All those entitled to Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) should claim the benefit before it is abolished in April 2001.

A campaign has been launched by the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) to ensure that potential claimants apply in good time and avoid unnecessary hardship in the future.

The DBC has produced an information pack for individuals and advice service providers to help them to claim SDA, available from the Royal National Institute for the Blind Helpline on 0845 766 9999.

The abolition of SDA could affect up to 16,000 severely disabled people each year, 10,000 of them women.

Those who apply before April 2001, and existing claimants will have their benefit protected, and young people under 20 will be transferred onto incapacity benefit.