Reduced Earnings Allowance
If you can't earn as much as you normally could because of an accident or disease caused by your work, you may be able to get Reduced Earnings Allowance.
Eligibility
You may qualify for Reduced Earnings Allowance if you're suffering from an illness or disability caused by a work-related accident or disease that happened before 1 October 1990.
All of the following must also apply:
- your level of disability is assessed to be at least 1 per cent
- you can’t return to your regular occupation
- you can’t do other work with the same level of earnings as your regular occupation
How much you will get
£90.12 per week is the maximum rate.
Your individual circumstances, for example whether you're working, can affect the amount you get. Contact the Industrial Injuries Branch for more details.
How it's paid
Direct Payment into an account is the Department for Communities' normal way of paying pensions and benefits. It is a safe, convenient and efficient method of payment.
Effect on benefits
The following benefits may be affected if you start to get Reduced Earnings Allowance:
How to claim
It's important to claim straight away or you could lose the benefit.
Contact the Industrial Injuries Branch or your local Jobs and Benefits office for a claim form. You can also download a form below.
You'll need to prove your identity when making a claim. You'll also have to answer questions about your circumstances and background and provide official documents to support that information.
Download the form: Reduced Earnings Allowance Form BI 103
To claim, print out, fill in the claim form and post it to the office whose details are shown on the form or hand it in at your nearest Jobs and Benefits office.
The date the claim form is received in a Jobs and Benefits office is the date payment can be considered from - not the date you downloaded the claim form.
Report a change in circumstances
You, or the person who claims on your behalf, must tell the office that deals with your payments about any changes to your circumstances or personal details. Let them know straight away if:
- the condition for which you’re getting the benefit improves, gets worse, or you were misdiagnosed
- you change your name or gender
- you get married or form a civil partnership
- you change your address
- you change your phone number
- you change your bank details
- you leave or intend to leave the country
- you go into prison or are held in custody
- your immigration status changes, if you’re not a British or Irish citizen
- you change the person who has authority to act on your behalf
- you change your work pattern, job role, employer, employment status, or you get a promotion
- how much you can work changes because of your condition
- your condition was caused by service in the UK armed forces and you get compensation from the government
There are different changes you need to report if you also get Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit or Constant Attendance Allowance.
What else you need to know
If you get more than £2 a week Reduced Earnings Allowance when you reach State Pension age and you're not in regular employment, it will be replaced by another benefit called Retirement Allowance.
There is another kind of benefit, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, for people who have become disabled as a result of an accident or disease at work.