Survey: Your experiences of living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and claiming benefits

Crohn’s and Colitis UK are part of the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), which is a national coalition of over 50 different charities committed to working towards a fair benefits system for disabled people and their families.

We know that those living with IBD often struggle to get the financial support they need through the benefits system. This is one of the reasons why the Disability Benefits Consortium every year conducts a “Big Benefits Survey”. This is a large benefits survey where we want to hear from you about your experiences about what is and what’s not working within the benefits system.

The evidence you provide goes a long way to help us to campaign for a fair benefits system for those living with IBD. Anyone who has supported you to apply for these benefits is welcome to fill the survey in on your behalf.

• Are you on DLA? Have you applied for Personal Independence Payment (PIP)? We want to know what it was like to apply for this benefit. Please tell us about your experiences in this PIP survey
• Have you moved from DLA to PIP? Has this meant the amount of money you get has changed now? Has losing DLA or getting less money made life more difficult? Please tell us about your experiences in this impact survey
• If you are unable to work because of a long-term condition or disability then you can apply for Employment Support Allowance (ESA). Please tell us about your experiences by filling in the ESA survey
• Do you receive help to pay your rent or mortgage (either Housing Benefit or Mortgage interest payments)? 
• Have you had problems with the ‘bedroom tax’? Do you get enough money to help you pay your rent? Please tell us about your experiences by filling in the housing benefit survey

Last year over a thousand people completed the Big Benefits survey, and the evidence we gathered helped us to tell the Government about the impact of benefit changes and helped raise awareness of how the Bedroom Tax affects disabled people.