DISABLED people are being encourage to claim a £40.80 allowance before it is abolished on April 6.

Anyone who receives the Severe Disablement Allowance up to April 5 can keep withdrawing it as long as they meet the conditions.

It is paid to people to under the age of 65 who have a long term illness or disability, but have not made enough national insurance contributions to get incapacity benefit.

Married women miss out on this benefit most because they could have earned low wages or spent time at home raising a family. They are entitled to the benefit, even if their husbands are in full-time work.

Paul Burgess, Lancashire's head of service for Welfare Rights said that new claims could be made up to July 5 but that you needed to show you have been sick for six months by April 5.

He said: "The name of this benefit can be misleading - you can qualify even if you do not think of yourself as 'severely disabled'.

"We have produced a leaflet with examples of the types of people how can claim. We encourage anyone under 65 with health problems who does not get incapacity benefit to get a copy."