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Who is eligible?

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.

How much do you get?

£63.24 per week is the maximum rate.

Your individual circumstances, for example whether or not you're working, can affect the amount you get. You'll need to contact your regional Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) centre for more details.

• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit centres

How Reduced Earnings Allowance is paid

All benefits, pensions and allowances are paid into an account. This is the safest, most convenient and efficient method of payment.

• How benefits and pensions are paid

Effect on benefits

The following benefits may be affected if you start to get Reduced Earnings Allowance:

You'll need to contact your local Jobcentre Plus office for more details.

• Contact Jobcentre Plus

• Income Support

• Employment and Support Allowance (disabled people section)

• Housing Benefit

How to claim

It's important to claim straight away or you could lose the benefit. Ask your local Jobcentre Plus office for a claim form.

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.

• Contact Jobcentre Plus

What to do if your circumstances change

Tell your local Jobcentre Plus office if your circumstances change, although in most cases this is unlikely to affect Reduced Earnings Allowance payments.

Changes that don't affect the payment include:

If you leave the UK to live permanently outside the European Economic Area (EEA), you won't be able to get Reduced Earnings Allowance.

But if it's a temporary visit, you can usually claim for the first three months of your stay. This can be longer in special circumstance but you'll need to check with the International Pensions Centre to see if you qualify.

• International Pension Centre (pensions and retirement planning section)

• Contact Jobcentre Plus

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'll 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.

For general advice you can call the Benefit Enquiry Line on 0800 882 200 (8.30 am to 6.30 pm Monday to Friday). Or textphone 0845 608 8551.

If you'd like more help with benefits, you can ring the Benefit Enquiry Line on 0800 882 200 (textphone 0845 608 8551). This is a confidential advice service for disabled people and their carers.

More useful links

• Guide to financial support for disabled people (disabled people section)

• Guide to financial support for carers (caring for someone section)

• Caring and your pension (caring for someone section)

• Council Tax Benefit

• Increasing your income in retirement (pensions and retirement planning section)

Useful contacts

• Money, tax and benefits contacts