Money Advice Case Study - Maximising Benefits for a Family with a Disabled Child

One of our tenants, Mrs A, contacted Andrew for help with the family’s benefits including a Child Disability Payment (CDP) review form for her daughter.

Andrew visited Mrs A and checked her full income and benefits. She was receiving benefits, but Andrew noticed that the Severely Disabled Child addition of £495.87 each month was missing from the Universal Credit (UC) award, and she was not claiming Council Tax Reduction.

The CDP started on 6 August 2022, so Andrew helped Mrs A to add a note to her UC journal and ask that a Severely Disabled Child addition be added to the claim from the date of award in 2022.  Andrew also helped our tenant to complete the CDP review form and submit a new claim for a reduction in her Council Tax.

Later, our tenant contacted Andrew and told him that the DWP were going to add a Disabled Child addition to her Universal Credit award, and that a Mandatory Reconsideration may be needed to backdate the award to 2022.  Andrew explained that this award was wrong, and a Severely Disabled Child addition should be added to the claim instead of a Disabled Child addition.  Andrew asked Mrs A to add a note to her UC journal stating this and to contact him again if she needed help with the Mandatory Reconsideration.

The tenant then contacted Andrew and said that the Severely Disabled Child addition of £487.58 per month had been added to her UC claim, and she had been awarded a backdated payment of £14,092.40.

Mrs A also let Andrew know that she had been awarded a Council Tax Reduction of £20.25 a week and that their daughter had been awarded CDP Lower Rate Mobility of £29.20 a week.  Andrew discussed the CDP award with Mrs A who thought that due to the severity of her daughter’s illness, her daughter should have been awarded CDP Higher Rate Mobility of £77.05 a week.  Andrew helped the tenant ask for a Re-determination of the decision.

Shortly afterwards, Mrs A got in touch to say that her child had been awarded the CDP Higher Rate Mobility of £77.05 a week, and she had received a backdated payment of £1,086.88.

Andrew checked the awards and agreed that all benefits now seemed to be in place.

Following the advice provided to Mrs A, she and her daughter received backdated benefits of £15,179.28, an increase in yearly benefit entitlement of £11,010.04, and a total financial gain of £26,189.32.

Andrew’s help made sure that the family were receiving all the benefits they were entitled to, significantly improving their financial position, meaning the family could better meet the needs of a severely disabled child.