DLA care award & pension credit eligibility

I found out yesterday that if you are of pension age and receive DLA middle or higher rate care component, this affects your eligibility for pension credit - in a good way. If you are single and meet the three additional criteria, the grand sum of £61.10 per week will be added to your 'appropriate amount' of income for pension credit purposes. The rate for a couple is higher - £122.20 per week, again subject to additional criteria. This is called the 'extra amount for severe disability' but is nothing to do with the Severe Disability Allowance that is closed to new applicants and being phased out.

I phoned the DWP yesterday after having my pension guarantee credit reviewed, and withdrawn, despite the fact that I have been receiving highest rate care for three years now. What I was told by a man called Ian in an office in Yorkshire - I had phoned the number on the letter from the Wolverhampton office which dealt with my review - was that (1) They do not have access to DLA records. I checked this by calling that same number a bit later and speaking to someone else about DLA, and was told the same thing by that person. (2) The DWP do not advise would-be claimants on their possible entitlements and they (claimants) are expected to contact Age UK or some other such organisation for advice; and (3) Even if they (DWP) happen to know that a claimant receives middle or higher rate care, they will not apply the extra amount for severe disability to the claimant's appropriate income automatically, the claimant will not get it unless they fill in and return form PC10, which they have to ask for. So, the DWP will not tell you about this extra amount, you have to find out about it by some other means, and ask for yet another form from the DWP. I see the hand of IDS here, yet another dishonest attempt to keep the welfare bill down.

There are two excellent guides available on this: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/documents/en-gb/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true and the DWP's own, more detailed http://www.ageuk.org.uk/documents/en-gb/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true. Both are current for this year.

I hope this helps someone.

I've learned this morning that what Ian at the DWP told me on Monday, about having to ask for a PC10 form to claim that extra award, was deliberately wrong. Having not received the PC10 that he promised to send me, I phoned the DWP again to ask for the form to be sent to me first class today. The lovely lady I was speaking to, name of Donna, said 'I can fill that in for you now, it's much quicker than me sending you a form to fill in'. So she did, all done and dusted in a few minutes. Sorry to say, Ian Jobsworth didn't bother to do the best he could for the member of the public he's supposed to serve, on Monday, when I had already told him that the wrong decision his department had made was causing me serious distress. A complaint is justified, and will be made, after my claim has been processed and the I'm sure it won't be delayed by my complaint.

Hi
I believe that with any form filled in over the phone by an advisor had then to be printed off and sent to the claimant to sign and return. I would certainly hope so and wouldn't rest easy without actually seeing the form or at very least a copy.Hope all goes OK
Steffi

Hi Gordon

Wouldn't that apply to all the forms you have to fill in? Or does it make a difference that the DWP already has all the information in its records to enable them to make a judgement on my claim? Will they send me the completed form to sign and return, or will my application now go through the process? Donna didn't say, and I didn't think to ask.

I'm relatively new to this, my DLA application and medical exam went without any of the grief many others experience, thanks to the guides on this site!.