Only on standard Mobility will I still get my enhanced employment and support allowance

npower36912

Hey, I was getting Enhanced daily living pip and standard mobility , I have just been sent a letter saying I don’t qualify for daily living allowance anymore but am able to get standard mobility I am going to appeal this but I know it can take some time , I was getting enhanced esa which was about £398 every 2 weeks I was just wondering would this be cut to a different amount I am in the support group for esa aswell 
thanks 
n

chiarieds

Hi @npower36912 - I'm sorry your PIP has been reduced, but pleased you are going to appeal this. You should ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration, putting this in writing, within 1 month of the date on your decision letter. Where you feel you should have gained points, try & give a couple of detailed responses for each applicable activity/descriptor that applies to yourself. Try & say why was the activity difficult when you attempted this at the time of your assessment. What happened, & was there any consequence to this?

If you haven't already done so, please have a look at the following link which gives a list of these activities: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/Scores-for-PIP-Descriptors-2020.pdf     Please also read the notes at the end, as you should be able to do any activity 'reliably.' This means safely, to an acceptable standard, it shouldn't take you more than twice as long as someone without your disability, & you should be able to repeat such an activity as often as would reasonably be expected.

As it sounds like you probably got the Severe Disability Premium due to having had the daily living component of PIP, then unfortunately this will reduce your ESA at the moment.

poppy123456

HI,

There's no such thing as Enhanced ESA. It's Support Group, which as @chiarieds has correctly advised included the Severe disability prremium.

Not having a daily living award of PIP may also affect other benefits you may already be claiming. If you're claiming housing benefit then this maybe affected, for example, if you're under 35 and privately renting with no dependents living with you then you will only be entitled to the shared rate of local housing allowance.

npower36912

I am under 35 and live by myself I think my esa will go back to 250 every 2 weeks ...I don’t share a flat 

poppy123456

Your ESA will be £130.65 per week.

Also if you are privately renting then you will only be entitled to the shared rate of local housing allowance for your housing benefit. With the daily living award of PIP that you previously had this would have entitled you to the 1 bedroom rate of local housing allowance. You can check here how much your housing benefit will be at the lower rate. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/

Although DWP do share information with your local council, you will still need to report those changes and ring them.

If there's a large shortfall for your rent you can apply for a discretionary housing payment. There's no guarantee that you will get this and if you do it's only paid for a short period of time and then you'll need to reapply. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments

npower36912

Hey 

thanks I have just checked and it says I’ll be entitled to 103 a week so that’s actually mote then my housing benefit which was 328 every 4 weeks is this right

poppy123456

That doesn't sound correct. If you're privately renting then you need to make sure you drop the box down to shared accommodation.

npower36912

Ok I shall ring housing benefit tomorrow and change it says 65 but I live in a 1 bedroom flat which is privately rented so wouldn’t this come under 1 bedroom?....And also I am going to write a letter to Pip for a mandatory reconsideration as I don’t think I have been scored correctly...I was just wondering if they did instate it again would I have to apply for normal housing benefit again and also my premium if I do get a yes?

poppy123456

Although you live in a 1 bedroom flat i'm afraid because you are under 35 with no daily living award for PIP, this means that you will only be entitled to the shared rate of local housing allowance, which will be considerably less then the 1 bedroom rate. How much per month is your rent?

See link for confirmation of my advice. https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/local_housing_allowance_lha_for_private_renters

Shared accommodation rate

You usually only get the shared accommodation rate if:

• you're a single person under 35
• children don't live with you

If you were awarded daily living PIP again then you just report the changes to your local council and your housing benefit will increase to the 1 bedroom rate of LHA. This will also be backdated to the date it was decreased.

npower36912

Yes that makes sense to me ok my rent is £350 so I would have to pay the rest myself?

npower36912

Ok thank you very much for your information I will just have to make do until my pip is hopefully reinstated as I feel like I’m entitled to it but I don’t make the decision

poppy123456

Yes, you will need to pay the remainder yourself. Please see the link i posted above about applying for the discretionary housing payment. It's not guaranteed you'll receive it but it's definitely worth applying for.

npower36912

Ok what about council tax?

poppy123456

I can't advise about council tax reduction because all local councils have their own criteria.

npower36912

Hello @poppy123456...As I Am in the income Support Group Does That Mean I will still get severe disability premium as on gov site it said I will

thanks 

n

poppy123456

There's no such thing as the income support group when claiming ESA.

Do you currently have a daily living award of PIP? Your first post here on this thread says that you lost the daily living part of PIP and now only claim the mobility part, is that still correct?

Sorry for the questions but more information is needed before any advice can be given.

npower36912

Hello No I still don’t get daily living pip but when I checked the gov site for esa it said if your in a support group for income supported esa your still able to get the premium 

thanks 
n

poppy123456

You are looking at the Enhanced disability premium (£17.10 per week) which is automatically paid when claiming Income Related ESA. The severe disability premium you're talking about doesn't apply to you because you're not claiming daily living PIP. For the SDP you must be claiming a qualifying benefit and live alone, with no one claiming carers allowance for looking after you.

Eligibility criteria for SDP is here. https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Severe-Disability-Premium/Can-I-get-a-Severe-Disability-Premium

On the gov,uk web site here, scroll down the severe disability premium and you'll clearly see that a daily living award of PIP is part of the criteria that is needed. https://www.gov.uk/disability-premiums/eligibility

Hope this helps.

npower36912

Ok thank you...I live by myself but my pip reconsideration was denied ....Will I have to let esa know or will they automatically reduce my money 

thanks 

n

poppy123456

Your money should have automatically been reduced when the PIP decision was made, which was quite sometime ago. You should now be receiving £261.30 every fortnight.

As the MR decision didn't change then it will be Tribunal for your next step.

npower36912

ok my esa is still 398 every 2 weeks that is why I’m confused

poppy123456

Then that is not correct, they are still paying you the SDP which you're no longer entitled to. I'd advise you to ring ESA to report the changes because it's your responsibility to make sure you're claiming the correct amount. Once your PIP decision was made, you would have no longer qualified for the SDP so you will have an overpayment from the time the decision was made, which will need to be repaid back.

poppy123456

I'm very surprised your ESA has continued with the SDP added because usually a change of benefit would have flagged on the computer which should have suspended your ESA while payments were changed.

Did you also report the changes to your local council regarding your housing benefit?

npower36912

I was thinking that. I’m going to ring them tomorrow and Inform them and hopefully if i have to pay it back they can take installements I did but they said I was eligible for housing benefit so I’ll have to ring them aswell

poppy123456

You are still entitled to housing benefit but as you are privately renting and under 35 you will only be entitled to the shared rate of local housing allowance and not the 1 bedroom rate like you were receiving when you were claiming daily living PIP.

Any overpayments for ESA and housing benefit can be arranged to be repaid back in installments from future benefit payments.

poppy123456

You may not be able to get through to DWP tomorrow because it's Christmas Eve and phone lines are only open for missing and urgent payments only, so you will very likely have to wait until they open back up after Christmas, which will be Tuesday 29th December.

https://www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus/christmas-and-new-year-opening

Can't advise about your local council though.

loulou27

chiarieds said:

Hi @npower36912 - I'm sorry your PIP has been reduced, but pleased you are going to appeal this. You should ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration, putting this in writing, within 1 month of the date on your decision letter. Where you feel you should have gained points, try & give a couple of detailed responses for each applicable activity/descriptor that applies to yourself. Try & say why was the activity difficult when you attempted this at the time of your assessment. What happened, & was there any consequence to this?

If you haven't already done so, please have a look at the following link which gives a list of these activities: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/Scores-for-PIP-Descriptors-2020.pdf     Please also read the notes at the end, as you should be able to do any activity 'reliably.' This means safely, to an acceptable standard, it shouldn't take you more than twice as long as someone without your disability, & you should be able to repeat such an activity as often as would reasonably be expected.

As it sounds like you probably got the Severe Disability Premium due to having had the daily living component of PIP, then unfortunately this will reduce your ESA at the moment.

Hi could I ask is there any disability premium for contributed esa support group Iv been awarded pip enhanced care 

poppy123456

@loulou27 which ESA exactly are you claiming? There's the old contributions based and there's a New style ESA. If you're claiming the New style ESA then there's no disability premiums available for this because it's a contributions based only claim.

If you're claiming the old contributions based then it maybe possible to be awarded some disability premiums but it will totally depend on your circumstances.

If you could tell me for certain exactly which one then i'll be able to help you further.

May i also ask if you live alone? or with a partner? and does anyone claim carers allowance or the carers element of Universal Credit for looking after you.

loulou27

Iv been on it a few years in the support group I don’t know if it’s old new group ? I live with my partner no one claims carers  allowance or uc .

poppy123456

Does your partner work or are you claiming ESA as a couple? Does your partner claim a disability benefit theirself, such as PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care?

loulou27

@poppy123456 It’s the old esa and partner is self employed claims nothing .

poppy123456

As you're partner is working then unfortunately, you don't qualify for any of the disability premiums because these are only paid if you're eligible for the income related top up.

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