I can't remember seeing anyone recently make a new post saying that they have been issued with a statutory demand on behalf of Lowells ? They are still continuing with bankruptcy petitions according to reports in the London Gazette. Have they stopped doing this, just paused or reduced the number they are issuing ? Going by what is reported via CAG, there does appear to have been a change.

ok so back in Jan i had a letter from dwp inviting me for an IUC. I have been accused of living with a partner for the last 3 years. To cut a long story short my ESA payments have been suspended and they are seeking an overpayment. grounds for suspicion well back 3 years ago my ex turned up at my door after losing his job and his home asking for my help. i helped him find somewhere to stay and my family loaned him a considerable amount of money to pay off some of his debts.. during this time we began an intimate relationship. however, he had a lot of problems. he's an alcoholic and smokes in excess of 40 ciggarettes a day. When drinking he becomes abusive and in the past, verbal and mental abuse turned to physical abuse (i was forced into a womens refuge to flee from him). So for that reason i could not let him live with me because unlike the past i had children to think about. When not under the influence of beer he's the nicest person ever.. So we devised a plan.... he would transfer money into my bank. I would buy his ciggarettes for him, pay my family back money he owed and either transfer money to him or give cash if i saw him on a daily basis to cover his living costs.. the idea was that he wouldnt be able to drink and would be forced to cut down on his smoking and everyone would be guaranteed money back that they borrowed him.. it was supposed to lead to him being a better person (giving up eventually both drinking and smoking) and put our relationship in a place where we could live together. Needless to say, it never worked out.. not to go into too much detail i spent every week fighting with him from pay day till mid week (when he was drunk) and the rest of the time he would be trying to convince me it wont happen again, which i always fell for. or i did until some time after april last year. Since then i have not even been in an intimate relationship with him. For a while we were not even in touch till he lost his job and his home again qround 7 months ago. I have medical issues, mental and physical which have left me unable to do normal day to day things and need a lot of support from family and friends. i got most of my support from my sister, who became pregnant and suffered some complications which left her unable to to provide the level of support she had previously. I moved house and a few weeks later i was burgled. I was already struggling to cope alone and my ex was only too happy to jump to my aid when natuarally i was scared to sleep i my house alone because during the burgulary my daughter heard someone enter the bedroom of my 2 younger children, aged just 5 and 9 months at the time. i asked him to stay on a few occations in the aftermath and during this time my mental health took a serious nose dive and i stopped functioning as a normal person would. my ex was doing practically everything around the house and looking after my younger children when my elder daughter was not at home. sometimes after the children hhad gone to bed he stayed at my house and used the internet. i discovered after i was invited for an interview that he was sometimes falling asleep on the sofa. So again to cut a long story short, thinking i had done nothing wrong i went along to the interview. I didnt know they were going to accuse me of living with him for the last 3 years. I thought the problem was only that recently my ex stayed more than he should have and i felt confident i could clear that up and that it wouldnt happen again because i had already asked my ex to stay away when i had discovered he was 'falling asleep' so even though i had not even been in contact with him between jan and about 4 weeks ago (when he became homeless again) the dwp has decided that i was and is still living with him. for almost a month i have been relying on a credit card, but thats going to run out of funds pretty soon. Im really not living with him and i dont know what i am supposed to do. i have spoken to the dwp and been advised of only 2 paths i can take. Either i make a new claim, where i will have to explain what happened between me and my ex (admit we DID live together, but not now) or i have to appeal, which can take weeks. I have of course written an appeal with a full explanation but in the meantime im worried sick because i have letters coming from everywhere all jumping on the back of a supposed over payment of benefits. Housing benefit is demanding proof of my ex's earning so they can adjust how much housing benefit i get. The same for council tax benefit.. I am seriously worrying i wont even be able to feed my children and will be forced to put them in care and will end up losing my home because i dont have the info they want because my ex does not live with me. I have taken legal advice and have been told that the DWP have complicated rules and dont even have to prove that you have been living with someone to do this. I can only hope that my personal situation was enough to prove that it would not have been reasonable to ask my ex for financial assistance due to his lifestyle. I feel like im in a no win situation, and to make matteres worse my ex is ready and willing to move in saying he will change, which i know he wont.. what if they say i am living with him still after the appeal? i will either be forced to do what my ex wants or i wont be able to feed my own children. Tough choices which are seriously affecting my mental health to a point wherei feel suicidal because i see no way out

I received a letter back in February saying that I have been chosen for a review of my WTC and CTC.(Suspecting a neighbour played a large part in that but that's beside the point). I work self employed as a cleaner and the period that they asked for the information for was from 6th November to 6th February. I duly sent off all my invoices, receipts, bank statements, car registration documents (why!!), car insurance (why!!!) etc etc. Yesterday I received a letter from them saying that I only work 14 hours per week and they are backdating this to April 2012 and therefore I owe them £3000+. As the period they requested included Christmas and the New Year, I did not work for ten days as who wants a vacuum under your feet whilst you are eating your turkey. Most of my clients are also elderly and went to family for Christmas and therefore did not want their houses cleaned so whilst I worked in excess of 16 hours per week on all the other weeks, not working for those ten days dropped my average over the three months to 14.8, which they have nicely rounded down to 14 not up to 15 as you would. Had they have chosen any other three months, it would have shown that I work at least 16 hours per week and therefore I would have been fine. Surely it is not fair that my claim for the entire year has been based on those three months alone as they have not knowledge of what I worked before those dates or indeed after. Having finished my financial year today, I have averaged 16.5 hours per week over the year, working excess in the summer cleaning holiday lets on a Saturday to take into account the days I have had off ie. two weeks in the summer and ten days at Christmas. The nature of the job means that sometimes you are unable to work, ie they are on holiday or ill and don't want you but I have ensured that I have worked the extra so the average is 16+ hours per week. I could possibly understand it if they said that they would not pay me WTC for the two weeks in the summer (which they don't know about as they did not ask for the time scale) and the ten days at Christmas but surely they can't claim back a year's worth when they have no idea what I have worked in that time?

Hi I'm new here. I had a letter last month from HMRC saying they believed my ex was still living with me. I sent them a letter with info they requested - bank statements, CSA letters. I got a letter today saying my credits have stopped and I will have to repay approx £4k. Not sure what to do. My ex left 4 years ago after an affair. He was or still is in a relationship and has a baby. He has used this address to try and obtain credit. I cant do anything about that as he still has a key to the house because we have children and he can collect mail without my knowledge. I am worried sick. I went to the CAB when I got the first letter but they weren't much help. I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Hi I am self employed, and frequently use my overdraft. I had a tax credit payment paid in, and paid 200 cash in to cover a direct debit, and they have taken it from the overdraft so my available credit is zero. I am at my wits end, don't know what to do.

Hi, I am a student, currently in my third year of a law degree. I have been a customer with lloyds tsb for five years now. Around december 2010 i received a letter from lloyds stating the overdraft facility (£1500) they were providing was under review. (The same interest free overdraft all students receive). After my first year at uni my overdraft was fully utilised in the general student spirit. I next heard from lloyds in march 2011 again telling me the my account was under review. It is neccessary to mention i have received many a charges for late payments, returned direct debits and unplanned overdrafts. However i do eventually end up paying them. In april 2011 i logged on to my internet banking to find my planned overdraft at £200 and my balance at minus £1500. I went to in to speak to them and was told by the kind lady that she could be of no assistance and was handed a number to ring. I rang the number and found myself talking to an Indian man claiming to be from the collections department. After looking at my income and expenditure he came to the conclusion i could pay 40 a month back. i have been in this agreement ever since, it gets renewed every 6 or 12 months. Id like to knowif i could claim anything back of lloyds as they targeted me when i was at my lowest (not including now) and as a result find myself owing the same amount whilst making them 40 better of each month. Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

Hi i went for an Atos medical in november and surprise i was passed fit for work for the second year in a row even though i am diagnosed with severe agoraphobia, depression and have anxiety/panic attacks, i have sent away an appeal form gl24 with a letter wrote with guidance from the citizens advice bureau plus a doctors covering letter with sick note. Now my question is the esa was stopped from the 13th jan last month i was then told over the phone by D.W.P that i would still receive esa at the basic rate while on appeal, i sent everything away on the 23rd jan and thought i would receive payment as normal on monday but nothing so i phoned them to which they said i would not receive any payment until next wednesday at the latest as it was on referral, this never happened last year and as you can imagine the stress knowing that i have no money for 10 days has left me feeling very sick and upset. Can anyone tell me if this has happened to anyone else or is this a new way of breaking you.

help with evictions want to stop tha eviction, awaiting the date what to do in the mean time, received the form n244 need help in how to fill it in what to put, kensington are having none of listening to any payment plan in place being sinse middle of october.

I defaulted on the payments of a number of credit cards, loans and an overdraft back in 2008. Managed to short settle a few of the debts and entered a DMP with PayPlan for the others - kept the payments up until I lost my job. After a few months of being snooty and threatening, the 3 creditors I owe money to just all of a sudden went quiet. A few months later, I got a statement from one of them showing the account balance as ZERO. Have heard nothing from any of them in about 2 years - except for a 6-monthly statement of account from Santander showing how much I still owe them. Other than that, no letters and no phone calls - absolutely nothing. I havent moved house or anything - it really did just go quiet all of a sudden. Checking my credit file, I see these accounts being marked as 'D' (default) every month and the amounts outstanding (about #40k in total). Has anybody else experienced this? Have these been written off as bad debts, and thats why they've stopped chasing me? If thats the case, can I get them removed from my credit report? Do I need to wait 6 years from the dat of default? Or wait 6 years from the date I last paid anything? Obviously, I'm worried that they will blow the dust off these things (last payment was about 2 and a half years ago) and start chasing me again but I'm wondering if anybody has any experience of similar, or any thoughts on what might be going on and the best way to handle it? Many thanks

Firstly my apologies if this is the wrong place to post this as i'm new and this is my first post. My partner has worked all his life and was in his last job for 8 years, around seven months ago he had to take time off due to sickness, severe anxiety/stress, so was on ssp for 3/4 months in around that time he started getting accused of stealing from his empolyer and they even came out to our home and inspected every part of it, but did not find anything !! a few days after they sent a letter saying that out kitchen looks like one of their kitchens and that they will be dealing with it when my partner returns back to work. ... now we live in a council house and the kitchens are all exactly the same, so my partner got in touch with our council and after a few phone calls found that the kitchen had been fitted 6 years ago. ...so he cleared his name.. ..nothing was ever said about it and we recieved no letter/phone call of an apology... .. this completely stressed my partner out and did not help with his current state of anxiety and felt that he couldnt go back to work for the same company because of the way they treated him. he stopped receiving ssp and went onto jsa and signed off sick from the doctor as he wanted to get back into work and start afresh, he did everything he had to do, went to sign on and was job hunting everyday.. ...he was claiming ssp for the both of us as i stay home and take care of the kids.. ...he has been on jsa for 3 months and now we have had a letter saying that he is no longer entitled for jsa as he volantary left his previuos job, he has told them repeatedly the circumstances that made him quite and how he felt and has sent all the forms off, he even told the jobcentre that he will be starting a job on the 21st january ( next month) as thats when work will be picking up( for his trade) we only needed the extra help for the next 3 weeks or so then he would no longer need jsa... . i also had a letter from housing benefit saying that jsa has stopped so housing/council tax will be stopped too..... i'm so upset by all this, we have struggled for so long and now with only a few days untill christmas we are left with no money, i dont know how we are going to manage, and what saddens me more is that my partner worked for 8 years and this is the only time he has ever claimed benefit and they treat us this way, we have nothing for our kids for christmas and im on the brink of depression, i just dont know what to do i really need some advice because i'm totally lost, thank you.

Help needed for a newbie i was told a week ago that my job search record was not good enough and she did not believe that what i wrote was true. in other words she called me a liar without saying it. she then said have i signed on the new job match site which i said yes. she then said can i have your login details so i can see what jobs that you have looked at. i then said no to which she replied in that case i am sending your job search record for referral. and you are not getting a new sheet to fill out you can do it online. i then left. today which is the day that i get my JSA payment i find out that no money has gone into my account. is this normal without telling you first. thanks in advance for any help.

Been registered for a long time but never really needed to ask for help much but hopefully someone can help me. Got an ipad on contract from vodafone and have only had it for 4 months and it has broke, it does not boot up anymore. What are my rights? can I ask vodafone for a replacement or do I have to have it picked up by them for repair?

We were paying on and off £40 a month electric and £40 gas, and the meter wasn't read by anybody including me between Jan 2009 and August 2012. During that period we missed some payments and they sent some guy round to talk us about debt, no appointment, we were out and we were charged Gas 2 visits x£40 Electric 2 visits x £40 He didn't look at the meters which were outside to get a reading. It occurred to me that they had taken this action on estimated debt. Finally I phoned in some actual readings and we got a huge refund £890 credit to our electricity account. But we owed the £ 800 on the gas so I asked them to transfer the balance across. They agreed and then a meter reader appeared as if by magic and read the meters. New bills arrived more or less the same as the earlier ones. then they contacted us and said the meter appeared to have slowed down or stopped. They immediately sent out a MASSIVE electricity bill based on guesswork. Later refered to as a "CATCH UP BILL" I objected. They fitted a new meter and after 30 days I phoned in the reading of 180 units. Then they said they had "METERED our useage for the time the meter had stopped, which was some time between 2009 and Aug 2012, they decided it had slowed down for all of that period and we owed them a few £hundred then a ping pong discussion by email ensued, me asking for my credit back and them eventually reducing the amount they claim I owe to £29. But they refuse to admit they are guessing when the meter stopped or slowed and what our useage was, they claim it is METERED but they have multiplied our use in September x 2 years, saying the CATCH UP bill and their charter allows them to do that. I asked for the unsolicited visits to be refunded, they refused saying our contract allowed them to do that. I asked to see the contract, they said it was verbal I asked to hear the contract, they said the tape was wiped. I asked if I could have information how to take this to the Ombudsman, they said they would reffer it to senior management, but would like to exhaust all avenues with me first. Thoughts? Advice?? Similar experiences?? I just think it's wrong that they cut corners by not reading the meter, knew we had a crumby old meter and didn't bother renewing it, and cannot know what our useage has been, I don't like paying for guesstimates!

Hello. I was wondering if anyone can give me any information on how long it takes a decision maker to reconsider a decision to stop benefits for a disabled person on dla. The dla is ok at present however, their income support has been stopped and they have been told they are no longer entitled to it. They have asked for a reconsideration of the decision but in the meantime the benefits office have also informed the local authority that they are no longer in receipt. it actually took the claimant 10 days to find out that their benefit had been stopped. We have arranged an interview with the HB office to get that sorted, but the disabled person is in a right state as he suffers from severe mental health problems as well as a physical disability. The benefit office cannot or will not say how long this will take to sort out and when they were politely asked to deal with it urgently we were told that its" always urgent with you people!" Currently all he has to live on is middle care rate, lower mobility rate and £30 per week (wife's part-time employment less than 16 hrs) Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Hi i went to sign on today and the advisor said that in her opinion that i had not tried hard enough over the last 2 weeks looking for work and have stopped my JSA and has been sent higher up for a decision to be made Ive done my work search as i have always done for the last year and not had a problem until today Im a 43 old man with a partner and a disabled son im at wits end and worried sick and wondering what to do Ive been a driver for 20 years and last year lost my licence and im having a nightmare finding a job as thats all i have done but the job centre dont understand that Ive never missed a signing on, im going to a work programme with seetec and looking at doing a 3 months course Im thinking of moving out just so my partner and child can get some money again Any help would be great thxs

Hi, basically, I've had my benefits stopped, I've got Bi-Polar and Social Anxiety Disorder, I only ever leave the house to go the Doctors and I've probably only left the house 9 or 10 times these past 2 years, I was due an ATOS medical maybe 7 months ago and when I got the letter I panicked and phoned them to tell them I wasn't going, a week after I was due to go, I got a letter saying my benefits had been stopped so I wrote them a letter appealing and reiterated I have Social Anxiety and a week or two later my benefits went on like normal. About 6 weeks ago I got another letter to attend the ATOS medical, I again phoned them and told them I wouldn't be going but they were free to come my house. A week later I got the letter saying my benefits had been stopped again so I appealed again and pretty angrily this time. My benefits restarted and then I got a letter last week dated October 9th, saying they'd reviewed my case and I was no longer due any benefits as they deem me fit to work and to apply for JSA. I just feel like I'm banging my head off a brick wall, I don't want to be like this, I worked hard all my life, coping with the undiagnosed at the time Bi-Polar until it got worse and I spiralled down into a black hole, I forced myself to the Doctors because I knew my life was over if I didn't and over the past year I've gradually rebuilt my confidence and my life back, I'm by no means ready to go back out in to the wild yet though, but I'm getting there slowly. Is there anything I can do? If worst comes to worst, I'll do without the benefits and starve, they will not force me out until I'm ready though.

Hey everyone, Just looking for some help or advice, what it is my friend just got in touch with me and he is upset as he's Jobseekers has been sanctioned for 3 years as he has failed to turn up for a Job interview and he's response was to the Jobcentre is this, He had a hangover and he overslept. Could he claim Hardship Allowance? as I heard this was been axed from next year? also could he appeal against this? Also at the moment he has no money for food and electric ete, also I think he's housing benefit will be stopped, is that going to happen soon? if so I am not sure how he is going to pay he's rent and I think he will be homeless Any advice would be great thanks but I think this is very sad because how can someone live without any money for 3 years is beyond me.

Can anyone give me any advice on what to do when the DWP have left someone with no money at all pending a second appeal. My partner (we don't live together) has had no money at all this week, which has meant that apart from having no food, gas and electricity he's also having to miss a court date where the local council are trying to prosecute him for non-payment of council tax despite him having been on full Housing Benefit for the period they're claiming for!

Hi I have looked around for an answer for this, but have not been able to narrow one down, so any help would be most appreciated. My brother has left his job and claimed JSA, he was refused the claim as he had left his work position voluntarily, but appealed this and it was decided in his favour due to the behaviour of his previous employer. He was eligible to receive contribution based JSA which he applied for and had been claiming for one month when he missed an appointment and his benefit was stopped and then his claim dismissed. He appealed this decision and after going through the process received a letter two days ago advising that his appeal had not been upheld, that he would no longer qualify for JSA. I was wondering, long term, would my brother be able to re-apply for JSA as a new claim? He lives at home so probably would not qualify for the hardship payments? Many thanks in advance

basically i signed on today and the advisor i saw gave me a vacancy at topps tiles to apply for but when i went on the topps tiles website the job advertised wasn't there. also the same advisor about a month ago gave me a virgin media vacancy to apply for but the job centre form she printed off said the closing date was 12th august, when i typed in the link to apply for the the position it said the closing date was 22nd july and she issued it to me on the 26th:shock: also today the advisor asked me if i had heard back from any of previous vacancies i was matched to, i wasn't to sure if i had heard anything so i said no and she was kinda acting strange so i'm just wondering will my jsa get sanctioned?

Not sure if this is the correct forum, or if this question is suitable for CAG at all really, I think it's consumer related, but apologies if I have got it wrong. I recently attended the Olympic Torch event in Lincoln, it was a free event but required tickets, the tickets stated 'no alcohol or picnicks'. However when we got there I was hauled aside when a 'bouncer' spotted my co-op bag and claimed he was giving me a 'random bag check' (it was obvious I was targeted due to the bag). He took a look inside and stated that no food was allowed on the field and that I had to move to the side and consume it there and then or not be allowed in. What followed was a quite predictable arguement from the jobsworth who couldn't provide any better answer than 'because it's not allowed'. But, there were food stalls all around the field! So, people were being stopped from taking food in presumably so that the stalls would get more custom. The field is owned by Lincoln City Council, and I wonder if someone could tell me if these people had any right to do this?

Afternoon all quick explanation of my situation 1) my son was due to return to college in Sept 2009 - for various reasons he did not take up the place allocated to him - we were entitled to CTC up to April 2010 (if he had stayed on) - we informed HRMC (late - think it was around Nov 2009) & ended up with an overpayment of £2200 which we have been repaying thru our subsequent awards. 2) my wife is now working full time & also taking on a lot of overtime & I have taken a part time evening job (on top of getting my own business off the ground) 3) now we have gone over the £17000 limit (2011/2012) & the WTC from April till now (approx £1000) is an overpayment. 4) we lost everything in 2010, so have no assets - rent, CT & utilities take up most of our income so we have little money spare. With the award stopped (approx £80.00 per week) things will be very tight - let alone repaying the overpayments. It seems we made the mistake of taking on more employment to try to get back on our feet. Total overpayment is approx £2000 - the letter states we can make arrangements over 12 months to repay, but to do that would mean approx £170 per month on top of losing £320. I can't see how we can do this. Any advice would be gratefully received. rgds Hector