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  1. Thank you for your replies, I'm finding it so frustrating, I phoned the incapacity benefit number on the Direct Gov website this morning, I had to say what my post-code was and they put me through to my local job-centre plus. I spoke to 3 different people at job-centre plus and not one of them could tell me what the permitted work rules are, this is crazy!! You would think they would be supporting people back into work, not telling them they don't know the rules! So I phoned another incapacity number and thankfully the woman knew (some) of the answers, she told me I could work for 52 weeks doing a job as permitted work, but once that 52 weeks was up, I would have to stop working and I would not be allowed to do any more work for another year. It seems so silly that you are encouraged to work, but once you do get a job you can only do that job for a year, and then you lose your benefits, if you want to continue. She said the exception would be if I was doing supported permitted work. I am being supported by a voluntary mental health organisation which supports people with mental health problems to gain the skills needed for employment. I asked her if this would count as supported permitted work. Guess what, she doesn't know! She told me to contact my local job-centre plus, who don't know anything. I contacted my support worker and she said that they have been trying to get their organisation validated as somewhere that can supervise supported permitted work, but they cannot find anyone to help them do this and are also being passed from incapacity to job-centre plus and back again. I am finding the whole thing so frustrating and complicated. My illness is such that it is unlikely that after 52 weeks I could move into full-time employment or work of 16 hours or more, so if I do the permitted work for 52 weeks, I would then have to stop for a year. Is it just me or is this a crazy system. You want to work, are willing to work, but can only do it for a year and then have to not work for the whole of the next year.
  2. I was wondering what the rules are on permitted work and DLA. I have specific questions. I am claiming incapacity benefit, get severe disablement allowance and DLA for a developmental disorder and mental health problems. I get the highest rate for care and have been awarded it indefinately. There is a job I would like to apply for, is only 4 hours a week and I'd earn around £35. If I got it I would want to do it under the permitted work rules. I really have no idea if I am able to work or not, but I would like to try. 4 hours feels like a manageable amount to begin with. I know they would deduct my earnings over £20 from my income support. What I would like to know is whether if I start even just 4 hours of work, will my claim for DLA be likely to be reassessed? I have read that if you get DLA for mental health problems, the decision to return to work is considered evidence that your health has improved and in most cases they reassess the claim. What have other peoples experiences been of this? I am worried because for the last three years I have been in psychiatric day hospitals full time as an out patient and have also had about 16 in-patient admissions, so for this period I have been very ill. I was discharged recently, not because my health had improved, but because the last place I was in treatment had a maximum time limit of 2 years and hence my funding and therefore place there ran out. Now I have very little support, but I do still need support and I have been using my DLA to pay for support privately as once I was discharged there was no other support offered to me on the NHS. My GP said I needed specialist support, but because I had just been discharged from a specialist service, the PCT refused to fund my place at the service my GP recommended, so I was left with no support at all from "official" mental health services. So I decided to pay for it privately and all of my DLA pays for this. If I was to work, I would still need this support in place and therefore am especially concerned about losing DLA. This makes me more worried about having my claim for DLA reassessed if I do apply for and get offered 4 hours a week of work. Before I had the security of being in full-time psychiatric treatment and professionals within the NHS who could support my claim and write the statements etc. The person I see privately works for a counselling organisation and it is unlikely to have much weight in terms of a DLA statement. I don't want trying out a job to jeopodise my benefits, in case it all goes wrong and I don't manage it. I really have no idea whether I can or not. But I would like at some point to try very part time work. Any advice would be very appreciated.
  3. Sorry, just noticed the replies from Kelcou and Mikey as well, I am touched by your responses and that people are replying. I take on board what people have said, at no point did I intentionally do anything wrong or fraudulent. Am trying not to panic, its just so hard. Thank you though for your support and advice.
  4. Thank you Honeybee, I appreciate your reply. The vouchers were worth hardly anything, £4 at a time but really infrequent, it comes in total to less than £2 a week over the year, none of it in cash, all in supermarket food tokens. I'm worried because I didn't declare the voluntary work to IB, I now know I should have done, but I really didn't think at the time, it just never really occurred to me either of these things would be an issue. It wasn't that I deliberately didn't disclose the information, I just didn't think at all. I will be honest and declare everything in the interview, I'm very worried because I know I am basically guilty and obviously they have to take action, I understand that. I just hope they realise that I was entitled to the incapacity and how ill I have been. Because it is mental illness it is so much harder to prove, although my psychiatrist has written a letter for the interview supporting that I am still in treatment.
  5. I have a letter to attend a compliance interview with the dwp saying a matter has arisen that they need to discuss. I get incapacity benefit and DLA for mental illness. I have been in hospital 16 times in the last three years, the last hospital admission was two months a go. I have attended psychiatric day hospital treatment pretty much frequently for three years but was discharged recently. There was a lot of pressure from psychiatrists to "volunteer in a charity shop" one afternoon a week to help my recovery. I didn't volunteer in a charity shop, but somewhere else for three hours a week. At times I couldn't continue because I was too unwell. It didn't occur to me to declare it because it was upaid. I now realise I was supposed to. To complicate things I also did internet surveys, again which were not paid, but got sent vouchers for supermarkets. This apparently counts as payment. I am guilty therefore for not declaring two things. I know I am guilty and I will plead guilty at the interview. But I am absolutely terrified of what will happen to me as I consequence. I honestly didn't know until now I was doing anything wrong. I am finding it impossible to manage the weekend as I am so stressed about this compliance interview and am feeling so suicidal consequently. I don't want to end up back on a psychiatric ward. Does anyone know what my punishment is likely to be for not declaring the voluntary work and for getting food vouchers. Will I be likely to end up with a criminal record? Or will I lose benefits completely or be expected to pay them all back? I'm going out of my mind with worry, would appreciate feedback. I know they have to take action and it is my fault, I just would like some idea of what the action is likely to be.
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