Frequently asked questions

Benefits are normally awarded from the Monday following the date we receive your claim, so its important to claim as soon as you need help.

Our claim form has space on it for you to ask for your benefit to be backdated.  If you have already given us your claim form then just write in asking us to backdate your claim.

There are limits on how far we can go back.

If you are under 60 we can go back up to 6 months but you must be able to prove that you had continuous good reasons for not claiming earlier.

If you are over 60 we can go back up to 3 months and you do not need to prove continuous good reasons for not claiming earlier.

If we turn down your request you can ask us to explain why, look again or ask for an independant review of our decision.

The information on this page is for guidance only and is not a full definition of the law.