HALF a million people claiming disability benefits face a three-week wait for Universal Credit.
A change to the benefit rules from today means they can be moved onto the newer benefit if their circumstances change.
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There is a wait of five weeks between claiming Universal Credit and receiving the cash.
People claiming the Severe Disability Premium (SDP), which is worth between £66.95 and £133.90 a year, should continue getting their existing benefit for two-weeks after they claim.
But this will leave them with a three-week gap with no support.
The Sun has been calling for the government to scrap the five-week wait for cash as part of our Make Universal Credit Work campaign.
SDP is available to support some of the most severely disabled Brits and tops up older benefits like Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Housing Benefit or Pension Credit.
It’s estimated that around half a million people get SDP.
Why are the disability benefit rules changing?
WE explain why things are different from January 27 2021.
Millions of people are being moved from legacy benefits to the new Universal Credit (UC) welfare system.
The old benefits include Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, and Housing Benefit.
Thousands of people who were claiming legacy benefits and had it topped up by the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) were moved on to Universal Credit.
Universal Credit does not have a disability element and many who got SDP before found they were worse off after they switched.
The High Court ruled this was unlawful.
In response, the DWP put a halt to people switching if they got SDP – the SDP Gateway as it’s know, has been in place since in January 2019.
The DWP also paid thousands of people who had already moved to UC to make up for what they lost.
But another court ruling said that those who had switched to Universal Credit before, and those prevented from switching, could not be treated differently.
So the SDP Gateway – the pause on disabled people moving over to Universal Credit – ends on January 27.
They will now be offered the SDP transitional payment to cover the loss of SDP, but charities say the disabled will still lose out.
People getting SDP can now be migrated from these legacy benefits over to the new welfare system of Universal Credit.
It follows a change to the rules which comes into effect today.
People getting SDP can be moved onto Universal Credit if they have a change in circumstance, such as moving house or having a child.
But charities say they still stand to lose cash.
In addition to waiting for the new benefit to come through, the cash replacing the lost SDP is not ringfenced.
Who gets a Severe Disability Premium?
TO get a Severe Disability Premium (SDP), you have to be getting an income-related benefit.
This could be Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Guarantee Pension Credit, or Housing Benefit.
You also must be getting one of these benefits:
- Attendance Allowance
- Disability Living Allowance care component at the middle or highest rate
- Personal Independence Payment daily living component
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
Single claimants of SDP get £66.95 per week, while a couple gets £133.90 per week.
That means it can go down because of a change to circumstances.
Louise Rubin, head of policy and campaigns at disability equality charity Scope, said: “In this gruelling winter lockdown, when emergency support is desperately needed, many disabled people are instead facing more anxiety and uncertainty over their finances because of this poorly-timed change.
“This change affects people who receive the severe disability premium, a group with some of the highest support needs and extra costs.
On top of facing the five-week wait for Universal Credit, those affected will now be penalised because of changes out of their control such as their rent increasing, or their health deteriorating.
“Disability premiums aren’t a luxury, they help cover the extra costs disabled people face. They should never have been cut out of the welfare system under Universal Credit.
“Many who are shielding at home and facing spiralling energy costs now face the permanent threat of their vital premiums being eroded.
“With disabled people bearing the brunt of the pandemic, financial support is needed now more than ever.
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“The Government must reintroduce disability premiums under Universal Credit and provide an emergency support package for disabled people hit hardest by the pandemic.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “The money from the legacy disability premiums is now more effectively targeted at support for the most severely disabled and when fully rolled out, Universal Credit will be £2 billion per year more generous than the support it replaces.
“Eligible people previously receiving the Severe Disability Premium can get transitional payments worth up to £405 a month.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey asked about govt’s latest stance on Universal Credit
