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| Home | Overview | Disability | Employment | Services | Education | Benefits | Business | Advice | Links | More... |
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These pages do not apply outside Great Britain.
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In general, a stammer alone is unlikely to entitle a person to benefits unless its effects are particularly severe - regarding speech and/or limits on activities. However, for stammering which is not at that level of severity but which affects work or study, an Access to Work or student grant for an electronic fluency device may be available. This page oulines how stammering may affect entitlement to social security benefits.
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This page does not apply outside Great Britain. (Northern Ireland has its own legislation but with many similarities.)
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Have I heard of anyone receiving benefits on the basis of a stammer?
Yes in relation to: I also know of someone who was awarded severe disablement allowance, but this is no longer available for new claimants. |
I don't suggest that a person who stammers shouldn't go out and get a job if they can. However, some people who stammer have been unable to find work, or may be in low-paid jobs, so the benefit system may be very important to them.
The first part of this page summarises the tests a stammer has to meet to perhaps increase one's entitlement to benefits. The tests nearer the top are those I think are more likely to be useful. I then deal briefly with each relevant benefit in turn, listed in alphabetical order. I do not usually go into detail, but you can get further information from the sources listed at the bottom of the page. You can get an overview of the page from the page index at the top. See also the disclaimer. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has claimed allowances on the basis of stammering (atyrer2000@yahoo.co.uk).
| Lie detector test for some benefit claims. Voice risk analysis ('lie detector') technology for benefit claims could unfairly disadvantage people who stammer. More... |
An Access to Work grant may help to buy an electronic fluency device. The grant seems to be based on the DDA test, under which a stammer will very often qualify. See 'Access to Work' below for more.
For students, a Disabled Student Allowance may be available to fund an electronic fluency device. The DDA test does not necessarily apply. However, I slot it in here because it is another way of funding electronic devices, and because this allowance too can be available where the level of stammering is fairly 'normal'.
Meeting the 'limited capability for work' test is a precondition for claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which replaces incapacity benefit. To give a broad idea of the 'limited capability for work' test:
More detail on the 'Limited capability for work' test...
'Incapacity for work', assessed through the Personal Capability Assessment, was a key test for claims made before 27th October 2008, or backdated to before then. It could entitle one to incapacity benefit, or income support on the basis of incapacity. For new claims, it may perhaps still have some limited relevance as regards disability premium. More on Personal Capability Assessment...
Disability living allowance lower rate mobility component is aimed at people who can walk but cannot generally use this ability on unfamiliar routes without someone to guide or supervise them. I have heard of two people who stammer successfully claiming this.
More detail on requiring person to guide or supervise...
This is relevant for working tax credit disability element, but only if you have been receiving another disability benefit. A precondition for getting WTC including the disability element is that you are working at least part-time. So far as relevant to stammering, for the disability element to apply you generally need to be able to say that 'people who know you well have difficulty in understanding what you say'.
Disability living allowance care component (or possibly attendance allowance for those aged 65 or over) may be available if one requires attention in connection with bodily functions, which can include speech. However, I have not heard of anyone successfully using this ground on the basis of a stammer. More detail on requiring attention in connection with bodily functions...
This is not really a social security benefit. It is a grant towards extra employment costs that result from a person's disability. Grants have been given towards the cost of electronic fluency devices, which may help a person who stammers be more fluent - see BSA website: Electronic Fluency Devices: Access to Work grants.
An Access to Work grant may be available if a person has a 'disability'. This seems to be based on the DDA test, under which a stammer will very often qualify.
The availability of the grant is a relevant factor towards an employer being required to provide a device as a reasonable adjustment under the DDA.
Electronic fluency devices (using DAF, FAF and/or masking) may help a person speak more fluently. Examples marketed in the UK are SpeechEasy and VoiceAmp, or other firms sell devices from outside the UK. See BSA website: Electronic fluency devices on these devices, their effectiveness, and possible suppliers.
The BSA website: Electronic Fluency Devices: Access to Work has information specifically on current arrangements for Access to Work grants on electronic fluency devices. General information on Access to Work is at www.direct.gov.uk: Access to work - practical help at work.
The Access to Work scheme has been withdrawn in central government deparments, but disabled staff there are still supposed to get the same support.
There is an issue whether a similar approach will in future be extended to the rest of the public sector - see para.190ff of House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee report dated April 2009: The Equality Bill: how disability equality fits within a single Equality Act (link to parliament.uk).
So far as relevant to stammering, you may be entitled to attendance allowance if you are 65 or over and so severely disabled physically or mentally that you require from another person frequent 'attention in connection with your bodily functions' throughout the day.
May be available if you are responsible for a child or young person. It includes a 'disabled child element' if the child or young person is receiving DLA at any rate, for example the DLA lower rate mobility component.
This may be payable if you require help from another person. You need to first claim before the age of 65. It is available even for a child under 16 if an additional test is met. DLA is not normally deducted from any income-related benefits you may be getting, and is payable even if you are working. DLA is also a 'gateway' in the sense of entitling you to certain other benefits, such as the disability premium.
So far as relevant to stammering, there are ways one may be entitled to DLA:
You may qualify for DLA lower rate mobility component if you are able to walk but are
"so severely disabled physically or mentally that, disregarding any ability [you] may have to use routes which are familiar to [you] on [your] own, [you] cannot take advantage of the faculty out of doors without guidance or supervision from another person most of the time."
I have heard of two people who stammer successfully claiming for this. The lower rate mobility component is £18.65 per week for 2009/10. More on mobility component and stammering...
You may be entitled to DLA if you are so severely disabled physically or mentally that you 'require' from another person 'attention in connection with your bodily functions'. 'Bodily functions' can include speech. However, I have not heard of anyone successfully claiming the DLA care component for stammering. More on care component and stammering...
The Government announced in Summer 2010 that it intends to introduce a revised test for DLA, reducing by perhaps 20% the number of people who can claim - www.disabilityalliance.org/dlatest.htm
Disability premium isn't a benefit in its own right but increases the 'applicable amount' to which your income is topped up when calculating means-tested benefts such as income support, and income-based Jobseekers allowance. It may also increase your housing and council tax benefit, and entitle you to the £20 earnings disregard.
If you are not already on income support, disability premium is only of limited relevance unless you are on certain other disability benefits which may entitle you to the premium, for example DLA or WTC disability element.
Apart from being entitled to disability benefits such as those, an alternative route to getting disability premium is if you meet the 'incapacity for work' test and have been incapable for 52 weeks (certain breaks in the period are allowed). However, if you meet that test you will now usually also meet the test to claim ESA and will claim that instead - and disability premium does not increase your ESA. Disability premium can still apply to housing and council tax benefit, but not after one has established an entitlement to ESA.
For claims made before 27th October 2008, it was possible to claim income support on the ground of incapacity for work. For new claims made now, incapacity is no longer a ground to claim income support. The disability premium could - and still can - increase the amount of income support one gets.
Those aged 60 or over do not get the disability premium, but may be entitled to a pensioner premium.
These are non-means tested allowances, so they are not dependent on your income. For people who stammer, their main interest is that they could pay for an electronic fluency device. VoiceAmp and SpeechEasy are fluency devices marketed in the UK and others are available by mail order - see BSA website: Electronic fluency devices. Allowances have certainly been granted to fund VoiceAmp devices - an example is at 'Student allowance granted for fluency device' on BSA website. The allowance can also pay for a computer to calibrate the device, and premiums to insure the equipment.
(Disabled students' allowances might perhaps also be available for text to speech (TTS) technology if the student needs it. However, someone will very likely prefer an electronic fluency device if it works for them.)
For more information on Disabled Students' Allowances:
There is a 'Skill' information booklet at www.skill.org.uk/uploads/he_dsa.doc. Also the disability officer at your university should be able to help, and the supplier of the device may be able to. Official guidance and forms depend on where you normally live:
If you are unemployed and have 'limited capability for work', you will generally claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) instead of Jobseekers Allowance (JSA). ESA is normally higher than JSA, and does not carry the same obligations to actively seek work. Even so, with ESA you are likely to have work-focused interviews to help address barriers to your getting into work.
ESA has been in effect for new claims from 27th October 2008, replacing both incapacity benefit and income support on the basis of incapacity. Any claims made now will be for ESA. You do not normally get ESA once you are over state pension age.
You initially claim ESA on the basis of one or more medical certificates from your doctor. However, your ongoing entitlement will depend on you meeting the 'limited capability for work' test.
As well as meeting the 'limited capability for work' test, you must either:
'Income-related' ESA is means-tested; it tops up your income to a basic minimum, called your 'applicable amount'. However, if you have sufficient National Insurance contributions or if you claim sufficiently young, you get 'contributory' ESA. This is not means-tested, so it is paid irrespective of your income and savings. Income-related ESA can be paid in addition to contributory ESA if your income would otherwise be below the 'applicable amount'.
In general you are not entitled to ESA in any week in which you work, but there are exceptions. For example broadly speaking you can earn up to £20 per week, or - within limits - up to £92 per week provided your working week averages less than 16 hours. Also those earnings should not reduce your ESA even if it is income-related. If you are not entitled to ESA for a period, e.g. if you started work earning more than £92 per week but couldn't cope with it, there are 'linking' rules that may join together different periods of 'limited capability for work' so that you don't have to begin a fresh claim.
Entitlement to income-related ESA brings benefits such as free prescriptions and dental treatment. Contributory ESA does not bring the same benefits as it is not means-tested. Unless you also get income-related ESA, you would need to apply for assistance with health costs under the means-tested NHS Low Income Scheme (external link).
When you apply for ESA, there is a 13 week 'assessment phase' during which the allowance is paid at a lower rate, the same rate as Jobseekers Allowance. During this phase:
The work capability assessment takes place during the assessment phase and is divided into three parts:
1. 'Limited capability for work' test: This decides whether you are entitled to ESA. You need to satisfy the 'limited capability for work' test in order to stay on ESA. What is the 'Limited capability for work' test...
2. 'Limited capability for work-related activity' test: This is only relevant if you meet the 'limited capability for work' test and so are entitled to ESA. It determines whether you go into the 'work-related activity group' or the 'support group'. If your only disability is a stammer, you will very likely go into the work-related activity group. (For why, see more detail on the 'Limited capability for work-related activity' test.). Going into the work-related activity group means that (a) the increased payment you get from the end of the assessment period is a few pounds a week lower than for the support group, and (b) to receive the full amount of ESA you must adhere to work-related conditions. These include attending a series of five further work-focused interviews. An action plan is drawn up of steps that could be taken to improve your work prospects.
3. Work-focused health-related assessment: This assessment has been suspended for two years from 19 July 2010, due to the Coalition Government's planned new 'Work Programme' which is intended to "offer an integrated package of support, providing personalised help for people who find themselves out of work, regardless of the benefit they claim" - www.disabilityalliance.org/wfhra.htm. Previously the assessment was required if you were in the 'work-related activity group': the assessment explored your views on returning to work, barriers you faced, and what you could to to move back into work. It collected information about what you are capable of, and anything that could help (e.g. therapy, fluency device?). The information went into a report available to both you and your personal advisor at the work-focused interviews.
Since stammering is often ongoing, it is important to remember that those under 20 - or often 25 if you have been in education or training - may be entitled to contributory ESA even though they have not paid National Insurance contributions. The importance of this is that the allowance is not means-tested, i.e. it is not limited by income or savings. To qualify, you need 196 days (28 weeks) of continuous 'limited capability for work'. People as young as 16 can claim, but those under 19 may be excluded if in full-time education.
The 28 week qualifying period, combined with the possibility of backdating a claim up to 3 months, can make it possible to put in a claim up to several months after one's 20th (or 25th) birthday. Having served the qualifying period and claimed in due time, it is possible to remain on contributory ESA right up to pension age if one stays in the same period of 'limited capability for work' (assuming the stammer does not improve, which hopefully it will!). If you come off ESA, e.g. for a period of work, there are rules that may allow you to come back onto ESA on the same basis.
If you do not claim in time for these rules to apply, you need to have sufficient National Insurance contributions to get contributory ESA, or claim income-related ESA which is means-tested.
The usual way to claim ESA is by phone, but there are alternative routes you can use. Alternatives to claiming by phone...
People who have already claimed incapacity benefit or income support on the basis of incapacity will for the moment stay on those benefits. However, they will be reassessed under the new 'work capability assessment' and those who establish an ongoing entitlement to benefit will be transferred onto ESA. This to happen between October 2010 and March 2014: see www.disabilityalliance.org/ibmigrate.htm. For those assessed as having an ongoing entitlment to ESA, transitional protection should ensure that payments do not decrease on being transfered to ESA. However, proposed changes to the test for entitlement to ESA may make it much more difficult to qualify in connection with speech disorders.
More on the Employment and support allowance:
You may be automatically entitled to housing benefit (HB) - which helps people pay their rent - and main council tax benefit (CTB) on the basis that you are entitled to income-related ESA, income support, income-based Jobseekers allowance, or the guarantee credit of pension credit. (Where a 'second adult' in the house is entitled to one of these benefits, 'second adult rebate' may be available if it is more beneficial than main CTB.)
Where you are not automatically entitled on that basis, one looks at whether and how far your income exceeds the 'applicable amount', which is a figure representing your weekly living needs.
This 'applicable amount' can be increased by the disability premium where that applies. However, for new claims (i.e. taking effect after October 2008) the disability premium now has only limited application, unless you are on a disability benefit other than ESA. Further, the disability premium does not apply to HB and CTB once you have established your entitlement to ESA. If the disability premium is relevant, then depending on the figures it can increase your entitlement to HB and CTB, or give you an entitlement where you wouldn't otherwise have one.
The applicable amount can also be increased by a 'disabled child premium' if a child living with you gets DLA, for example the DLA lower rate mobility component.
In the context of HB and CTB, entitlement to the disability premium can help in claiming the £20 earnings disregard, the childcare costs earnings disregard, and the 16-hours earnings disregard. Also, meeting ESA or disability premium tests can help in claiming HB and CTB at all if you are a full-time student.
This is no longer available for new claims made now. Claims had to take effect before 27th October 2008. For new claimants, incapacity benefit has now been replaced by Employment and Support Allowance.
For claims which took effect before 27th October 2008, incapacity benefit is available broadly if you meet the 'incapacity for work' test and either you had made sufficient national insurance contributions in the right years or your period of incapacity for work started before age 20 (age 25 for certain students and trainees). Various breaks are allowed in a period of incapacity. You do not normally get the benefit above state pension age.
Incapacity benefit has the advantage over income support of not being means-tested. Incapacity benefit is deducted from any income support you might be claiming.
If you are claiming incapacity benefit, you will normally be required to take part in a series of work-focused interviews.
This is no longer available for new claims made now on the basis of incapacity for work. For new claims after 26th October 2008, income support on the basis of incapacity has been replaced by income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
Income support (IS) tops up low or zero incomes to a basic minimum, called your 'applicable amount'. It is for people who are not required to sign on as available for work, namely people who fall into one of various qualifying categories such as being a lone parent - or, for claims up to October 2008, 'incapacity for work'. Entitlement to income support can bring other benefits and advantages, such as free prescriptions and dental treatment. For people aged 60 or over, IS has been replaced by pension credit.
One way you were able to qualify for IS was by meeting the 'incapacity for work' test, provided you claimed before 27th October 2008 (otherwise ESA applies). Your income and capital also need to be low enough.
If you are entitled to IS, you may also be entitled to the disability premium, which increases the 'applicable amount' to which your income is topped up. If you are entitled to the disability premium, you also benefit from the £20 earnings disregard - if you have earnings.
There are limits on how far you can work and still claim IS. There are limits even if you do less than 16 hours work per week. If you do at least 16 hours remunerative work a week (or if you partner does at least 24 hours), you are normally excluded from IS. However, one case where this exclusion does not apply is if your earnings are reduced to 75% or less of what someone without your disability would reasonably be expected to earn if they worked the same number of hours in your type of job or in a comparable job in the area. The exclusion may also not apply if you work less hours because of a disability. Earnings above £20 are still taken into account as income and may reduce benefit.
If you are claiming IS on the basis of incapacity for work, you will normally be required to take part in a series of work-focused interviews.
JSA generally applies where you are available for work and actively seeking work. If you have paid enough national insurance contributions, a flat-rate JSA is payable for up to six months. Otherwise, or after that, or to top it up, a means-tested 'income-based JSA' may be payable, similar to income-related ESA (though ESA is higher). JSA is generally not appropriate if you are have 'limited capability for work' so as to be entitled to ESA (or, if you claimed from before 27th October 2008, are incapable for work).
You will need to agree and sign a 'jobseekers agremment'. Generally, your right to restrict such things as type of job and level of pay is subject to you being able to show you have 'reasonable prospects of securing employment'. An exception to this rule allows you to place restrictions on your availability for work which are reasonable given your disability - you can place such restrictions without having to show you still have reasonable employment prospects unless you impose non-disability related restrictions as well.
There are various schemes designed to help people get work. In any event, if your stammer causes additional problems in getting a job you can be referred to a Disability Employment Adviser (DEA), and indeed you can ask for this to happen. A DEA can be contacted through your local Jobcentre Plus. See Jobcentre Plus website: Disabled people. An article on the BSA website gives a personal experience of being helped by a Disability Adviser.
The issue has arisen of a person who stammers not being able to face a job interview because of the stammer, and being threatened with having their JSA stopped because of this. It may be possible to argue that you have 'good cause' for not attending an interview. Even it that succeeds though, if you regularly don't go to interviews because of this, you may not be 'available for work' or 'actively seeking work'. A letter from a speech and language therapist explaining the situation to Jobcentre Plus can be helpful. It might also help to ask to be referred to a DEA (see previous paragraph) if this has not already happened.
The usual way to claim is by phone, but there are alternative routes you can use. Alternatives to claiming by phone...
Limited capability for work (or the older Incapacity for work test), as well as some other benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance, can entitle you to be credited with National Insurance contributions. This does not give the same rights as actually paying National Insurance contributions but can help to a certain extent with claiming contributory benefits.
This is a means-tested benefit for those aged 60 and over. There are two elements:
Stammering alone is unlikely to affect the level of pension credit.
SDA was abolished with effect from 6th April, 2001, and is therefore no longer open to first-time claimants. People already receiving SDA can continue on SDA subject to the normal rules, and may re-claim in some cases.
A key test for entitlement to SDA was 80% disablement. A tribunal decision on a stammer held a particular person who stammers to have 90% disablement.
This can be payable for up to 28 weeks of absence from work where you are incapable of doing the job you are employed to do because of sickness or disability for at least 4 days in a row.
SSP is not normally thought of in connection with stammering, but it seems it could apply where the stammer goes through a really severe patch or generally deteriorates.
Employment and Support Allowance may be payable after the 28 weeks.
Working tax credit (WTC) may be available on various grounds if you or your partner work at least 16 hours per week, and your income is below certain levels.
Possible grounds for claiming WTC if your income is not too high include working at least 30 hours a week, or having a dependent child. If you are entitled to WTC, it will most likely be on grounds such as these, unrelated to your stammer. So certainly don't discount WTC if (as is likely) the disability ground below does not apply to you.
However, this page focuses on aspects of benefits which may be particularly relevant to stammering. Assuming you work at least 16 hours per week, there is a possible disability ground for claiming WTC. Importantly, this disability ground may also increase the amount of benefit payable by entitling you to the 'disability element' of WTC. The ground can apply if both:
Working tax credit is adminstered by HM Revenue & Customs - www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.
For web links generally on stammering and employment see the DDA employment page and the links page.
The Disability Alliance sells the excellent Disability Rights Handbook, which I use for this web page.
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Last updated 10th January, 2010 (partial ESA update 8th August)
Ltd capability for work
Ltd capability for WRA
Personal capability
DLA - mobility
DLA - attention
SDA (old)
