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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit migration  →  Thread

HB claim ahead of potential SDP entitlement?

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HB Anorak
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You cannot have an SDP without being entitled to a means tested benefit, in the same way that you cannot have points on your licence if you don’t yet have a driving licence.  The SDP is a component embedded in an award of ESA etc, it isn’t a free-standing entitlement.

CMILKCAB
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HB Anorak - 06 February 2020 02:45 PM

You cannot have an SDP without being entitled to a means tested benefit, in the same way that you cannot have points on your licence if you don’t yet have a driving licence.  The SDP is a component embedded in an award of ESA etc, it isn’t a free-standing entitlement.

You appear to have misread my enquiry.

Of course it’s not a stand alone benefit.
The point was that the person would have entitlement to the SDP as part of an ESA or HB claim. Due to this could they claim either of these benefits or would they have to claim UC.

HB Anorak
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No, to claim a legacy benefit you must already have one with an SDP.  The point I was making was that your client (or anyone else for that matter) is not “entitled to” an SDP per se, they need to be entitled to a benefit award that includes an SDP.  The exact wording of the SDP Gateway regs is:

4A.  No claim may be made for universal credit on or after 16th January 2019 by a single claimant who, or joint claimants either of whom—
(a) is, or has been within the past month, entitled to an award of an existing benefit that includes a severe disability premium …

Notice how it refers to being entitled to an existing benefit - which cannot be unless it has been claimed and awarded.

CMILKCAB
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HB Anorak - 06 February 2020 06:17 PM

No, to claim a legacy benefit you must already have one with an SDP.  The point I was making was that your client (or anyone else for that matter) is not “entitled to” an SDP per se, they need to be entitled to a benefit award that includes an SDP.  The exact wording of the SDP Gateway regs is:

4A.  No claim may be made for universal credit on or after 16th January 2019 by a single claimant who, or joint claimants either of whom—
(a) is, or has been within the past month, entitled to an award of an existing benefit that includes a severe disability premium …

Notice how it refers to being entitled to an existing benefit - which cannot be unless it has been claimed and awarded.

Many thanks for clarification. Am I correct in assuming that a HB claim cannot be made?? (as a means of trying to get round not having to claim UC)

HB Anorak
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That’s right: no HB claim, unless the claimant occupies temporary or specified accommodation.

If they do occupy temporary/specified accommodation, they can rely on having an SDP in that award to make a claim for ESA.

gdhunter
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Afternoon all.

I see this is a bit of a general SPD thread now. So rather than starting a new one there’s a few knowledgeable people here I’d like to put something to.

Client’s situation is that she resides with her mother, in her mother’s owner occupied property.

Client is in receipt of IRESA, and PIP(dlc).

Mother claims Carer’s allowance for the client. Unsure of the mother’s full financial situation.

As far as I am aware this would discount the client from the SDP.

The mother is currently selling her property to be able to move in with her partner. This will leave the client to find alternative accommodation.

At what stage will the client be able to claim the SDP, and how long would it take? Will it be when she is no longer living with another household member in the property (her mother?) If that’s the case she appears to be stuck in Limbo as then any new claim for housing costs would them come under UC if the SDP is not then in place. Or am I missing something on this?

Are there any practical solutions here, or exemptions that may apply in this situation?

Many thanks for your time.

HB Anorak
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She will need two things in place before becoming entitled to an SDP:

- not living as a non-dependant of her mother any longer
- mother no longer claiming Carers Allowance

Once that is dealt with, there is a one-month window of opportunity to claim HB - that is because a claim for HB is automatically backdated up to one month when the claimant is on ESA(ir).  So she needs to get the SDP added to her ESA no later than one month after moving into her own place.  Backdating the HB to a date before the SDP started is not a problem: Article 7 of the No 23 Order is only interested in circumstances on the date when the claim is physically made.  If it is then backdated under normal HB rules that is perfectly OK.  Some councils don’t understand that and might try to start the HB from a later date, but they would be wrong to do so.

gdhunter
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HB Anorak - 10 February 2020 03:09 PM

She will need two things in place before becoming entitled to an SDP:

- not living as a non-dependant of her mother any longer
- mother no longer claiming Carers Allowance

Once that is dealt with, there is a one-month window of opportunity to claim HB - that is because a claim for HB is automatically backdated up to one month when the claimant is on ESA(ir).  So she needs to get the SDP added to her ESA no later than one month after moving into her own place.  Backdating the HB to a date before the SDP started is not a problem: Article 7 of the No 23 Order is only interested in circumstances on the date when the claim is physically made.  If it is then backdated under normal HB rules that is perfectly OK.  Some councils don’t understand that and might try to start the HB from a later date, but they would be wrong to do so.

Thank you for getting back on this.

That’s as I thought, although thanks very much for the information on Article 7, that will be useful to pass on.

Many thanks again.

Regards.