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Long awaited back payments of the TSDPE have now started

The Transitional SDP Element is included in a claimant's Universal Credit award where:

  • they were the main claimant, or partner, on a claim for Income-Related ESA, Income Support or Income-Based JSA, and this award included a Severe Disability Premium for them, and
  • they were getting this in the month before their UC award started, and
  • they still met the qualifying criteria for the SDP on the first day of their UC award, and
  • they were notentitled to a manage migration Transitional Element.

Following successful legal challenges, the Transitional SDP Element was introduced in January 2021 to compensate for the loss of the Severe Disability Premium. Both new and existing UC claimants received the TSDPE from this date if they met the entitlement conditions. 

However, the amount of the TSDPE was challenged further and in January 2022 the High Court ruled that the amount of TSDPE that is payable should be increased where the claimant was also entitled to some other disability Premiums / Elements. 

The government finally published the Regulations governing these increased TSDPE amounts to take effect from 14th February 2024. So, where a claim for UC was made on or after this date, the claimant has received a higher rate of TSDPE if they are entitled to it.

Since then we have been waiting to hear how those that missed out prior to 14th Feb 2024 would be compensated.

We have now received these details from the DWP:

Payments to claimants who moved to Universal Credit prior to the 14 February 2024

For the period from the start date of the claimants’ initial claim to Universal Credit up to their assessment period prior to the one that includes the 14 February 2024 (when legislation then came into effect) eligible claimants will receive an additional amount of Transitional Protection - payable as an extra statutory payment.

For assessment periods including the 14 February 2024 onwards, the February 2024 regulations will apply.

Eligibility criteria        

To be eligible for an additional amount of transitional protection the following conditions need to be satisfied (these conditions reflect the eligibility criteria set out in The Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

Condition 1

The claimant has or had an award of Universal Credit that includes a transitional Severe Disability Premium (SDP) element (TSDPE) or a transitional SDP amount (commonly referred to as SDP transitional protection) or would have done had it not been eroded.

If Condition 1 is met, then one or more of the following conditions also need to be met:

Condition 2 - payment for the loss of the Enhanced Disability Premium

Within the month immediately preceding the first day of the award the claimant was entitled (or was a member of a couple the other member of which was entitled) to an award of Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance that included an Enhanced Disability Premium, and continued to satisfy the conditions for eligibility for the Enhanced Disability Premium up to and including the first day of the award of Universal Credit;

Condition 3 - payment for the loss of the Disability Premium

Within the month immediately preceding the first day of the award the claimant was entitled (or was a member of a couple the other member of which was entitled) to an award of Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance that included a Disability Premium and continued to satisfy the conditions for eligibility for a Disability Premium up to and including the first day of the award of Universal Credit; and/or

Condition 4 - payment for the loss associated with having a Disabled Child or Children

Within the month immediately preceding the first day of the award the claimant was entitled to an award of Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance that included a Disabled Child Premium, or an award of Child Tax Credit that included the Disabled Child Element at the rate for a child or qualifying young person who is disabled but not severely disabled, and continued to satisfy the conditions for eligibility for the Disabled Child Premium or the Disabled Child Element up to and including the first day of the Universal Credit award and is entitled to the lower rate of the Disabled Child Addition in Universal Credit.

Payment rates

The rates payable for each monthly assessment period prior to the 14 February 2024 are based on the rates shown in the February 2024 regulations when they first came into force and are as follows:

All UC claims made prior to 14th February 2024

Amount to pay each assessment period from the date of the UC claim

Enhanced Disability Premium – single person 

 £84 

Enhanced Disability Premium – couple claim 

 £120 

Disability Premium – single person 

 £172 

Disability Premium – couple claim 

 £246 

Disabled child 

 £177 * (per eligible child)

*This amount is to reflect the difference between the amount paid for the disabled child element on tax credits and the rate of the Universal Credit disabled child addition lower rate.

Calculation and erosion

The back payments to all eligible Universal Credit claimants is being calculated as if the additional amount of transitional protection had been paid as part of their original SDP transitional protection, and it will be payable from the date the claimant moved to Universal Credit.

The amount of additional transitional protection calculated and paid for the back period will be subject to erosion from the date it would have been converted to and paid as a ‘transitional element’ via the Universal Credit payment system – this is from October 2020 onwards, but this date varies slightly for each individual case.

Note: Payment for the period prior to conversion to a transitional element will not be subject to erosion, this is in line with how the original SDP transitional payments (paid from July 2019) were calculated.

The amount payable to each eligible claimant will differ depending on the length of time they have been on Universal Credit and the impact of erosion.

Transitional protection is designed to give claimants time to adjust to the move to Universal Credit. It is not designed to provide indefinite financial protection.?Over time, transitional protection will be eroded by increases in other elements of Universal Credit (other than the Childcare Costs element). For example, erosion will apply when benefit rates are uprated each April.

The erosion of transitional protection will gradually align recipients’ awards of Universal Credit with those of new claimants who are in the same circumstances in line with the principle of equity.
 

Payment processing

Payments commenced in January 2025. This is a complex undertaking, and we are continuing to make payments to all eligible claimants as soon as practically possible. 

Payments are being made in 3 phases.

Phase 1 – We have started with the cases (approximately 35,000) who had their transitional SDP element (TSDPE) paid purely on the Universal Credit system as they are the most straightforward to make payment to and are also the largest group of cases. Payments to this group of claimants commenced in January 2025

Phase 2 – Those (approximately 15,000) who received a manual SDP transitional payment which was then converted to a TSDPE and is now paid via the Universal Credit system. This group of claimants are slightly more complex owing to the mixed nature of their transitional payments. New system functionality has been developed and payments to this group will start as soon as possible.

Phase 3 – The final group (approximately 7,000) includes those who received either a manual SDP transitional payment and / or an on-system TSDPE and their Universal Credit claim has since closed. This group are more complex, and analysis is ongoing to determine the level of work required to enable payments to be made to this group.
 

Capital Disregard

The lump sum back payment will be disregarded as capital for a period of 12-months from the date it is received by the claimant.

 

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