Well, I have chaged the comment as I would not ever wish to offend anyone. I came on here to help the OP and was not making a comment about anyone personally, unlike other posters, I was purely remarking on the comment that was posted. However, I apologise as I would never wish to offend anyone and i would NEVER NEVER call all or any benefit claimants themselves ignorant. As I have said my remark was about the comment but if you find that offensive I apologise. We are all adults and we are all supposed to be on here to help. Can we please get a MOD in here? This has got completely out of hand.

Giliana, we appeared to have hijacked your threat!!! I hope you have found the answers you needed. To say it is a target focussed job is a little innacurate. Many jobs are target driven to some extent and I don't really know how you can say this if you haven't ever worked there. I have always been encouraged to be caring and empathetic towards my customers. It's just common decency. The problem is not everyone always gets the answer they want. That isn't to say that there aren't customers who experience bad service. There always are and that is never acceptable. However, I really don't want to hijack this topic further so I'm not going to start a debate. Please remember that there are DWP staff who come on here in their own time purely to help people and try and give advice. We seem to have veered wildly off topic, myself included. Hopefully there is a mod about who can wade in here?

Frontline staff in jobcentres are low-paid civil servants and the work does not, on the whole, attract able or well-educated people.. Just out of curiosity, how many qualifications do I have to had before I become well qualified?

First of all, I am not going to dignify some of the comments on here with a lengthy response. Suffice to say I am probably far too ignorant, too poorly educated and too much of a jobsworth to string a coherent argument together. If your Jobseekers Agreements states that you must apply for two jobs per week then this is what you must do as you will have signed the Jobseekers Agreement. However, if you are not happy with the Jobseekers Agreement then you should contact your local office and ask for an appointment with an adviser to review your agreement. For instance, if this is not at all reasonable in your area because thre aren't any suitable jobs, then query this with them. You should never be asked to apply for something that you aren't qualified for because this is of no use to you or to the employer. You should never be shouted at and you should never be intimidated. I know that Jobcentres can be a daunting place but if you are not happy with the way you have been treated or the way things are going then please make a complaint or ask to speak to a supervisor. From what you have said it does sound like you are doing everything you should but have a look through your Jobseekers Agreement and make sure that you are complying with what's on there. That way there can't be any cause for argument. The Jobcentre staff are really there to help you back to work and to make sure you are holding up your end of the bargain in equal measure. That also means that they should be holding up their end of the bargain too. Good luck for the next time you go in. This is just my opinion and my experience. I am sure FitzWilliam will correct me if he thinks I am wrong!

its been decided there has been a rethink on I.S to ESA for lone parents Many have been found to be worse off and there has been a back lash from Welfare rights etc Hang in there and see what happens New legislation is being pushed through but at the moment all claims are being looked at again Hi JackDaniels. You mentioned that all IS LP to ESA claims are being looked at again and that new legislation is being pushed through? Can you tell us where you got this info. I have to admit we have not heard anything about this at all and I was just curious as to where you heard this? Thanks, Sue

I could be wrong here but I haven't yet come across a case where customers in receipt of Income Support and Incapacity Benefit are viewed as fit for work if they are undertaking a training course. In fact it should be actively encouraged, especially if this course would one day help you towards work you are able to do. The only thing I would say is that degree courses do affect some benefits like Income Support as the amount of student loan you would be likely to receive would exceed the amount of Income Support you are receiving. This in turn might affect other entitlements but obviously this a long way off and I would hate to see this deter you! Put down the information in writing but for your own peace of mind you could also contact your Personal Adviser at your local Jobcentre Plus and double check that the Access course won't affect anything or change the way you are viewed. Good luck with the course

As Aviva has said, you cannot claim Housing Benefit as this is for rental payments only. You can make a claim for Council Tax Benefit. If you are fit and actively seeking work then you can make a claim for Jobseekers Allowance and as you and your partner have children, you can claim Jobseekers Allowance as a couple. You must inform the Tax Credit helpline of your change in circumstances immediately as you do not want to incur an overpayment. Your working tax credit will stop. Your child tax credit may continue as this is now the element that pays for children but how much you receive depends on what income you currently have. Ask them to base it on your current income. Claim benefits immediately through the 0800 number. It's not that the DWP will seek to deliberately seek to delay your payments but a claim is only taken as straightforward from the day it is made. If you want to make a claim from a date before your first date of contact then you can apply to have your claim backdated but this is not an automatic entitlement. You may qualify for a run on with tax credits depending on how long you have been working and what you have been receiving and if this is the case then JSA will not be payable for the period you receive tax credits. I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to whether you will receive this so ask the Tax Credit people when you report your change of circumstances. You can ask to claim for help with your mortgage payments through the Jobcentreplus but there are qualifying conditions which have recently changed and I am unsure of them and again wouldn't like to hazard a guess. I am sure someone with more current knowledge than I will come along shortly. If you find you don't qualify for the traditional mortgage help throught the Jobcentreplus then please look on the DirectGov website as I believe there may be government programmes for assistance with mortgages? Hope that is some help. Chin up.

Obviously it is your choice as to whether you decide to tell the Jobcentre about your holiday. However, if you don't, then you will be receiving benefit that by law, you are not entitled to. Whether it is a weekend or working week does not make any difference because benefits are paid over seven days of the week. If you choose not to inform them and you are discovered then you have to be prepared for the potential consequences. If you are out for advice, then personally I would take the advice of the folk "in-the-know". I know it's a pain but if you choose to take the holiday then personally I would follow the regulations.

Not sure if I've got the right forum but I hope someone can help! I took out a loan with Lloyds TSB in 2004. It was for £6000 and I was in a very secure job so I said I didn't want PPI. As well as trying to push me to take 10k I really didn't want, the bank manager I saw basically said that if I didn't take the PPI I couldn't really have the loan. He said it was because the debt is unsecured and if I don't take the PPI and I become unemployed what guarantee will they have of getting the money back etc etc. I explained why I didn't want the PPI, that my job was really secure and that the redundancy I would get if the worst happened would more than likely cover the loan. He said not to worry, if I really didn't want it I could cancel it at any time. He gave me a little pack about my loan. It didn't include any information on the PPI. So, when two months later I thought this is ridiculous, I really don't need it, I found out I couldn't cancel it. I had never had a loan before so I didn't really know much about the process. When my loan was rejigged in 2006 I finally got rid of it but it really annoys me to think that i paid it all of that time, especially now I find out that banks can't force you to take PPI to offset the risk. Not called an unsecured loan for nothing - you're either a good risk or you aren't and I have never missed a payment. Can anyone tell me if I can claim it back? Thanks very much!!

I haven't refused to do anything. I merely expressed an opinion as you have been doing and it just that, my opinion. If you start a discussion you have to expect people to reply and we all have different views and interpretations for everything in life! I don't know where you got the comment about my logic would dictate that things like this shouldn't be reported at all. I haven't said anything of the sort. I assume from the way it was written that you are including both Erika and myself in that. On the one hand you want to start a discussion, on the other you don't appear to want anyone else to have a differing point of view? I am not going to post further on this topic because it seems to be getting a little silly as I am not about to post a long and detailed explanation of every small comment I make for it then to be disected and misunderstood or misquoted. Again, that's down to interpretation! So I happily withdraw from this thread and I'm not going to waste my time posting on something that, in my personal opinion, is probably not very helpful.

Hasn't Skonk's post just proved Erika's point?

"Its estimated by the DWP that an additional 20 thousand people will now appeal due to ESA (source) - it has to be remembered the amount of stress a appeal puts claimaints under, not to mention the fact they are usually on reduced benefits during appeal (on IB its usually income support reduced by 20% - ie 20 percent less than the meagre amount the law says you need to live on.....). " To the best of my knowledge this is no longer correct, at least for ESA appeals. If a person appeals against a decision that states they do not have enough points to pass the WCA, then benefit should be reinstated at the full rate as soon as the appeal is received and should remain so until the decision is made.

I haven't been able to read the links on the original page because they have been removed but I definitely have to agree with Erika in that the new system of ESA is meant to focus on what a person can do, not what they can't do. Of course there will be people who will never be able to do any sort of work at all and they should receive the full support of the state. I am sure there are also many people who cannot work at the moment or who will never be able to return to their previous work but their health condition does not preclude them from doing any sort of work at all. There should be support in place for the people who have not worked for a very long time and they should be fully prepared for employment before they are expected to take it up. However, if one can do SOME sort of work, even if it isn't the same type of employment as before or the type of employment one would choose, the new system is designed to help the person move towards that sort of work, if and when they are able. My understanding is that the article you have posted is based on opinion and supposition, not fact. The new system is flawed, the old system is and was flawed. Mistakes are made and that is to be expected because everyone makes mistakes. I just find this whole thread completely unhelpful to people who are already fretting about what this new regime might mean for them and it isn't actually true.

I wish I could say yes, but unfortunately not. If you qualify for Incapacity Benefit then you can't opt out of IB and claim Income Support instead. If you claim both IB and IS then as the contribution based benefits are always assessed first, if you qualify for IB that is the benefit you would be awarded. Sometimes, depending on your circumstances, you qualify for a small IS top up on top of your IB. If you don't satisfy the requirements for IB, then Income Support would be assessed on the grounds of Incapacity. Sorry this isn't the news you want. I am 99% that is correct but I am sure someone else will come along and check it.

No, it's so that they can verify that your employer is genuine. Some small employers do not have PAYE numbers. If your employer has one then personally I would provide it as soon as possible so that they can process your claim.