Help regarding historic SDP payments.

[Babynoahsmum]

Looking for some advice on where to go next please if anyone has any expertise in this field.

Basically my mum has been in receipt of esa/pip since 2009, during the entirety of this period she has lived alone. We recently became aware of the severe disability premium and also realised she has never received it although for the most part been entitled (except about 2 years when carers allowance was claimed)

We contacted Esa and they confirmed she was entitled and have now added it onto her claim, we requested backdating as she never even knew the benefit existed and as far as we are aware its not something which she would be expected to make a claim for and should be added automatically if entitled.

They worked out the entitlement to backdating and confirmed over the phone the figure was in excess of 17,000, they informed us it needed to be passed onto a different department to check the figures were correct as it was such a large sum.

Fast forward to this week, we contacted them again as we hadn't heard anything else, the gentleman on the phone whilst perplexed at the decision informed us that they wouldn't be backdating the SDP claim at all. He promised to send out the paperwork and I have included what we have received.

The paperwork reads very much like the decision maker doesn't have a clue what they are doing, but the basis of the rejection is down to them claiming they were never informed that her daughter moved out. Obviously remembering so far back is difficult especially more so because it was a hard time for my mum, she had been diagnosed with a rare neurological condition whilst at the same time having to deal with my sisters mental health issues, which ultimately ended with my sister going into care at 17. My mum would of most defiantly informed esa of the change of circumstances but we have no idea how we could prove it, but she'll have had to cancel tax credits and child benefit at the same time and informed housing benefit but not even sure if they keep records so far back.

They also claim they sent her out a letter in 2010 confirming she could be entitled to SDP and inviting her to apply but none of us can remember receiving this letter, and why on earth would he not have applied if she had received this letter!.

We are desperate to fight this but with limited knowledge of the system we are not sure how we go about it, during a phone call we were told we could apply for a mandatory reconsideration but the letters don't invite us to do so, so not sure how we would go about starting that.

Please if anyone has any expertise they could share with us and help her to get what she should have been getting all these years.

Regards

[Babynoahsmum]

heres the letters we received

[Wylderose]

Hi There

To be entitled to the Severe Disability Premium, your mother would have had to meet the following criteria.

- The Daily Living component would have had to be in payment or
- The middle or high rate of DLA care
- There must be no Non-dependants resident in the household unless they are severely sight impaired/blind
- No-one must be receiving carer's allowance for looking after her.

If your mum had a partner or a non-dependant who was in receipt of the enhanced rate of the daily living component of PIP or the high rate of DLA care, then she would still be entitled to receive the SDP.

The criteria for eligibility is quite strict

********

DWP invite a claim for SDP in 2010 - Why - what had changed that they thought she would qualify?
- There is no automatic entitlement to SDP. Your mum would have had to confirm her circumstances - living alone etc.
- Where was your sister living in 2010? Was she on ESA/ DLA High Care or PIP Care Enhanced? If yes, then this may be why the DWP wrote to her
- When did your sister move out?

If your mum did not respond to the invitation to claim SDP, the DWP would not add it automatically as they would not have confirmation of your mum's circumstances.

Backdating has been refused on the basis that the change in circumstances (your sister moving out) is a late notified beneficial change. In all cases, claimants are expected to notify changes in circumstances within one calendar month of the change taking place in order to have the change apply from the date that it occurred.

If the change is a beneficial one (awards more benefit), then if the DWP are not notified in time, they will only apply the change from the date that they were told about it. Tax Credits and Child Benefit changes will not really help you. They are under no obligation to inform the DWP of your mum's change in circumstances, that is her responsibility.

*********

Mandatory Reconsideration. This needs to be submitted in writing within one month of the DWP's decision not to backdate your mum's SDP (one month of the date of the decision letter)

The only possible area where the DWP may have made an error would be around when your sister moved out. Your sister would have been included as part of your mum ESA claim. So once your sister moved out, into her own address, if she was on DWP benefits and notified them of her Change of Address, then the DWP would have had to remove her from your mum's ESA claim and end her as a Dependant as part of the claim cleansing process If they did not do so, then it could possiibly be DWP error. Only in a case of DWP error, will they revise their decision not to award the backdate.

Good luck

[Babynoahsmum]

Hi thanks for responding sister moved out at 17 in 2010 into a homeless hostel and straight away began receiving her own benefit (she thinks it was income support) I’m guessing this is around the time dwp sent out the letter inviting her to claim but she never received this and no other letters regarding sdp were ever received. She met the full criteria for sdp for the majority of the time since 2010 apart from about 2 years when I was her carer. We believe she must have contacted them regarding my sister moving out but unsure how we could prove this.

[Wylderose]

First step is to submit the mandatory reconsideration alluding to the fact that when your sister moved out she should have been removed from your mother's ESA claim and that as no other adults were resident and no-one was receiving carer's allowance for your mother, she should have been awarded SDP

One of two things will happen.
- The mandatory recon will be looked at, agreed and SDP awarded retrospectively
- The mandatory recon will fail and be refused - Your mother will be given appeal rights

Bear in mind that if the SDP is awarded £17K is a lot of money and if your mother is on housing benefit, you will need to check how this "Capital" will be dealt with - would it be disregarded as entitlement that she should have had and or will it be deemed "Capital" for the purposes of her claim. If deemed as Capital for her claim, then your mother would have no housing benefit entitlement until such time as the capital is below £10K

If the Mandatory Recon fails, then you will be able to file an appeal which will be heard at a tribunal hearing. This can be a lengthy process but it will give you time to gain access to via Subject Access Request to the notes and transcripts of phone calls relating to your mother's claim with DWP to establish whether in fact there was actually a phone call made by her notifying of your sister moving out and/or whether or not the DWP did actually send an Invitation to claim SDP

[Babynoahsmum]

Okay thanks, the two letters posted above are the only letters we have received regarding them refusing the back pay. As you can see neither appear to offer the option of a mr. Any idea to which address we need to send the Mr to?

[Wylderose]

The Mandatory reconsideration request goes to the same address that is at the top of the letter.

Point to note is that your sister would have a National Insurance Number. This is unique to each individual and can be matched to various claims made by parents for other benefits. DWP only issue the individual with that national insurance number when they get to 16.

If your sister moved out of mum's house into homeless accommodation and claimed Income support, she most definitely would have had a housing benefit claim for which she would have provided her national insurance number. In order for her to claim Income support, she would also have had to provide her previous address. All of this goes towards the verification of a claim. Your mother's tax credits and child benefits would have to cease as from the date that your sister claimed IS as she would be considered to be a Non-dependent, even though she was only 17 and not 18. If your mum was on Housing Benefit, then she would have had to notify them too, so there would be a date on your mum's benefits claim for when your sister was ended in the household. This would give you a starting point for when the changes should have taken place.

In the DWP system people have relationship links, and your sister would have been ended on your mother's relationship link because no National Insurance Number and benefit claimed can exist at two different addresses at any one time.

What I am saying is that when your sister claimed Income support, a DWP operative would have input her NINO into the system which would show her name, date of birth and the address at which she was registered. So with a different address, they would have had to end her on your mother's claim in order to change her address and process her Income support. If they did not end her on your mother's ESA claim, knowing full well that she was resident elsewhere, then it could be Official error. If you can remember exactly when your sister moved out you would also have a date from which to work in order to say - we notified you of the change .

I would hazard a guess that DWP records do not go back that far because of the requirement to remove records under GDPR that are of a certain age. Our records system in Benefits do not go back further than 2011 because there is no reason to hold records on someone that are so old.

[Babynoahsmum]

Mandatory reconsideration has been rejected they’ve upheld their original decision.

The letters at at my mums so can’t post it right now but it claims basically the same about how they sent her a letter out in 2011 inviting her to claim and that they were never informed her daughter moved out.

we are sure she never received such letter and must have informed them of the change of circumstances at the time but obviously we can’t prove this.

where can we go from here? Appeal?

My sister was 17 when she moved out, would she have been classed as a dependant still? Because if she were then shouldn’t have sdp been on even before she moved out?

Is it even worth appealing? Feels so unfair that she’s missed out on all this money all these years because of something they can just say she never did 10 years ago

[Wylderose]

If your sister moved out in 2010 at age 17, then she would have been 18 in 2011. If DWP state that they sent her an invitation to claim SDP in 2011, then someone at DWP is telling porkies, because if your sister had already moved out and had her own claim for IS at a different address, then they would be aware that your mum was living on her own and had no carer.

Appeal? - Does the MR letter give your mum late appeal rights? If it does, then you have nothing to lose by getting Citizens Advice to help you draft an appeal. It will either be accepted or rejected before hearing, but you have to have a very good reason for a late appeal. Bear in mind that 8 years have gone by and the normal right to appeal expires after one year.

Your sister would not be a dependent because she was no longer in education and no Child Benefit was in pay. Although a child is normally a dependent until they reach 18, the fact that Child Benefit stops because they start to work, or claim benefits means that even if they are only 16, the can be considered to be a Non-dependent. She would not have been legally old enough to have a responsibility for council tax or legally responsible for signing a tenancy agreement, but because she was claiming a benefit in her own right and child benefit was out of payment, she was a non-dependent young adult.

Is it even worth appealing? Feels so unfair that she’s missed out on all this money all these years because of something they can just say she never did 10 years ago

This is something you have to consider carefully. I agree that she may have missed out on possibly a lot of money, but if you do take this to appeal and you win, and your mum is awarded a sizeable sum of money, it may be viewed by the DWP as capital and as a result may change her ESA award from Income related which passports her housing benefit and council tax to Contributions based in which case every penny she has counts as income on her claim. She may even lose her entitlement to benefits altogether because she would be deemed to hold sufficient capital to take her out of entitlement.

You need to speak to Citizens Advice about how to proceed with this.