A little over two years ago I found myself unable to work full-time any longer and started to receive Employment Support Allowance, initially contributions based and subsequently and currently income-related. After around six months on ESA I went for a Work Capability Assessment and was placed into the Work Related Activities Group. I have no quarrel with this as such as while I am not capable of continuing in full-time employment, at the same time I don't think I can claim that I am unable to do work of any kind.
However an associate has suggested to me that as a result of this I have lost out on a payment called disability premium. I have since ran searches for more information and would like to know if what I have found is correct or not.
1 There are premiums for disability paid to those in receipt of certain benefits
2 These are titled basic, severe and enhanced
3 People on income-related ESA and not in the support group do not qualify for any of these premiums
4 People on jobseekers allowance DO qualify for these premiums provided they meet certain criteria
5 As far as the basic premium is concerned qualifying criteria include being in receipt of DLA at any level and having been in receipt of the disabled person's element of working tax credit when working.
My situation is that I have been in receipt of DLA lower level care component for around twenty years (though shortly due to end as I've mentioned on another thread) and for two long spells on working tax credit was in receipt of the disabled person's element. The second of which was still applicable at the point I became unable to work full-time.
Am I right in thinking therefore that if I had been in better health and the work capability assessment said I should be on JSA not ESA that I would have received a disability premium? I find it difficult to believe that if I was capable of working full-time that I would receive greater assistance than if not. Has my colleague got it wrong? Have I misread or misunderstood the information I have gleaned from the DWP's own website concerning this?
Also, while it is my understanding that people on income-related ESA can only receive severe or enhanced disability premium (neither of which I don't think I would qualify for) what is the situation concerning contributions-based ESA? Should I have been receiving a premium while I was on that?
The DWP website says such payments are made automatically so not having received them at any point since becoming unable to work full-time I am presuming I am not and never was eligible at any stage but still have this niggling doubt in my mind and would like to know the definitive position.
Finally, I also read though I cannot remember where exactly, there is so much information to digest and so many websites offering advice it's impossible to keep track of them all, that it's possible for someone on income-related ESA to qualify for a basic disability premium if they have been unable to work for 364 days. I have now been off work for over two years and while I haven't given up hope of returning to full-time employment I also have to recognise the reality of being 63 years old with several chronic conditions and that I may well be fooling myself into thinking the period between now and retirement age of 66 will be anything other than what it is now.