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ESA -v- Universal Credit

Cindy7007

Hi, I have been reading some comments on here and I note some advice given was not correct.
If you wish to claim ESA which is the old style payment you have to either be in receipt of Severe Disability Allowance (which is attached to ESA payments) or would have been entitled to receive it in the month before your application for old style ESA.
People receiving PIP higher rate daily care would be qualified to receive Severe Disability Allowance and as such can make a claim for ESA and NOT Universal Credit which will NOT apply the additional amount of money that is attached to ESA for Severe Disability Allowance. Do try NOT to be pushed onto Universal Credit if possible as you will receive less financially than on ESA,

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poppy123456

Cindy7007 said:

Hi, I have been reading some comments on here and I note some advice given was not correct.
If you wish to claim ESA which is the old style payment you have to either be in receipt of Severe Disability Allowance (which is attached to ESA payments) or would have been entitled to receive it in the month before your application for old style ESA.
People receiving PIP higher rate daily care would be qualified to receive Severe Disability Allowance and as such can make a claim for ESA and NOT Universal Credit which will NOT apply the additional amount of money that is attached to ESA for Severe Disability Allowance. Do try NOT to be pushed onto Universal Credit if possible as you will receive less financially than on ESA,

This isn't exactly correct, sorry.

Not everyone is entitled to the SDP. To claim this you must live alone or be classed as living alone, no one must be claiming carers allowance or carers element of Universal Credit for looking after you. Some people are not entitled to any means tested benefits at all because claiming any means tested benefits will totally depend on their circumstances.

Not everyone is worse off by claiming UC. Some are better off some are worse off. It really depends on circumstances.

SDP can be included in housing benefit, Income Related ESA/JSA and Income Support.

I would not give anyone here incorrect advice, my benefit knowledge is too good.

chiarieds

Hi @Cindy7007 - I've just read your comments about incorrect advice on here. I'm not sure what you were trying to 'correct', but unfortunately your info is incorrect, sorry. If you doubt Poppy's great benefits knowledge, please have a look at this link from the government's website about SDP. Please see: https://www.gov.uk/disability-premiums/eligibility As you will note, it's also only in regard to the Enhanced Disability premium that you need to have the enhanced rate for daily living as far as PIP goes.

As Poppy often correctly states, some people are actually better off on UC.

Unfortunately you are also a bit muddled in mentioning Severe Disablement Allowance both here, & on another thread, as this no longer exists. The Severe Disability Premium (SDP), however, has the criteria Poppy has mentioned above. Hope this helps.

Cindy7007

Hi, I appreciate you taking the time to correct me.

You seem somewhat offended on Poppy's behalf. There is no need, I am not questioning her knowledge of the benefit system. But I can only speak of personal experience and our outcomes differ.

I am aware that under certain circumstances new claimants can still claim the old style ESA and do not have to claim Universal Credit. I am in the process of doing this for someone else right now.

Severe Disability Allowance does still exist but will not, for new claims of Universal Credit. My point was that if you are eligible to have received Severe Disability at the time you apply for ESA (not Universal Credit) you can put a claim in for ESA. If your circumstances are that you would not have qualified to claim severe disability allowance then you have no option but to claim UC instead of ESA. (This is another avenue I am going down with this same client)

I too have, on three occasions in the last 12 months been in involved in representing people at Tribunals to have benefits reinstated. Where they lost Severe Disability Allowance because their PIP claims had ceased. Obviously their SDA was paid along with their ESA claims NOT UC claims. When each individual had their PIP reinstated they also had their severe disability allowance reinstated.

I am aware that new Rules and Regulations have meant a lot of changes to the existing systems especially for new claimants. These new Rules do not always apply to existing claimants or even some new claimants if they can fit the right criteria and knowing how to.

I have to say that to date, I have not met one person who has been moved from certain benefits onto Universal Credit instead, (having been promised that they would not suffer financially) and have suffered financial loss permanently as you cannot reverse the decision.

We all have different life experiences and should feel able to express them on a forum such as this. I have not been disrespectful to anyone on this site and I would not be. But please don't assume that no one other than Poppy may have valuable experiences to offer a forum such as this.

I wish you well
Cindy

poppy123456

You keep refering to SDA, when this no longer exists because it's not called Severe disability allowance, it's actually called severe disability premium, which is indeed a different benefit. SDA was actually a benefit that was replaced by incapacity benefit in 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_Disablement_Allowance

Severe disability premium explained here. https://www.gov.uk/disability-premiums/eligibility

Those that are currently claiming the SDP are unable to claim UC and the UC SDP transitional provisions are in place preventing anyone claiming SDP moving to UC until January 2021. Amended regulations 2019 can be seen here.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/10/made

I didn't once say that another person can't have their own opinions but when you start a thread stating that some comments were incorrect when i actually advise more than 80% of posts here on the community i thought i'd step in, which i have every right to do so. if i didn't know the answer i would simply either not comment or tell the person i don't know the answer and tag a member of our admin team who may indeed know the answer.

Those that are not claiming the SDP if they are currently in the Support Group for ESA, UC LCWRA actually pays more than the Support Group. Like i said, some will be better off claiming UC and others will indeed be worse off.

I will make no further comments on this thread but i'll wish you well.

chiarieds

Hi, Severe Disablement Allowance will help those who had such a claim before April 2001, which is probably not the case for our members wondering about what benefits they may claim at the moment.

I have not been offended, nor did I say you had been disrespectful, but you did say, 'I note some advice given was not correct.' Nor have I made any assumptions, so please don't 'assume' this on my behalf.

May I ask in what capacity you're here?

Adrian_Scope

Hello @Cindy7007 and a very warm welcome, it's good to have you with us. I've seen a few of your posts across the community and it's great you're getting involved offering help and support to other members.

I also want to thank you for your post, it is of course extremely important that advice offered is correct and I would ask anyone that sees something they're unsure is accurate to bring it to the Scope team's attention. You can do this by tagging one of us (@Adrian_Scope, @Cher_Scope, @Ross_Scope and @Tori_Scope) and asking us to double check. Or if you'd prefer to discuss it privately you can do so using the flag button at the bottom of a comment and reporting the post (reports can only be seen by members of the Scope team so some people prefer to use this option) or emailing the team on community@scope.org.uk

On this occasion I think some wires have been crossed. I think you meant to say Severe Disability Premium (SDP) instead of SDA. It's SDP that prevents people from claiming Universal Credit currently until January 2021.

Unfortunately receiving PIP doesn't automatically qualify someone for SDP as there are lots of other factors to consider such as whether they receive an income-related benefit it can be attached to, if they live alone or with other qualifying adults, and whether someone is claiming CA or CE for caring for them, as all of these impact eligibility. There are also cases where someone has SDP but still needs to claim UC, such as if they move in with a partner who claims UC.

Sadly it's quite a complicated area and it is worth claimants checking if they're entitled to SDP and whether there's any way for them to remain on legacy benefits if they are better off that way. As you've acknowledged though, not everyone is and there are some people who are financially better off on UC, especially with the current boost to UC payments.

I hope you'll stick around and look forward to getting to know you more and seeing more of your contributions around the community.

Adrian

Cindy7007

Severe Disablement Allowance

Severe Disablement Allowance has been replaced with Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - Jobcentre Plus will re-assess your Severe Disablement Allowance claim to see if you’re capable of work or eligible for ESA.

Re-assessing your claim

Jobcentre Plus will send you a questionnaire. This will ask you how your illness or disability affects your ability to complete everyday tasks..

If the re-assessment shows you’re capable of working, your Severe Disablement Allowance will stop. Jobcentre Plus will discuss your next steps, including claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.
If the re-assessment shows you cannot work, you’ll be transferred automatically onto ESA.

Working and Severe Disablement Allowance

Your Severe Disablement Allowance is not usually affected if you:

do volunteer work
work for less than 16 hours a week on average and earn up to £140 a week
work and earn up to £140 a week, if your work is done as part of a treatment programme or is supervised by someone from a local council or voluntary organisation
work and earn up to £140 a week and are exempt from personal capability assessment

This is called ‘permitted work’.

I receive Severe Disability Allowance presently, not worded as Severe Disability Premium. I have been an advocate for individuals at Tribunals who also were receiving Severe Disability Allowance, whether on reinstatement the name changed to Severe Disability Premium, I cannot say.

I never intended to undermine anyone's knowledge on the subject but can only speak from personal experience. It would seem this offends some people. I will no longer participate in this thread.

Best wishes to all

poppy123456

@Cindy7007 Your thoughts are not correct as has been advised quite a few times in this thread. SDA no longer exists and i really don't know why you think any different.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @Cindy7007.
It may well be that you still receive SDA, as I believe there is a very tiny proportion of people who do and weren’t moved over to IB/ESA. However, this isn’t the same thing as SDP. It’s SDP that protects you from claiming Universal Credit.
SDP and SDA are very different things. The former is a premium paid on top of income-related benefits in certain circumstances. The latter is a very old benefit that was replaced in around 2001 with Incapacity Benefit and now ESA. A person can’t receive SDA and ESA together, ESA replaces SDA. SDP is the premium that is paid on top of ESA.

I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to close this thread as I fear it’ll lead to greater confusion for those where SDA isn’t relevant and sadly some of the information isn’t correct because of that confusion. As I mentioned before, if you do see any advice that you think is inaccurate or you want checked, please feel free to flag it or email it to community@scope.org.uk