UK: Disability benefits (UC, ESA and PIP) - news and updates 2024 and 2025
- Thread starter John Mac
- Start date
Kitty
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
As a by-the-by, I just listened to the first part of B&W's day-long presentation on tribunals (I'm on a rest day but my brain's bored and fidgety).
The presentation's long and a bit chatty, but it's very good. Well structured and plenty of learning points. I'd recommend it to anyone who thinks they might need some pointers in future.
The presentation's long and a bit chatty, but it's very good. Well structured and plenty of learning points. I'd recommend it to anyone who thinks they might need some pointers in future.
MrMagoo
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I absolutely can’t wait to get stuck into it probably next month.
JemPD
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Kitty
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
They haven't really said anything, but they do tend to leave resources in place until they're superseded. I suspect it will be left up.
Kitty
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Not specifically about disability benefits, but I've just been surprised by a note on my energy supplier's website suggesting I qualify for this year's Warm Home discount.
The scheme was changed a couple of years back, meaning people in England & Wales could only claim it if they lived a in 'hard to heat' property. Apparently that criterion has been removed for the current year, so anyone who receives IR-ESA, UC, housing benefit or the guarantee element of pension credit should get a £150 discount on their lecky bill. Qualification should be automatic (letters will be sent out to confirm), and the credit will be applied between October and March.
The scheme was changed a couple of years back, meaning people in England & Wales could only claim it if they lived a in 'hard to heat' property. Apparently that criterion has been removed for the current year, so anyone who receives IR-ESA, UC, housing benefit or the guarantee element of pension credit should get a £150 discount on their lecky bill. Qualification should be automatic (letters will be sent out to confirm), and the credit will be applied between October and March.
Kitty
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Yes, particularly the most disabled. Some car models don't require an upfront payment, but if you need a wheelchair-adapted automatic van it starts at about £5,000 (some are up to £20,000). This is for a vehicle you'll never own, and it has to be paid every five years when the lease ends.
If VAT's added, that would be an upfront payment for my very ordinary Peugeot van of £6,000. This is from people who're often on means-tested benefits, who can't even save up their mobility allowance because they're already paying it all to Motability.
The scheme gets more and more unfeasible. At one time there was no upfront payment on some WAVs, and the fee on the more expensive model/more complex adaptations was a lot lower.
MrMagoo
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I get UC but I think I don’t qualify because my place has grade c rated energy efficiency and it has to be lower? Has that been removed now?
Simbindi
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Kitty
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Yeah, I've been in that position for the last two years—I rent a new bungalow that's A-rated, so I'd no chance. But yes, they've changed it in our favour.
Astonishingly.
They're apparently planning further 'improvements' for next year so best make the most of it while we can.
Simbindi
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I don't think the Energy rating applied to pensioners WHD, it applied to the working age income related group,. So you may have received it due to this even if they hadn't changed the system this year. In fact, as I recall, their calculation meant they gave it to all eligible pensioners first, then whatever the size of the 'pot' left over in the scheme went towards the income related group, who were stratified according to things like home size, type and energy efficiency of their home, with the cut off depending on the funds available to divide up. A very complicated and probably expensive process to decide eligibility, the cost obviously also coming out of the 'pot'!
Currently the WHD is funded from everyone's electricity bill anyway. I worked it out in the past and it's something like £20-30 per household bill. So even low income people are paying something towards a scheme that is designed to help them. There is some talk about moving this to be funded by general taxation, but I don't know if that will actually happen.
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About a year ago according to https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/beware-latest-pip-review-form
The new one is much more restricted in the kinds of questions that are asked and what answers you can give, with less scope to accurately describe the impact of a disability like MECFS. So the general advice is to use the 'extra information' boxes as much as possible and add extra pages as needed.
Kitty
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I can't write more than a few words by hand, so answers to pretty much everything except name and address was given as extra sheets.
They don't mind this as long as you give each sheet a number (so next to the question you'd write "See document 7" or whatever), you put your name and NI on each (easily done as a header in a word processor program), and you sign them.
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Thanks everyone. They've texted me to tell me the form is on its way but its not arrived yet so I've been looking at a form online to help prepare. It feels like none of the options to most of the questions fit me so I will definitely make use of extra information boxes and provide other evidence. I've started a document to write down everything I think is important so I have it there when the form does arrive.
Kitty
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Yeah, you have to do a lot of explaining as to how each descriptor fits you. For instance, I had to make it clear I can't walk 20 metres—not because it's physically impossible, but because I can't do it safely due to a history of falling, I can't do it repeatedly because that would trigger PEM that means I might not be able to get a proper meal the next day, and I can't do it as often as I need to because it leaves me in too much pain to do essential activities. Et-flipping-cetera.
Good luck with it, it's not fun. Anyone who says PIP is too easy to get ought to be made to try it on behalf of someone they know to have significant disabilities, and see how well they manage.