UK: Disability benefits (UC, ESA and PIP) - news and updates 2024 and 2025

As a by-the-by, I just listened to the first part of B&W's day-long presentation on tribunals (I'm on a rest day but my brain's bored and fidgety).

The presentation's long and a bit chatty, but it's very good. Well structured and plenty of learning points. I'd recommend it to anyone who thinks they might need some pointers in future.
 
Kitty said:
As a by-the-by, I just listened to the first part of B&W's day-long presentation on tribunals (I'm on a rest day but my brain's bored and fidgety).

The presentation's long and a bit chatty, but it's very good. Well structured and plenty of learning points. I'd recommend it to anyone who thinks they might need some pointers in future.
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I absolutely can’t wait to get stuck into it probably next month.
 
Not specifically about disability benefits, but I've just been surprised by a note on my energy supplier's website suggesting I qualify for this year's Warm Home discount.

The scheme was changed a couple of years back, meaning people in England & Wales could only claim it if they lived a in 'hard to heat' property. Apparently that criterion has been removed for the current year, so anyone who receives IR-ESA, UC, housing benefit or the guarantee element of pension credit should get a £150 discount on their lecky bill. Qualification should be automatic (letters will be sent out to confirm), and the credit will be applied between October and March.
 
Peter T said:
Which is likely to price out some of the scheme’s users.
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Yes, particularly the most disabled. Some car models don't require an upfront payment, but if you need a wheelchair-adapted automatic van it starts at about £5,000 (some are up to £20,000). This is for a vehicle you'll never own, and it has to be paid every five years when the lease ends.

If VAT's added, that would be an upfront payment for my very ordinary Peugeot van of £6,000. This is from people who're often on means-tested benefits, who can't even save up their mobility allowance because they're already paying it all to Motability.

The scheme gets more and more unfeasible. At one time there was no upfront payment on some WAVs, and the fee on the more expensive model/more complex adaptations was a lot lower.
 
Kitty said:
Not specifically about disability benefits, but I've just been surprised by a note on my energy supplier's website suggesting I qualify for this year's Warm Home discount.

The scheme was changed a couple of years back, meaning people in England & Wales could only claim it if they lived a in 'hard to heat' property. Apparently that criterion has been removed for the current year, so anyone who receives IR-ESA, UC, housing benefit or the guarantee element of pension credit should get a £150 discount on their lecky bill. Qualification should be automatic (letters will be sent out to confirm), and the credit will be applied between October and March.
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I get UC but I think I don’t qualify because my place has grade c rated energy efficiency and it has to be lower? Has that been removed now?
 
MrMagoo said:
I get UC but I think I don’t qualify because my place has grade c rated energy efficiency and it has to be lower?
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Yeah, I've been in that position for the last two years—I rent a new bungalow that's A-rated, so I'd no chance. But yes, they've changed it in our favour.

Astonishingly.

They're apparently planning further 'improvements' for next year so best make the most of it while we can.
 
Kitty said:
Yeah, I've been in that position for the last two years—I rent a new bungalow that's A-rated, so I'd no chance. But yes, they've changed it in our favour.

Astonishingly.

They're apparently planning further 'improvements' for next year so best make the most of it while we can.
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I don't think the Energy rating applied to pensioners WHD, it applied to the working age income related group,. So you may have received it due to this even if they hadn't changed the system this year. In fact, as I recall, their calculation meant they gave it to all eligible pensioners first, then whatever the size of the 'pot' left over in the scheme went towards the income related group, who were stratified according to things like home size, type and energy efficiency of their home, with the cut off depending on the funds available to divide up. A very complicated and probably expensive process to decide eligibility, the cost obviously also coming out of the 'pot'!

Currently the WHD is funded from everyone's electricity bill anyway. I worked it out in the past and it's something like £20-30 per household. bill. So even low income people are paying something towards a scheme that is designed to help them. There is some talk about moving this to be funded by general taxation, but I don't know if that will actually happen.
 
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