Disability Premium

vee

Hi, hope someone here can answer my question. I am long term sick and up until a few weeks ago had been getting a disability premium on top of my housing benefit...( I had to fight to get this as I kept getting told at the time that I wasnt entitled) Anyway, now my husband has been made redundant and has been told he is on Income Related JSA...everything I look up on the internet relates to Income Based JSA...(dont know if its the same thing or not)..Anyway, from the beginning of his claim, housing benefit took off the Disability Premium and told me it should be paid to my husband, in his benefit for me...Jobs and Benefiits keep saying that it wont be added and I dont understand why. Also despite numerous phonecalls and visits to Jobs and Benefits , they keep saying no...CAB also told us we should get it..If anyone could let me know what they know about this i would really appreciate it (Ive just written a letter to Jobs and Benefits asking for an explanation about their decision but hoped in the meantime I could find out here if anyone thinks Im right??Thanks in advance, Vee

skater_kat

what level of DLA do you get?

does your husband get DLA?

vee

Hi, none of us get DLA,,,Im in the process of applying for the 4th time atm... Im on Incapacity Benefit (NI credits only) and long term which got me the disability premium on housing benefit in the first place...I read somewhere once that if my husband recieved JSA then he would get it there for me (hence housing benefit stopping it when he stopped working

skater_kat

you are only entitled to disability premiums if in receipt of DLA, so this is why you have had problems.

vee

Well, I know for a fact that disability premium is paid onto housing benefit while he was working and that was my argument with the housing benefit , then they told me the premium would be paid because I was entitled to it just by being sick for over 52 weeks..I got my payments backdated months from the start of entitlement...so are you saying that the £67.50 that my husband gets is right?And I dont get anything at all because he started to sign on??

vee

Hi again...this is where I found out about entitlement in the first place...sorry about the page full of writing instead of a link

vee

What is the disability premium?

The disability premium is extra income support, income based job seekers allowance, housing benefit, or council tax benefit paid to you if you or your partner have health problems that stop you from working. If you do not currently get income support, housing benefit or council tax benefit, you may qualify for one or more of these benefits once you've satisfied the conditions for the disability premium.

Who qualifies?

Was trying to post a link but it wouldnt work...heres an extract :)You must be under 60 years of age. It does not matter if you have not paid national insurance contributions. If you or your partner receives incapacity benefit at the long-term rate, severe disablement allowance, (SDA) or disability living allowance (DLA) you should automatically qualify for the disability premium in your income support , income-based job seekers allowance, housing benefit or council tax benefit. If you do not receive DLA , SDA or incapacity benefit you will need to get sick notes from the doctor and be classed as incapable of work for 12 months (for more details see, how to claim). If you are claiming income support or JSA for your partner and it is your partner who is sick (and they don't receive DLA , SDA or incapacity benefit) then it may be advisable to change the claimant role to your partner- get further advice on this. You may still choose to sign on for national insurance credits if you are unemployed.

richard9991

then it should be you claiming for your husband as you are the one who is sick your incapacity benefit is credits only because you have not paid enough ni contributions in the relivent years and you would not have been entitled to income support on health grounds because your hubby was working

vee

Really??...Thanks for the info ...I never knew that one..so I have to and claim income support?.. - just raging now that they didnt tell us that but will look into will get that asap..cheers :beer:

richard9991

vee wrote: »

Really??...Thanks for the info ...I never knew that one..so I have to and claim income support?.. - just raging now that they didnt tell us that but will look into will get that asap..cheers :beer:

no you cant claim income support on grounds of sickness you will have to claim employment and support allowance however i dont think the disabilty prem is payable with this but you should get the couples rate around £105 per week

skater_kat

can i suggest you find out if there is a welfare rights worker at your local council? or anywhere else for that matter. your situation is not straightforward due to previous inclusion of a premium. you could put in an appeal at jobcentre and HB and see where that takes you. heres an appeal form http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/gl24dwp.pdf