Thank you, I will give them a call now.

To cut it short, I am juggling my debts but there are too many that I can cope with and I keep dropping them. The only help I get offered costs me hundreds and after the churchwood experience I dont trust them.

Thank you for your response. That was really quick. I make sure that our rent is payed for along with out utilities including council tax though the council tax is now a srtuggle too. The main debts we have are credit cards, car loan but last payment is this August, and store cards and bank overdrafts which I take is the same as a loan. Household expenses we are struglling such as the small things such as BB and sky, car insurance school fees and so on. I have offered the creditors a smaller amount, some accepted it but most said that the minimum they would accept was out of my reach (which is why I started working double shifts for 3 months but my employer soon put a spanner in the works) To avoid CCJ's and bailiffs I agreed to them and cut down on evrything else. The problem is that now we are in even worse debt as the bank charges keep escalating and the wages are the same as 4 years or in a sense less. To be able to feed the family I go into my overdraft which then affects any other DD's that are still pending, yet occuring more charges, bigger debts, less money, more defaulted payments, more charges and so on. This is really getting us down and has placed a massive strain on our marriage. I have even suffered depression through it and had thoughts. Many thanks

Hi everyone and thank you for taking time to read my thread. I am currently at my witts ends. I have a debt with my wife adding to around 16-17k. Its not a large amount but it is enough to criple me every month. I have had my debts now for around 4-5 years. A little longer originally but have been struggling for that time stated. It wasnt a problem at first but then my employer stopped giving out pay rises since 2006 and all bonuses and benefits have stopped, overtime has been cut to flat rate and i am the only one working. I do get working tax credit but that has now been messed up because I done overtime for 3 months before christmas. I pay every thing including rent, water, gas, electricity, sky and so on. I also pay all our debts. Some are mine and some belong to my wife. The problem is that my income does not cover my outgoings. Every month I go over my overdraft agreement and occur charges which means that I have even less the month after. I had made an agreement with our creditors for over a year now and kept to it as best as possible. However, things have changed again as rates have gone up and my wages are the same. Is there anything I can do? We struggle on food every month, I stopped using my car and use the bus to work. I have cut down on everything to save money so that we can get by (everything except for smoking, I need a little pleasure) but I still cannot keep on top of things. Considering that I have tried to pay up all out debts, is there anything I can do? I tired Chruchwood a couple of years ago but they just made things worse for us, i get calls from other debt solution offices but after our experience with Churchwood we tell them where to go. I dont mind paying up our debt but It has affected our lives including our childrens lives, we eat cheap food and dont go anywhere. Any help/advice would be appreciated...

Not sure if it was clear but they gave me the option of SSP or holiday. As SSP wouldnt even cover my rent for the week, I took the holiday option. They did state that it was my choice but to be honest it didnt feel much of a choice. Starve my family and fall behind in rent or lose my holidays.

Hi and thanks for your reply. I dont belong to a union, god forbid if we did. The back accident happened over three years ago and I hadnt forgiven them for that considering it was at work and for work. However, I was recently off work for 2 weeks due to stress and being put on medication because of the incidents at work such as a colleague wanting to stab me and the managing directors threatning and aggressive behaviour whilst being under the influence of drugs and alcohol. They paid for 4 days and I took the rest as holiday as SSP wouldnt even pay my rent. They now want me to sign a form allowing them to view my medical records/records with notes from my doctor. They say they want to work with my GP to help me back to work. The thing is this is my third week back at work and I only had 2 weeks off. One being taken as holiday. HR there is as useful as a chocolate teapot. No one can trust him anymore and no one goes to him with any problems because he fabricates it as if it is us who is in the wrong. I hate working there and the thought of going to work really stresses me out badly.

At my job and when I first started, people were abusing the sickness benefit by taking allot of mondays, fridays and unconfirmed sick days off. Instead of disciplining the offenders they set a max of 3 days a years sickness benefit. This seems very small as you dont know if you will be sick for a long period or not. Also, when I fractured my back at work, they paid me a weeks sickness but told me that I had to either claim SSP or use my holidays for the remaining weeks which took up all my holidays for the years. I had to work 8 months before I could have a break which meant that I worked for at least 12 months before I took a holiday. Is this allowed? Is there a minimum and max sick days allowed? Keeping in my that my contract does not state any min or max days and is pretty much open. Many thanks

This will be given in your contract. The thing is that the employer does not have to allow 2 months with paid leave. They can use whaever holidays you have entitled and the remainder as unpaid leave. However, before you start working or as soon as possible, you should notify them that you have 8 weeks holiday over christmas and that it has been booked and paid for. This will cause a problem if it will be a regular occurance as emplyers dont like people having long holidays. My job only allows 2 weeks at a time unless it is for a good reason. Saying that though, my employers are hardened business men.

Well I rang mine and no one would answer. So I decided to go in person. Yet again I was sightly too late but had not been told that untill over half hour later. When I questioned a member of staff that walked by she said that she will get me a ticket and that she knows I am there. Nearly an hour later I saw her again and asked her for the ticket number. She said and I quote "oh no you are too late, you should come early in the morning as its (now) first 10 will be seen, rest have to come back another day". WTF, 90 minutes waiting just to hear that! I don't think so, so i asked if I could make an appointment because of my working hors, she said no we don't do appointments as it wouldnt be fair on the others. WTF? I left them knowing what I thought of the service. I know I shouldnt have but OMG talk to me like I am human, please!!!!

Just to update. I have decided to sign the medical request form as I have nothing to hide. I guarantee though that in a few weeks I will be out of work even if I didnt sign it. Have to hand it in today the latest, wish me luck guys....

Thank you loopinlouie. I must admit though, I use to judge without knowing the facts. Learnt my lesson some time ago that you can't judge a book by its cover. As for us, as mentioned earlier, when they have been fully aware of the situations, why come to us for the second time after 18 months. It feels like they couldnt be bothered to tell us then that there was a breach of some sort and just let us get on with it. Now they want details and anwers. Lets not forget that some of these people in the jobcenter are not fully skilled and only there till they find something else. So most cant be bothered to inform or set out the right route. A perfect example is when I was accepted by the firefighting force and I had to attend full time college and work in different stations around the country. No money earned and couldnt have a part time job because of the town and city movements. I went to the jobcenter where I signed on and told them. They congratulated me then told me that my JSA will stop and that I would not be entitled to any benefit including rent as I would be in full time college. Becuase I had children I decided not to put them in that hardship and decided not to bvecome a fireman. When I did find a job they then told me that I could have qualified for other things. What idiots! 27 is the oldest age they take and had to wait another year to join up and by then I was 28. I am now 41 and resent them from screwing up my much wanted career. Now I feel that they failed to pick up on things that they should have pointed out to us and now we have to answer. Sorry for waffling....

No intent or crime on both counts which is why I cant understand why they say they have evidence.

his is it. We have told them tat I have moved in. She HAS signed of income support, and all other queations were answered and they were happy. So we are legally living together without claiming any benefit, so I don't understand what they have to say or question for the past 18 months. I take your point though about finances being separate which is what they were in the first place. She had to attend a review every year and every year she had to explain why my name was registered at her address. So this still confuses me when they were told that I do stay there over the weekend for 3-4 nights at a time and they were fine with it all. If i wanted to commit fraud I would have rented the cheapest rundown bedroom possible and had mail sent there. As we were'nt doing this and did not hide any facts, all was ok untill now... Well the meeting is tomorrow so will see what happens.

It's not quite like that, all the above is true, ignorance or not. I know that there is no way out, I had over stayed my welcome before i officially moved in on a permanant basis. DWP know this because we told them the first time round which is why I have a back payment and agreed to pay it, so a little baffled in why they say they have evidence. I had allready put my hands up last year and told them that I screwed up and they made the agreement with us, not us with them.

Well we are prepared for the worst now, so will go and see what happens. I was wondering though if it would be legal to have a voice recorder instead of a silent witness. They stated that someone else can be in the room but they cannot answer or say anything. Just like at work.