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

suelees1

When I say automatically receive it, sorry this was a bit misleading. The DWP first have to know your status as I mentioned, ie your are paid the middle or higher rate of DLA care component, there are no other adults living with you and no-one is being paid Carers Allowance for looking after you. They'll see this from the recent form you submitted. You will be entitled to the sdp as long as this is the case and it will be paid from date of DLA MRC and it is paid in addition to the dp.

TOBRUK

suelees1 wrote: »

You will be entitled to the sdp as long as this is the case and it will be paid from date of DLA MRC and it is paid in addition to the dp.

I am sorry if I seem a bit thick, but what is MRC?

my status is I am paid the middle rate of DLA care component (as from and including 7/2/07), there are no other adults living with me and no-one is being paid Carers Allowance for looking after me. The letter I received yesterday wanted me to answer these questions - ticking the appropriate boxes, signing and returning this information.

babyboo42

MRC is the middle rate care allowance of DLA.Yes it will be backdated to the date of the MRC award and yes it is paid in addition to the other disability premium.
When I worked for the DWP I always complained that the entitlement letters were not always clear.Paying benefits together is meant to clarify things but seldom does.
make sure you get that form back asap then enjoy the little extra

TOBRUK

Thanks babyboo42, the form has been sent back so we'll see how it goes and how long they take to sort it out, mind you, I wouldn't have known that I was entitled to it if they hadn't said. The extra will help a great deal although I would rather be well again and be able to earn it! To be honest I really don't like the title 'Severe Disability' it makes me sound like a right off!

suelees1

Sorry Tobruk. I work in welfare rights and forget not to use jargon. glad to see Babyboo answered your questions

welshcakes

Just a quickie if I can slightly 'hijack' TOBRUK's enquiry, my partner (we live together) gets higher rate DLA both components and I had to give up work about a year ago when his condition deteriorated.

I hate being on IS but if I went back to work, he would have to go into a care home and neither of us (or the children) could bear to have our family torn apart. I am part of his IS claim and also get the usual CTC for our kids.

He gets the disability premium added to his IS. Is it worth me applying for Carer's Allowance or would it just be added in one calculation only to be removed from another ie no better or worse off? If it's only going to make the difference of a couple of pence a week, I'd rather not clog up the benefits system with any more paperwork

suelees1

Welshcakes you should claim Carers Allowance straightaway before you lose out on any more money. You're right that the amount of this benefit will be taken off your Income Support BUT you will get the carers premium added to your Income Support. Basically what it means is you will be better off by the carers premium of £26+ pw. CA and therefore the carers premium is usually backdated 3 months or back to the date of DLA decision whichever is the most recent. Your husbands disability premium will not be affected. You used to be able to claim online but I'm not sure if you still can.

welshcakes

Thanks for that sue, it's such a tangle (like the budget) trying to work out what goes on what side of the scales.

I was worried there would be some sort of 'stealth' deduction because somewhere in my head I thought I read CA is considered income and therefore it simply gets knocked off your CTC.

TOBRUK

Today I received a letter 'About your Income Support' where there was nothing regarding any change, but it was dated 22nd March and that was before I received the letter stating they thought I was entitled to more. I sent the letter/form back on 24th March (same day I received the letter) and so I expect they have not dealt with that yet.

I shall wait a while to see if they send me another of these - on this one it does not include Severe Disabled allowance. They obviously have not waited for the return of the letter before sending this out to me. Do you think they will deal with this soon?

suelees1

Shouldn't be long. They don't rush these things as you know.