Social Security Benefits
There is a rule that if you receive social security benefits because of your injury and you then win your case, you will have to pay back to the DSS some of those benefits.
The way this works is that your opponent finds out from the DSS how much has been paid to you in benefits and then deducts this amount from the money they pay to you when they settle your case, or you win your case.
However, since 6th October 1997 benefits can only be deducted from certain parts of your compensation. These are as follows:
1) Compensation for Loss of Earnings from the date of the accident / injury / illness to the date of the trial.
The following benefits can be deducted:
- Disability Working Allowance
- Disablement Pension
- Incapacity Benefit
- Income Support
- Invalidity Pension
- Invalidity Allowance
- Jobseeker's Allowance
- Reduced Earnings Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Sickness Benefit
- Statutory Sick Pay (paid on or before 6/4/94)
- Unemployability Supplement
- Unemployment Benefit
2) Compensation for cost of care from the date of the accident to the date of the trial.
The following benefits can be deducted:
- Care part of Disability Working Allowance
- Disablement Pension increase
- Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance
3) Compensation for loss of mobility (movement) from date of accident to date of trial.
The following benefits can be deducted:
- Mobility Allowance
- The mobility part of Disability Living Allowance
You should check with your solicitor to find out if any benefits you have claimed will be deducted from part of your compensation. If you have received compensation for any other losses apart from 1, 2 and 3 above, benefits cannot be deducted.
There are certain cases where benefits can not be deducted from compensation at all, such as compensation claimed under the Vaccine Damage Payments Act, compensation paid by the Criminal Injuries Authority or payment made under NHS Injury Benefits Regulations.
If in doubt you should check with your solicitor.
Only benefits received for the first 5 years after the accident / injury /
illness can be deducted. No benefits claimed after you receive compensation can
be deducted.
| Search for more free legal information |
Security
