Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance
| The following written concept provides information on Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance. Please be advised that from 27 October 2008 Employment Support Allowance replaces Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on incapacity grounds for new customers. The following document will be updated as soon as more information on ESA is available from DWP. |
Incapacity Benefit (IB) is paid to people who are incapable of work because of sickness or disability. It replaced Sickness Benefit and Invalidity Benefit in 1995. There are three rates of IB.
Short-term IB
Short-term IB at the lower rate is paid to people who do not get Statutory Sick Pay and have been sick for at least four days in a row, or who qualify under special rules for young people.
Short-term IB at the higher rate is paid to people who have been sick for more than 28 weeks and less than 52 weeks.
Long-term IB
Long-term IB is paid to those who have been sick for over 52 weeks.
To qualify for receipt of IB, the claimant must usually have paid sufficient National Insurance (NI) contributions, although there are some circumstances in which IB may be paid even if the claimant has not paid enough NI contributions.
For the first 28 weeks of incapacity, people previously in work are assessed on the own occupation test - the claimant's ability to do their usual job. Otherwise, incapacity is based on the 'personal capability assessment' (formally the all work test) which assesses ability to carry out a range of work-related activities. The test applies after 28 weeks of incapacity or from the start of the claim for people who did not previously have a job. People with certain health problems are exempt from the test.
People who receive IB are permitted to do some paid work provided that their hours of work and earnings do not exceed certain limits.
Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)
Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) is paid to people aged 16 to 65 who have been unable to work for at least 28 weeks in a row because of illness or disability, and are unable to get Incapacity Benefit (IB) because they have not paid enough National Insurance (NI) contributions. People who have never been able to work may also be entitled to SDA.
People receiving SDA may be permitted to do some paid work without it affecting their benefit, provided that their hours of work and earnings do not exceed certain limits.
Since April 2001, it has not been possible to make a new claim to SDA.
Data on IB and SDA claims are compiled by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and are published in the Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance Quarterly Summary of Statistics. These data are based on a five per cent sample of claims. They include a small number of overseas cases and exclude a small number of cases not held on the Benefit (INCAP) computer system.
