Severe Disabilty Premium

[rumpole2018]

I live with my mother after my father died.
I get DLA, Middle Rate Care, and Bottom Rate Mobility.
My mother gets high rate Attendance Allowance and Pension Credit and a private pension and a state Pension.
So, my mother used to be my carer, but Citizens Advice Bureau advised me to apply for Severe Disability Premium instead because my mother only got underlying entitlement to Carers Allowance.
So, my mothers care allowance was canceled. I applied for SDP and was advised by the DWP that I am entitled to SDP, because even though I live with my mother, we are classed as living alone. Because that is one of the conditions of SDP.
Beause my mother gets Attendance Allowance, the Pension Credit people advised that my mother is entitled to SDP , but she would not get any SDP because she had to much money coming in.
My mother gets:

Pension Credit: £25.57 per week
State Pension: £183.30 per week
Private Pension: £84.32
Attendance Allowance: £101.74 per week

So, can anyone explain why she does not get SDP money?
Or explain the reasons or calculation used?
Thanking you in advance.
Paul.

[DE DOGS]

there is a site that deals with these problems, google help for this.

[rumpole2018]

I have already trued numerous websites, but I have not found the information that I require. Hence my post here. Which site was you refering to?

[DE DOGS]

there is a site that deals with these problems, google help for this.

Facebook. They have assistance members to help with PPI etc.

[Wylderose]

I live with my mother after my father died.
I get DLA, Middle Rate Care, and Bottom Rate Mobility.
My mother gets high rate Attendance Allowance and Pension Credit and a private pension and a state Pension.
So, my mother used to be my carer, but Citizens Advice Bureau advised me to apply for Severe Disability Premium instead because my mother only got underlying entitlement to Carers Allowance.
So, my mothers care allowance was canceled. I applied for SDP and was advised by the DWP that I am entitled to SDP, because even though I live with my mother, we are classed as living alone. Because that is one of the conditions of SDP.
Beause my mother gets Attendance Allowance, the Pension Credit people advised that my mother is entitled to SDP , but she would not get any SDP because she had to much money coming in.
My mother gets:

Pension Credit: £25.57 per week
State Pension: £183.30 per week
Private Pension: £84.32
Attendance Allowance: £101.74 per week

So, can anyone explain why she does not get SDP money?
Or explain the reasons or calculation used?
Thanking you in advance.
Paul.

Good afternoon Rumpole. I will try to give you an explanation of why your mum lost her SDP, however my expertise is Housing Benefit and not Pension Credit, so you would really be best placed by asking Pension Credit for a statement of reasons and a full explanation of why this was lost.

Firstly the amount of State pension you state your mum receives is not in line with the published state pension figures, so I am not sure if she is on a single person's component or if she has a top up based on your father's state pension. I also don't know what component of Pension Credit is in payment, although from the fact that there is a private pension in payment would assume that this is Savings Credit.

I do not know what income you are on, you mention DLA which is usually only paid to dependant disabled children and to pensioners.

You cannot get the full amount of both Carer's Allowance and your State Pension at the same time because State Pension is considered to be an Overlapping Benefit. So, if the weekly value of someone's pension is the same as or higher per week than the value of your Carer's allowance then Carer's Allowance cannot be paid. If the value of the pension is less per week than than the amount of the Carer's allowance then you'll get a Carer's Allowance payment to make up the difference. If carer's allowance cannot be paid but the person is caring for someone, then Underlying entitlement to Carer's Allowance is granted which gives additional premiums within other benefits such as Housing Benefit and Pension Credit if it is claimed.

This is where it gets complicated. Your mum has a Pension Credit claim. Pension credit is assessed in two calculations, one for Guaranteed Credit (passported benefit) and one for Savings Credit (non-passported benefit). The effect of having Underlying entitlement to Carer's allowance would have been that your mum would have been entitled to a raised amount of entitlement to Pension Credit when being assessed for Pension Credit - this is referred to as an appropriate amount. This may mean that at some point in time she would have been entitled to Guaranteed Credits within her Pension Credits claim because the total amount of her State Pension and Private pension combined would have been less than her appropriate amount which would have included a Carer Premium and Severe Disability Premium (awarded due to Attendance Allowance). This would have entitled her to a top up of Pension credit (GC) and would have continued until a relevant change of circumstances occurred.

You claiming SDP and the cancellation of your mum's Underlying entitlement to carer's allowance are just such a change in circumstances. Your mum stopped receiving a Benefit (carer's allowance - albeit only at Underlying entitlement).

When your mums Carer's allowance claim was closed what will have happened is that the Pension credit service would have reassessed your mum's claim to both components of Pension Credit and also reviewed the premiums. The removal of the carer premium in her Pension Credit allowance would have reduced her overall allowance, meaning that more of her income would be taken into account in the two calculations. This may then have taken her into a scenario whereby Guaranteed credit was extinguished because her Pension and Private Pension would have been higher than her allowance, so her Pension Credits would run solely on Savings Credits. This would then change the claim from a Passported to a Non-passported claim. To the best of my knowledge Severe Disability Premiums only apply to passported income, so if the pension service decided that your mum was no longer entitled to Guaranteed credit then the SDP would have ended.

I hope this helps in some way but will re-iterate that I do not specialise in Pension Credit and that you would be best approaching Pension Credit for an explanation.