Dataset: Benefit Combinations - Data from May 2019 for Scotland
Description
Incapacity Benefit replaced Sickness Benefit and Invalidity Benefit from 13 April 1995. It is paid to people who are assessed as being incapable of work and who meet certain contribution conditions. IB claimants who are assessed as being incapable of work and do not meet the contribution conditions can receive IB Credits only. They do not receive any IB payment but their National Insurance account is credited for the duration of the claim. They are referred to as claimants and included in the statistics but are not beneficiaries.
Incapacity Benefit was replaced by Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) for new claims from October 2008.
People who reached State Pension age before 13 April 1995, and who were in receipt of Invalidity Benefit were able to get Incapacity Benefit for up to five years beyond pension age. This means that by May 2000 the entitlement of all these cases should have ceased. The short term rate is now payable for people over pension age for up to a year, but only if incapacity began before they reached pension age.
Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) replaced Non-Contributory Invalidity Pension and Housewives Non-Contributory Invalidity Pension from 29 November 1984.
Until April 2001, people who were incapable of work and did not satisfy the contribution conditions for Incapacity Benefit(IB) could get SDA. People had to be aged between 16 and 65 when they made their claim. There is no upper age limit for receiving the allowance once it has been awarded. People had to have been incapable of work for at least 28 weeks. Anyone who became incapable of work before their 20th birthday could qualify on this basis alone. People who became incapable of work after their 20th birthday also had to prove they had been 80% disabled for at least 28 weeks.
Income Support (IS) is intended to help people on low incomes who do not have to be available for employment. It can normally be claimed by people who are:
The main types of people who receive it are lone parents, the long and short-term sick, people with disabilities and other special groups.
Income Support for those claiming on the basis of incapacity (IS(IB)) closed to new claimants from 2008, with existing claimants migrated to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) on a rolling program since that date. Migration is not yet fully completed. Benefit Combination statistics include IS(IB) cases alongside those claiming Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and/or Severe Disablement Allowance in a category labelled INCAP. Those claiming Income Support on the basis of something other than incapacity (e.g. carers, lone parents etc.) are shown as IS within these statistics.
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008.
The benefit combination statistics refer to INCAP which is short hand for ESA/IB/SDA/IS(IB). Incapacity Benefit (IB), Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) (for those under SPA), and Income Support for those claiming on the basis of incapacity (IS(IB)) closed to new claimants from 2008, with existing claimants migrated to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) on a rolling program since that date. Migration is not yet fully completed. Essentially these four benefits each offer help for similar sets of circumstances, although under slightly different qualifying conditions. As such they have been banded together and the benefit combinations statistics simply show INCAP, where at the reference date the individual could be on any of ESA; IB and/or SDA (separately or in combination); and IS where IB and/or SDA is also in payment.
The INCAP variable shows that an individual was claiming one or more of ESA/IB/SDA/IS(IB) as at the last day of the calendar month.
Classification
INCAP: