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DLA and Severe Disablement Allowance

PolicyEngine UK models two legacy DWP disability benefits alongside the current PIP (see PIP point system):

Both are non-means-tested and are added directly into the household_benefits aggregate (via the dla and sda variables in its adds list).

Disability Living Allowance

DLA has two independent components, each with its own band structure:

ComponentBandsVariableParameter file
Mobility (dla_m)Higher / Lower / Nonedla_mgov/dwp/dla/mobility/{higher,lower}.yaml
Self-care (dla_sc)Higher / Middle / Lower / Nonedla_scgov/dwp/dla/self_care/{higher,middle,lower}.yaml

A claimant’s band on each component is taken from the dataset inputs dla_m_category and dla_sc_category (each an enum on Person). For each band the formula multiplies the published weekly rate by WEEKS_IN_YEAR to produce an annual amount; the combined award is

dla = dla_sc + dla_m

i.e. a recipient on the higher mobility rate and the higher self-care rate stacks both, producing the maximum DLA award.

Eligibility (informational)

PolicyEngine doesn’t re-derive eligibility for DLA because the dataset records categorical band assignments rather than the underlying self-care / mobility activity scores. New claims have been routed to PIP for working-age claimants since April 2013, so the population that remains on DLA is overwhelmingly:

Migration to PIP is handled by the calibration step in policyengine-uk-data, not by a re-derivation here.

Severe Disablement Allowance

SDA is a single weekly flat-rate payment, exposed as the variable sda. Eligibility is treated as binary and read straight from the dataset input sda_reported:

sda = (sda_reported > 0) * gov.dwp.sda.maximum * WEEKS_IN_YEAR

The model assumes recipients are entitled to the maximum age-related addition. This is a deliberate simplification: SDA was closed to new claims in 2001 and the remaining caseload is small and old enough that nearly all recipients qualify for the highest age-related addition.

Universal Credit income treatment

Universal Credit counts a claimant’s or assessed partner’s Incapacity Benefit (incapacity_benefit) and modeled SDA award (sda) as unearned income, reducing the award pound for pound up to the maximum UC award. A positive sda_reported input therefore counts the modeled maximum SDA amount, not the reported cash amount. Other benefit units’ income and same-unit nonclaimants’ income remain outside the existing assessed-claimant aggregation.

GB transitional regulation 25(1) adds both benefits from 16 June 2014. The model preserves the original 2013 income list and adds them at that date, including in the later list containing Carer Support Payment. Annual calculations from 2015 read the 30 April value. The first, part-year 2014 annual treatment remains unresolved (#1807); the dated entry does not provide assessment-period calculations or proration. The NI transitional counterpart supports current commenced NI claims, not an assertion of NI commencement in 2014.

Carer’s Allowance enters UC income after the existing overlapping-benefit adjustment. Within the allowance’s positive residual, an extra pound of annual IB replaces a pound of Carer’s Allowance, leaving their combined UC income unchanged. Once the allowance is zero, further IB increases UC income. This annual netting does not represent benefit spells at different weekly rates.

The focused household tests retain live UC eligibility, disability/carer elements and final awards. Legacy receipt and disability-assessment inputs are assumptions, not a re-derivation of IB/SDA entitlement. The care-hours interface does not identify the person cared for or check their qualifying benefit. No private-data impact or Axiom parity has been measured.

References

Programmes
Cold Weather Payment (planned)
Programmes
PIP point system (partly modelled)