ESA Special Disability Premium and UC

leamingtonspaceman

Hi.

Bit of a complex one.

I get Legacy Income Based ESA (support group) and full PIP. I was getting the Special Disability Premium top-up of ESA.

I moved in with my wife on 15th March and informed DWP and as expected the SDP was stopped and it became a joint claim.

We've now made our claim for migration to UC as we received a letter telling us to do so.

My wife gets new style contribution based ESA (support group). She made a claim for PIP that is going to tribunal.

My question is this:

1. I know that the SDP is protected under UC if you were receiving it at the time you made a claim for UC. I stopped getting the SDE on 15th March but if my wife's PIP tribunal is successful she will have that backdated to October 2024. This would then mean my SDE would be reinstated to 15th March 2025. Our joint UC claim will begin on 1st May 2025. So if my SDE is reinstated from 15th March 2025, I will effectively have been in receipt of it when we made our UC claim on 1st May. So will I have the SDE reinstated and have it included in our UC as a top-up? I spoke to the DWP on the phone about this just now and the person said it would be up to my work coach, but to me it seems that I should have the SDE reinstated if my wife's PIP tribunal is successful. It shouldn't come down to someone's 'interpretation' of the situation.

I hope someone can advise.

Many thanks in advance.

Newcad

You can't have a 'Joint Claim' for ESA, it's in one persons name with a 'partner'.
As your Wife is now now getting NS ESA after migration to UC then we have to assume that the ESA was in her name with you as the partner.

As I read what you say then:
If your wife gets a PIP bakdated to before you moved in together then because you were both entitled to PIP your Severe Disability Premium (SDP) can also be reinstated and backpaid from 15th March when it ended until 1st May when you claimed UC.
You would have to contact ESA about that.
That then means that you had an entitlement to SDP when you migrated  and UC should be informed of that change and asked to look again at the Transitional Element due when you claimed.

Neither of those, one with ESA and one with UC, is an easy process and you are going to need help with them so I suggest that if you don't already have an advisor you contact an advice centre local to you for their help.
To find local advisors put your postcode in here & choose 'Welfare Advice': https://advicelocal.uk/
(I'm guessing that you probably do already have an advisor as your wife is going to tribunal, and some of what you say also sounds like something you have already been told by a benefits advisor).

leamingtonspaceman

Newcad said:

You can't have a 'Joint Claim' for ESA, it's in one persons name with a 'partner'.
As your Wife is now now getting NS ESA after migration to UC then we have to assume that the ESA was in her name with you as the partner.

As I read what you say then:
If your wife gets a PIP bakdated to before you moved in together then because you were both entitled to PIP your Severe Disability Premium (SDP) can also be reinstated and backpaid from 15th March when it ended until 1st May when you claimed UC.
You would have to contact ESA about that.
That then means that you had an entitlement to SDP when you migrated  and UC should be informed of that change and asked to look again at the Transitional Element due when you claimed.

Neither of those, one with ESA and one with UC, is an easy process and you are going to need help with them so I suggest that if you don't already have an advisor you contact an advice centre local to you for their help.
To find local advisors put your postcode in here & choose 'Welfare Advice': https://advicelocal.uk/
(I'm guessing that you probably do already have an advisor as your wife is going to tribunal, and some of what you say also sounds like something you have already been told by a benefits advisor).

Thanks for this, greatly appreciated.

I'm pretty sure our ESA claim is a joint one. I had a huge form to fill in a couple of weeks ago regarding that. The form was sent to me. In the UC application that we did online today, I was the main claimant and my wife had to be linked to the claim with a code.

When you say it isn't easy to get the SDP reinstated and thus receive the transitional element as part of the UC claim, in what way is it difficult?

It seems straightforward and as you've stated, I should get that transitional element.

If and when it happens, do I not just need to write a letter to UC explaining the situation with all of the dates etc? It seems as if it's not something that someone has to make a judgement on.

When you say it wouldn't be easy, are you meaning from the perspective that shortcomings in DWP administration might make it tricky?

Once again, thank you for your valuable input.

Newcad

Yes you would think it should be easy - many people's experience say that it never is.

To start with here:

SDP is an IR ESA premium.

However you no longer have an active IR ESA claim, your wife has a New Style ESA award - New Style ESA staff know nothing about IR ESA premiums and nothing about your own old ESA award. So who are you going to talk to ESA about getting the SDP reinstated to your old claim for a period that has now passed?

PS. That would be a 'Closed Period Supersession' Do you know that legal term and what it means? A benefits advisor knows what it means.

I could go on but I'm sure you get the idea.

These things depend on legal stuff and so need specialist knowledge to challenge sucessfully. Not a lawyer (in most cases) but an advisor who knows benefit laws. If you try to do it on your own without that knowledge then you may well fail.

8dayweek

Absolutely no point in speaking to a Work Coach about this, at the moment it’s all hypothetical. 

Once the appeal is heard, if your Partner is successful and their PIP is resisted, contact ESA and ask them to review your previous income-related ESA claim to add the joint Severe Disability Premium. 

Once ESA have done this, and paid any arrears, contact UC and request a revision of your entitlement to SDP Transitional Protection in light of your newly revised ESA award. 

leamingtonspaceman

8dayweek said:

Absolutely no point in speaking to a Work Coach about this, at the moment it’s all hypothetical. 

Once the appeal is heard, if your Partner is successful and their PIP is resisted, contact ESA and ask them to review your previous income-related ESA claim to add the joint Severe Disability Premium. 

Once ESA have done this, and paid any arrears, contact UC and request a revision of your entitlement to SDP Transitional Protection in light of your newly revised ESA award. 

Yes, this seems the sensible thing to do and seems straightforward and how the system should work.

I'm surprised that there are legal ramifications regarding this as it seems like a straightforward entitlement that's enshrined into the system. It almost seems as if the issue is DWP incompetence in administering the correct rules, not whether or not entitlement is or isn't due?

Newcad

I wouldn't go as far as incompetence. I tend to say that it's poor, inadequate, training.

Even very competent people only know what their training has told them.
(Unless they have time to look the law/rules up for themselves, and DWP staff are kept busy doing other things).

Welfare/Benefits advisers are also swamped with work - but they still do check things, and look things up.
(And TBH  they often have better training and more expirence that most DWP staff).