from 2015. So would I be right in thinking that this comes under a oversight on there behalf?

 My apologies for any mistakes in writing this, a little bit tricky on my old phone

poppy123456

Unfortunately not, it doesn't come under a DWP offical error sadly. Even though you weren't claiming it when you should have been. Because of the criteria it's not automatically awarded. There's a lot of people that have missed out and are missing out on claiming the SDP. Sadly it's not an official error and therefore, it's only disregarded for a total of 1 year and not for the life of the ESA claim.

Swept2000

poppy123456 said:

Unfortunately not, it doesn't come under a DWP offical error sadly. Even though you weren't claiming it when you should have been. Because of the criteria it's not automatically awarded. There's a lot of people that have missed out and are missing out on claiming the SDP. Sadly it's not an official error and therefore, it's only disregarded for a total of 1 year and not for the life of the ESA claim.

Yeah, I figured as much. Many thanks for your reply, very much appreciated 

poppy123456

You're welcome. Treat yourself to something extra special!

Andy1234

We had a similar problem when my partner was awarded £10k pip's payments after a long wait, 12 months later they started deducting money from her esa, stating that she had £10k savings. They deduct £1 per week for every £250 you have over £6k. So they will deduct £16 A week from your esa 12 months after the date you get the £10k. Keep any receipts for purchases, as it's taken us 6 months to stop the deductions after sending both our bank statements for the last year. They didn't pay back the £16 weekly deductions either, leaving us £100's out of pocket.