I have a couple of friends that have applied for a hardship payment in the past and in both cases it took 3 full working days to get into their bank.

It may not take as long nowadays but I just thought I would let you know

First port of call should be CAB as they probably have a list of organisations that help people on benefits and will probably know a few that would be useful to yourself.

Take a look to see if there's a community advice organisation in your new area. Our local area has one and they can normally give you an indication of what help could be available,

If your new place is with a housing association there could be the possibility of discretionary payments which are basically there to help people on low incomes.

Foodbanks -: - yes right not a favourite conversation piece but it could be something that puts a little food on the table and could free up a little money for other things. I believe that some Doctors, benefit offices, councils can authorise these. CAB could probably give you more info on this.

Fregle/Freecycle, these can help but you have to register and they generally want you to OFFER something first before you can post wanted requests. (I actually got my account on Fregle closed when I sent a message to the moderators reporting another Fregle account user who was running around in a van collecting everything they could from people and then selling it at a local boot sale).

Gumtree -:- yes some people do offer FREE items on here occasionally but in general it's large stuff (sofa's, Fridge/Freezers) so you would probably have to pay someone to get it for you.

Just a few ideas but I think the CAB organisation should be the highest one on the list.

I can see your point Tommy,

Just to let you know I had a IUC 2 years ago and owed them £3400 but with the additional charge they make on top it was £4100

I was not taken to court and have just been paying it off at £100.00 pcm since.

In your case I reckon if they are decent interviewers like I got they could see that it is basically a screwup in your case with the normal process

and your claim continuing to be paid because they and not acted upon information that you had sent them.

The fact that you still have the money in the bank should (hopefully) persuade them that this is simple a case where you did

the right things initially and through no fault of your own the payments continued.

As long as you have the evidence that you did contact them to make them aware of your changes in employment etc then they

should accept what you say and hopefully arrange for the money to either be reclaimed directly from your bank or for you to

be asked to pay it back.

As has been said

It is perfectly legal to record in your own home although as you say if they find out they may stop the assessment.

The question is why would they terminate the assessment just because you are recording it.

Does this speak of dodgy dealings on behalf of the assessors and the people who run the assessments.? Hmmmm

Basically,

I am self-employed and have been for the last 2 years,

When I first started I had to take my books in every three month and a new calculation was done. that was fine I had no problems with that at all.

Towards the last three months of 2014 and the first 2-3 months of 2015 my income went up considerably and so my housing benefit entitlement dropped to the point I was only getting maybe £10.00 per week and virtually nothing on Council Tax.

No problems with that as the money I was earning covered the increase and I was happy with it.

The problem started at the end of March 2015 when the income from SE started dropping (knew it would during the Spring/Summer Months).

I took my books in as normal but they said they where not going to do a re calculation again until August and then every 12 Months after that. This of course left me paying high rent at a time I could barely afford it (I managed but it was tough going).

Anyway August came and I took all the books in again but because they were now basing it on twelve months books which included the very good months the HB only came down by £23.00 per week likewise CT had only a £5.00 pw reduction. This caused severe financial hardship and I basically had to scrape the barrel in order to get to now.

To give you an indication of the income reduction, February 2015 was £2200.00 but February 2016 was only just over £1200.00. Most other months since September 2015 have been down between 200 to 700 pounds.

I still have 2 months to go before they will do a re calculation but as I said to the Council I can see me quitting SE and going unemployed before August comes in.

Right now my last three months are running at about 40% of the previous years income and I cannot see any improvement at all in income until November 2016

So basically is there anyway that I can get the council to return to the three month recalculation that we were originally doing or is it going to be a question of grin and bear it until August.

If thats going to be the case I can see the income support people are going to have at least one more customer and I will then also claim care allowance as I would qualify for it based on my wife's PIP.

On a side note, I know there are benefit calculators but for some unknown reason I end up with some stupid figures which do not make any sense when I use them.

FYI,

Current income based on

wife's PIP (standard rate both care and moto)

Child Ben for a 16 year old who is going to go college this year.

WTC (around £92.00) due to working 40+ hours a week and lowish income,

CTC for the same child mentioned above.

+ £65.00 drawings a week (makes up the difference between what I used to get on the dole and what I get from WTC)

If I go unemployed income would come from

Child Ben for the 16 year old

CTC for the same 16 year old,

Wife's PIP as per above

Income Support (what that would be I don't know so if you could enlighten me then thanks)

Carer's Allowance (about £62.00 I believe)

and a larger reduction in HB and CT I think.

So whats better for me ????

Any help with any the questions is appreciated.

neword.

How would me daughter know if one of these inventories had been completed. Would

she have had to sign something?

I can confirm that they arrived in a van and that at no time was any of my daughters items removed from the property

They did not make any calls for a vehicle to remove stuff (or any other calls for that matter)

I can also confirm that my daughter who is fairly strong willed was feeling intimidated by them.

We did query this £110.00 and he said he could add it but did not specify why

Number removed as requested.

I saw no ipad's or anything else except the folders they had which remained closed all the time I was there.

Like I said I saw no papers of any kind but I only went there after they had already entered the house and my

daughter had called me, so do not know what was said previously.

Things had been taken from a wall in the front room and she had to put them back after they left.

They did have free roam during the time they had entered before she returned from her friends across the road

so I assume they made a list of inv during that time.

The £110.00 was charged and was paid as well.

Bailiff Advice...

I do not know whether or not she followed up her initial talk with the council. You know how some

young ones are with this sort of thing.

I did ask her if she had received any papers prior to them coming but she said no.... I am beginning

to get the feeling that she may have but hoped that by ignoring them they would go away....

What does concern me is that despite asking to see their papers they just said they were on file

Just been on the CAB website and this now concerns me

You can ask to see:

evidence of the bailiff's identity

the authorisation allowing them to enter your home and take control of your belongings.

Despite me asking several times to see any authorization and court papers they basically

refused to do so by stating that they are "On File".

They showed me no ID's or had any on display.....

All they had were file folders which they did not open

Unfortunately my version of Microsoft word does not support saving to pdf (shows hoe old it is)

So looking for alternative ways to do the conversion.

What I can say is that the firm is

M. A. Julious and co.

Certified Baliffs by Appointment to local authorities, magistrates courts,

industrial/commercial landlords, customs and excise and inland revenue

and that my daughter says she had no communication prior to them

being at her house.

Ok I will see if I can do that copy of receipt.

Never done a pdf before so could have a few problems.

She has been in this property (Housing association) for the last 18 months and the council

pay her benefits wrt HB and CT (or whatever they call it now).

What's a warrant of control?

Cannot remember the company name at the mo as I am at my place and my daughter lives elsewhere.

They provided no information or papers of any kind. They did say they were working for the council.

My feelings are that they are a DMA who were BS'ing my daughter and intimidating her into getting the money.

The debt has been paid while they were there but I feel the way they kept skipping

around my questions was not right and I thought something was fishy.

According to my daughter there was no prior communication concerning this debt and

no letter of enforcement was delivered or shown while they were there

I also forgot to add that they had the never to ask us if we wanted a receipt. Blooming dam right we did.

It was only then that we found the name of the actual company they worked for.

mikeymack2002 you are probably right with respect to where it should have been posted.

I did say I apologise if it is in the wrong place.

We are definitely going to complain about the way in which they entered the property also the fact they

would not show any form of papers relating to entering the property and also the fact they would not show

copies of the actual court ruling.

Also I might add my daughter was totally unaware that there was some court proceedings going on

Interesting read but cannot find anything which relates to any papers or if they have to show any that they

have the right to enter.

Hi All,

Forgive me if this is in the wrong place as I am not sure which one to post it to.

Today my daughter found two enforcement officers in her house when she returned home.

They told her that they had a court order to obtain £640. for old council tax bill that my daughter knew about and had told the council she would pay it off in instalments.

They issued her with no papers of any kind and would not say anything when questioned about the court papers and would not show them or any other papers to show they had a right to enter the property. They would only say that they were on file.

The debt came about through the council messing her about when they she lived at a different property.

The council had passed the debt out to a DMT but my daughter told them that she wanted to deal only with the Council and was told by the council that she would have to wait till the debt was passed back to them.

They would not answer any question but would try to force the conversation away from any questions asked. Then because they did not like the questions I was asking they added another £110.00 to the bill.

What I want to know is

Did they have a right to enter the property while no-one was in (the door was closed but unlocked as she was just across the road)?

Should they have had copies of court orders so that we could see them?

Should they have had any papers saying they had the right to enter the property?

Thats it for now but if more info is needed I will add it.

There are actual support groups that can help you,

In my area with have a dedicated one that helps people with DLA, now PIP cliams and can help you get forms done.

Also CAB probably has a list of groups which can help you so calling them may be worthwhile.

Age Concern is also another organization who if they cannot help directly would probably be able to point you to groups which can.

Hit then with as much medical evidence as you can possible get hold of (they may not look at it but if it's there it should go on their system).

Always put down on the forms how you are affected on your WORSE days, Make sure they know just how much the partner helps you.

Make sure you write down everything such as medication and the names of each and everyone you have.

If, you get a interview at their place remember they are probably watching/recording you from before you get into the place so don't just walk upto the building in a manner like you are coping with your condition.

If, you get a home visit have someone in the room with you to fetch medication, make tea etc. While in the interview at home don't just sit comfortably in your chair. Move a little as if you need to change position because you are uncomfortable, believe me they will mark you down for sitting comfortably.

If you do have to move around the room (they will probably ask you to) then use the backs of furniture to act as support, or have a walking stick etc.

Oh and remember some of the questions they ask may appear to have no relevence. They are designed to trick you. And if they appear to be over friendly and polite then be on your guard as it's all designed to get you to be at ease so they can mark you down.

Suggestion read as much about the way the interviews are run and the types of questions they are liable to ask.

And also whenever your send them anything make it RECORDED DELIVERY at the least because the amount of "missing" mail they seem to get is staggering and the "we have not received it" comes up a lot of times. With RECORDED you do have at least a little proof to show them they had it.

Don't deal on the phone if you can help it (unless you can record the conversation) because phone calls are not entered into the system very often. and the number of people who have phoned them and they have said they haven't got it on their system is also a high percentage.

Oh and if you have a recording device, when you have your interview, plonk it down on the table and tell them you are recording the interview so that should you need to appeal any decision they make you will be able to show why you disagree with their assessment. If they tell you that you cannot record the conversation then just put it in your top pocket with mic facing out and still record it.

You can ask for them to record the interview but they do not have recording equipment at all the assessment centers so have to arrange for it to be at a place that has it, This could make the time for the interview to be arranged longer. This will also keep them to the guidelines for the interview and put them on their guard so are most likely to stick close to the governments guidelines when it comes to the questions they ask.

Above all be on your guard because now the Tories are in the majority (even with the few they have) IDS will be pushing for more failures so as to reduce the benefits.

My wife failed getting top rate PIP for mobility because we had a home interview and she was asked could she plan going to the shops and how she would get there,

She just said she would get on her mobility scooter and go. So she failed on the plan a journey question. The fact that I could throw a stone and hit the Morrisons

supermarket across the road was not taken into account. They did not ask her directly "how she would get to the local town" which is a couple of miles away and the answer for that would be "with me in the car and then use the small motobility scooter we have in the car for just such a journey". They are sneaky so watch out for the way the poise questions.

Don't do the interview full stop.

1] The interview alone could cause you more anxiety

2] Just worrying about it like you already are may cause you stress, anxiety and depression

3] Some events like this are monitored and even an image of you in the back ground could cause you problems.

4] They use anything they can to get people off benefits so be very careful if you do the event.

Now if the Green's really want to become a force to listen to and get voted for they need a leader with the passion, fire, drive that

is currently in charge of the SNP. It's that sort of person we need in the PM's place in this country, one who is really for the people and

one that cares about the country. I might be in the UK but if Sturgeon's name had been on my polling papers I would have voted for her.

UkIP may have poled around 4mil votes but the leader was a joke and quite frankly any vote they got helped the Tories more than Labour.

The SNP wiped out Labour because of the poor leader and very lack lustre policies and David Cameron was praying for this to happen.

The final result may have been much closer than it was if it were not for the SNP killing labour in Scotland and the UKIP vote driving the

labour vote down.

The problem now is that we have to live with this situation and make the most of it.

So I expect that these forums may become somewhat busier over the next few years.

There are to many nandy pandy politicians in this country who are only there to feather theirs (and friends) nests. Most have about as much

use as a 1 bristle loo brush (and I think I being kind to them at that).

If Cameron gets his way and changes the boundaries in this country to shed 50-60 MPs and if the SNP keep hold of Scotland it's going

to take something really significant before the Tories would ever lose power again. I would not be surprised if Scotland did get independence

as that would effectively keep an additional 60mp's out of Westminster.

I was under the impression that any expenses you had during the week which were directly related to what

you were doing are/were taken into account by the JSA

I went self employed this time last year and to be honest it was the best thing that happened to me

in a long time.

No more JSA on my back

No more Job Hunts

No more traipsing around worrying about sanctions.

My business incurs a lot of business expenses so my profit is virtually zero but this is a good thing,

I am able to claim WRT,

I am able to claim HB and CTC

I also get NHS exemption for prescription/specs, dental etc.

I am my own boss and can start at 4 in the morning if I feel like it (and regularly do)

If I want a day off I can and not have to worry about it.

If I push it I can get most my days work done by 12 so it leaves afternoons and evenings free.

Like I said best thing I ever did.