I know exactly what you're talking about. I am a lupus sufferer, and was first diagnosed 20 years ago as a small child. Lupus can be fatal, and I have twice had to be admitted to hospital as my illness was so bad doctors thought I was going to die. As a direct result of my lupus I need to take daily medication and precautions to try and keep my disease under control. And yet, despite it being classed as a life threatening disease, there is no help with medical expenses available for lupus sufferers. Every day of my life I have to take Plaquenil (steroids) & hydroxychloroquine (anti-malarials) to keep my immune system under control. Every day I have to cover my body in factor 60 sunblock. And almost everyday I have to take ibuprofen (NSAIDs) to help with the pain. I have to do all of this EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE, and probably for the rest of it. But I am expected to buy all these medications and sunblocks myself. I find it very expensive - even with the pre payment scheme. And even though I am advised to wear sunblock by my numerous doctors it is not available for me on the NHS and I have to buy it myself. I have always suffered with severe photosensitivity & arthritis, as well as many other problems, and the disease has had a huge effect on my life. I live in daily pain, with everyday tasks becoming painful & time consuming. I suffer with rashes, lesions & internal organ problems due to my photosensitivity, and am forced to avoid sunshine or places with strip lights and energy saving bulbs. My lupus is progressive and over the last 20 years my health & mobility have deteriorated considerably, and will continue to do so until I can no longer cope without care. I need these medications just to make life bearable, and i think they should include lupus on the exempt list for prescription charges, as without these drugs my life expectancy would be dramatically less.

Thanks for the tips guys - I have done as you suggested and they have suddenly changed their tune! obviously thought they could bluff me, but I have to wait and see if they comply with the 40 day deadline.

Hi, I was recently made redundant while being owed a lot of outstanding wages and my Maternity pay by a small company. I have taken them to an Employment Tribunal and won, however they have still not paid anything to me. The director of the company has now put in an appeal to the judgment, and he is lying about the hourly rate I was on - he thinks he will be able to pay me less in maternity pay if he gets away with this. I know that the payroll company who dealt with my wages should have a record of my hourly rate and the outstanding money still owed. I have requested all data they have on me using the Data Protection act but they have refused, saying they can only act on the company's request not mine. Is this right? do they not have to stick to the law or are they just trying to bluff me? Please help as I am really stuck and this has been going on for over a year already!!

Hi, I was recently made redundant while being owed a lot of outstanding wages and my Maternity pay by a small company. I have taken them to an Employment Tribunal and won, however they have still not paid anything to me. The director of the company has now put in an appeal to the judgment, and he is lying about the hourly rate I was on - he thinks he will be able to pay me less in maternity pay if he gets away with this. I know that the payroll company who dealt with my wages should have a record of my hourly rate and the outstanding money still owed. I have requested all data they have on me using the Data Protection act but they have refused, saying they can only act on the company's request not mine. Is this right? do they not have to stick to the law or are they just trying to bluff me? Please help as I am really stuck and this has been going on for over a year already!!

My partner & I claimed £525 we were chared over a 6 year period. All we did was use the letter templtae from this site and tot up the charges. They wrote back saying they did not agree with our claims that the charges were unfair, but as a gesture of goodwill they were willing to offer us £487 as long as we never spoke of it again! obviously we accepted the offer. So I urge you all to reclaim your charges now before they start saying no. It really is THAT easy, and the money is yours after all. Thanks CAG!!

see this thread for more info... http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/other-institutions/956-student-loans-company-smith.html

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Good luck!! My partner and I claimed our charges back from Natwest and they gave us £487 of the £525 we requested!! Thank you CAG

I signed up to the pre 98 style loan from SLC with stipluates I must be earning more than 17 thousand a year before I am eligible to pay. I have never earnt more than this amount, but one year they also said they had not received my deferment and therefore started demanding installments from me. I immediately sent off new deferrment forms but in the mean time I was asked to pay £80 in installments for that period. At this time I was made redundant and went onto state benefits. From this point on they started charging my £20 - £25 a letter and the charges kept clocking up. This was in 2001, and since then I have paid more than £500 in charges to Smith Lawson and they are saying I still owe them over £100. Considering I was not elibible to pay the installments in the first place and I can prove this I am horrified to read this forum and discover I have been xxxxx. Even though I have been in employment for most of the last 6 years, I have never earned more than 15 thousand punds a year, and with a young child to supprt I find it hard to meet their demands. I always send my deferrments by recorded delivery now, but occasionally they still try and say they did not receive them - it seems they lose things a lot. What I would like to know is, can I claim my charges back, and is there any way I can show that I did not owe the original money to start with and therefore nullify their claim from the beginning?