Is ADP for me?

‘Adult disability payment’ (ADP) is a new disability benefit for working-age people who live in Scotland. For new claimants north of the border, it has now replaced personal independence payment (PIP). If you are already getting PIP or you have a disability or health problems and want to make a claim, how does this affect you?

What is ADP?

ADP is a benefit for people between 16 and 66 who have a disability or health condition that affects their day to day life and/or their ability to get around. It is administered and paid by Social Security Scotland. Like PIP, ADP is made up of two parts to reflect these difficulties: the ‘daily living component’ which includes tasks like cooking, and the ‘mobility’ component which looks at walking and getting around. Each component can be paid at a ‘standard rate’ or an ‘enhanced rate’. The weekly rate of the daily living component is either £92.40 (enhanced) or £61.85 (standard) and the mobility component is either £64.50 (enhanced) or £24.45 (standard). You can get both components or just one, depending on your disability. ADP is paid at exactly the same rate as PIP.

To work out what you should get, you complete a claim form which asks a series of questions about how your disability affects you. Social Security Scotland will use the answers in the form, together with information from your doctor or anyone else you think can support your claim, to decide how much ADP you should get. You won’t normally need to have a health assessment.  If you are not happy with the decision, you can ask for it to be looked at again.

You can get ADP no matter how high your income or savings are, and even if you have never paid any national insurance contributions. If you get it, it does not count as taxable income.

Differences between PIP and ADP

You might be familiar with PIP and wondering what the differences between the two benefits are. Whilst the qualifying criteria, so the questions about how your disability or health conditions affect you, are very similar to PIP, the actual assessment is very different. For PIP you usually have to attend a health assessment either in person or over the phone. Social Security Scotland should only ask you to take part in a health assessment for ADP if it is necessary to decide your claim. Face to face or phone assessments with a health professional will not be the norm for ADP as they are for PIP.

Terminal illness

The ADP rules are different if you are terminally ill. Firstly, the definition of ‘terminal illness’ is wider for ADP than PIP. For PIP you must have a progressive disease and be expected to die within six months. For ADP there is no specific time frame: what is relevant is whether you have a disease that can reasonably be expected to cause your death and how that disease affects you. Terminal illness should be confirmed by your doctor or nurse on a ‘Benefits Assistance under Special Rules in Scotland’ (BASRiS) form, the equivalent of the DWP DS1500 form. If you have a DS1500 form instead, this should also be accepted. If you are terminally ill, ADP can, in some circumstances, be backdated. This contrasts with PIP which cannot be backdated for any reason.

Secondly, if you get ADP because you are terminally ill, you are entitled to the enhanced rate of both components. This is different from PIP in the sense that terminal illness only gives an automatic entitlement to the enhanced rate of the daily living component of PIP.

Short-term assistance

If you are already getting ADP and your award is reduced or ends, for example, following a new assessment, you can get ‘short-term assistance’ while you challenge the decision. You get the difference between what you were getting before and what you are getting now. You must apply for short-term assistance when you are challenging the ADP decision. You don’t have to pay it back if your challenge is unsuccessful.

Past presence test

Another change is to the ‘past presence test’. For ADP you must have lived in the UK, Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands for 26 of the past 52 weeks, as well as now be living in Scotland. This is more generous than the equivalent rule in PIP which says that you must have lived in Great Britain for two of the last three years. There are exceptions to the past presence test for both benefits – eg, if you are terminally ill.

Some other differences

An ADP award is indefinite, meaning it won’t have an end date, unlike most PIP awards. That doesn’t mean your ADP will stay the same forever; usually Social Security Scotland will review your award from time to time. If your circumstances change - for example, if your health gets worse - you need to tell Social Security Scotland, and this could change how much ADP you get.

New ADP claims

You can apply online meaning the whole claim is completed online. If you would prefer to write your answers on a paper form, you can phone the helpline on 0800 182 2222 and you will be sent a form. It is a long form, but the intention is to collect as much information as possible about how your disability affects you. You must return/complete the form within eight weeks to make a valid claim, though the deadline can be extended if necessary - call the helpline on the number above if you need more time. If you are terminally ill the claim process is much shorter and you can do it either over the phone or online.

Assessment consultations are only carried out if Social Security Scotland thinks it is necessary to decide the claim so you shouldn’t automatically be expected to have a consultation. Instead, you will be asked to provide any supporting information that shows how your health condition affects you. Don’t worry if you don’t have anything, Social Security Scotland can request information from your doctor or anyone else you are working with eg, a community psychiatric nurse.

If you are unhappy with the decision, you can ask Social Security Scotland to look at it again – this is called a ‘redetermination’. You have 42 days from the date of the decision to do this, the deadline can be extended in certain circumstances. If you are still unhappy you can appeal to an independent tribunal.

Already getting PIP?

If you live in Scotland and you are already getting PIP, you will be moved to ADP. One of the most important things to note is that you will not have to claim ADP, and you will not be re-assessed during this process unless you have reported a change of circumstances. You will not lose any benefit as a result of the transfer and, with the exception of people who are terminally ill, you will transfer to exactly the same level of benefit. If you are terminally ill, you will automatically get the enhanced rate of both components.

There are various things that might cause the transfer process to start:

• you report a change in circumstances eg, your health gets worse;
• your PIP award is due to be reviewed;
• your PIP award is due to end;
• you are terminally ill.

If none of these apply, you will be transferred at some point over the next three years or so. There are a few things to note about transfers from PIP to ADP. For example, if your circumstances change, you should report this to DWP who will pass it to Social Security Scotland, triggering a transfer. Social Security Scotland will then reassess you to see if you are getting the right level of benefit which means, as a result, your ADP could change. If your PIP is being reviewed or it’s coming to an end, you should not have an ADP assessment until roughly the same time you would have had a PIP assessment.

At CPAG in Scotland we have lots of resources and support for advisers. We have up-to-date information on social security benefits. We have training for advisers about ADP and a wide range of other benefits, whatever your level of experience. Our advice line for advisers helps with hundreds of enquiries every month. Our Early Warning System gathers case studies to monitor how the social security system is working and uses this information to inform our policy work and to feedback to the agencies delivering benefits.

See details of CPAG in Scotland’s advice line for advisers.

Read our factsheets and free online information:

• Adult disability payment assessment factsheet
• Adult disability payment information

Find a training course on ADP.