Currently, there is a 39-week waiting period from the time a person can claim SMI until the payment is made according to the Money Advice Service.

If a claimant does any paid work during this waiting period the claim will stop and they’ll need to reapply the next time they find themselves out of work.

How long a person can get SMI for will depend on the type of state benefit they’re also receiving.

If the claimant is receiving jobseekers allowance they’ll only be able to get SMI for up to two years.

It should be remembered that SMI is a loan and will therefore have interest rate factors associated with it.

The loan will accrue each month and attract compound interest based on the Office of Budget (OBR) responsibility forecast of the ‘gilt rate’ (or the rate of interest on government bonds).

The interest rate on this will fluctuate and as such it could go up or down during the time the claimant has the loan.

The minimum amount that can be repaid at any one time is £100 and DWP will ensure that they receive full repayments.