Letter from DWP ... we think you are entitled to more income support!!

TOBRUK

This morning a brown envelope came in the mail, you know the one - it has DWP on it and a window! Whenever one of these come through the letterbox my stomach turns and I think what now?!

Well I was surprised when I read it ... "we are pleased to tell you that we think you may be entitled to more income support ... the benefit is called severe disability .... we would like you to answer a few questions .." :shocked: The questions were those where you tick a box - do you live alone, has anyone applied for attendance allowance for you etc. After signing I was to send it back to them in the envelope enclosed - which was 1st class postage - they usually send you a 2nd class return envelope!

I receive DLA, and after sending my renewal application for DLA was granted a higher care allowance (beginning as from January) - from low to medium, with mobility at high as before.

I have never had a letter from them before saying that they think I should have more! It said in the letter that they call it severe disability allowance and am a little baffled because I wasn't receiving the disability premium before this. When I received my letter of entitlements before, it stated that I was eligible for income support and any incapacity benefit that I was entitled to, which they have never stated how much that was.

I thought it was very strange, :huh: mind you I never know how they work these things out! I am quite amazed, anyone else had a letter like this?

shammyjack

If I remember correctly my Mother recieved this letter and it was the increase in DLA care component from low to medium that triggered it automatically . This would seem to be the case with you .


shammy

TOBRUK

Thanks for that shammy, the strange thing here is that I know that there is such a thing as disability premium with income support (which I have not been receiving) which is less than severe disability. You would think that I would be entitled to that before the severe disability.

real1314

If you've been getting Income Support and DLA (at any rate at all, care or mobility) then you should have been getting the Disability Premium, which gives an IS rate of £81.95 in total. If you told them you were getting DLA, they should pay you arrears for this.

To get the Severe Disability Premium (about £45 on top) you need to be getting DLA Care at middle or higher rate, no-one can be claiming Carers Allowance for you and you must live alone (or satisfy further conditions).

hth

TOBRUK

Thank you real1314,

real1314 wrote: »

If you've been getting Income Support and DLA (at any rate at all, care or mobility) then you should have been getting the Disability Premium, which gives an IS rate of £81.95 in total. If you told them you were getting DLA, they should pay you arrears for this.

I suppose I should check this, but they have never stated that I get Disability Premium - all the information I have had in the entitlement letters with the amounts this has never been written down and I have never been able to tell what exactly I get as that is all they put down is Income support, which includes any Incapacity Benefit that you may be entitled to.

To get the Severe Disability Premium (about £45 on top) you need to be getting DLA Care at middle or higher rate, no-one can be claiming Carers Allowance for you and you must live alone (or satisfy further conditions).

hth

Well, I am getting DLA Care at middle rate, I do live alone and no-one is claiming Carers Allowance for me. I take it that it means I am entitled to this premium then?

loopychicken

i recieve the disability prmium as ive been unable to work due to an illness for 12 months over

its an extra 26 pound an a few pence
claim now tho as u may not get it back dated

TOBRUK

I've been unable to work for over 7 years - I doubt if they would backdate it!

suelees1

If you live alone and no-one is claiming Carers Allowance for you then you will be entitled to the severe disability premium in your income support. It's worth an additional £46.75 pw (if I remember the pence bit correctly). you should get this automatically backdated to the date your DLA was increased to the middle rate of the care component as long as you were receiving Income Support at the time.

DLA at even the low rate means an automatic entitlement to the disability premium so I'm sure you will have been getting this. If you're not sure I would ask the DWP for a breakdown of your benefit.

As an example, if you live alone your applicable amount (the amount the law says you need to live on) is £57.45 personal allowance + £24.50 disability premium + £46.75 severe disability premium = £128.70 pw. If you get IB then this is subtracted from this amount but in total you would still have the £128.70. Your DLA is paid in addition to this.

TOBRUK

Thank you Suelees, so you get the disability premium and severe disability premium? The severe disability premium is not in place of the disability premium - what I mean is if before 57.45 personal allowance + £24.50 disability premium
and now 57.45 personal allowance + £46.75 severe disability premium? You say it is all three?

I may have been getting the disability premium but it was never stated in the entitlement letters sent with the breakdown. There was a total figure next to income support, no figure next to incapacity benefit, but written in was ... this includes any incapacity benefit you may be entitled to - this is why it has confused me about what exactly I was getting.

A few years ago I was receiving incapacity support, but then had a letter saying that I was on income support and any IB I may be entitled to - very very confusing. I was .pleased mind because I was on so much medication and wasn't getting prescriptions back then!

Morglin

The DWP are trying to join it all up a little with entitlements.

You should get it backdated to when your DLA went up.

Lin

TOBRUK

As I wasn't sure how they had worked out the amount of benefit I was receiving, I looked up the benefit rates to see if I could work out what I was receiving. When adding up income support + disability premium, it adds up exactly to the amount I receive (nothing else there adds up) every week.

As some of you have said that I will get Severe Disability Premium backdated from when my DLA went up, this was from and including 7/02/07. You say it is done automatically so I won't have to ask them about it ... well I shall find out once they sort it out! I only received their letter yesterday which was posted back same day, they will probably take a while before I hear back.

Thank you everyone for helping me work things out.