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SDA stopped , no reason given !!!!!
My cl aged 81 has been getting SDA for many year, it stopped in August 2022 with no reason given, she just saw her bank statement has no got SDA being paid , she has claimed a SRP although she has minimal contributions , no other changes of circumstances other than she moved house recently. husband has had no change to his circumstances either, they have too much income for PC. Any ideas please
SDA and state pension overlap. If the pension is higher than the SDA then the SDA would end. Do you know how much pension they’ll be getting?
SDA and state pension overlap. If the pension is higher than the SDA then the SDA would end. Do you know how much pension they’ll be getting?
Gemap, she only claimed srp after sda ended, she was given sda by a very generous dwp officer years ago as she had a tiny srp, I would have preferred to find out why sda ended before she claimed srp but unfortunately that is past praying for now, it will be a very small srp I think, the question is why did sdp stop, I can find no reason so far.
Have you asked the DWP why it stopped?
Client has asked dwp but just told SDP no longer exists, obviously some reason for the decision but client unable to get an answer, we have spent 2 hours so far trying to speak to dwp but no success, hoped someone here might have an idea what may have happened !!!!!
Just to be clear as your acronyms keep changing between SDA and SDP. Are you talking about Severe Disablement Allowance?
The Severe Disability Premium is called Severe Disability Addition in Pension Credit.
Severe Disablement Allowance should continue unless there’s a relevant change of circumstances, presumably something has happened to her Constant Attendance Allowance?
severe disablement allowances, she does not get constant AA
severe disablement allowances, she does not get constant AA
Sorry, I’m with you now. I was confused there!
As she reached pension age by the relevant date – 6 April 2014 – her SDA is protected by transitional provisions provided she continues to meet the essential qualifying criteria.
If there’s been no change in circs it sounds like an administrative error. I would write to them to request a revision if advantageous.
Maybe one for the escalation routes?
P.S. it occurs to me if she’s deferred even a small State Pension for all these years could she now be entitled to something far exceeding earlier entitlement? I’ve not checked the rules on how this could apply to her but could you request a forecast?
Sorry, appreciate now these may not be the thoughts you were hoping for!
[ Edited: 6 Oct 2022 at 05:16 pm by Greg ]If she has no Cat A or B SRP, or only a tiny amount, she would almost certainly become entitled to Cat D SRP at age 80. It overlaps with SDA, so I wonder whether SDA has been suspended in anticipation of her getting Cat D pension? Rate is about the same I think
If she has no Cat A or B SRP, or only a tiny amount, she would almost certainly become entitled to Cat D SRP at age 80. It overlaps with SDA, so I wonder whether SDA has been suspended in anticipation of her getting Cat D pension? Rate is about the same I think
Yes. Category D rate is £85.00. This would actually overlap with the current small entitlement to Cat A she may have. Any additional pension entitlement (SERPS as was) would be paid on top on the Cat D entitlement I think. The Cat D award may not even completely wipe out her SDA entitlement (currently paid at £96.30 with the highest age addition?). An SDA top-up would still then have to be paid.
There is a ‘hierarchy’ of benefits, so the DWP will require her to claim State Pension, as she has had an entitlement since age 80, in preference to SDA. I find that slightly odd because both Cat D and SDA are non-contributory benefits but State Pension takes precedence.
The DWP should have invited her to claim Cat D at age 80 and this may have happened and she ignored the request. It would however seem a bit brutal to suspend her SDA as a method of ‘persuading’ her to claim Cat D as it actually may make no difference to her total income and is often really just accountancy on the part of the DWP to get her benefits paid from the ‘correct’ pot. Perhaps a DWP visiting officer could go and help her complete the very short claim form for CAT D. I have had a look and could not find a copy of this form on the internet. It seems like the DWP want to control this process themselves.
I presume she does not have any entitlement to Pension Credit Guarantee as this would probably make the whole exercise fairly pointless anyway.
thank you all , very help information, I did get through tp ESA dept, but the operator knew nothing about SDA and was in effect useless, other than to offer to send an email to the payment dept to ask why SDA had stopped,
The car D pension stuff was something I had missed and that sounds like a possible reason for this SDA stopping, cl is very switched on and says she has had no letters form DWP, she has asked for a SRP claim pack and if no news from DWP will put in a claim I will read up on cat D pensions so that I can properly advise her. She is above PC as her husband has pensions. Took over an hour for ESA to answer the phone and then their response was , ” sorry never heard of SDA , can’t help you “
Hello all responders, just had a call from my client, within an hour of me speaking to DWP £700 was paid into client bank and SDA reinstated, it was an admin error, BUT the info on over 80s pension and getting a SRP forecast is very useful and we will be pursuing that to make sure client gets the max available income.
Many Thanks
Just a really small technical point. She would not, I think, be able to get a forecast. You can only get a forecast if you are under pension age I believe. The DWP will not give you a forecast if you have deferred claiming your pension. Someone at the DWP might be able to tell you what your entitlement actually is but that isn’t quite the same as requesting a forecast in the usual way.