Advising Disabled Children and Families Ebulletin - April 2024

April 2024 edition of CPAG in Scotland's disabled children and families e-bulletin, keeping you up-to-date with changes to benefits and tax credits.

In this issue:

Transfer of carer’s allowance claims to carer support payment 

The process of transferring existing carer’s allowance claims to the new Carer Support Payment (CSP) for people who live in Scotland began on 26 February 2024. 

If you currently get carer's allowance you do not need to do anything. Social Security Scotland, who administer CSP, will contact you when you are being transferred. It is expected that all transfers will be complete by Spring 2025. 

Currently you can only claim CSP if you live in Dundee city, Perth and Kinross or the Western Isles. However, the transfer process is not limited to these areas and applies wherever you live in Scotland. See Case Transfer from CA to CSP gov.scot (www.gov.scot) for more information.

CSP will be available for new claims in specific pilot areas in the coming months and across Scotland by Autumn 2024. To check if it is available in your area you could use the Social Security Scotland online postcodechecker. Although CSP is broadly similar to carer’s allowance, some students who were not eligible for carer’s allowance may be entitled to CSP and so should consider claiming it when it is available. 

It is also worth noting that the earnings threshold for both CSP and carer’s allowance has increased to £151 per week, so if you were previously refused benefit because your earnings were too high you may now be entitled and should consider claiming. If CSP is not available in your area you should claim carer’s allowance in the meantime. 

Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance

The Scottish government has announced that a Scottish Adult disability living allowance (DLA) will be introduced in Spring 2025. This will be for anyone who is over 18 years of age, getting DLA from the DWP and living in Scotland. Once the new Scottish Adult DLA is introduced, people who are still on DLA will be transferred to the Scottish benefit.

In the meantime, if you get DLA and were under 65 on 8 April 2013 you will still be transferred to adult disability payment (ADP) if 

  • you report a change to your disability or health condition to DWP
  • you ask to move to Adult Disability Payment
  • your DLA award is ending or due to be renewed

If you get DLA and were 65 or over on 8 April 2013 you should continue to report any changes to the DWP and your DLA award can be reviewed. You will not be transferred to ADP.  More details are available at mygov.scot.

Application dates for ADP and CDP

Regulations which determine when an application for ADP or CDP is treated as made state this to be “on the day it is received by the Scottish Ministers.” - ADP Regs 35 (1)(a) and CDP Regs 24(1)(a). This needs to be a complete application including the questionnaire about the care/daily living and mobility needs of the individual, referred to as Part 2 of the application.

This has implications in terms of the age criteria for each benefit. If you are approaching pension age and applying for ADP, or approaching 16 in the case of CDP, you should make sure that part 2 of the application is returned before your birthday. If not, you could be refused the benefit because the claim is treated as being made after the upper age limit for that benefit. 

Similarly, if your child gets CDP and is approaching 18 you may be aware that they can remain on CDP beyond their 18th birthday if a claim for ADP has been made before they reached 18 but has not yet been determined. Again, it is important that both parts of the ADP application are submitted before the child’s 18th birthday, in order to be sure this rule applies and CDP continues while the ADP claim is processed. 

This is different from the position you may have been used to with PIP and child DLA, where the date of claim was always the date when the initial contact was made so long as the forms were returned within the required time limit. However, the ADP and CDP Regulations are not the same and so we would urge caution in respect of age limits.

Redetermination forms for Scottish disability benefits

If you are requesting a redetermination, you must sign the form yourself unless you have someone with legal authority to act for you, such as an appointee or someone with power of attorney or guardianship. Whilst you may get assistance from advice agencies to fill out these forms those advisers do not have legal authority to sign the forms on your behalf even if they have a mandate signed by you. 

It is also worth keeping in mind that a redetermination and an appeal can be requested online via your Social Security Scotland account which you would have if you made your application online. See Requesting a redetermination or an appeal - mygov.scot

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