Disablement benefit talk

Disablement benefit is for people who are disabled because of an accident at work, or who have certain diseases caused by their work.

Only industrial diseases qualify, for example, diseases caused by chemicals you have worked with or hearing loss caused by your work.

You can get a list of the diseases from your local benefits office.

You can get Disablement Benefit if you were a paid employee, or a trainee on certain government-approved training schemes, at the time that you had your accident at work or contracted the industrial disease.

You must also be disabled because of the accident or disease. An assessment will be made on how your disability affects you.

The Department for Work and Pensions state the extent of your disablement as a percentage and you must usually be assessed as having at least 14 per cent disablement to get benefit, although there are exceptions to this.

An examining doctor or other medical professional will assess you after you make your claim. Depending on the assessment, you can be paid Disablement Benefit for a fixed period or for life. The amount depends on your percentage disablement and your age.

You do not have to have paid national insurance contributions to receive Disablement Benefit. You can get it whether or not you have time off work. If you go into hospital, your disablement benefit will not be affected. For the current rates of Disablement Benefit, go to the GOV. UK website at: www.gov.uk.

There are different claim forms for Disablement Benefit, depending on whether the disability was caused by an accident or whether you are claiming because you have a particular industrial disease. You should ask at the local benefit office for the right form.

You may also want to claim extra allowances or alternative payments when you make your claim. Even if you cannot get benefit (for example, because your disablement assessment would not be high enough), you should apply for a declaration that you have had an industrial accident, in case you want to claim again later.

You cannot get any benefit until 90 days after the accident or 90 days after the disease started, unless you have the industrial disease mesothelioma. The 90 days do not include Sundays.

There is no time limit for claiming Disablement Benefit. You can still claim if your accident happened or disease started some years ago. You can also claim again after being refused on an earlier claim, because your disease or the effects of your accident have got worse and you are more disabled.

If you were entitled before you make your claim, you can ask for benefit to be paid for an earlier period of up to three months. You should ask for this on your claim form. You cannot ask for Disablement Benefit to be backdated in this way if you are claiming for loss of hearing.

When you claim Disablement Benefit, you have to provide your national insurance number and evidence to show it belongs to you.

If you do not know your national insurance number but you think you have one, you should provide enough information for the office to find your number. If you do not have a national insurance number, you will have to apply for one.

Disablement Benefit is usually paid directly into your bank, building society or Post Office card account. If you cannot open or manage an account, you can be paid by Simple Payment.