Definition: Disability benefit

Category: EU-SILC

Disability benefits refer to benefits that provide an income to persons below standard retirement age whose ability to work and earn is impaired beyond a minimum level laid down by legislation by a physical or mental disability.

Disability is the full or partial inability to engage in economic activity or to lead a normal life due to a physical or mental impairment that is likely to be either permanent or to persist beyond a minimum prescribed period.

It includes:

- disability pension: periodic payment intended to maintain or support the income of someone below standard retirement age who suffers from a disability which impairs his or her ability to work or earn beyond a minimum level laid down by legislation,
- early retirement in the event of reduced ability to work: periodic payments to older workers who retire before reaching standard retirement age as a result of reduced ability to work. These pensions normally cease when the beneficiary becomes entitled to an old-age pension,
- care allowance: benefit paid to disabled people below standard retirement age who need frequent or constant assistance to help them meet the extra costs of attendance (other than medical care). The benefit must not be a reimbursement of certified expenditure,
- economic integration of the handicapped: allowances paid to disabled people when they undertake work adapted to their condition, normally in a sheltered workshop, or when they undergo vocational training,
- disability benefits to disabled children in their own right, irrespective of dependency,
- other cash benefits: periodic and lump-sum payments not falling under the above headings, such as occasional income support and so on.

It does not include:

- benefits provided to replace in whole or in part earnings during temporary incapacity to work due to sickness or injury (these benefits are included under "Sickness benefits" (PY120G)),
- family allowances paid to recipients of disability benefits (these benefits are included under "Family/children-related allowances" (HY050G)),
- benefits paid to the surviving dependants of disabled people, such as pensions (these benefits are included under "Survivors benefits" (PY110G)),
- benefits that are a reimbursement of certified expenditure,
- disability cash benefits paid after the standard retirement age (these benefits are included under "Old-age benefits" (PY100G)),
- payments made by employers to an employee or former employee in lieu of wages and salaries through a social insurance scheme when unable to work through disability where such payment cannot be separately and clearly identified as social benefits (these payments are included under "Gross cash or near-cash employee income" (PY010G)),
- additional payments made for employers to an employee or former employee to supplement the disability leave pay entitlement from a social insurance scheme, where such payments can not be separately and clearly identified as social benefits (those payments are included under "Gross cash or near-cash employee income" (PY010G)). http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_298/l_29820031117en00010022.pdf