Incapacity Benefit (IB)

FACT SHEET NO. 4

This factsheet is a basic introduction to incapacity benefit.

1. What is incapacity benefit?

Before the introduction of employment and support allowance (ESA) from 27 October 2008 you could get incapacity benefit (IB) if you were sick/disabled and unable to work. Now most new claimants who are sick and unable to work will have to claim ESA.

If you are already on IB, at some point between now and March 2014, you will be assessed to see if you can be moved/migrated onto ESA. Those who fail the assessment test will have the option of appealing or claiming jobseeker's allowance.

2. The rules for incapacity benefit?

You must:

be in a period of incapacity for work (incapable of doing work for 4 consecutive days)

not be getting statutory sick pay

be assessed or treated as incapable of work

either satisfy the rules for contributory incapacity benefit or youth incapacity benefit

2.1 Assessed or treated as incapable of work

You will now be assessed under the employment and support allowance Work Capability Assessment.

You can find out more about the assessment and employment and support allowance on our website at http://www.cara-online.org/welfaredisabilityandbenefitsfactsheets.html.

You may still need to consult the old IB assessment if you are appealing against a decision where this test was used. If you need to do this see or Disability Rights Handbook 35th Edition - www.disabilityalliance.org/drh36.htm.

3. Students and incapacity benefit

If you are over age 18 you can get IB during term time as well as vacations. It is not paid at a reduced rate because of any grant or loan you receive. There are special rules if you are age 16 to 18 and in full time education (see below).

When beginning study you must declare this to the Department for Work and Pensions as it is a change of circumstances. This may trigger a review of your benefit, but does not necessarily mean you will lose it, as long as you are considered to be incapable of work.

You can find out more information at the Skill (National Bureau for Students with Disabilities) website which is at www.skill.org.uk.

3.1 Age 16 to 18

If you are under 19 and still at school or in full-time (further) education, your entitlement to youth IB also depends on the type and hours of schooling you receive. You will only get IB as long as you attend classes or periods of supervised study adding up to less than 21 hours a week.

Lunch breaks, breaks between lessons, free periods, and periods of private (unsupervised) study or homework do not count. If you attend classes for less than 21 hours, the type of education you receive and the school you attend make no difference to IB.

If you attend classes for 21 hours or more each week, you may still qualify for IB if the extra hours of classes would not be ‘suitable for persons of the same age and sex who do not suffer from a physical or mental disability’.

If you are between the ages of 16 and 20 and are receiving incapacity benefit your parents cannot claim child benefit, tax credits or income support for you as well.

4. How do I claim IB?

Now, you cannot usually claim IB. You must claim employment and support allowance instead.

5. How much is IB?

Incapacity benefit is paid at three rates - short term lower rate, short term higher rate and long term rate. There are also age and dependant additions in some cases.

Age additions are paid if you are a certain age when your period of incapacity for work starts.

You can only qualify for an addition for an adult dependant if you were already receiving this on 6 April 2010.

You will only be receiving an addition for a child dependant if you claimed before 6 April 2003.

You can view the current benefit rates on our website at http://www.cara-online.org/BenefitRates

5.1 What else affects what I get?

Your IB may be affected by the following:

It will be reduced if you have have an occupational pension of over £85 per week. There are some exceptions to this rule.

If you were getting statutory sick pay before claiming IB you will start at the short term higher rate.

If you are over pension age you cannot get long term rate IB.

If you are terminally ill you will move onto the long term rate after 28 weeks.

Short term higher rate and long term rate IB are taxable and may affect your other income.

The amount of savings you have does not affect your IB.

6. Where can I get more advice?

You can get help at a local advice centre, such as a citizen's advice bureau. You can get more information about this from our factsheet F15, Finding a local advice centre, which is available at www.cara-online.org.

All our publications are available at http://www.cara-online.org/welfaredisabilityandbenefitsfactsheets.html. You can also obtain copies of these factsheets/publications by contacting CARA on +44 (0) 844 478 0015 -Mob: +44(0) 795 695 2645 -Fax: +44(0) 872 115 8436 -Email: info@cara-online.org

Updated 8 April 2011