Incapacity Benefit

If you cannot work due to illness or disability, you may be able to get Incapacity Benefit (IB). You must have paid enough National Insurance contributions, and your Statutory Sick Pay must have ended or you are unable to get it.

If you are under State Retirement Pension age, and get an occupational, personal or public service pension, your IB may be reduced, but any other income or savings will not affect your benefit.

There are two tests for incapacity. For the first 28 weeks (if you have been working recently) you will have to pass the Own Occupation Test, which looks at your ability to do your usual work. The test is based on medical certificates provided by your doctor. After 28 weeks, or if you have not been working recently, you will have to pass the Personal Capability Assessment, which assesses your ability to do any work.

There are three different rates of IB:

• For the first 28 weeks of being unable to work you can claim short-term IB (lower rate – £63.75 per week), or you may get Statutory Sick Pay from your employer.
• After 28 weeks you claim short-term IB (higher rate – £75.40 per week).
• After 52 weeks you claim long-term IB (£84.50 per week).

You can’t claim IB after reaching pension age. However, if you are already receiving short-term IB when you reach pension age you can keep getting it at a special rate for up to a year if:

• your incapacity started before you reached pension age; and 
• you have deferred your basic pension or Married Woman’s Pension.

You cannot get long-term IB after pension age. You cannot get any IB in addition to your State Retirement Pension.

The rules for IB are too complicated to cover in detail here. If you are unable to work because of illness you should seek advice from SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland) or a local Citizens Advice Bureau.

How to claim: you need to call a Jobcentre Plus contact centre. You can get this number from your local Jobcentre Plus office. The contact centre will go through the claim form (SC1) with you over the phone and send a copy for you to sign and return. If you find it difficult to use the phone, you can ask for a claim form to be sent to you instead. You can also claim online at www.dwp.gov.uk/eservice  In addition to form SC1, if you have been in employment you must also fill in form SSP1, which you get from your employer, whether or not you have been receiving Statutory Sick Pay.

From October/November 2008 Incapacity Benefit will be replaced by Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). However, this will initially only affect new claimants. Anyone claiming Incapacity Benefit at the time that ESA is introduced will not be transferred on to the new scheme until April 2010. At the time that this leaflet was written there was no information available on how or whether benefit rates would be affected by this. Your local benefits office should be in contact with you about these changes.

Working Tax Credit

If you are working for at least 16 hours a week you may qualify for Working Tax Credit (WTC) from HM Revenue & Customs to top up your earnings. We do not go into the rules here but you can find out more from your local Citizens Advice Bureau or call the Tax Credits helpline on 0845 300 3900 (textphone 0845 300 3909). You can apply for WTC by filling in form TC600. Call the Tax Credits helpline to request a form.

If you have dependent children living with you, you may be entitled to Child Tax Credit. Call the Tax Credits helpline for more information.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

If you are injured at work or develop a disease because of your work, you may get Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. The amount depends on the degree of your disability and ranges from £27.36 to £136.80 a week.

You have to be assessed at least 14 per cent disabled to receive any benefit, except in the case of a few specific diseases. There is no age limit to claiming disablement benefit. Industrial Injuries Benefits are tax-free.

If you cannot do your usual job or other work with similar pay because of your accident or disease, you may be able to claim Reduced Earnings Allowance. Your accident or disease must have happened or developed before 1 October 1990. You must also be assessed as being at least one per cent disabled. You must be under pension age to get it and the maximum payment is £54.72 a week. Once you are over pension age (unless you are still in ‘regular employment’) you will be transferred to Retirement Allowance, providing you Reduced Earnings Allowance is £2 or more. The maximum payment is £13.68 a week.

If your disablement arose due to work entirely before 5 July 1948, you will have to claim under a different scheme which applies only to a limited list of industrial diseases. You need to contact the Pneumoconiosis and Workmen’s Compensation scheme.

If you were a coal miner and developed chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or vibration white finger, you may be able to claim compensation from the Government. If you claimed for pneumoconiosis in the past but were told by the benefits office that you did not have the disease, ask them to have a look at your claim again. Its decision may have been wrong and you may get back-dated benefit or compensation. For more advice, get in touch with your trade union or Citizens Advice Bureau.

How to claim: Contact your local Jobcentre Plus or benefits office. You can also call the Benefits Enquiry Line.

War Pensions

If you served in the Armed Forces or nursing and auxiliary services before 6 April 2005, you may be entitled to a pension for a disability or illness linked to that service, whether caused by enemy action, by injury or by disease. If your disability or illness came about after 6 April 2005, you need to claim under The Armed Forces Compensation scheme, which has now replaced the War Pensions scheme. The Armed Forces Compensation scheme is different from the War Pensions Scheme because it is intended to compensate members of the Armed Forces who have developed an illness or a disability, or died, as a result of service in the Armed Forces. The War Pensions scheme remains in place for people with existing awards before 6 April 2005.

If your hearing was damaged, you may find it very difficult to get a War Pension. If you are in this situation get advice from the Royal British Legion (its contact details are at the end of this section). You could also contact RNID and ask for a copy of its factsheet, War pensions and priority health treatment for veterans.
 
Apart from people in the Armed Forces, there are five other groups which may be able to claim a War Disablement Pension under The War Pensions scheme. To find out more details of these, contact the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency. Its contact details are listed below.

The amount of War Pension you get depends on how severe your disability is; it is assessed on a percentage basis. People who are less than 20 per cent disabled normally get a lump sum. People who are assessed as over 20 per cent get paid a weekly pension. There are also a number of extra allowances and you may be able to get help with medical treatment and care. If your claim is because of a hearing loss, you need to be assessed as having at least a 20 per cent loss. To get 20 per cent, your average hearing loss must be 50 decibels (dB) or more in each ear. War Pensions are tax-free but they can affect other benefits. If your husband or wife died as a result of their service you may be able to get a War Widow(er)’s Pension.

How to claim

Write to: 

Service Personnel and Veterans Agency
Thornton Cleveleys
FY5 3WP

Quote your full name and National Insurance number or call the Veterans Helpline on 0800 169 2277 (textphone 0800 169 3458). Its website is www.veterans-uk.info  If your claim is refused, there is a right of appeal. The Royal British Legion will help you with a claim or appeal if you have a service connection. You can contact it at: 48 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JY. Tel: 0845 772 5725; web: www.britishlegion.org.uk