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informationline@rnid.org.uk
RNID: For deaf and hard of hearing people.
Benefits and services factsheet
Incapacity Benefit and Income Support for people who claimed before October 2008 (factsheet)
About this factsheet
This factsheet is part of RNID's benefits range. It is written for deaf people. We also include information for people with tinnitus and Menière's disease. We use the term 'deaf people' to refer to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people throughout this factsheet.
Read this factsheet to find out:
- An important note about Employment Support Allowance (ESA)
- Who can receive Incapacity Benefit (IB)?
- How much is Incapacity Benefit?
- What is Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)?
- Can I claim for my partner?
- Can I get Incapacity Benefit if I have a pension?
- What is Income Support (IS)?
- Who can claim Income Support?
- How much is Income Support?
- When can I claim Income Support and Incapacity Benefit?
- How do I make a claim?
- What happens when I make a claim?
- How is incapacity assessed?
- Can I appeal against a decision?
- What kind of work can I do?
- Re-claiming your old IB, SDA or IS
- Where can I get further information?
Important note about ESA
From 27 October 2008 Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support as the benefit you can claim if you are unable to work because of sickness or disability. For more information about ESA see our factsheet "Employment Support Allowance (opens new browser window)".
If you were already receiving Incapacity Benefit (IB), Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) or Income Support (IS) on the basis of incapacity before 27 October 2008 you will continue to receive those benefits. This factsheet explains the rules that apply to you if you continue to receive IB, SDA or IS.
If you need to make a new claim for benefit because you are unable to work you should claim ESA. If you have been working, but are still in a two-year linking period because you were getting IB, SDA or IS before you started work, you may be able to re-claim your old rate of benefit (see Re-claiming your old IB, SDA or IS).
Who can receive Incapacity Benefit?
Incapacity Benefit is paid to people who were unable to work as a result of illness or disability and who claimed before 27 October 2008. Incapacity Benefit is assessed and paid by Jobcentre Plus offices, which are part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
How much is Incapacity Benefit?
Incapacity Benefit rates 2009
Short-term lower rate £67.75
Short-term higher rate £80.15
Long-term rate £89.80
Age addition
This is paid with long-term Incapacity Benefit. Two rates, depending on the age at which you become unable to work:
Under 35 £15.65
35–44 £6.55
Increase for adult dependant (husband, wife or civil partner)
Long-term rate £53.10
Short-term (under state pension age) £41.35
If your spouse or civil partner has earnings of more than £53.10 a week (long-term rate) or £41.35 a week (short-term rate) you cannot receive an adult dependency increase.
If you have an occupational pension of more than £85 a week your IB is reduced by 50p for every extra pound that your pension exceeds £85. For example, if your personal pension is £105 a week, this is £20 more than £85. So your Incapacity Benefit is reduced by £10 (half of £20). Your IB is not reduced if:
- you were getting Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance before 6 April 2001 and there has been no break in your claim, or
- you get higher rate DLA care component, or
- your pension payments result from the death of the scheme member (for example, it is your late partner’s pension).
Incapacity Benefit is a taxable income, although if it is your only source of income, you should not have to pay any tax on it. If you have been on benefit since before 12 April 1995 your IB will not be taxable. You also get a £10 Christmas bonus.
What is Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)?
Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) was a non-contributory benefit paid to people who were unable to work and assessed as 80% disabled. SDA was abolished for new claimants on 6 April 2001. You can still receive SDA if you were entitled to the benefit on or before 5 April 2001 and have been receiving it continuously since then. SDA can be paid as long as you continue to satisfy the entitlement conditions.
SDA can continue to be paid after you reach state pension age but you cannot receive both the full amount of SDA and your retirement pension. If you do not qualify for a full state retirement pension or it is less than SDA, you can continue to receive SDA. SDA is not taxable.
The weekly rates are:
Basic rate £57.45
Age additions
Under 40 £15.65
40–49 £9.10
50–59 £5.35
Adult dependant £31.90
What is Income Support?
Income Support is a means-tested benefit to help bring your family income up to a basic level set by the government. It is assessed at a different rate depending on whether you are a single person or have a partner living with you. If you are aged 60 or over you should claim Pension Credit instead of Income Support. You don't need to prove you are incapable of work to claim pension credit.
Who can claim Income Support?
If you were already receiving Income Support on the basis of incapacity before 27 October 2008 you will continue to receive it.
Some people can still make a new claim for Income Support:
- people already receiving IB or SDA before 27 October 2008
- lone parents (with a youngest child under 12)
- carers
- people receiving Statutory Sick Pay (see our factsheet "Employment Support Allowance")
- people on certain types of parental leave.
Additional rules for income support
- You, and your partner if you have one, have capital of less than £16,000.
- Your income is low enough (including the income of your partner if you have one), and
- You are not working 16 or more hours a week and, if you have a partner, they are working for less than 24 hours per week.
How much is Income Support?
The amount you receive depends on:
- your age
- whether you are single or part of a couple
- whether anyone in your household has a disability or is a carer
- your other income and the value of your savings
- your housing costs (such as a mortgage).
If you have been receiving Income Support for some time, your benefit may include extra amounts for your dependent children.
The DWP will calculate a total amount based on your circumstances, known as your 'applicable amount'. This is compared to other income you already receive. What is left is the amount of Income Support you are entitled to. Most types of income are taken into account and will affect the amount of Income Support you get. However any DLA that you or someone in your household receives will not be taken into account.
Premiums
There are a number of extra amounts that can be added to your applicable amount
- Disability premium if you get any rate of DLA, or long-term IB or SDA, or have been incapable of work for more than 52 weeks.
- Enhanced disability premium if you or your partner receive the higher rate care component of DLA.
Severe disability premium if you:- live alone and
- receive middle or higher rate DLA care component
- no one receives Carer's Allowance for looking after you.
- Carer’s premium if you or your partner are entitled to Carer's Allowance.
Contact BEL, a CAB, or Jobcentre Plus offices to find out how much these rates are.
How is incapacity assessed?
The medical assessment for Incapacity Benefit and Income Support on the basis of incapacity was called the personal capability assessment (PCA). If you are receiving these benefits then the PCA still applies to you.
The government intends that people receiving Incapacity Benefit and Income Support on the basis of incapacity will be moved onto ESA, and the new medical tests applied to them, at some at some point in the future. The government has announced that from October 2009 the new tests may be applied to people under 25.
The personal capability assessment
You do not need to have this assessment if you are:
- assessed as 80% disabled for Severe Disablement Allowance or War Disablement Pension, or entitled to Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- getting DLA higher rate care component, or
- terminally ill, or
- registered blind, or
- you have a prescribed chronic condition such as a severe muscle wasting disease or have been affected by a severe stroke
- mentally unwell.
How does the personal capability assessment work?
This is an assessment of your ability to perform a range of physical and mental activities. You score points if you cannot do a particular activity, or you have difficulties with the activity. You must score at least 15 points in total for physical activities to be treated as incapable of work, or 10 points for activities related to mental health. It is also possible to combine scores for physical and mental-health activities.
First, you will be sent a questionnaire to complete, which asks you about each activity. You will probably also be asked to attend a medical examination with a doctor employed on behalf of DWP. The activities most relevant to deaf people are hearing and speech.
| Functional category | Points |
|---|---|
| Hearing (with a hearing aid or other aid if normally worn) | |
| cannot hear sounds at all | 15 |
| cannot hear well enough to follow a television programme with the volume turned up | 15 |
| cannot hear well enough to understand someone talking in a loud voice in a quiet room | 15 |
| cannot hear well enough to understand someone talking in a normal voice in a quiet room | 10 |
| cannot hear well enough to understand someone talking in a normal voice in a busy street | 8 |
| no problem with hearing | 0 |
When your hearing is being assessed, your ability to lipread or get clues from someone's gestures should not be taken into account. Can you understand what someone is saying when your back is turned to them? If you use a hearing aid, you should explain the problems you have understanding speech when there is background noise. You should explain whether you need to ask people to repeat themselves over and over again before you can understand them, as this means you are effectively unable to hear speech.
If you have been advised to use a hearing aid but have stopped using it, explain why. For example, your hearing aid may have distorted sound or been uncomfortable. Guidance given to DWP doctors advises that "a client who has been inconvenienced by a hearing aid and has abandoned it should be assessed without aids".
| Functional category | Points |
|---|---|
| Speech | |
| cannot speak | 15 |
| speech cannot be understood by family or friends | 15 |
| speech cannot be understood by strangers | 15 |
| strangers have great difficulty understanding speech | 10 |
| strangers have some difficulty understanding speech | 8 |
| no problems with speech | 0 |
You should be assessed purely on your clarity of speech, not using clues and gestures that help people to understand you.
Ask yourself: if someone has their back turned to you, will they understand what you are saying?
Only the highest score from each activity will count. If you score at least 15 points in total from one or more activity then you will be assessed as incapable of work.
Example
If you cannot understand someone talking in a normal voice on a busy street (scoring eight points under 'hearing') and strangers have difficulty understanding your speech (scoring eight points under 'speech') you will score 16 points in total and be assessed as incapable of work.
This does not mean that you are not able to work at all. It means that you are not required to look for work in order to claim benefit.
The personal capability assessment and people with tinnitus
The guidance given to DWP doctors advises that severe tinnitus "can be very disabling and may result in sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression". If you get anxiety and depression as a result of tinnitus, you may be able to score points on the mental activities section of the personal capability assessment. You should consider this if, for example:
- you can't concentrate when reading a magazine or listening to a radio programme
- your mental condition prevents you from taking part in leisure activities that you previously enjoyed
- you are frequently distressed at some time of the day due to changing moods
- you experience problems when sleeping and this interferes with your daytime activities.
Personal capability assessment and people with Menière's disease
If you have Menière's disease, you may experience attacks of vertigo (dizziness) with tinnitus, nausea and hearing loss. You may find it hard to walk or stand during such attacks. You should describe how often the attacks happen, how long they last, and what happens during them.
Under the personal capability assessment, as well as scoring points for hearing and speech problems, you may score points for your ability to perform other activities such as walking, climbing stairs, rising from sitting and standing. You may also be asked if you have fits or seizures. The doctor should consider the effects of Menière's disease over a period of time, not just on one particular day.
Can I appeal against a decision?
If you are found capable of work following a medical examination, you can appeal against the decision. The DWP should write to inform you of their decision and should also tell you how to challenge the decision.
You normally have only one month from the date of decision to make an appeal, although an appeal can be made up to 52 weeks late in exceptional circumstances.
You should usually seek independent advice from a CAB, a law centre or other advice agency if you want to appeal against a decision.
What kind of work can I do?
If you are claiming benefits because you are incapable of work, you cannot usually work and claim benefits at the same time, although there are some exceptions to this rule:
Voluntary work
Voluntary work is unpaid work, often done for a charitable organisation. You can do any amount of voluntary work while you get benefits.
Permitted work
There are four types of permitted work. You can do one of the following at any one time:
- work and earn up to £20 a week. This is called the permitted work lower limit. You can carry on doing this work for as long as you like.
- work for up to 16 hours a week and earn up to £92 a week. This is called the permitted work higher limit. You are only allowed to do this work for up to 52 weeks (one year)
- work for up to 16 hours a week and earn up to £92 a week, if you are exempt from the personal capability assessment because you have a severe medical condition, or there is medical evidence that you have a severe medical condition.
- carry out Supported Permitted Work. This is work supervised by someone who is working for a local or public authority, or voluntary organisation. You can earn up to £92 a week.
Permitted work does not affect the amount of Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance you get, but your Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit may be reduced because of your earnings.
If you are getting a disability premium in your Income Support, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, you can keep the first £20 of your earnings, but if you earn more than £20, this will reduce your benefit. If you are still entitled to get some Income Support, then the amount of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you get will not be affected.
Re-claiming your old IB, SDA or IS
Most people who want to claim benefit on the basis of being sick or disabled will have to claim ESA. There are two groups of people who can still make a claim for Incapacity Benefit or for Income Support.
- If you were getting IB, SDA or IS before you started work, but you now need to re-claim benefit, you may be protected by the two-year 'welfare to work' linking rules. This means you may be able to re-claim your old benefit at the same rate as before. Job CentrePlus should tell you if these rules apply to you.
- If you were already getting IB or SDA before 27 October 2008 and your circumstances have changed so that you are now entitled to an income-related benefit (eg if your savings have gone down below £16,000) you can claim an Income Support top-up.
Where can I get further information?
- If you have an enquiry about benefits you should first contact the Benefit Enquiry Line.
- If you need help filling in a form or want to speak to someone in person, contact the BEL or your local CAB. Alternatively, contact your local Jobcentre Plus office. They may be able to arrange for a visiting officer to come and see you in your own home.
- If you still need further help after contacting these organisations please contact the RNID Information Line or your RNID office in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
- If you are a benefits adviser, contact RNID Welfare Rights Service.
Social Security Agency forNorthern Ireland
Welfare rights advice centres
See your phonebook for details of your local welfare rights advice centre.
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