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Severe Disability Premium...Help please
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Mackydees
Posts: 12 Forumite
Hi, I found out yesterday, after ringing to find out about cold weather payments, that I may be entitled to the Severe Disability Premium. I'm currently receiving long term incapacity benefit, get the middle rate of the care provision of DLA and also the lower rate of the mobility portion. Nobody receives the care allowance for me and I live on my own so apparently I tick all the boxes for it so was advised to make a claim. I made a claim yesterday only to be told that I can only ask for it, because of something to do with Income Support (which I've never had), to be backdated for one month however apparently I've been entitled to it since Feb 29th 2008. Now this is a lot of money that I've missed out on and I would like some help finding out if it's possible, or if there are any precedents, for getting it backdated from the day I was entitled to it.
Thanks in advance,
Macky.
Thanks in advance,
Macky.
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Comments
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Ignorance isnt an excuse for backdating so I think it will be limited to a month at most in your case.Hi, I found out yesterday, after ringing to find out about cold weather payments, that I may be entitled to the Severe Disability Premium. I'm currently receiving long term incapacity benefit, get the middle rate of the care provision of DLA and also the lower rate of the mobility portion. Nobody receives the care allowance for me and I live on my own so apparently I tick all the boxes for it so was advised to make a claim. I made a claim yesterday only to be told that I can only ask for it, because of something to do with Income Support (which I've never had), to be backdated for one month however apparently I've been entitled to it since Feb 29th 2008. Now this is a lot of money that I've missed out on and I would like some help finding out if it's possible, or if there are any precedents, for getting it backdated from the day I was entitled to it.
Thanks in advance,
Macky.
It might seem harsh but I've never seen it awarded back further than a month unless the DLA decision itself was backdated (Meaning that DLA awarded today but dated back a year).0 -
Many thanks for the reply...I have found this though after trawling the net re backdating of SDP:
Mr M was awarded Income Support in April 2005. He then made a claim for Disability Living Allowance and was awarded middle care and low rate mobility in July 2005 (backdated to April 2005). There had been no other change to his circumstances, other than the Disability Living Allowance award, since he made his claim for Income Support.
As Mr. M was living alone and no one was claiming Carer's Allowance he was also entitled to a Severe Disability Premium and a disability premium. Falls DHSS paid him the Disability Premium but apparently as Mr M did not return the IS10 that was sent to him they did not pay him the Severe Disability Premium. When Mr. M changed address in 2006 the clerk at DHSS noticed that a Severe Disability Premium should have been awarded.
When this was applied for and to be backdated the Department refused to backdate and quoted Regs 19 which deal with backdating of a benefit, not backdating of a premium. They were wrong as Severe Disability Premium is a premium, not a stand-alone benefit that some-one claims. Our Representative took the case to tribunal and provided the correct legislation that the Department should have used. Unfortunately, the tribunal ruled against him taking the Department's side. This was an error in law and the case was sent to the Commissioner. The Department looked at the case again and admitted that they had got it wrong and that the tribunal had got it wrong also. The Commissioner however did make a full decision, as he wanted to clarify this type of situation. The Department stated that they would make this clearer in their training program and also to their Decision-makers. This is now part of NI legislation and can be now used in any further cases. The client was paid back £4,443.73 and we also managed to negotiate further compensation for loss of interest and stress caused.
If this is part of NI legislation can I use it at all in England?0 -
It is NI legislation/regulations.Many thanks for the reply...I have found this though after trawling the net re backdating of SDP:
Mr M was awarded Income Support in April 2005. He then made a claim for Disability Living Allowance and was awarded middle care and low rate mobility in July 2005 (backdated to April 2005). There had been no other change to his circumstances, other than the Disability Living Allowance award, since he made his claim for Income Support.
As Mr. M was living alone and no one was claiming Carer's Allowance he was also entitled to a Severe Disability Premium and a disability premium. Falls DHSS paid him the Disability Premium but apparently as Mr M did not return the IS10 that was sent to him they did not pay him the Severe Disability Premium. When Mr. M changed address in 2006 the clerk at DHSS noticed that a Severe Disability Premium should have been awarded.
When this was applied for and to be backdated the Department refused to backdate and quoted Regs 19 which deal with backdating of a benefit, not backdating of a premium. They were wrong as Severe Disability Premium is a premium, not a stand-alone benefit that some-one claims. Our Representative took the case to tribunal and provided the correct legislation that the Department should have used. Unfortunately, the tribunal ruled against him taking the Department's side. This was an error in law and the case was sent to the Commissioner. The Department looked at the case again and admitted that they had got it wrong and that the tribunal had got it wrong also. The Commissioner however did make a full decision, as he wanted to clarify this type of situation. The Department stated that they would make this clearer in their training program and also to their Decision-makers. This is now part of NI legislation and can be now used in any further cases. The client was paid back £4,443.73 and we also managed to negotiate further compensation for loss of interest and stress caused.
If this is part of NI legislation can I use it at all in England?
Regulation 19 would have been the wrong regulation for the reason that text says. It deals with claims and the time limits for claims of benefit. The text doesnt say what regulation was used to allow the decision though. There are reasons why backdating can be allowed but its not clear why it was allowed in that case other than the regulation used to disallow was wrong.
NI regs dont automatically transfer to Great Britain or the other way round but they are mainly the same.0 -
thanks for coming back to me, I really do appreciate it...I'm now waiting on a phone call from the chap who appealed the original decision on behalf of his client to find out what regulation it was and whether I can use it to help get mine backdated...here's hoping!0
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You need to be getting Income Support in the first place to get the Severe Disability Premium. There's a difference between someone already in receipt of Income Support not being paid the correct amount (and therefore seeking an increase in Income Support) and someone who would be entitled to Income Support but for whatever reason isn't claiming it. If you'd been given wrong advice by the DWP (ie you were told you weren't entitled to Income Support when in fact you were) then compensatory payments can be made. However if you failed to claim Income Support because you didn't realise you were entitled to it then you normally can only claim Income Support from the date of claim with backdating only possible for one month or three months in exceptional circumstances (severe illness or disability being two of them).
If you get either or both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you may have been paid a smaller amount of those benefits if they were unaware you got DLA. You may want to consider asking for a review of those benefits. At one time they could review back up to 52 weeks. It's changed now but I'm not sure of the current rules. Your local council benefits office will be able to advise you there.0 -
Have you ever told you council that you are on DLA? Coz if you haven't then it might be why you never receive any premiums. Yes, they use the same system and should be able to pick it up, but it is still your responsibility to inform them of any change of circumstances, getting DLA is a one.
HB and Council tax could still be backdated for up to 52 weeks but you would have to have a very good reason for that, not knowing such thing exist isn't a good enough reason. If for example, your DLA took 6 months to come through, then this reason alone is strong enough to backdate your HB claim.
So I think the key is, have you ever informed your local council about your DLA? Because if you have, then it would be an official error from them in which I think they would have to backdate your claim to at least the date when you inform them. Because when they put your DLA on your claim, the system should automatically add all the premium you are entitled to on your claim based on the information they hold of you.
If you never told them about getting your DLA then, I think it's a lesson for you to learn that you have in fact failed to inform them about a change of circumstance. Although getting DLA will never decrease your HB entitlement because it's tax free anyway, but still a change of circumstance.0 -
Isn't the Severe Disability Premium only payable when you are in receipt of Income Support?
These extra premiums which are Disability Premium, Enhanced Disability Premium and Severe Disability Premium are added to an award of Income Support to reflect the Disaibility Living Allowance award you get for the Personal Care Component. You can get all 3 Premiums if you are living alone, nobody is claiming carer's Allowance and getting highest rate of Personal Care.
You probably need to have a Benefit's Check done in case you are missing out on benefits you are entitled to.
I requested that my Premiums were back-dated to the date of the DLA award and was successful.
Keep plugging away at it!0 -
this could be further complicated by the fact that a single person on I/B would not qualify for I/S as the I/B would be more than i/s,however when the premiums are added then the claimant may well become elligible for i/s.
This could explain in part why it would only be back-dated 1 month0 -
Thanks for the feedback all. Firstly I informed Housing Benefit and Council Tax as soon as I was awarded my DLA. I spoke to them today and all my benefits are being, and have been, paid correctly by them all the way through. Apparently what would have flagged it to me via HB and CTB is the phrase 'Applicable Amount' which I now understand to be the minimum the Government says I require to live on. However, on no correspondence that I've ever received does it translate this into 'Plain English' and tell me that in actual fact it's what I should be getting rather than the limit I could earn through pt time work etc before I would have to contribute to my rent and Council Tax bill. I think what riles me the most is that because my NI contributions were above a certain threshold I qualified for IB rather than IS and so have to check to see for myself what benefits I could claim rather than have a computer flag me as a possible candidate for these 'Premiums'. After a day's worth of trawling the web and getting lots of help from various forums (thanks very much people) I've managed to find out that the IS computer systems have been flagging potential IS candidates for any of these three premiums since 13 December 1993 but that IB claimants have been left out completely and as such I'm missing out on about £5000 worth of benefits...very irritating. I'm still at the early stages of this but because of groups such as MSE and CAG I've learned not to just roll over and accept this but rather to fight as hard and for as long as I can. After all they're saying no now and all that's going to change is I spend 6 months writing letters and still getting another no...no hassle for me really...I've got ALL the time in the world and I can only really gain.0
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good luck but i don't see it happening for you, when you get a DLA award the paperwork tells you that your benefits may change so you should have chased it up then.0
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