£20,000 for Mother

Whilst participating in the SSA Benefit take-up project last year, a client of L’Derry CAB was identified as potentially missing out on social security benefits for both herself and her twin children. Under the recent SSA Project framework it was necessary to carry out an associated benefit check, and at this point it became clear to the Citizens Advice Bureau adviser that she was missing out on premiums that would make a fundamental difference to her benefit entitlement.  Premiums seemed only to be in payment for one of the children but not both.

The local Social Security Office was duly contacted in order to establish if indeed this was the case and an application was then made on the client’s behalf. As a result it was identified that the client had indeed missed out on a disabled child premium and enhanced disability premium since the children had both been awarded Disability Living Allowance (DLA). The result was a backdated payment of £20,931.61 for the client and her children.

When advised of this the client said, “I would have had no idea that I was missing out on this money.  It will be very welcome and will make a substantial difference to the lives of me and my children”. 

The overall benefits of good advice and the work undertaken by Citizens Advice Bureaux cannot be over emphasised and clients continue to benefit from this essential service.