I did it for quite sometime for my wife who has ME and many other ailments. We got direct payments from our County Council and her Care Manager agreed that the care would be shared between me and a care agency. I worked at the time and it was quite complicated paying the tax but not insurmountable. I managed to do most of the intimate care as my wife did not want someone else doing it and the other carers helped with other things like food,drink, bit of cleaning, keeping her company whilst I was at work. You have to have a very good, flexible care manager. Good Luck

Hi Not sure it I`m in the right place but here goes. I was involved in a bad road accident in 2004 but managed to return to work in the Civil Service until 2009 when I was given ill health retirement. I have been waiting all this time for my Solicitor to finalise my claim with the Motor Insurance Bureau as I was hit by a stolen lorry. They have made me a fair offer which I have accepted but now my Solicitor has said that there may be a risk of Capita, who administer my pension, to make a claim for refund of my early ill health retirement pension but he cannot give me a prescedence at the moment . I am desperate both emotionally and financially to settle this and being on the brink it seems that there will be a further delay. Has anyone heard or had experience of this? Many thanks

Just come back from Teignmouth, Devon. Unless you have a local Council pass you have to pay even on a Blue Badge in their car parks which are pretty expensive. All it meant was that already narrrow roads were clogged up with Blue Badge holders (including us) parking on double yellow lines.

Hi, After much nail biting my wife`s DLA, both at the higher rate have been renewed. In the past there has been a time limit on it and my own says`indefinately` Neither of these are on her new award. There are two issues: 1) My gets very anxious about this and would be greatly relieved if it was long term. She has been very ill for 15 years and will not improve 2) We have a motability car and I would have thought that they would need to see how long for. We change the car this December. Many thanks in advance

Erika I have a certificate from Capita saying that I meet the upper tier criteria and am unfit for any work. I have sent a copy to ATOS who have not yet replied. I have though just received another ESA pack to fill in. When I phoned DWP they said it was nothing to do with the appeal. I have also just been given a third deferrment by Pathways to Work as they can see the condition I`m in

I tried to get annual insurance but the companies I tried would only insure specific dated because of the pre existing conditions

Dear Brainless. Yes very similar If you need any advice with your ill health reirement application feel free to PM me. Cheers and good luck!

How did you manage that Bookie?

I insure my wife who has many pre existing conditions (although thankfully not cancer) with a firm called Travelbility who are actually AXA and the premium for a two week trip to Turkey ,which turned into three because of the volcano seemed quite reasonable at £105 for three of us. They gave us a free week because of the ash which covered us until we got home. I did though, have to claim as I had a chest infection and ended up in hospital and they paid the hospital direct leaving me to pay the £50 excess. We did though have a problem as my wife got the same thing and as chest complaints were a pre existing condition, I had to pay 850 Euros as they wanted me to produce evidence i.e chest x ray medical report, which I have produced I am in the process of claiming back, I`ll keep you posted but do make sure you tell them everything as I`m pretty sure they share a database so once you`ve declared a pre existing condition it is there for all insurers to see. I don`t think that I would risk relying on a bank card. Also if going to the EEC make sure you take his E111 plastic card. Also sorry if I`m teaching you to suck eggs if you can get a `fit ti fly` letter from your GP. Good luck

Oh for my old life water sk-ing.playing squash,running marathons,completing triathlons all until 2004 when some lowlife stole a lorry and decided to maim me in my car to make a getaway. My new life: constant pain and depression,ill health retirement from a job I`d done for 35 years and actually enjoyed. Losing most of my `friends` and a social life,letting my 4 kids down on things that used to be so easy. Fighting tooth and nail for ESA and my pension (DLA was given high/high without a quibble) and what did Iget out of it, a car that I would never had dreamed of getting had I still been working.urine stains on my trousers, a bagfull of drugs and the thought of many more years of the same (I`m 53 although I`ve just had to ask my 14 year old daughter that!) Rant rant rant:(

My wife has never had to pay for appliances as we has our local Social Services assess her and they have supplied rails,stools,2 types of bath lift and a wheelchair to name but a few. We have though, had to now remove the bath and have our own wet room fitted and are saving up for stair lift as because we have a downstairs as well as upstairs loo the wating list for each is about 2 years.Good luck;)

Hi I managed to scrape the passenger side front corner on a cement post at Gatwick. I phoned Motability and all they were really worried about was that it was still safe to drive. They sent me a letter noting my call but did point out that I may not get my £200 back for a car in fair condition. As already mentioned do you have it done on insurance and pay the £75 excess in the hope of getting the cashback. Also not sure if it would effect your no claims bonus if you claim should you come out of the scheme. Our`s is due for change at Xmas but I`m inclined to leave it. It`s a jungle out there. Good luck

Bump please

Hi ChalkyWhite Sorry to hear of your problems. I `m in a similar boat (ill health retirement after 35 years in same job). I managed the initial Jobcentre interview and one of the six compulsory ones. The lady there saw the state of me and had future ones deferred initially for three months, now a further three. She did say that once this time had run out (April I believe) they could do home visits which you may like to consider. Since then I`ve sent them three letters, last by registered next day delivery, with medical evidence which I think should put me in the Support group and therefore no more imterviews. Yet to receive a reply. You`ve paid your contributions for all these years so you are entitled. You could try your local Social Services and see if a welfare Rights person could help you. I know how much this can take out of you (have you seen the time and my thread `A right pickle) but try and keep going. Take care

Hi I`ve been on before so may well repeat myself. I was medically retired in November 2009 and got a good lump sum and a yearly pension. I wrote to Jobcentreplus and later phoned them and was told that as my ESA was Contribution based I would continue to get it. That seemed ok but then a letter and cheque arrived giving me arrears of Income Related ESA! At the same time I got an FF260 saying that the payment was for mortgage interest arrears! I also got a letter from JPlus quoting dates in July 2009 saying that my ESA would be £89.80 per week but would go down to £40.30 in August 2009.It then said that I would get from 17 th April 2009 £42.90 per week due to a change in housing costs. I did request SMI some time ago and got a letter the same day (10/03/2010) saying that they were takiing £ 60.30 off my allowance to pay an amount (presumably this amount) straight to my mortgage lender. I also got a breakdown of my ESA award. The date on the top was 10th March, but the dates on the bottom to which this applied was 18 April 2009 to 29th May 2009! I`m awaiting a call back from the mortgage section regarding this but the ESA person I spoke to said that there was nothing on their sysem changing my payments and I would continue to get £179.60 per fortnight. I`m totally confused by all this and would be grateful for any advice. Many Thanks

Thanks for that it`s nice to get a nice,friendly answer and from one who empathises. I am starting to my retirement although stuck in most of the day. I`ve posted off another letter today and also a certificate of ill health retirement from Capita who are much like ATOS and are very difficult to deal with. I got an upper tier full pension the criteria being that I was deemed unfit for any work so the support group should be obvious to them! I`ll let you know how I get on. Cheers for now

Hi. Thanks for that. It`s getting even weirder as I got a phone call from DWP this morning (Saturday?) saying that they owed me some money to do with my mortgage interest. Although the lady could see my queries on her screen and saw that I was waiting for a callback she was from a separate Dept but did confirm that I would remain on Contribution based ESA. The other thing is that I`ve had two medicals at home with the same ATOS medical advisor and if you read both his reports I should be on the Support Group. Even the Pathways to Work lady agrees and has deferred my interviews twice. I`ve written to them about all this but my letter seems to have gone into a black hole or waste bin so I`ll have to send it again. As for enjoying my retirement I am starting to but it`s really strange having done shift work all my life being at home all day. I never really wanted to finish early but my work is undergoing dratic changes and the day after I got my retirement they disbanded 5 teams one of which was mine!

I`m getting confused now. I`ve spoken to three different DWP employees and put my question in writing to which they have not replied regarding Contribution bases ESA. They say that I am entitled to my £179 per fortnight even though I get a decent pension and lump sum and because I`ve paid 35 years worth of contributions I will continue to get it at least until retirement age. It`s a very strange situation and I feel like I`m getting money under false pretencies but they tell me I`m not. Hopefully they`re correct but I would like something in writing as common sense would tell me that I would lose it as per the parameters supplied by ZamZara. Any ideas?

I don`t think that they move that quickly but you should get a letter soon hopefully giving you an award backdated

That didn`t really answer your questions on letters but it should not matter.

I`m pretty sure that they backdate a successful claim to when you applied for the claim pack. You may have noticed on thr front, usually handwritten, the date the forms were issued and when they should be returned by/ I got over £700 backdated when I got mine. Good luck

Any luck yet?

How much did you pay per carton? Why have they acted illegally? I don`t believe that they will take any further action against you for this amount but they will probably instigate condemnation proceedins in a Magistrates Court where they will appear as well as you to put your case

After a really long struggle,well documented in other threads I have finally been given a full pension from my employees through Capita so thanks to all who helped I am on ESA and when I phoned them to tell them that I was getting a lump sum and pension they said that I would still be on ESA at it was contribution based. I then wrote them a letter on the 29th of December asking them the same in writing but have not heard anything and today my two weekly amount was paid into my account Obviously it would be a bonus if I still got ESA but it could someone please comment for me. Cheers:confused:

Hi I`ve just ordered and paid a £500 deposit for a KIA Picanto for my daughter. Can someone advise me how what rate ofVAT will apply. The order has gone in but the car will not be available until March. Should I have to pay the full rate at 17.5% or 15%. The salesman did the usual `I`ll go and speak to the Manager and came back saying that on this occassion they would let me have it for 15% as long as I paid before 1st january! I laughed and said that`s very magnanimous of them for `stating the bleeding obvious`but that only a fool would pay the money upfront. He then suggested I pay by credit card and I would be protected! I know I should have told him where to go with his car but when you`ve got the pleading face of a 19 year old sitting next to you ,her heart set on it it`s difficult. I know the extra 2.5% isn`t a lot but I would value your opinions.:-?