Housing Benefit - Disability Premium/Severe Disability Premium

Hi All,

Thank you for operating this forum and website, I learned so much.

I have CMT motor neuropathy, CFS and other long term health issues. My condition deteriorated in 2021 significantly.

I was on HB in 2021 when I had to apply for PIP. I was told as my circumstances changed I will now need to apply for UC and move there from HB.

Which I did, so I applied for UC on 25/05/21.
So my HB ended on 08/06/21 and received last payment on 15/06/21 for HB.

After months and months of waiting I finally had my assessment in October 2021 and was awarded PIP Daily Living Standard from 10/03/21 backdated.
(I had to wait for WCA for LWCRA months also, until February 2022. LWCRA was established and payment was backdated until the beginning of the 3 months waiting period.)

So for nearly a year I had to live on so little, in destitution as I only received UC basic and housing elements initially, until PIP and LWCRA payments were finally received months later.


So HB and PIP was overlapping between 10/03/21 and 25/05/21. I just learned a few days ago that I was entitled for DP and SDP.
I called the council and asked them what to do.

They said I need to submit evidence and a reason why my application is so late.

Can these payments be backdated? My only reasons for not applying earlier is that I was not aware of DP/SDP earlier, also the PIP was only awarded more than half year later after I left HB.

I don't know what evidence shall I submit that I wasn't aware of these elements and I am worried that if I don't submit my request properly, I will be denied.

(Currently I am in the process of appealing the PIP MR for both elements enhanced based on official error as significant and major evidence was omitted by both decision makers. So I am hoping that I will be entitled for Enhanced Disability Premium, too. But I don't want to wait until the end of the PIP appeal process to submit the HB DP/SDP application.)

Your advice would be kindly appreciated.

Thank you Gordon.

For the given time period, 10/03/21 - 25/05/21 where HB and PIP was overlapping I had 0 income (had zero income before and after that also). Although in the paperwork I can see the HB Assessment Officer used "income in calculation" even though I had none at that point for nearly a year (which of course I told the officer about).

The rent arreas accumulated was eventually cleared via Discretionary HB.

So it seems that even though I have not received the full HB allowance in terms of regular HB payments, I received Discretionary HB Payments for the remaining.

It was very difficult to deal with my multiple health conditions, I do not have family or friend to support me. So at that time I was just happy the rent issue was sorted because I was on the brink of homelessness, having accumulated 6 months of rent arreas.

I received multiple HB calculations for different time periods, some 10 pages all together and it was very confusing how they arrived to the amounts paid. But again rent was cleared through Discretionary HB.

In this case, do you think is reasonable to submit a dispute for DP/SDP review or there is no point because of the Discretionary HB lump sum to the landlord?

Thank you kindly.

Hi Gordon, thank you for your reply.

I just realised the Discretionary HB covered rent arreas accumulated prior to PIP award. (Arreas between September 2020 - March 2021).

So period after the PIP award (10/03/21) was still calculated with "earned income". I did not have income since July 2020 which I stated/emailed to the HB officer. (She said I am not entitled to HB unless I have earned income which is above the minimum required to live on, so maybe she used previous years income report?)

In light of this additional info, is there a point to submit the dispute/review request?

(My apologies for this late addition.)

Also, my second question, the dispute request is some 2 years late. I was told over the phone I should explain why only now I am applying. But again, I was not aware of this additional element or that it should be included in the calculation.

(I learned tremendous amount of information from this website and I have a better understanding now which I wish I would have in 2016-2017 when I initially became ill. After my JSA ended and when I was rejected for ESA in 2017 and DWP told my GP he is not allowed to give me more Fit Notes, who promptly told me that he is not allowed to give one. Therefore I could not even challenge the ESA because I believed that I have ZERO chance, especially without the support of my GP. Later on I applied for PIP in 2018 and 2019, but by then I was incredibly unwell and wasn't able to complete the forms due to multiple health issues. After the ESA rejection I thought I am not entitled to any benefit anyway and I was frightened to even lose the half-rent HB payments which I had. So I was struggling beyond despair in the last 6-7 years.)

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/be...evisions_and_appeals

The HB amount in question is about £400 in HB underpayments between 10/03/21 - 25/05/21 to the full HB allowance. So is way less then I initially thought.

Now the HB dispute request is even beyond the 13 months. So not sure how to go about this. (Cannot be official error I assume, because at the time of decision there was no PIP award yet, so the HB officer couldn't have the information.)

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/be...evisions_and_appeals