Esa Premiums....totally confused?

Jummy

Hi!
My sister who lives with me is in the ESA Support Group.
She has now been awarded DLA- Middle Care-Low Mobility.
Is she now entitled to any disability premiums?
Thanks

nannytone_2

as she is in the support group, she automatically receives the enhamced disability premium ( its standard as part of the support group payment)
as she lives with you she will not be able to receive the severe disability premium as it is only payable to people that live alone

mikey_bach

Unless OP you have DLA middle rate care or above as well, if you do then she may still be entitled to SDP

nannytone_2

i alwaya forget the bit about both being disabled

Jummy

Why is the criteria that you have to live alone for SDP?

Robbie64

Jummy wrote: »

Why is the criteria that you have to live alone for SDP?

The criteria is both living alone (with a few exceptions) and no-one receiving Carer's Allowance for looking after the person. SDP was always paid at the same rate as Carer's Allowance (though it has slightly lagged behind in recent years) so was paid in place of Carer's Allowance hence why only one or the other can be paid.

The criteria for qualifying for the Severe Disability Premium was set back in 1988 when Income Support was first introduced. In order to reduce the amount of people who would qualify for the SDP the then Conservative Government decided to set the criteria for qualifying as restrictively as possible. The Government had not intended to have an extra premium for severely disabled people in the new Income Support benefit but had to agree to one to get the Social Security Bill 1986 through the Commons and the Lords. So once the Bill had become the Social Security Act 1986 the Government decided to restrict qualification for the SDP in Income Support to someone in receipt of Attendance Allowance (DLA didn't exist in 1988) and who both lived alone and where no-one received Invalid Care Allowance (now Carer's Allowance). The idea was if someone was living in the same household as the claimant then that person could claim Invalid Care Allowance, unless they were excluded because of how much they earned.