The DWP has finally started to compensate claimants who lost out because they were moved onto universal credit (UC) before 16 January 2019 and lost their severe disability premium.
Announcing the move this week, Amber Rudd told MPs:
“The regulations that I am laying today will enable us to begin to provide support for claimants who were entitled to the premium and have already moved to universal credit. From 24 July 2019, those claimants will be considered for backdated payments covering the time that has elapsed since their move. They will also gain access to ongoing transitional payments that reflect the severe disability premium to which they were previously entitled.”
The payments will amount to a maximum of £405 a month, an increase on the original figure of £360 a month.
The total package will cost will have cost £600 million by 2025 and will affect 45,000 claimants.
However, the DWP have gone back on a previous undertaking that claimants who were getting a severe disability premium only in their housing benefit would also be compensated.
The new regulations were put through just before parliament closes for the summer recess and without allowing MPs to vote on the amount claimants would receive or other issues.
The regulations also allowed the DWP to start its trial of managed migration of universal credit without allowing MPs to scrutinise or prevent the move.
