SDA

Help please a client of mine has been told that if she takes in a lodger she will lose her severe disablement premium/allowance as she is no longer living alone. As I see it as long as the lodger doesnt care for her she should still be classed as living alone and be entitled any ideas.

No, having a lodger shouldn't stop her getting SDP as the lodger wouldn't be part of her household (wouldn't be classified as what is, confusingly in this context, called a "non-dependent).

Your friend should notify the DWP that someone is moving in with her but should make it explicitly clear that this lodger is not forming part of her family or household and will only be sharing common areas.

A welfare rights adviser will be able to take your friend through the small print of the regulations, including what areas of the house the lodger can or cannot share and still not be classified as a non-dependent.

If your friend is getting HB/CTB, she should also notify the council. We do not advise on these benefits here, but I would recommend that she checks out the implications.

She will also need to take into account the implications for means-tested benefits of getting an extra income, and should check out the tax implications, if any, on which we also cannot advise.

steve
nash wrote:

Help please a client of mine has been told that if she takes in a lodger she will lose her severe disablement premium/allowance as she is no longer living alone. As I see it as long as the lodger doesnt care for her she should still be classed as living alone and be entitled any ideas.

It is possible that your client is receiving not Severe Disablement Allowance, but some other premium for severe disability of which I am unaware.

Having said which, if she is getting SDA, then the lodger should have no impact on the SDA at all.

SDA is not means tested, or taxable and is not put in place to help you get assistance which would otherwise be unavailable to you.

I have been in receipt of SDA for a long time and have never been asked about anything except my health and my employment record.

As far as I am aware, you could be living in sin with a married couple and having affairs on the side. Unless this counts as "work", then the rest is irrelevant.

The only question I would ask about the lodger is whether the lodger is creating work for your client e.g if she cleans the lodger's room, cooks meals or does the laundry. If she did enough of this then it might be considered that she had shown that she could work, and is not entitled to SDA. Even then it might count under "permitted work" provisions.

I am assuming that your client will not be getting help with child care from the lodger.

Most of my information comes from the Independent Living Foundation

ILF page on SDA