If you are anxious about dropping off CV's I can't see how you would be able to work in a shop without having some help with the anxiety issues first. Talk to your advisor and explain your fears, will someone be going with you? If you think retail is the way to go then maybe some voluntary work where less is expected of you would be a good starting point.

The increased amount that you see includes the mortgage interest as it is seen as part of the Pension Credit payment, it is then deducted and paid to the mortgage provider. Hope this helps

For once I agree with the Jobcentre it is your GP that is the cause of this particular problem, until you have an ESA medical you have to provide sick notes or benefit will be suspended, once consecutive sick notes have been supplied ESA will be reinstated.If your Gp will not sign you sick for this week then you will be seen as "fit for work" and this will cause a break in your ESA claim. You need to explain to your GP that not having the sick note backdated is causing financial hardship and having a detrimental effect on your condition, would another GP at the surgery be more accommodating perhaps? You should not ignore the ESA50 or you will find your benefit suspended again as this is a seperate issue to the sick note, the ESA 50 that you complete will form the basis of your ATOS medical assessment and so you should put as much information as possible about how your condition affects you. I hope you get this sorted

Household is a term which is widely recognised in benefits to mean you, any partner you may have and any dependants/ non dependants, confusingly it does not mean household as in everyone who lives in the house you are living in. Your instincts are right, your parents income is not relevant to your claim.

You have one month to advise the council of a change in your circumstances that increases your entitlement to benefit, if you don't then the change will take effect from the day that you do advise the council and you lose out. You can write to the council and ask them to backdate the change and I would recommend that you do so stating that your illness prevented you from doing so sooner. The council can not accept a lack of knowledge of how the system works as a good reason to backdate so don't say in your letter that you didn't know that your housing benefit would change. I am guessing that if you got your DLA award letter in September the claim was paid from a few weeks (or even months!!) before so don't forget that period. It may help to provide a letter of support from your GP or CPN to support the fact that you were going through a particularly bad patch at the time, if you do not get the outcome that you want you can appeal. Good Luck x