Thanks everyone. The more I find out the more we are confused LOL. We phoned the tribunal service to ask where our copy is, and they told us that it the Chippenham jcp that would send it us. They haven't, we have written today to the courts to ask where it is. I was thinking, as all the letters mum has written over the past year have never A) been acknowledged and B) replied to , would it be worth getting a GL24 ? just so they cant ignore the letter we are thinking of sending ? She was then put in the "work-activity group" instead of the support group. The lady that called last week, telling her she cant have any benefit but mums NI and prescriptions would be paid, said that ALL this would be put in a letter. The letter only mentions about not entitled to any benefit, nothing about NI payments or prescriptions. Im thinking we need that in writing too ?? If not they will try and have her for prescription fraud !!?? And she wont get a full pension? Anyway, everything was fine until mum had an atos medical app come through. She appealed and won. She did this 3 times. She was then put in the "work-activity group" instead of the support group. Then last year a letter turned up regarding fraud arrived. Outrageous !! Her money stopped and we waited till march THIS year to go to court as mum obviously appealed and won. She was then put in the "work-activity group" instead of the support group. The person mum spoke to from the fraud, said that regardless, she should still be getting paid something. And to put in a new claim, this was at Christmas, unfortunately granddad passed away. All of this has been so hard to deal with as you can imagine. I can remember granddad saying to mum " you fight my girl " ! Just before granddad passed away in hospital due to neglect I might add, the jcp said she could put in for a carers allowance for granddad, mum and I looked after him. By the time it came through granddad died in hospital. Granddad only had his state pension, again worked all his life and served his country. So even with waiting all this time, 1year for going to court, and since Christmas for a new claim, we only get a letter now re new claim at Christmas. It was only then we found out what was going on , that without being notified, no forms, absolutely NOTHING, that they had changed her Income support to Income based ESA The judge said that the DWP had not followed the "rules of law" The judge gave us his sympathies with all this. I cant make sense of the latest letter that the past few years seem to have gone missing ?? letter from end of 2012 ( no payments been received since June 2012 while still waiting for app for court ) allows esa, the letter last week uses tax year 2004-2005 to asses claim and will not allow esa . Its just as if none of her NI payments have been paid in 8 years ??? And that she hasn't existed till now. We have not had the atos report through either? Mum received a "certificate if pay & taxable benefit "5th April 2013 ? Mum has no savings, and granddad had nothing to leave us other that the very basic funeral expenses which was his wishes. Thank you for the links, I will get them done for her asap. Aeris

Thank you for your reply. Mum will be 60 next year. I never thought of Age UK ! Brill idea, thank you. Ive found our local councillor an MP but im unsure how to contact them ( there's an option for email and that it ) or what exactly to say? I really have got the feeling that a huge mess up has been made somewhere, the letter this morning sounds as if its mums first claim ever and nothing about not only the past year, but nothing about the past 4 either ! I think, even its going to take ages getting an appointment at the CAB, I think we should try even if we are on a waiting list . thank you again. We would be " hounding the blighter" !!! if we knew how

Hi everyone. Bit of an update although no nearer to figuring out what is going on lol Mum had a phone call at last beginning of this week from Chippenham, telling her she is not entitled to Income -related ESA The lady went on to say that mum s prescription & NI contributions will be paid though, although this doesn't pay the bills ! This confuses me. She also advised that mum put in a claim for a carers allowance? Now, a letter arrived today stating that she's not entitled etc, but is also says that they have used the tax year 5 April 2004-2005 and not enough NI has been paid. Mum's NI has been paid up to date( when she could work up until she had cancer she was not entitled to and benefit when she had cancer as the JCP told her that cancer is not classed as a " disability " an was refused any help. She lost her house and everything ) and was being paid by them since being on benefit she was put on IS. This then changed to ESA WITHOUT any letters of changes being sent to her !! She didn't even know that they had changed her to ESA. The letter only says "" We may still credit you with NI contributions while claiming ESA"" ??? Mum first claimed due to cancer in 2004, although her AS has and continues to progressively runs its course, now her ribs are crushing her lungs. We have a letters dating all the way back from that date, even the atos medical she had and won the tribunal 2011 says she's entitled to Income- related ESA!! To date we have still had no copy of the judges decision ( it was sent to Belfast instead if Chippenham nor the recent atos report? I can find so many discrepancies in all this. Does anyone have any idea what is going on ? Thanks for reading & any help Aeris

Hi everyone. We have spoken to the jcp and requested a customer service appointment, we were put though to benefit office in Chippenham, they put us through to Bristol, they then put us through to dwp. We have so far been though all departments ! Mum obviously had to explain to each person everything. All of this took an hour!!!! The dwp weren't aware of the recent medical and " I cant comment " sprung up a lot from them. Mum asked why she hadn't hear from them in a year and we got the " I cant comment " They said she was not entitled to esa. ( they were referring to last year when all this started. They had put mum on the wrong esa ) We know this, and since then, mum won her case for fraud. They had no knowledge of any of this. It appears that nothing has been updated since last year in June ) ?!! The woman mum spoke to said " well, we are paying you NI " We actually got cut off ( nothing to do with our phone ) Mum phoned back and was told we would have to go though all the process again. Starting with jcp. Another hour ? What is going on ? !! We don't know what to do now ?? This is starting to make me very angry and upset for my mum. We are even more confused and really don't know if we should phone AGAIN ? Sorry for the rant aeris

Sorry Nystagmite, I don't know DIAC ? Ive followed the link from writetotgem.com and found this under the heading of help that can be provided... "Problems dealt with by the Department of Work and Pensions such as benefits, pensions and national insurance (but not problems with the social services department of your local authority). " Am I right in thinking this would not help us ? As we don't know if its just the benefits people as it were or the dwp itself that the problem. Would it be worth writing to MP etc anyway so mum can inform the benefit people that she has written to MP ? Thank you for any help aeris

Thank you estellyn, our area is Ferndown, Dorset. All im getting when googling is the CAB.

Thank you, no I don't think we do ? How would I find out ?

Thanks Hacked_off, I will do that although I don't suppose they would care about my mum ! Friend of mine did this, had a meeting at our local library but never heard anything more. I will do this though. Thank you again

Thank you Nystagmite, I believe its all done by computer now ? The local jc is quite a distance from where we live ( a small village ) and neither of us drive. If the bus did turn up its £12 for the trip ! It would also mean her not taking her pain killers/ morphine again. I don't even think she can get an appointment with them as "technically" she's not on benefit !! The waiting list for CAB Is a nightmare as you can imagine. So I thought id post on here. I will see if a friend could take us. Thank you flumps1976 I will get her to do that tomorrow

Hi everyone. Im posting on behalf of my mum ( she doesn't know how to work a computer !! ) We are in need of some sense & advice if poss. Mum has AS ( which is now causing her ribs to crush her lungs ) , severe arthritis, severe v veins amongst other health problems. Also recovering from cancer for the second time. And now depression due to us loosing her farther ( my granddad ) at Christmas. She was on IS obviously ( AS does not get better but worse ) for a while, then last year, it was changed to ESA ( I thought if you were on IS you didn't change when the ESA came in but I could be wrong ) Mum wasn't actually aware of this change, nor did she receive anything to inform her of it. Then Atos called and she scored the usual NOTHING ! despite medical evidence etc ( they even challenged that she had cancer ) she appealed, and won. very shortly after nearly 1 YEAR AGO now, all her money stopped and she was called for an interview for fraud. It has taken till about 3 month ago for the appeal re the "fraud " to come though. She won that too! Basically they tried to use the rues for ESA and IS the wrong way round !! The judge said that the dwp had not done their job properly to the " rules of the law"& gave us his sincere sympathy. However we are still waiting for our copy of the judge's decision as it got sent to Belfast by mistake!! Now, since all this started last year, mum has not received any benefit money at all. it was all stopped. One of the people she spoke to find out how much longer she would have to wait for the court "fraud" appointment advised her that 1) she should put in a new claim and 2) that she should still have been paid something & he quoted " you didn't hear it from me " Christmas mum put in a new claim as advised ( not the sort of thing you want to do while your waiting to arrange to bury your father 1 week before xmas day !!) but It had to be done. Despite several letters to them and wasted phone calls she has had no acknowledgement from anyone re her new claim since Christmas. 2 weeks ago, she had a letter from ATOS for a "medical " which was today. We weren't there long, mum couldn't take her usual morphine so it was hard to watch her struggle. The " nurse " cut the appointment short and said ( after speaking to someone ) that I don't need to see any more and to go home, After seeing the state mum was in and the bag of medication- morphine etc. He wouldn't examine her which was just as well as wouldn't let her be pulled around the pain she was in. I asked why we were there as she's had no benefit since last year? He said I don't know but the dwp are re calling everyone. He was and I hate to say it rather nice !!! didn't mean to swear !! What this now means god knows, but my question is what do we do now ?? other than wait for the Atos report, which hopefully will be ok. The last phone call she was 48th in line, she cant afford phone bills like that! Granddad didn't have any money to leave us! Easter she was told it being "processed" Should this be taking this long for her new claim from Christmas ? Should she get anything back from last year? And where is our copy of the judge's decision ? I don't know who to contact to get any answers? Have they got mum mixed up with someone else?!! It just seems that some has messed up somewhere. Thank you for reading and my apologies for such a long post. We would be so grateful for any advice. This had gone on for far too long for mum in my book. Thank you

ok, thank you, i will pass this on, at the moment shes an absolute mess. Its hard to watch to be honest I think the trust money put away for the children he changed his mind about. she had to wait for decsion via letter. I dont understand the judge saying that there are NO GUIDE LINES ? thank you again aeris

It was at the tribunal law courts? the clerk was called away to sort out someones money for car park. thank you Aeris

There was just the judge, my friend and her friend as representing her. No one else . Aeris

The course was for herself no one else. im just double checking now .Should a clerk have been present ? thank you aeris

Thank you so much, i belive my friend did. Everything that was purchased was acceptable by the dwp. Everything was check before anything was bought and guidence was sought to make sure it was ok. My friend made sure to check as not to do anything wrong. My friend was told to keep all recipts etc as these would be needed too return to IS and HB Im sure something is not quite right ! The only thing i could advise to my friend was the cab but they are understandably so busy. Obviously there would be no HB and this is a serious problem with 2 young children. thank you again. Aeris