DWP to pay up to £434 per month to people living with these 25 conditions

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could pay people up to £434 a month for certain breathing conditions. This can be done through Personal Independence Payments (PIP), reports M.E.N.

These conditions can range from forms of asthma to more serious ones like cystic fibrosis. Once you have completed a Work Capability Assessment (WCA), a DWP official will decide what level of award you need to help with your long-term illness or disability.

If you receive the enhanced rate of PIP, you will receive a four-weekly payment of £434.20 towards your extra living expenses. Figures show there are around 12 million people across the UK with breathing conditions who could qualify for the benefit.

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People who face mobility problems due to their disability or health condition can also get an additional PIP component to help with their mobility costs, as well as their extra living costs. This adds up to an extra £303 per month to PIP, taking the DWP's monthly assistance to £737.20.

PIP is made up of two components and the amount you could get from the DWP depends on how your condition affects you. Currently, you could get:

• Standard rate for daily living: £72.65

• Enhanced rate for daily living: £108.55

• Standard rate for mobility: £28.70

• Enhanced rate for mobility: £75.75

A health professional will assess any claimants who sends in an application to determine the level of help they require. The rate is also regularly reviewed in order to ensure the claimants continues to receive the correct amount of support.

In order to qualify for PIP, you must have a health condition or disability that has caused difficulties with daily living or mobility (or both) for three months, and these difficulties are expected to continue for at least another nine months.

Generally, you will also have needed to have lived in the UK for at least two of the last three years and be in the country when you apply. Below is a breakdown of all the health conditions that could qualify for PIP:

• Sleep apnoea - obstructive

• Upper respiratory tract - other diseases of/type not known

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

• Chronic bronchitis

• Cystic fibrosis

• Emphysema

• Empyema

• Bronchiectasis

• Asthma

• Asbestosis

• Extrinsic allergic alveolitis

• Fibrosing alveolitis

• Sarcoidosis

• Silicosis

• Granulomatous lung disease and pulmonary infiltration

• Pulmonary fibrosis - other/type not known

• Pneumoconiosis

• Pulmonary fibrosis

• Pleura

• Pleural effusion

• Pneumothorax

• Pulmonary embolus

• Pneumonia

• Lung transplantation

• Heart and lung transplantation