The offer is being made for commercial reasons from one of the respondents on the condition that all claims are dropped against all parties, the next para says “The offer is made on condition that all terms of an agreement can be agreed” does this help ?

Hi, we have now received an offer to settle before the tribunal though I am unsure of the full meaning of this statement and how to proceed with the offer as it seems a little low. ”Without prejudice except in relation to an application for costs to be paid by the Claimant” Any advice appreciated

So the claimant got the judgement and now I am trying to get it set aside and could do with some advice on how to do this. The strict proof route was pretty much ignored and the claimants failures to provide a copy of the credit agreement apart from the generic one didn’t matter.

Hi Andy, thank you for the updated information and that the statement is ok once amendment’s have been made.

Hi, I have now managed to draft a witness statement and scanned the hearing bundle, all are attached to this post and the next one due to size. The default notice received in the bundle from 2016 had already had black pen covering the account holders' details, reference number etc, this I find very strange. I have also realised that the hearing is dated 07th November 2022 not as previously thought so I am now requiring urgent assistance to get this sent to the court and Claimant. I still have detail to add to the witness statement, but this is the personal details. IN THE ***** County Court Claim No. ****** BETWEEN: Claimant Lowell Portfolio Ltd AND Defendant Mr ****** WITNESS STATEMENT OF ****** I, *******, being the Defendant in this case will state as follows; I make this Witness Statement in support of my defence in this claim. 1.) I understand that the claimant is an Assignee, a buyer of defunct or bad debts which are bought on mass portfolios at a much-reduced cost to the amount claimed and which the original creditors have already written off as a capital loss and claimed against taxable income. As an assignee or creditor as defined in section 189 of the CCA this applies to this new requirement on assignment of rights. This means that when an assignee purchases debts (or otherwise acquires rights under a credit agreement) it also acquires certain obligations to the borrower including the duty to comply with CCA requirements (such as the rules on statements and notices and other post-contractual information). The assignee becomes the creditor under the agreement. This ensures that essential consumer protections under the CCA cannot be circumvented by assigning the debt to a third party. 2.) On dd/mm/yy, I received a claim form from the County Court Business Centre, Northampton, for the amount of £0000.00. The claimant contends that the claim is for the sum of £0000.00 in respect of monies owing under an alleged agreement with the account no. ******* pursuant to The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA). 3.) The Claimants pleaded case is that the Defendant entered into an agreement with Shop Direct (Very) under account reference *******. I am uncertain as to which account this refers to. It is accepted that I have had financial dealings with Shop Direct in the past however I have no recollection of the alleged account number the claimant refers to. 4.) On the 11th August 2022 I made a formal written request to the Claimant for them to provide me with a copy of my Consumer Credit Agreement as entitled to do so under sections 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The claimant has not provided a true copy of the CCA despite a request being made, instead I received a response dated 17th August 2021 stating, “please find enclosed a copy of the agreement’, the agreement provided is generic in nature and cannot be used to prove compliance. The agreement received has also been dated 4th November 2017 when the statement of account is dated as being opened on 16th December 2008, this would imply that the documents received for any request made relate to separate accounts and cannot be proven to relate to the existing sum claimed. 5.) On the 12th August 2021 I made a formal written request by way of a CPR 31.14 to the Claimant solicitors requesting that the Claimant provides copies of all documents mentioned in the statement of case. A response was received dated 17th August 2021 with copies of an alleged deed of assignment and also an alleged credit agreement, the agreement is generic in nature and could have been completed at any time due to the basic nature of the document and the fact that no digital footprint is contained within it, the claimant also advised that further documents have been requested for this specific agreement and would be sent to me when they were received, no further documents to support the request have ever been received by the respondent. 6.) Contained within the claimants’ particulars the claimant pleads that the defendant has failed to make contractual payments under the terms of the agreement and that a default notice has been served upon the defendant pursuant to S.87(1) CCA. 7.) In their Court hearing bundle the claimant has produced what appears to be a ‘screenshot’ of a default notice, which is unrecognisable as such. It is therefore contended that the original creditor failed to serve a valid Default Notice pursuant to section 87(1) Service of a notice on the debtor or hirer in accordance with section 88 (a “default notice ”) is necessary before the creditor or owner can become entitled, by reason of any breach by the debtor or hirer of a regulated agreement. A default notice was also received dated 4th July 2016, this in fact relates to a different mail order catalogue and cannot be used to satisfy this claim. 8.) As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is expected that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed. Therefore the claimant is put to strict proof to disclose a true executed legible agreement on which its claim is based and relies upon. Until such time the claimant can comply and disclose a true executed copy of the agreement they refer to within the particulars of this claim they are not entitled while the default continues, to enforce the agreement pursuant to section 78.6 (a) of the Credit Consumer Act 1974. Statement of Truth I, ********** , the Defendant, believe the facts stated within this Witness Statement to be true. Signed: _________________________ _______ Dated: _________________________ _______ claimants ws .pdf

Hi, could someone advise a search term to find similar cat witness statement threads as my searches seem not to bring the results that I require. Having spoken to the Court today about how to request a postponement due to health issues they have advised to contact the Claimant to get their agreement otherwise a fee will apply. Should I contact via email as this will be the fastest route.

Hi, I will look to upload the docs tonight, I haven’t written a witness statement as yet as ill health is affecting my daily life currently and this is proving difficult to handle. I understand that it should be with the parties around the 1st November.

thanks.

We have now received the pack of documents from the claimant for the hearing for 24th November. Included in the pack was a default notice from 2016 which has no bearing on this debt, found this quite strange. Another copy of the generic credit agreement , account statement have also been sent to us.

Thanks DX100, SAR sent over now.

I did the search and can see SAR for HMRC but not DWP. apologies if I am not finding it, I can see the FOI request link but maybe this is not the one I need.

Hi Dx100, do you mean the DWP site as I seem unable to locate the SAR on there?

Hi, We have received a court listing date of 24th November for this case now and are waiting to see if they pay the fee to continue with the claim. I have tried to find specific threads of how to defend the case in court but I am struggling with this. We also need to ask the Court if I am able to attend instead of my wife as she is suffering Ill health and a court appearance would push her over the edge. Could anyone help me with this please ?

Hi, My wife has been hit with an overpayment from DWP carers allowance and is unable to repay the debt straight away. She receives currently £77 /week ESA and is also suffering I’ll health awaiting an operation. I have read in a few places online that the DWP can only use her personal income to make a repayment plan and the minimum is approx £10/week, could anyone confirm if this is correct please ? As a couple we are also repaying a tax credit overpayment which we have asked to be written off as we really didn’t understand how it happened nor how it ended up being so high a sum but after 4 weeks we have heard nothing from the request. My fear is that the DWP will ask for a repayment of the Carers allowance at a weekly payment that is too high considering the current crisis that people are suffering in the UK. Could anyone advise on the above and the best way forward please?

HI, We have just received a letter saying that the claim has been transferred to the local court for the Judge to give directions. This is the first contact since August 21 when the directions questionnaire was returned to the court, the claimants DQ is now showing on the MCOL history as filed on 30/10/2021. Can anyone advise further please ?

Hi, it is a private healthcare provider.

Hi, I have opted out of data sharing with the NHS but today I received an appointment letter from a clinic saying that my care is being transferred to them from my usual hospital Consultant. Should this happen without them asking me first? I questioned the new clinic about why they had made me an appointment and they said that they had spoken to me by phones few days ago. This didn’t happen either ! I have been waiting for a spinal injection since December 21 with the Consultant who agreed to perform the procedure only to find out that I have been farmed out. seriously not happy with this….

The best thing would be for her to feel able to go back to the workplace and feel safe. Is this too much to ask ? What are you saying, stop working and punish yourself financially and for her to accept it was her fault? Surely Agencies/Employers have to do better even when they won’t allow unions on site? International Women’s Day must be a waste if this is the case.

Thanks Stu007. I understand what you are saying and the fact is they haven’t as an Employer followed a process thoroughly. A further complaint has been raised with the Agency HR Manager and I believe that they will be unaware of how the issue has been dealt with by the site agency representatives who confirmed that the matter had been investigated and closed, this was before she was asked to go to a meeting about the matter. The invitation to the meeting was to chat it over with the Agency site team not to be questioned by the clients HR Manager. This meeting did not give my daughter any time to prepare for it and this became very stressful for her. she was even asked if she typed out the complaint as it had speeding and gramma errors, for what reason I don’t know but she replied by saying it was a Team Leader Employed by the client who did it. An HR Manager should know better than this and also trained in this area to ensure that appropriate action and due process is followed.

Pretty sure we have legal cover on house insurance policy.

I was thinking it was the Agency to resolve until the HR Manager for the workplace questioned my daughter then said they would need to investigate fully. Both the Agency and Workplace have a duty of care for all workers and would be linked Contractually for employment rights. My daughter wanted to keep working there until she found other work but was unable too due to the situation she faced when returning and the fact that no process had been followed to ensure she was safe.

Hello, My 18 year old daughter has worked for an Agency at the same workplace for around 5 months and has had a number of occasions which amount to Harassment possibly Sexual but the line when it becomes Sexual Harassment is unclear to us. The client who recruit through the agency are aware of at least 3 occasions prior to the latest incident. On the last incident a colleague who was sat near her at their work station moved across to her, put his hand on her thigh and then put his other arm around her, she tried to move away but he wouldn’t release his arm from around her and another colleague had to shout at him 3 times to get off her before he did. The following day she went back to work and became scared and upset in the first few hours because the person was constantly staring at her and his girlfriend and her friends were also acting towards my daughter in a threatening manner. I eventually had to go to the workplace as my daughter was scared and upset and nobody was around to get help. A Team Leader became involved and took my daughter to an office where a Formal Complaint was prepared and then sent to the Agency & Workplace HR. After having her 4 days off due to the shift pattern she returned to work and straight away noticed that the accused person was on site and started glaring at her as soon as he saw her, this made her frightened and upset and again she had to leave site. She let her agency know if this and they said that the investigation had been carried out and the matter was closed but they would invite her to a meeting to chat over it and update her on what had been done to keep her safe. she went for the meeting but it wasn’t as she thought, she was taken to the HR Managers office (Clients) who started to question her about the incident and at the end they said that they would now need to conduct a full investigation due to what had been said, this is what my daughter thought had already been done. This means that for 4 days nothing had been resolved on site or actions taken to ensure the safety of my daughter which I find is unacceptable, nobody had contacted my daughter during the 5 days after submitting the FC to even ask how she is or to reassure her and they were happy for her to return to the site as if nothing had happened. My daughter is now losing out financially because of this as she is to scared to go to the workplace as the accused is still continuing to be there and no action has been taken by either the Agency or Client . My frustration is who is responsible to deal with the Formal Complaint as both parties are involved, is there a breach of her terms of employment, how should it be handled and by who. She is also raising a report with the Police about the matter. Any advice gratefully received.

Hi Dx100, thanks for the info, we received the next letter saying that we had refused mediation and that they would now move to hearing in court, this I found odd as surely the court would have been in touch to go through mediation. Automatic letter from Overdales no doubt due to a time trigger.

The owners of the Company are different people.

Hi, the initial part is to lodge a formal complaint against the MD to the board members about misconduct by their Senior Manager as any worker that conducted themselves this way would be sacked immediately for gross misconduct. At no point did my wife say that she had resigned though due to her not being in a fit state to remain at work she left, the Company have used this to manufacture her resignation.