Contribution Based Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) :
Payable for
up to 26 weeks. As a claimant you must convince the DWP that you are
available for and actively seeking work, or risk ‘sanctions’ which cut
your money. Can be ‘topped up’, or replaced after 26 weeks by
Income-based JSA. 2003 Budget suggests increase of jobseeking acticity
expected...
Incapacity
Benefit (ICB):
(largely
contribution based, but not for younger claimants)
A benefit for
people who are unfit for work through illness or disability. Replaced
Sickness and Invalidity Benefits in 1995. Qualification beyond 6 months
- and for some claimants at once - usually means going through the
notorious ‘All Work Test’ - now renamed the ‘Personal Capability
Assessment’. Some people however will be ‘passported’ through the test
because of their diagnosis, being in receipt of DLA higher care
component, etc. Payable at three different rates, with additions for
adult dependants claimable at various stages. All claimants over 25 must
satisfy contribution conditions. These however are waived for all
claimants under 20, and for 20 to 25 year olds who have been in certain
types of education in their late teens/ early 20s.
Severe
Disablement Allowance (SDA):
(non-contributory, non means-tested)
A benefit for
people unfit for work because of long term illness or disability,
abolished in April 2001. People already on SDA will keep getting it as
long as they meet these conditions. Some ‘passporting’, but
qualification usually through either 80 per cent disablement test
(administered by Benefits Agency doctors) or, for younger claimants,
through the ‘Personal Capability Assessment’.
Statutory
Sick Pay (SSP):
(non-contributory, non means-tested)
Benefit paid
by employers for a maximum of 28 weeks to most people who are ‘off
sick’. Basic, minimum legal sick pay - many employers pay more.
Carer’s
Allowance (CA):
(non-contributory, non means-tested)
Benefit paid
to some carers - but by no means all - at derisory rate! Qualification
through being aged over 16; the upper age limit disappeared in October
2002. Carers must not be in education over 21 hours a week, and must
spend 35 hours plus a week caring for someone getting any Attendance
Allowance, or Disability Living Allowance at the middle or higher rate
of the Care Component. Claimants can also earn a small amount on top.
‘Rigorous’ reviewing of existing disability benefits awards, coupled
with shorter awards being made have greatly undermined the financial
security of hard-pressed carers as well as that of people in receipt of
disability benefits. WARNING: Getting ICA may damage caree’s benefit
entitlement - get advice!
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