This benefit is dealt with by Jobcentre Plus. Updated 1st November 2010

What is it?

Incapacity Benefit has now been replaced by the Employment and Support Allowance.

Employment and Support Allowance replaces Incapacity Benefit and Income Support that is paid because of an illness or disability for new claimants from 27 October 2008. If you are already receiving Incapacity Benefit, you will continue to get it as long as you are eligible.

Paid if Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) has ended or you cannot get SSP. Not paid if you were over state pension age when you became sick.

Can I get it?

Have you:

Paid NI contributions?

Been incapable of work because of sickness or disability for at least 4 days in a row including weekends and public holidays?

If YES to both, claim Employment and Support Allowance.

Or are you:

Incapable of work and have been for at least 28 weeks without a break?

Aged 16 or over but under 20 (25 if you have been in education or training at least 3 months immediately before age 20)?

And did:

The period for which you were incapable of work begin before age 20 (25 if you were in education or training at least 3 months immediately before age 20)?

If YES to all, claim Incapacity Benefit.

Existing Incapacity Benefit can be paid at three different rates.

Short-term Incapacity Benefit at the lower rate
Paid if you do not get SSP and have been sick for at least four days in a row including weekends and public holidays, or if you qualify under the special rules for young people.

You will only get Incapacity Benefit under the rules for young people if you have been incapable of work for 28 weeks without a break.

Short-term Incapacity Benefit at the higher rate
Paid if you have been sick for more than 28 weeks and less than 52 weeks. If you qualify under the rules for young people, you must have been getting Incapacity Benefit for 28 weeks.

Long-term Incapacity Benefit
Paid if you have been sick for over 52 weeks. If you qualify under the special rules for young people, you must have been getting Incapacity Benefit for 52 weeks.

What else should I know?

Special circumstances: If you became sick before reaching state pension age, you may be able to get Incapacity Benefit after state pension age. It can be paid at the Retirement Pension rate for up to one year of sickness.

If you get the highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance or you are terminally ill, you will get Incapacity Benefit paid at the long-term rate after you have been sick for 28 weeks.

If you qualify under the rules for young people and you get the highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance or you are terminally ill , you will get Incapacity Benefit paid at the long-term rate after you have been getting Incapacity Benefit for 28 weeks

If you get the long-term rate of Incapacity Benefit you may qualify for extra money depending on your age when you became sick.

If you have children you may be able to get extra money. This extra money can only be paid with short-term Incapacity Benefit at the higher rate or Retirement Pension rate, or with long-term Incapacity Benefit.

If your husband or wife is aged 60 or over, or another adult cares for your children, you may be able to get extra money.

From April 2003 a new Child Tax Credit has replaced the extra money claimed for children. This will be claimed from and administered by the Inland Revenue.

To apply for Tax Credits phone the Tax Credit Helpline on: 0845 605 5858 or textphone 0845 608 88 44. You can also get an application pack from Inland Revenue enquiry centres, your local Jobcentre Plus office, Jobcentre or social security office . For the nearest Inland Revenue enquiry centre, look for Inland Revenue in the business numbers section of the phonebook.

You may earn extra pension through State Second Pension for every complete tax year you get long-term Incapacity Benefit, depending on your NI record.

Coming from abroad and social security

You may be treated as having paid the necessary NI contributions to get these benefits if you have:

paid enough UK NI contributions and the equivalent of NI contributions in certain other countries, or
been working abroad for an employer based in the UK and paid NI contributions for the first 52 weeks of that employment.
You may be able to get Incapacity Benefit even if you have not paid enough NI contributions if you:

are under 20 (25 if you were in education or training before age 20)and have been sick for 28 weeks, and are present and resident in Great Britain and have been present for 26 weeks in the year before you claim. You may be treated as having been present in Great Britain if you are in special occupations such as the armed forces or have lived and worked in another state in the European Economic Area.

How much will I get?

Only use the amounts shown as a guide. The rules for benefits mean that your individual circumstances may affect the amount you can get. This means you will not always be able to work out exactly how much you will get by using these amounts.

Weekly amounts:

Age of Claimant

Single person aged under 25 Up to £51.85
Single person aged 25 and over Up to £65.45

Weekly rate during the main phase

The main phase starts from week 14 of your claim, if the Work Capability Assessment shows that your illness or disability does limit your ability to work.

Single person in the work Related Activity Group Up to £91.40
Single person in the Support Group Up to £96.85

In most cases you will not get any money for the first three days of your claim. These are called 'waiting days'.

Depending on your circumstances you may be able to get more money if you get income-related Employment and Support Allowance. 

You can only get extra money for your husband, wife or civil partner if you get income-related Employment and Support Allowance.

Pension income rules

If you receive contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance and have a gross pension income of more than £85 a week, the amount of benefit payable will be reduced by half of the excess.

The excess is the difference between £85 and the actual pension income. For example, for a pension income of £100, the excess is £15. The amount of Employment and Support Allowance payable is reduced by half of that, which is £7.50.

If you receive income-related Employment and Support Allowance, any pension income you have will be taken into account, regardless of the amount.

How do I claim?

Claim straight away. If you delay you may lose benefit.

Contact your Jobcentre Plus office or social security office for a claim form. Find your local office on this site or look for Jobcentre Plus or social security in the business numbers section of the phone book.

Or you can ring the Benefit Enquiry Line (BEL) on: 0800 88 22 00. The BEL is a confidential telephone service available for people with disabilities, their representatives and their carers. People with speech or hearing problems using a textphone can dial: 0800 24 33 55.

The person taking your call will not have your personal papers but will be able to give you general advice. This advice must not be taken as a decision on any matter about which you are making an enquiry You can also get leaflets and claim forms from BEL.

It is important that we can be sure of your identity when you make a claim. We may need to ask you about your background and look at any official documents you have to support the information you give.

You can download forms

You can download Incapacity Benefit claim forms in a PDF format. These forms do not apply in Northern Ireland. Please choose a form from the options below.

Incapacity Benefit customers aged 25 years and over please use either of the following forms:

If you want to fill in the form on screen (2,509k).
(Please note that this form is currently unavailable - please contact your local Jobcentre Plus or Social Security Office for a claim form or click on the link below)

You can download documents marked in blue using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free of charge. We recommend that you save this file to your computer hard disk, floppy disk or a CD before completing it. To save a copy of the file to disk right click with your mouse on the link above and choose the 'Save Target As' option. You cannot save the form once you have opened it in an internet browser. After you have completed the form on screen, you will have to print and sign it.

If you want to print out a form to fill in with a pen (299k)

Incapacity benefit customers under 25 years of age please use either of the following forms:

If you want to print out a form to fill in with a pen (229k).

If you want to fill in the form on screen (2,485k).
(Please note that this form is currently unavailable - please contact your local Jobcentre Plus or Social Security Office for a claim form)

These forms come with notes that will help you fill them in and tell you where to send them once completed.

If you are having technical difficulties:

downloading the form
navigating around the form
moving from page to page, or
printing a hard copy

Please contact the eService Helpdesk.

Important changes from April 2001
The following changes to Incapacity Benefit (IB) come into force on 6 April 2001. They could affect your entitlement to Benefit:

If you are aged under 20 you may be able to get IB even if you have not paid enough National Insurance (NI) contributions. This is provided you have been sick for 196 consecutive days.

If you are aged 20 or over but under 25, and were in education or training before your 20th birthday, you may be able to get IB even if you have not paid enough NI contributions. This is provided you have been sick for 196 consecutive days.

If you make a new non-linking claim to IB for a date on or after 6 April 2001, you must have paid NI contributions in one of the last 3 tax years in order to satisfy the first contribution condition for IB.

If you make a new non-linking claim to IB for a date on or after 6 April 2001, you will have any gross Pension Income taken into account when the payable rate of benefit is being calculated.

You can contact your social security office if you want more information about how these changes could affect you.

New permitted work rules from 8 April 2002

From 8 April 2002 there are new rules if you want to try some paid work while getting Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, National Insurance Credits or Income Support because of illness or disability. The new rules are called the permitted work rules and the work is called permitted work.

If you were already doing therapeutic work when the rules changed, you may be able to carry on doing it until April 2003. After that you can consider doing permitted work straight away under the new rules.

The new arrangements allow you to try some paid work without the need for prior approval from a doctor. You should tell the office that pays your benefit before you start work though.

You can work:

For earnings of up to and including £20.00 a week for an unlimited period, or for less than 16 hours a week, on average, with earnings up to and including £72.00 a week for a 26 week period. The period can be extended for another 26 weeks if a Job Broker, Personal Adviser or Disability Employment Adviser agrees that it will help you towards work of 16 or more hours a week. There is no limit to the number of times you can do permitted work in this category while you are getting an incapacity benefit; but there must be a gap of at least 52 weeks between periods. These subsequent periods are for 52 weeks and a Job Broker, Personal Adviser or Disability Employment Adviser must support the work from the outset. In supported permitted work for earnings of up to and including £72.00 a week for an unlimited period.

Supported permitted work is work done with the ongoing support or supervision from a professional caseworker (employed or engaged by a public body or voluntary organisation). This could be work done in the community or in a sheltered workshop. It also includes work done under medical supervision as part of a hospital treatment programme.

You do not have to undergo a medical test just because you are doing permitted work. However, if a medical test is due it will go ahead as planned.

You can carry on getting Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance while doing permitted work without it affecting your benefit. If you get Income Support, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit your benefit will be reduced if your average earnings are more than your earnings disregard.

You can contact your social security office if you want more information about how these changes could affect you.

You can also read the procedural information for disability organizations.

You can download documents marked in blue using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free of charge.

Permitted work procedural information for disability organizations.
Telling us about paid work you want to do (PW1 10/02.
Replacing therapeutic work with new permitted work rules (PW2 02/02).
Replacing therapeutic work with new permitted work rules (PW3 02/02).

Special rules if you are discharged from the Armed Forces

Certain individuals who are discharged from the Armed Forces may claim Incapacity Benefit once they have left the Forces. As the rate of Incapacity Benefit paid is dependant on the duration of the incapacity, these individuals may need to declare periods of absence from duty because of sickness or disability to the DWP if the periods of absence occurred in the 8 weeks prior to discharge.

For claims made for periods commencing on or after 5 May 2003 the DWP will count periods for which ex service personnel were deemed unfit for duty whilst in the Armed Forces towards the higher rates of Incapacity Benefit. HM Forces will complete and give Servicemen and women form FMed1017 to show all periods of absence from duty prior to discharge.

The DWP will count up to a maximum of 28 weeks of absence from duty because of sickness or disability. These periods need not be continuous but must be separated by periods back on duty lasting no longer than 8 weeks.

You can download documents marked in blue using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free of charge.

You can download FMed1017 claim form in a PDF format.

I am already getting it. What happens if:

I go into hospital or someone I claim for goes into hospital?
You must tell your Jobcentre Plus office or social security office as soon as you go into or come out of hospital. You must also tell them if someone you get benefit for goes into or comes out of hospital.

Nothing will usually happen to your Incapacity Benefit straight away. But if you go into hospital from a local council residential care home, your Incapacity Benefit will usually reduce straight away.

If you get extra money for someone who looks after your children for you, and that person goes into hospital, the extra money may stop straightaway.

After 52 weeks
Your benefit will usually reduce.
Your benefit may reduce by less if someone depends on you.
If you get extra money for your husband or wife and they are in hospital, that extra money you get for them will usually reduce.

I go to live abroad or visit?
Let us know as soon as you can that you are going abroad. You can usually do this by contacting your Jobcentre Plus office or social security office.

If you are going abroad permanently, you may be able to get a benefit for incapacity if you are going to a country within the EEA or one that has a social security agreement with the UK covering incapacity for work.

If your stay abroad is temporary, you can get Incapacity Benefit paid abroad for the first 26 weeks if:

You have gone abroad only for treatment of an illness or disability which began before you went abroad (pregnancy itself is not counted as an illness), or you were incapable of work for at least 6 months before you left the United Kingdom (UK) and have been continuously incapable of work since then.

You may be able to get Incapacity Benefit paid abroad for more than 26 weeks if your stay abroad is temporary and you get Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance.

Adjacent buttons link to information on other DWP Benefits available