ESA/PIP/SDP - Confused by new ESA letter.

No, they have not claimed SDP yet.

Only myself received the IS10 SDP form a few days after my PIP decision letter.

I thought it best just to do the form myself, keep it simple, cross my fingers that goes fine. And if from my form and extra paper they determine my mum and brother might also be eligible then I figured they may post out forms for them as well.

I could print forms for both of them but I don't want to overly complicate things. I thought I should probably tackle each one separately and give them the opportunity to send additional forms first after looking at my form and paper.

I'm not sure I can help my mum with pension credit, we tried for this last year when it was suggested on TV to apply and select a 3 month backdate for some additional payment. That all went horribly wrong. The form asked for savings at the time of the 3 months back date, and current savings at the time of form claim date.

She got a decision letter where they wrongly added both amounts together and doubled her actual savings. Shortly after she got a housing benefit letter demanding bank statements. This was a stressful time and particularly difficult as she doesn't do online banking and we had to travel further out the area to a bank, with disabilities, to go and get these. It was a pain is putting it mildly. Anyway, they got their photocopies by email and we never heard from them again. Not even a follow-up letter to confirm everything is OK afterwards, which I found particularly annoying.

I'm not confident she will want to try and apply again as it was so difficult last time, I think she would rather go without any additional help than have to go through all that again.

Hi @poppy123456,

You mentioned you'd like to hear back when I habe an update regarding SDP.

I have not received any letters yet but have had an unexpected amount in today labeled as ESA. So I assume it's the backdated SDP.

Do you know if they are likely to send SDP forms out for the others who live with me? I am pretty sure my brother would also get it.

My mum I am a little more confused by as there are different types of pensions.

I thought best let things settle a week, give chance for my letter to hw up - I presume they would write to me regarding their SDP decision, right?

Does the extra income from SDP have any impact on housing benefit? I just want to know if I should be informing any departments of SDP income.

Many thanks Poppy for all your help!

Thanks poppy. Yes housing benefit is in my mum's name and me and my brother are non dependants.

I am not too sure with regards to pension. If I explain what's go e on you maybe able to srtermine what she's on.

I know she moved from ESA to state pension when she was fhe age to do. I don't know what the proper name for this is called, I assume State Pension. Not sure.

I did try to help her apply for something called Pension Credit Guarantee last year but this was refused due to them bizarrely doubling her savings in their decision letter. This was not correct.

As of now the type of pension she is on will be whatever people go on when moving from ESA. Do you think this means she can also claim SDP?

I think I may have asked a similar question with regards to PIP, but I wasn’t sure if this maybe different for ESA/SDP.

I just want to avoid getting myself into any trouble.

With my backdated PIP and SDP payments I have had a lump sum of over £3000. I recall reading backpay is disregarded for a year or something, does this apply to both PIP and SDP backpay?

Since the PIP backpay I’ve now had 2 monthly PIP payments, and recently received my first fortnightly ESA with SDP included.

I’m used to coping only with ESA on its own for years, so a little overwhelmed.

I’ve not really spent much at all. I’ve been meaning to try and attend opticians and dentist which should eat into a chunk of it.

Do I need to worry about spending on other things like furniture, or should I only be spending on health related things?

I mentioned the dentist specifically because I know our dentist was NHS a few years back, but now they are fully private. We have our names down with another local NHS dentist but that’s been a year with no contact.

I know we meet the requirements for NHS dental treatment as before, but getting that treatment seems impossible. It’s not so bad now with the extra income. I wasn’t sure if opticians might have gone the same way, not been for years, perhaps they’re not as bad as dental situation.

I was just worried about it building up too fast before I get chance to do anything constructive with it. If I move out and have to pay for all the bills and food at my own place then this would keep it manageable.

I was worried that if I don’t spend it fast enough that this could get me into legal trouble. I don’t do well with talking and socialising so obviously want to avoid this.