Aug/090
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
All the information you will ever need…
If you’re ill or disabled because of disease or deafness caused by certain types of work, you may be able to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for diseases and deafness.
Who is eligible?
You can claim if you were employed in a job that caused you to suffer from any of the following:
- a disease caused by working with asbestos
- asthma
- chronic bronchitis or emphysema
- deafness
- pneumoconiosis (including silicosis and asbestosis)
- tenosynovitis
- vibration white finger
- any other illness covered by the Industrial Injuries Scheme
You can get a full list of illnesses from your regional Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Delivery Centre.
Who isn’t eligible?
You can’t claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit if you were self-employed in work that caused your disease or deafness.
How much do you get?
Your individual circumstances including your age and the severity of your disability - assessed by your doctor on a scale of one to 100 per cent - will affect the level of benefit you may get.
All amounts are a guide only:
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Assessed level of disablement Aged over 18 (weekly amount) / Aged under 18 with no dependants (weekly amount):
100% £143.60 / £88.05
90% £129.24 / £79.25
80% £114.88 / £70.44
70% £100.52 / £61.64
60% £86.16 / £52.83
50% £71.80 / £44.03
40% £57.44 / £35.22
30% £43.08 / £26.42
20% £28.72 / £17.61
How it’s paid
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and related benefits are paid directly into your bank, building society or Post Office® card account.
If you’re registered blind or need someone who cares for you to collect the money, a cheque can be sent to cash at the Post Office®.
Source: Direct.gov.uk
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What else should I know?
There are specific rules for each disease which may affect your entitlement to Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. Contact your Jobcentre Plus office if you need further advice.
If you get Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit at 100 per cent rate and need daily care and attention, you may get Constant Attendance Allowance (CAA). This is paid at four different rates.
If you get Exceptional or Intermediate rate CAA and you need permanent constant care and attention, you may also get Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance.
If you have recently come from abroad there are some extra rules.
We may need to contact your employer to check what jobs you have worked in.
We may need you to have a medical examination. The doctor will give us advice about:
- whether you have one of the diseases covered by the scheme
- how seriously you are disabled
- how long they expect your disablement to last.
If you want to know whether a disease is covered by the scheme, check with your Jobcentre Plus office or consult the list of diseases covered by the scheme.
Source: Job Centre Plus
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A Note for Carers
If you care for someone who is claiming Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the normal maximum rate, or is intending to claim for this, you are likely to be entitled to Carer’s Allowance. You may wish to consider claiming for this at the same time. There is a separate leaflet about Carer’s Allowance. Also, consider asking advice from one of the sources listed below about all your benefit entitlements..
For people with disabilities, their carers and representatives. It is part of the Department for Work and Pensions. BEL offers confidential advice and information on benefits and how to claim them. In addition they can also send out an extensive range of leaflets and claim packs, and can help you to complete a claim form over the phone..
Directgov
Web: www.direct.gov.uk
Directgov brings together the widest range of public service information and services online.
Produced by the Central Office of Information, Directgov provides information from across UK government departments on topics ranging from travel safety and parental leave, to special educational needs, local NHS services, and benefits. The site also brings together an increasing number of online government services - including being able to download and/or complete certain benefit claim forms online..
Citizens Advice Bureau
Provides independent advice on many issues including benefits. Listed in the phone book under ‘Citizens Advice Bureaux’. Also, see their excellent website: www.citizensadvice.org.uk.
Department for Work and Pensions
Their website provides a list of claim forms that you can download or fill in online for benefits, allowances, pensions and other payments - www.dwp.gov.uk/resourcecentre/claim_forms.asp
Contact details of their local offices (Jobcentre Plus offices and other ’social security’ offices) can usually be found in the phone book under ‘Jobcentre Plus’.
Aug/091
Can you make a claim for Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is a condition affecting the joints. The NHS say it is the most common form of arthritis affecting UK citizens and a reported 8-9 million people in this country are currently suffering with it. Characteristics of osteoarthritis are fairly constant in each case:
- It causes damage to cartilage - the strong, smooth surface that lines the bones and allows joints to move easily and without friction
- It results in bony growths developing around the edge of the joints.
- It causes mild inflammation of the tissues around the joints (synovitis)
- Osteoarthritis mostly occurs in the knees, hips and small joints of the hands, but almost any joint can be affected
Although it is a widespread condition, the Government has recognised that it may be, for some people, a direct consequence of working conditions suffered years ago. For example, ex miners who have worked for 10 or more years as a coal miner would have a good chance of receiving compensation from the Industrial Disablement Benefit fund announced by the Government.
The fund will initially be set up to provide benefits (from July 2009) to people suffering from this condition who can directly relate it to their employment. However, there are reports and rumours that the fund will eventually extend to offering compensation payouts to individuals who meet the criteria.
Aug/090
Latest News on Miners Claims
We have been getting quite a few calls and emails over recent weeks regarding the confusion over miners claims and compensation. The confusion has come about after a Government statement suggested that Miners Knee should be added to the list of conditions covered under the Industrial Disablement Benefit and was supposed to come into effect from July 2009.
As this seems to be a hot topic at the moment we felt obliged to create a list of FACTS relating to this:
To claim Industrial Disablement Benefit you must satisfy that:
You were an ‘employed earner’; and either
You have suffered a ‘personal injury’ in an industrial accident; or
You are suffering from a ‘prescribed industrial disease’; and
As a result of that accident/disease you have suffered a loss of faculty;
As a result of that loss of faculty you are disabled.
Your claim is analysed on a percentage scale.
The percentage of disablements for 2 or more accidents/diseases can be added together. So if you have 7% for PDA11 (Vibration White Finger) and 15% for an accident to your leg, you have a total of 22%.
Your claim can be backdated to 13th July 2009. It cannot be backdated any earlier unfortunately because osteoarthritis only became a prescribed disease on that date.
To process your claim it could take up to and beyond 6 months. This is because the Government anticipate that most eligible ex-miners will claim and that means an awful lot of claims will be made in a short space of time causing an inevitable backlog. However, as with many state benefits (eg. Job Seekers Allowance) it will be backdated to the original date of claim meaning you will likely receive a large lump sum payment.
The Government recognises that people who need it most should get it first which is why the benefit will be forced through as quickly as possible for the elderly and/or ill. However, it is important to note this in your DWP claim form otherwise panel making the decision on your claim will not take this into account.
If you have osteoarthritis in just one knee you should not be detered from making a claim. Most miners will have worked on both knees and therefore will have ‘Miners Knee’ in both but occassionally miners would use just one knee beit through preference or working conditions.
It is possible to have osteoarthritis in other parts of your body which is why it is to the doctors discretion (who will examine you) whether the osteoarthrit is linked to your employment.
There are no time limits to making a claim. The Government recognises that Osteoarthritis can develop over a long period of time and can develop in different ways.
Information taken from the Nation Union of Miners website.
Jul/090
Disability Living Allowance Rates
Disabled people in the UK are often surprised to learn how straight-forward the disability benefits system actually is. Disability Living Allowance is in two parts - the care component and the mobility component. Just because you qualify for one doesn;t mean you qualify for both. However, you could and it is worth checking.
Care component Weekly benefit…
Highest rate - £70.35
Middle rate - £47.10
Lowest rate - £18.65
Mobility component Weekly benefit…
Higher rate - £49.10
Lower rate - £18.65
Your individual circumstances will affect how much you can get. The claim pack gives some examples of different levels of care and mobility needs.
Ways to claim
You can claim online at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/eservice/
or get a claim pack by:
contacting your local Jobcentre or social security office
phoning the Benefit Enquiry Line
downloading the claim form from this page
Jul/090
Job Centre Plus Miners Knee
Tell us which solicitor you used dealt with previously for your miners claims and we will contact you right back with details of how you can make a claim for Osteoarthritis (Miners Knee), if your previous miners claim was wrongly undersettled, and anything else you could be entitled to. You do not even need to have made a claim previously to be entitled to receive compensation.
Coal miners in the UK who worked in atrocious conditions in the late 70’s and 80’s should receive more compensation. It was reported earlier this month that coal miners with 10 or more years service can claim Industrial Disablement Benefit if they are one or more of a range of medical conditions affecting their quality of life. Conditions such as: Miners Knee, Osteoarthritis of the knee and Vibration White Finger are all included in the criteria for claiming this new benefit.
Job Centre Plus Miners Knee claims are set to go through the roof - and rightly so. Local experts in mining hotspots from times-gone-by are predicting that news of this new beneifit will spread like wild fire through the mining communities and the criteria for claiming should be met by the vast majority given that mining was a lifetime career for most.
On top of this, compensation for the new medical conditions which are now being linked back to the work conditions should be increased or at least separated from previous claims for VWF or anything else. On top of the basic right to claim, the fact that miners were receiving less compensation for their earlier claims due to fraudulent solicitors taking part of that compensation. Now, the Job Centre Plus are emphasising that all ex miners should use them to ‘apply’ rather than ‘make’ a claim.
Jun/090
Narcolepsy and Disability Allowance
Narcolepsy is a disorder of the brain that makes sufferers extremely sleepy during the daytime and anxious during the night time. It can even cause sleep walking. The condition can be mild, or it can be severe where it affects your everyday life.
The type of severity will depend on whether you are entitled to Disability Living Allowance.
If you are entitled to DLA, you could be entitled to other benefits such as income support, housing and council tax benefits. To see if you are entitled to any of the Benefits contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau and they will happily advise you of your rights and entitlements. Alternatively please see: Consumer Rights for further information on consumer rights.
Jun/090
No Attendance Allowance for Care Home Residents
Pensioners living in care homes are being denied any attendance allowance because decision makers are confusing NHS Nursing Care Contribution with fully funded NHS Continuing Care. Oder people who are thinking of self-funding care to get advice from the NHFA.
Jun/090
Disability Allowance Scam
A man who claimed £17,000 of disability living allowance between 1994 and 2005, and £43,000 of incapacity benefit between 1996 and 2005 has walked away from court with a suspended jail sentence. The man, who claimed that it taken him 10 minutes to walk 50 yards and suffered from limited movement, was not only a pall bearer at a funeral, he was a bowls club president and had just opened his own taxi firm.
He was convicted of six counts relating to false claims of disability living allowance and incapacity benefit.
Jun/090
The Cost of Disability Living Allowance to the Taxpayer
David Freud, an investment banker, said up to 185,000 claimants work illegally while on the benefit. He told the Daily Telegraph it was “ludicrous” medical checks were carried out by a claimant’s own GP.
The Department for Work and Pensions said the number claiming incapacity benefits was at its lowest since 2000. Meanwhile, compared with unemployment benefit, incapacity claimants received more money and were not “hassled”.
Incapacity benefit costs the Treasury about £12bn a year.
Jun/090
Alcoholics Abusing the Disability Allowance Benefit
More than 4,000 alcoholics are claiming full-time disability benefits in Greater Manchester - landing taxpayers with a £10m annual bill just in Manchester alone!
They show a total of 4,220 people were claiming Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA), where alcoholism was listed as the main `disabling condition’.
The weekly bill to the taxpayer for benefits paid out across the region is between £250,835 and £373,490. Disability benefits are state handouts aimed at those who can’t work because of disability or illness and are worth up to £84.50 a week. They unlock further benefits, such as support with council tax and housing bills.
This appears to be causing some disgruntlement in communities and the likelihood is that this is not just isolated to Manchester.
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