Disability and Illness related benefits
If you have a long term illness or disability, or one which currently prevents you from working
There are different benefits available to you if you have any long term illnesses, disabilities, or ones that are currently preventing you from working.
You may also wish to see our other pages entitled
‘Working Age’,
‘Pension Age,
‘Housing’,
‘Responsible for Children’, and
‘Social Fund Grants/Loans’.
- Disability Living Allowance
- Attendance Allowance
- Employment Support Allowance (previously Incapacity Benefit)
- Incapacity Benefit
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Carers Allowance
- Help with Health Costs
- Blue Badge
Disability Living Allowance
This is paid to people who have a physical or mental disability (or both) which is severe enough for you to need help with their personal care and/or mobility needs. You do not need to be unemployed or unable to work to claim this allowance. You must be under the age of 65 when you claim, and have had these needs for at least 3 months and expect them to continue for a further 6 months. You may get this allowance even if no-one actually cares for you. There are 2 components of Disability Living Allowance: the Care Component, and the Mobility Component. You may be entitled to one, or both of these components depending on your needs.
If you are aged 65 or over you cannot claim Disability Living Allowance, instead you can claim Attendance Allowance.
Attendance Allowance
This is paid to people who have a physical or mental disability (or both) who need help with personal care, or someone to supervise them for their own or someone else’s safety. You can only claim this if you are aged 65 or over and have had these needs for 6 months. You may get this allowance even if no-one actually cares for you. There are 2 rates of Attendance Allowance: the Lower rate, and the Higher rate.
If you are aged under 65 you cannot claim Attendance Allowance, instead you can claim Disability Living Allowance.
Employment Support Allowance
This is for people who have an illness or disability and your doctor has given your a medical certificate regarding this. You will be given the appropriate support you need to enable you to engage in appropriate work, if you are able to.
Employment and Support Allowance was introduced on 27th October 2008 and replaced new claims to Incapacity Benefit, unless you have linking periods to a previous claim.
Incapacity Benefit
You may be able to get this if your illness or disability started before 27th October 2008.
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
This is paid to people who are disabled because of an accident at work or due to certain diseases caused by their job. The amount of benefit received is dependent upon how serious the disability is.
Carers Allowance
You must be aged 16 or over and caring for someone for 35hrs or more per week, and that person gets Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance, or Disability Living Allowance at the middle or highest rate for personal care. You cannot get this if you are in full-time education, or earn more than £95 per week net. Other benefits you are getting can affect the amount of Carers Allowance you receive. If you cannot receive Carers Allowance because of other benefits or income, you may have ‘Underlying Entitlement to Carers Allowance’.
Help with Health Costs
The type of help for health costs includes:
- free NHS prescriptions
- free NHS dental treatment
- free NHS sight tests
- vouchers towards the cost of glasses or contact lenses
- free NHS wigs and fabric supports
- help with the costs of travel for NHS treatment (on referral by a doctor or dentist)
To be eligible for any of the above you either need to have certain medical conditions, be in receipt of War Disablement Pension or have a War Pension Exemption Certificate, or yourself and/or your partner need to be in receipt of one of the following:
- Income Support
- Jobseekers Allowance (income based)
- Employment Support Allowance (income related)
- Pension Credit (guarantee credit)
- Working Tax Credit with Child Tax Credit and your income is £15,050 per year or less
- Working Tax Credit with a disability element and your income is £15,050 per year or less
- Child Tax Credit and you are not eligible for Working Tax Credit, and your income is £15,050 per year or less
- Or be on a low income (you will need to make a claim under the NHS Low Income Scheme)
Blue Badge
You can use a Blue Badge to park on single or double yellow lines for up to three hours in England and Wales, except where there is a ban on loading or unloading. There is no time limit for parking on yellow lines in Scotland. This applies to on-street parking only, Badge holders may park for free and for as long as they need to at on-street parking meters and pay-and-display machines, unless there is a traffic sign specifying a time limit for holders of Blue Badges. Where a time limit is in force, you must display both the Blue Badge and the special blue parking disc showing time of arrival.
You are eligible for a Blue Badge if you are over 2 years old and either:
- receive the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
- are registered blind or
- receive a War Pensioner's Mobility Supplement.
You may also be eligible for a badge if you are over two years old and either:
- have a permanent and substantial disability which means you cannot walk, or which makes walking very difficult
- drive a motor vehicle regularly, have a severe disability in both arms, and are unable or would find it very difficult to operate all or some types of parking meter
If you are a parent of a child who is less than two years old, you may apply for a badge for your child if they have a specific medical condition which means that they either: must always be accompanied by bulky medical equipment which cannot be carried around without great difficulty; or need to be kept near a vehicle at all times, so that they can, if necessary, be treated in the vehicle, or quickly driven to a place where they can be treated, such as a hospital.
Would you like to see if you could be entitled to any of these benefits? Our Welfare Benefits Advisor, Millie can give you advice on what benefits you may be able to claim, and help you to claim them if you would like her to. Millie may also be able to calculate how much you could receive with these benefits. You can contact her either via our Customer Services Team on 0300 123 1222 where they can take your details and Millie will call you back, or via email info@muir.org.uk
Remember, it is your responsibility to notify the relevant benefit department of any changes in your circumstance to ensure you are still receiving the correct amount of benefit, to prevent any overpayments, or underpayments from occurring.
