Thread: Letter from the Customer Compliance Team

They will make allowances for people in your situation, provided you can provide verification of your needs such as a letter from your doctor to confirm how your illness affects you, and the assitance you may require as a result of that. The fact that you receive DLA in itself indicates that you have a disability and require some level of assistance.

If they are satisfied by what you tell them, that will be the end of it.

It might be worthwhile having your Occupational health therapist or someone else with you when they visit, for support.

hi bcs. never meet with these people on your own. i suffer from several ailments, one being depression. when i had to pack in work,i am an electrician, depression and 50,000 volts dont go together. i went to the dwp and was handed a pen and a piece of paper, and then was directed to a line of phones on the wall. i picked up the phone and a voice told me that i good fill in the forms over the phone. i asked him did he know me, because i didnt know him. when we got home my wife called my crisis team and within 45mins i had a phone call off the dwp, they wanted to come and see me, to fill in the forms, a very nice lady and gentle man came, and tried there best to get me to say all sorts of different things, things like i feel ok, i dont really need 24hr care and lots more, my wife lashed into them and all they would say was they were making sure i was going to get all the benefits i was entitled to, we froze the meeting while my wife made a phone call. 10mins later my crisis team turned up and everything was cleared uo. try to get your boyfriend to sit in on the meeting, and asked them can you claim carers allowance because he looks after you. during the day and is on call at night. i hope this is of some help. regards scousemonk

First things first, don't "assume" the DWP won't listen to what you have to say, and is going to "stitch you up". It is true as with all jobs that there are "jobsworths" but there are also perfectly reasonable people, and some who will go above and beyond what they need to do to ensure you are receiving all the benefits you should be.

If your Occupational Therapist cannot be present whether due to other work commitments (may already have a scheduled appointment with someone else) or personal commitments, you can ask a representative from a Welfare Rights Office to be with you instead, if you don't feel comfortable discussing your situation alone. They are trained to act in support of people or on their behalf in regard to benefit. The service is free and provided by some local councils. Failing that there is always the CAB. By the sound of your posts, I feel that you are becoming very stressed at this impending visit and I really do feel it would be beneficial for you to have someone present with you at this meeting, someone who understands in inns and outs of benefit and/or the inns and outs of your medical needs. You are of course entitled to have someone act as either as a supporter or a representative. You don't need to have permission from the DWP to have someone sit with you in your own home whilst you discuss matters with them, and they cannot dictate to you who can be there.

Re the previous post from Scousemonk, Your boyfriend will not be able to claim carers allowance unless he is caring for you 35 hours or more per week. "on call" is not included in the calculation of 35 hours, he has to be physically WITH you for 35 hours or more per week, caring for you.

Don't go solely on what you read here or on other forums. Remember what these forums are about, fighting for people's rights. You are only ever going to see posts on the internet about bad experiences. You are very unlikely to come across a thread where someone will say "Oh I had a wonderful experience with DWP", on forums where people come to seek help.

Now, if your OT is not able to attend, and you aren't comfortable having someone else such as a welfare rights worker, ask the DWP for another appointment. Explain that you have extreme communication difficulties in social situations with strangers and are easily flustered, and feel the meeting would go far smoother with your OT there to support you, but that she is not available on that particular day. You have a right to representation. Perhaps it would be better if your OT or welfare rights/CAB could also write a letter to the department. The only problem with this would be if you were consistenly breaking appointments and showed no intention of actually going. If you are denied the right to have someone with you, or they refuse to re-arrange to a day where you could have representation, then ask to speak to the manager of the section and simply ask why they are being obstructive to your right to have representation with you.

When you say this:

The woman I spoke to from the DWP didn't seem to like the idea of my Occupational Therapist being present, she asked whether I could just have a friend present instead.

Can you explain what this was in relation to? Had you told the woman that the date wasn't suitable as you needed OT there and she could not be there on that date? If so, then the chances are not that she didn't want you to have OT there, but that re-arranging appointments can be a jolly pain in the neck due to the way they are structured and was asking if you could have a friend instead,if the OT was not available, rather than insisting you should. It can also be extremley frustrating for DWP having to re-arrange as when one appointment is altered it can beggar up their entire structure. You were quite possibly the umpteenth person who had called that day to say the same thing.

The bottom line is, you are entitled to have someone with you of your choosing.

It does just sound as if they are struggling to re-arrange the appointment, if they wren't interested in helping you they would not have accepted your OT's telephone number (they are not obliged to sort appointments via other people, and really aren't supposed to) but stick to your guns. If your OT can't be available due to sickness, then again there are the other agencies I have mentioned. Other than that the only thing you can do is ask the compliance officer to postpone the visit, explaining the situation.

I do think you are maybe reading between the lines a bit and getting yourself uneccesserily worked up, it's easy to imagine the worst even more so if you already suffer from anxiety, but try to get away from that if you can. You haven't mentioned what your OT does for you and I don't feel it appropriate to ask, it's none of my business, however if she has ever gone through relaxation techniques, I think you should try some out whenever you are feeling anxious about this visit.

They do have a duty to investigate claims as you say. Some are random checks and some have been reported by someone else. Investigation doesn't mean they disbelieve you from the start, invesitgation is just that - investigating the claim, gathering the information. More often than not it ends with them confirming that all is well. The fact that your ex husband has moved some distance away has left you without anyone to help, it's natural that you have enlisted someone else close to you to do what your ex husband used to do in taking the children to school, they will understand that, after all it is perfectly logical.

I know it's easier said than done, but try not to worry too much.

The DWP can't dictate who can or can't help you. What they may do is suggest a proper and throurgh assessment from the relevant people if your care needs are high to establish whether you require professional care, but suggest is all they can do, they cannot state "your boyfriend mustn't come round to help you anymore"

Re the direct payment option, have you been assessed by Social Work for this? I ask because you have to be assessed by the Council's Social Work department to determine whether they think you require assistance, and if so the level of assistance you require, before you can receive direct payments.

Re employing a stranger, you cannot use the direct payments to pay a person to care for you whom you are either married to, living with as a partner, a civil partner or a relative or spouse of a relative that lives with you. It doesn't say anything about not being able to use it for a boyfriend/girlfriend who lives independently of you. I can't find anything there either that suggests the carer must be qualified to NVQ/SVQ level. or anything that says the carer must be registered with an organisation. Might be worth looking into that.

Oh - that's great, I'm really pleased for you. Let us know how you get on.