I have a client aged 16 who is in receipt of Incapacity benefit. She goes to a special school. Her claim for income support has been turned down because she is not severely handicapped. Commissioners File CIS/632/199 is being used to support this claim. I can't find a definitive definition of severely handicapped and I have never had someone on Incapacity benefit turned down for income support. Can anyone help?

as IB is £55.90 a week this is more than the threshold of IS at £44.05 a week. in order to get IS your client needs to be claiming DLA this then adds a disability premium of £23.70

Personal allowance £44.05
Plus disability premium £23.70
Total applicable amount £67.75
Your applicable amount is the minimum amount the Government says you need to live on. If you get Incapacity Benefit, then your Income Support is reduced by the amount of Incapacity Benefit you get. DLA is disregarded and does not reduce your Income Support. In certain cases it can increase your Income Support. Contact the NDCS Freephone helpline 0808 800 8880 for details of your nearest regional member of staff.

Calculation of Incapacity Benefit and Income Support
Example: 2
If you get £55.90 Incapacity Benefit the calculation is as follows
Total Applicable amount from example 1 £67.75
Minus income (Incapacity Benefit) £55.90
Income Support payable £11.85

Can i just point out to you that the personal allowance for a 16 year old is £33.50 per week. It is only the higher £44.05 if the client qualifies for the disability premium.

My client is on low DLA care and mobility so would be entitled to a disability premium

I've never had a case like this turned down either.

Presumably your Decision Maker is getting hung up on the exclusion from IS for full-time students under 19 unless they are 'severely mentally or physically disabled and their disability means that they would be unlikely to find work within a year if they were to leave school now and sign on for work'.

If your client gets IB then she must satisfy the Personal Capabilities Assessment, which in turn must surely mean that she is unlikely to find work. She goes to a special school which must mean that she has a statement of educational needs which, again, is an indicator of the unlikelihood of her finding work. Presumably she also gets DLA.

I haven't come across a definitive definition of 'severely disabled' (please try not to use the word handicapped, people find it offensive), and I'm not convinced that one exists. I think that you will have to rely on the argument that the Secretary of State considers your client to be incapable of work for the purposes of receiving IB, and therefore must take that incapability into account when considering her IS claim.

I'd be very interested in hearing the outcome. I hope other DMs don't start getting their knickers in a twist over this issue!

Thanks that is exactly the conclusion I had come to. The Tribunal is on Friday so will keep you posted.

Gill