SDP stalled as claimant not getting 25% CT discount

Won a PIP appeal for someone and as routine asked the person’s support worker to ask for the SDP on the irESA claim. ESA stalled payment as the local authority CT system showed no 25% CT discount for the person/address. There would have been quite high barriers to this particular person getting her CT done correctly. The DWP now seem to be requiring her to prove no other adult living there i.e. asking her to prove a negative. I advised the support worker to draft a statement confirming that no other adult as been resident since my person moved into the current address.

Anyone else come up against this? What happened if you did?

I’ve never seen absence of 25% discount to be an issue in this respect before. And for that matter, the person could have been living with a student, had the 25% discount and still not be entitled to a SDP.

Are you sure this is what prompted the investigation? DWP will normally ask questions before awarding the SDP in any case, usually in the form of an IS10.

EDIT: Usefulness of a statement from a support worker would be entirely dependent on the basis of their knowledge. If that basis is good, why not simply implement the 25% discount and send evidence of that?

JCP check Searchlight/CIS for anyone else living at the property. It’s not uncommon for old, long departed tenants to still show up as living there.

They usually ask for a council tax bill as evidence of the SOP discount; in times where that’s not been in place I’ve sent the application form instead and that has placated them.