My wife reached the age of 60 0n 10th April, and therefore ceased to be entitled to Incapacity Benefit. Therefore, from that date forward she was entitled to 'State Benefit'. However, since she had not been resident of this country until 1999, 'State Benefit' was reduced to £13.26 per week, however, we were informed that she would qualify for 'Pension Credit'. We made enquiries as to how to apply for 'Pension Credit' circa end of April, and were told that as we had mobility problems, an Officer would visit our home to assist with completion of the application forms. That Officer visited our home and completed all the forms circa 15th May 2008. We have today received notification from DWP that 'Pension Credit' is due and has been awarded, however, the commencement date for entitlement is 16th June 2008. Surely, we should be entitled to the benefit from the date we became entitled, i.e. 10th April 2008, and surely our entitlement should at least be back dated to the date of application for the benefit. In addition, we should not be penalised by loss of benefit for the period between our enquiry about the benefit, and the date their Officer was able to visit us for completion of the application forms? Any ideas anyone? I am about to complete an appeal form concerning the date the benefit was awarded.

I had a similar problem with 'Carers Allowance'. Some years ago, my wife was getting this for looking after me, then when she finished work, she went onto Incapacity Benefit. That stopped when she reached 60, so we re-claimed 'Carers Allowance. Meanwhile we had changed banks, the new claim was made with request for payment to be made to the new bank.. You can guess what happenned, it got paid to the old bank and we could not access it as the old account was over limit. I wrote to the Bank with the help of info I gained from this thread, and guess what, we have just been told that if we go to the bank, they will give us the money. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH - IT'S A REAL LIFE SAVER!!

Thank you "Bernie". This is very helpful, and as you say, I have nothing to lose. My Solicitor did advise me that the Insurance Company would probably try to 'weasle out' in some manner, and I was going to question their ruling. Thanks to you I now have a deal of useful ammunition. We'll give it a try. Wish me luck!! As you say, its all in the interpretation of the wording, and yes, I do hate wordsmiths. The guy I spoke to said he was a Barrister, implying that he could not be wrong, but, we have to realise they are just people with their own slant on what the wording means, and in Court, where each side has the advice of a Barrister, one of them is inevitably wrong. That's a 50% fail rate in my eyes, LOL!!!

To me the word "Protection" implies that I will have some defence if someone attacks me, but it seems not. I have such a Policy with NatWest as part of my Home Contents, and Buildings Insurance. I pay the extra premium for "Family Legal Protection". To put it in a nutshell, I own a freehold property, but surrounding land is owned by a business. The business owner has recently taken a stance that I must pay for access and use of his drainage pumping station. I pay full Council Tax, and full rates for water supply and drainage, however, I will agree that some small amount is due under the legal principle of 'Benefit and Burdon'. However the amounts demanded are stupidly inflated. I have received Court Summons to pay the amount demanded, and entered my defence, saying this is excessive. I have taken legal advice, the Solicitor agrees with my position... So, I phoned my insurers after checking my policy which clearly states on the front page that cover extends to:-"Any dispute arising out of my ownership or occupation of the Property". Seems clear cut, but no, the adviser on the phone at the insurance company, who said he was a Barrister so he should know, stated that in the small print on the second page of the policy, it states under "Exceptions", that defending any actions taken against me is NOT covered. So what is the point, it does not "Protect" me at all, it only allows me to "Take" action against others. I think the Policy is very misleading and innapropriately named as it offers no protection whatsoever. Any suggestions anyone, I am very angry at the moment, but at least I have established that due to my financial position, (Pension Credit), I will qualify for the max assistance from Legal Aid. Better than nothing, but nowhere near as effective as full legal protection from my insurance would have been.

Found you by doing a "Google" search cos one of my benefits had been paid into an old account and I could not access the money. Got some good advice and decided to join up, it could be very useful indeed.