no severe disability premium in universal credit?

In answer to parliamentary question -

‘To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether any extra support offered to disabled people in receipt of universal credit will be available to those who (a) live alone and (b) do not have a carer. ‘

Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller said -

‘The Government’s aim for universal credit is to simplify the current complex array of overlapping premiums to ensure that disabled people benefit from improved work incentives as well as supporting those in greatest need. The aim is that universal credit will include additional amounts that correspond to the two components currently payable in employment and support allowance.’

Here’s a link to Hansard -

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110321/text/110321w0004.htm#11032138000064

That is, the WRAG component and the support component.

However, you will not find anything about premiums in the Contributions and Benefits Act for IS, the Jobseekers Act for JSA, the 2007 Welfare Reform Act for ERESA or the State Pension Credit Act for SPC. It’s all in the regs. Which are still in the pipeline (probably stuck a long way up) for UC.

The government has promised, if not draft regs, at least a description of their content during the Bill’s committee stage, which started yesterday.

government has now published policy briefings including details of additions for longer durations on universal credit -

no severe disaiblity premium, but higher rate of support component rising to £74.50 per week ‘as resources become available’ with equivalent for children.

also says that individuals will only qualify for either a disability or a carer addition, not both.

see rightsnet news story -

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/news/story/government-sets-out-details-of-additions-for-longer-durations-on-universal-/

The key quotes are

“The Severe Disability Premium was introduced as a higher and additional premium for people living on their own (or treated as such) with high care needs not met by someone receiving Carers Allowance. There have been problems with its administration over the years, together with questions as to its rationale and whether it is targeted appropriately. It also overlaps in complex ways with social care.”

and

“Within Universal Credit we do not intend to replicate every aspect of this provision in the current system, which is difficult to deliver, can be prone to error and confusing for disabled people. Instead, we intend to reform the disability premiums as part of our simplification. The best way to provide additional support to severely disabled people, through Universal Credit, is to provide all those in the support group with an addition that is substantially higher than the current support component in ESA”

I’ve put together an animated PowerPoint to illustrate the loss that will be experienced by working age claimants,who rely on means tested support.  You can download it from http://www.tameside-cls.org.uk/pages/ucsdp.ppt

I don’t hold out much hope that SDP will survive for the pension age population for very much longer either.

Perhaps I’m being premature in writing the obituary?

SDP 1988 - 2013
RIP

Shall I organise the wake?

Oh no….

What’t the percentage of current ESA claimants in the SG- does anyone know? Must be fairly low I would have thought.

The figures you are looking for can be found on the DWP website at http://83.244.183.180/100pc/esa/ccla/esa_phase/a_carate_r_ccla_c_esa_phase_aug10.html

How do the numbers in the support group compare to number of people who will loose because in wrac group but entitled to sdp and how much harder will it become to get into the support group as indicated in the breifing note:

‘The Department will undertake further work as part of the Universal Credit implementation to develop a supplement to the Work Capability Assessment to ensure it can accurately identify individuals with enduring health conditions that limit their long term ability to fully provide for themselves through work.’

I am in the mood to march again

There appears to have been be no meaningful research into what the extra costs of disabled people are. The imperative appears to be cost cutting - pure and simple, presented as ‘simplification’. Has there been any attempt to examine disability benefits (and extra components) in the overall context of adult social care services or the Supporting People programme or anything else for that matter? What a pity. It will all need to be revisited again in the future.

Interesting analysis on the issue of support for disabled children being cut in half under Universal Credit, by Sam Royston, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Family Action, along with an MP’s briefing.

In one of the first pieces of detailed policy intention regarding the Universal Credit to be released by the Government, it has been announced that support for all but the most disabled children, currently provided through the disability element of child tax credit, is to be halved under the Universal Credit – a loss which could amount to more than £20,000 across the childhood of a disabled child. 

This change could cost a family with a disabled child up to £1366 per year. Given this is a yearly amount, the loss for a family over the course of the childhood of their disabled child could amount to substantially more than £20000 – as it is per child, the loss could amount to more than £40000 for parents with two disabled children

Support for disabled children cut in half under Universal Credit

In relation to additions for children under universal credit, Chris Grayling has told parliamentary committee scrutinising Welfare Reform Bill -

‘It is absolutely our intention to have a two-tier structure of payments similar to child tax credit; one rate for a disabled child and a higher amount for a severely disabled child…

We also intend to retain the link with receipt of disability living allowance, so that the payment for a severely disabled child or qualifying young person is based on an entitlement to the highest rate of the care component of DLA, or what will come out when we move over to the personal independence payment in the future. We intend to expand eligibility to the higher addition, so that severely visually-impaired children can also receive the higher rate.’

See column 293 of minutes of 7th sitting linked below -

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmpublic/welfare/110331/am/110331s01.htm