benefits – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

New disability benefit for pensioners

Five areas first to get Pension Age Disability Payment

Pensioners in five Scottish local authorities will be the first in the country eligible for a new disability benefit, subject to parliamentary approval of regulations.

From 21 October, Pension Age Disability Payment – the replacement for Attendance Allowance – will be piloted in Argyll & Bute, Highland, Aberdeen City, Orkney and Shetland.

The benefit will become available in 13 more local authority areas on 24 March next year before becoming available across Scotland by 22 April.

Pension Age Disability Benefit is for people of pension age who have a disability or long-term health condition that means they need help looking after themselves or supervision to stay safe.

It is not means-tested and is worth between £290 and £434 a month depending on the needs of the person who gets it.

Currently over 150,000 people in Scotland get Attendance Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions.

They do not need to take any action as their awards will be automatically moved from the DWP to Social Security Scotland. This will happen in phases, with the first expected to be transferred in early 2025.

Pension Age Disability Payment was designed with the people who will be eligible for the benefit and those who support them. Improvements include a streamlined process for people to nominate a third party representative who can support them to communicate with Social Security Scotland.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “In the midst of the cost of living crisis it is more important than ever that older people get the support they’re entitled to.

“We developed Pension Age Disability Payment by listening to the people who would be applying for it and those who support them. We made changes including making it easier for an eligible person to nominate a third party representative, something people told us was important for many older people.

“The pilot phase will allow us to put our different approach into practice, learning and improving before the benefit is rolled out across Scotland.

“If you think you might be eligible for support right now, I encourage you to apply for Attendance Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions.

“Anyone getting that benefit will automatically have their award transferred to Pension Age Disability Payment next year so there is no reason to wait.”

Move to Child Disability Payment completed

All disabled children and young people in Scotland who receive disability benefits will now be paid directly from Social Security Scotland.

Those children and young people who receive Child Disability Payment will also benefit from a review system different to that of the wider UK, one based on dignity, fairness and respect.

The latest figures show around 47,000 children and teenagers have had their awards moved to Child Disability Payment delivered by Social Security Scotland.

The transfers began in 2021 when the new benefit was launched to replace Disability Living Allowance for children, paid by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

Around 76,000 disabled children and young people in Scotland now receive Child Disability Payment, including around 31,000 who applied since the new benefit was launched.

Child Disability Payment helps cover the extra costs of caring for a disabled or terminally ill child or young person.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, said: “One of the defining characteristics of the benefits system in Scotland is that people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect.

“Everyone in Scotland who previously received Disability Living Allowance for children from the UK Government now gets Child Disability Payment from Social Security Scotland. This has been a significant and important undertaking.

“The change means 47,000 more children in Scotland and their families can now look forward to less anxiety, less uncertainty and more financial security when their disability benefits come up for review.

“Social Security Scotland takes a human rights-based approach to reviews. The time between reviews is also set by case managers and can vary from two years to ten years. This is especially important for people with life-long disabilities and helps provide the financial security that is needed to pay for ongoing care and support.”

Rebecca, 40, from Edinburgh says her experience with Social Security Scotland since her son’s benefit was moved has been markedly better than under the UK system.

She said: “The transfer all went smoothly, but the biggest difference for me was when his yearly review came around. The DWP review is a 48-page document. Just writing down again and again, that nothing had changed.

“It used to be a couple of months of feeling anxious. Not knowing how the application was going to be scored this time.

“Even though nothing had changed, the person scoring it might have a different view from the person who did it the last time.

“You don’t know if you’re going to get any money at all, if you’ll get less or if it will be the same rate that you had before the review. It’s difficult to plan ongoing support when there’s so much uncertainty.

“There was also always a kind of feeling that somebody was trying to catch you out with the DLA application. It’s absolutely inhumane.

“This time when the renewal letter came through instead of saying, ‘You have to go through the whole traumatic process again,’ it was, ‘Has anything changed?’

“The short answer was, ‘No, my son still has cerebral palsy. There hasn’t been a miracle overnight.’ And that was accepted, what a difference.

“There are a lot of hard things about being in a family that’s affected by disability. This was someone taking away one of those hard things.

“That has been fantastic and I’m incredibly grateful for the values that underpin Social Security Scotland.”

The review period for awards is decided on a case-by-case basis depending on the client’s condition and whether their needs are expected to change. Generally, review periods range from two to ten years.

Social security payments rise

Support for more than 1.2 million people in Scotland

All Scottish social security benefits are increasing by 6.7% in April, providing more support for disabled people, unpaid carers and people on low incomes.

Scottish Child Payment, which helps the families of more than 327,000 children, is now worth £26.70 per child per week.

A person eligible for the highest rate of Adult Disability Payment will receive £184.30 per week.

Carer Support Payment, Scotland’s newest benefit, has gone up to £81.90 every four weeks. The benefit for unpaid carers launched in three local authorities last year and will be available across Scotland by Autumn 2024.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Our investment in social security helps low‑income families with their living costs, enables disabled people to live full and independent lives, and supports older people to heat their homes in winter.

“This financial year we are committing a record £6.3 billion for benefits expenditure – which is £1.1 billion more than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for social security.

“We are making a choice to increase direct support for people who need it the most and that is more important than ever during the current cost of living crisis.”

Full devolution of Discretionary Housing Payments from 1 April

Increased budget for housing costs support

More than £90 million will be allocated to local authorities in 2024-25 to support eligible households at risk of hardship through the Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) scheme.

The funding enables local authorities to mitigate the impact of UK Government policies such as the ‘bedroom tax’ and the ‘benefit cap’ which can reduce how much universal credit or housing benefit someone receives.

Payments can also be made where Local Housing Allowance doesn’t meet someone’s rent, or if a household is in hardship and struggling to meet their housing costs.

Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “This funding will help to bridge the gap between what people need in benefits from the UK Government, and what they actually receive. This can be the difference between a family thriving, or a family experiencing financial hardship.

“We are clear that this is the right thing to do to support households – but the Scottish Government should not be forced to step in and divert money from our own housing and anti-poverty policies because of UK Government welfare reforms.”

One Parent Families Scotland CEO Satwat Rehman said: “The Scottish Government is to be commended for taking these mitigating measures as we recognise it continues to spend massive sums compensating for welfare cuts made by the UK government.

“Mitigating the benefit cap is absolutely the right thing to do. The increased funding and improved support for families affected by the benefit cap will be greatly welcomed by the many single parents who have been pushed into further hardship by this policy. 74% of all capped households in Scotland consist of single parents with children (92% of whom are women).

“We at OPFS will do everything we can to ensure all single parent families affected by the benefit cap apply to their local authority for a Discretionary Housing Payment to replace the vital income they should have received. Now the UK Government must act to scrap this poverty creating benefit cap altogether.”

The Scottish Discretionary Housing Payments budget is £90.5 million in 2024-25.

In Scotland, if you rent your home and you get Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, but still can’t afford your housing costs, you may be eligible for a Discretionary Housing Payment.

A Discretionary Housing Payment can be made if you:

are affected by the benefit cap
are affected by the bedroom tax
claim Housing Benefit but it doesn’t cover all your rent
claim Universal Credit but still can’t afford your housing costs
need help with removal costs
need help with a rent deposit

Scotland’s National Chef backs food payment push

Champion cook Gary promotes vital Best Start support

Superchef Gary Maclean has urged people to check whether they may be newly-qualified for a benefit which helps with the cost of buying healthy food, milk and first infant formula.

Best Start Foods is up to £39.60 via a pre-paid chip and pin card every four weeks to spend on food from pregnancy until a child turns three.

The Scottish Government benefit was extended In February to include 20,000 more people by removing income limits. Now anyone who gets a qualifying benefit, is pregnant or has a child under 3, is eligible regardless of their other income.

Some of those who are eligible might not yet have applied and Gary, who won series nine of the BBC’s Masterchef in 2016, urged them not to miss out.

Gary, who became Scotland’s first national chef in 2017, emphasised the importance of expectant parents getting all the support available to buy nutritious foods.

The 52-year-old, said extra available cash could be vital in making ingredients go further when cooking for babies and toddlers.

Gary said: “Best Start Foods is really vital extra help at an important time in people’s lives and I would encourage all those who think they may qualify to make the most of it.

“We are all aware of the rising costs of food in recent years so any help in buying nutritious ingredients can make a difference.

“Pregnancy is definitely a time when good wholesome food is especially important. This payment is available from as soon as you know you are pregnant and I want people to be aware of that.

“There are people who may not have been eligible before but are now following some changes to the rules – people can check online and apply if they think they qualify.”

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Gary has been a champion of using locally sourced healthy ingredients and using budgets sensibly to make great nutritious meals.

“Best Start Foods is now available to more people than ever before thanks to our commitment to tackling poverty – with investment of £1.1 billion more than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for social security.

“As Gary has said we want to make sure as many people as possible get this support. If you think you are eligible please check online and apply.”

The call has been echoed by charity One Parent Families Scotland. Chief Executive Satwat Rehman said: “The Best Start Foods grant is a vital source of support for parents, and we very much welcome the fact that the income threshold to qualify has been increased.

“This means that a large number of parents we support will now be eligible, having previously lost out because their income was only just above the threshold.”

Benefit levels in the UK: MPs call for annual uprating guarantee

Committee calls for cost of living benchmark

The UK Government must outline the extent to which benefits should be supporting people with daily living costs and bring forward a plan so that benefit levels meet the new benchmark, a House of Commons committee said yesterday.

The Work and Pensions Committee’s report on benefit levels in the UK also calls on the Government to introduce a new ‘uprating guarantee,’ to uprate working-age benefits and the Local Housing Allowance rate each year, to end the uncertainty faced by people claiming benefits.

The Committee also recommends that the Household Support Fund, which enables local authorities to help those in need, be made a permanent part of the social security system.

The recommendations follow a year-long inquiry launched after the Committee’s recommendation in its 2022 cost of living report to review the adequacy of benefits levels. The 2022 report highlighted evidence that a root cause of the financial challenges faced by households “lay in the fundamental inadequacy of social security support”, but the Government insisted that there was no objective way of deciding what benefits should be.

In response to that challenge, Thursday’s report says that the Government should develop a framework of principles and set a benchmark and objectives linked to living costs to measure the effectiveness of benefit levels.

If DWP finds that it is not meeting these objectives, it should set out how it intends to reach them, for example by increasing benefit levels when the financial situation allows.

The report also says that the Government should make an ‘uprating guarantee’ to increase benefits annually, based on, for example, prices. It would be required to set out its reasoning to Parliament if it decided to deviate from this guarantee.

On the Household Support Fund, the Committee welcomes the extension announced in Spring Budget 2024. The report says that it should become a permanent feature of the social security system to improve the ability of local authorities to plan their provision of discretionary support to households.

Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: “It is right that our benefit system incentivises work, but it should also provide an effective safety net for jobseekers, people on low incomes, carers and those with disabilities.

“We have heard plenty of evidence that benefits are currently at a level that leaves many unable to afford daily essentials or meet the unavoidable extra costs associated with having a health impairment or disability.

“The Government has previously said that it is not possible to come up with an objective way of deciding what benefits should be. Our recommendations are a response to that challenge, and the ball is now back in the Government’s court.

“On top of acknowledging and acting on a new benchmark and objectives linked to living costs, Ministers should commit to consistent uprating of benefits each year. It is time to end the annual ‘will they or won’t they’ speculation and all the worry that brings to those who rely on the social security system for financial support.

“The Household Support Fund has provided a vital layer of additional support for households during the cost of living crisis.

“The Government should build on the extension announced in the Budget, and make it a permanent part of the social security system to allow councils to continue to reach those in their local areas who most need help.”

A full list of the Committee’s conclusions and recommendations is available on P74 of the report. The Report is also available in British Sign Language, audio and EasyRead formats.

Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance planned

Like-for-like benefit to support seamless transition

Plans for a Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance, a new benefit to provide continued support to around 66,000 adults with a disability or long-term health condition, have been unveiled.

Under new proposals, eligible people who receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA) through the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions would have their award transferred automatically to the new Scottish benefit. They would then have the opportunity to apply for Adult Disability Payment if they choose.

Legislation to create the ‘closed’ benefit – for existing recipients of the Disability Living Allowance that it supersedes – will be laid in the Scottish Parliament this year.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “I’m pleased that we can progress plans to bring forward legislation to create a Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance and give people the opportunity to remain on this benefit for as long as they are eligible.

“Once transferred, people can continue to be paid Scottish Adult Disability Allowance or apply for our flagship Adult Disability Payment if they prefer.

“Around 137,000 people are now receiving our Adult Disability Payment and it has provided almost £462 million to disabled people since it was launched in 2022.”

Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance will be a ‘closed’ benefit, available only to those whose awards are transferred onto it and not open to new applicants – who should instead apply for Adult Disability Payment.

Under these proposals, eligible people who receive Disability Living Allowance through the UK Department for Work and Pensions would have their award transferred automatically to the Scottish payment.

Scottish teenagers are missing out on carers benefit

Young people may be missing out on help because they don’t realise they’re carers

On Young Carers Action Day (13 March) teenagers who look after others are being urged find out if they’re eligible for a grant available only in Scotland.

Since being introduced in 2019 by the Scottish Government, Young Carer Grant has delivered over £3 million to over 6,600 teenage carers.

However a leading carers charity says many young people who look after others do not recognise themselves as carers, as they see the support they give as just part of family life. As a result, they do not know they’re entitled to benefits.

Scottish Government figures suggest around 25% of those eligible for Young Carer Grant in 2022-23 did not apply.

The Carers Trust has joined Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville to urge teenagers who look after others to recognise their vital caring role and to apply for the support available to them.

Young Carers Grant, paid by Social Security Scotland, is available to those aged 16-18 who spend 16 or more hours a week looking after someone who gets a disability benefit.

The grant was introduced in October 2019 by the Scottish Government to help young people with caring responsibilities and is part of a wider package of support for young carers funded by the Scottish Government.

Paul Traynor, Head of External Affairs (Scotland) at Carers Trust, said: “There are lots of young people caring for a relative, friend or member of their community who don’t realise they’re young carers and could be eligible for financial support.

“They might help someone get dressed in the morning, help with shopping or provide emotional support, for example. The person they look after could have a disability, illness or addiction.

“Young carers often view this as ‘just helping out’ or ‘part of family life’. It could even be expected as part of their culture. It is vital that all young carers know about their rights, what support they are entitled to, are able to have a life alongside caring and are helped to reach their full potential in all aspects of their lives.”

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “I’m pleased that the grant we introduced has been able to deliver over £3 million to young carers in Scotland who are balancing their vital caring role with study or work.

“However, we know many young people who look after others see the amazing work they do as part of life and do not recognise themselves as carers and so do not realise they can get financial support.

“I urge any young person aged 16, 17 or 18 who looks after someone else to check if they’re eligible for Young Carer Grant and to apply if they are. It’s money they’re entitled to.

“The payment is designed to recognise the important role of unpaid young carers and allow them to take part in the same activities as their peers, whether that’s driving lessons, going on a weekend away or buying new clothes.

“The money can be spent on whatever the young person wants.”

Zainab, who is a young carer said: “I spent my grant on a piano keyboard. I’ve loved to do piano for a very long time but I didn’t have enough funds to buy one as they’re very expensive.

“So I used my Young Carer Grant to buy one and I love it!”

Young carers may also be eligible for Carer Support Payment from Social Security Scotland or Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Carer’s Allowance Supplement is also available as an extra payment for people in Scotland who get Carer Support Payment or Carer’s Allowance on a particular date each year.

These dates are available on mygov.scot/carers-allowance-supplement.