Hi Caggers, last year i got myself into a bit of a pickle. Too many hours at work and a marriage that i couldnt hold together. Dire times. Had to sell the car. Couldnt at the time of sell, find the V5 but i knew that i did have it in a pile of papers. I rang DVLA to ask about a replacement and the following day, i found it. Entered the new owners details into the form and sent it off A couple of days after this, i had to move out. That was that.... OR WAS IT! A few months down the line i took receipt of a letter that stated i was to pay some fine or something. .. Wait a moment, i didnt owe anything anything so i rang the number (poole court) and spoke to someone about the issue, turns out dvla had prosecuted me! It was suggested on the phone that i submit a stat dec. No body told me that i had only 21 days to do so. Now, in between all the moving around and trying to salvage the marriage and working 70 hours a week to pay for everything (again) i totally forgot about the whole thing, time passed, i moved out and found a little flat. No letters from dvla, no letters from hmcs nothing.. . until monday when i had a nasty letter from marstons wanting to remove goods . HANG ON ! So.... . i researched the whole DVLA lost letter thing and boiled it down to section 7 interpretation act etc. I got in touch with the local mag court and told them what had happened and they said that i did not respond within the 21 day stat dec requirements so an out of time stat dec would have to do... I was then advised by the mag court staff that i would be better off sending them a letter, marking it "letter of appeal against conviction", so i penned the following letter: LETTER OF APPEAL AGAINST CONVICTION / SENTENCE DATED : FRIDAY 22nd NOV 2013 I wish to appeal against my conviction on the following grounds: 1) I did not receive a “Notice to owner” from DVLA” 2). I gave notice to DVLA in accordance with law which they claim they did not receive: Section 7, Chapter 30 of the 1978 Interpretation Act - References to service by post - “Where an Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post (whether the expression “serve” or the expression “give” or “send” or any other expression is used) then, unless the contrary intention appears, the service is deemed to be effected by properly addressing, pre-paying and posting a letter containing the document and, unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.” 3). I was not able to represent myself in court not knowing that the case had been heard in my absence: ARTICLE 6 , Right to a fair trial 1. In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interests of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice. 2. Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law. 3. Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights: (a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him; (b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence; © to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or, if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require; (d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him; (e) to have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court. I wish to apply outside of the 21 days notice (Out of time statutory declaration) because: 1). I was unaware until very recently that I could only submit a statutory declaration within 21 days and knew nothing of an “Statutory Declaration Out of Time” submittal or its applied process. 2). If I had been aware of a pending prosecution I would of attended to give my defence. Mr xxx Went down to the court with said letter and submitted it today. Now then, a few questions. Did i do the right thing ? How would you of done this and why? Does this stop the bailiff from executing a warrant of distress? Would i contact bailiff to let them know that a contest has been submitted? What if the whole thing gets refused? What next ? DVLA SAR to get as much as possible FOI requests to prove mail gets lost Would appreciate some guidence on this one folks. As always, thanks in advance.

Hi all I had an IUC back in March which I'm appealing the decision of. It's all very sketchy. I've no idea if they intend to take me to court or not. I have the bundle of papers sent through and the transcript does not match up with what was said on the day so I need to request a copy of the tape too. My advocate also agrees there are things in there I did not say and things in there that the FIS didn't say. It's full of lies to say the least. Anyway that aside...about a week after my IS was stopped someone from DWP phoned me to confirm my bank details to start paying me CONTS IB. I wasn't asked to fill in any forms or anything so didn't have to actually state my living arrangements, however, I've now to be reassessed for ESA and I don't know what to do. If I put down on the form that I'm single and have a lodger/flatmate they may think I'm lying again and open another case and obviously I can't put down that I'm in a relationship because that's not true so what's the best thing to do? My mum seems to so think that by not claiming at all is an admission of guilt but I don't agree....they scared and bullied me at my IUC and really I want nothing more to do with them. I'm looking into selling my house, moving into somewhere cheaper and living off the profits or attending college. I realise this isn't a long term solution but it might see me through until all this investigation is over. Course all that is going to take time too, my mum said she would help me out but I don't want to rely on her for too long. I get high rate DLA care so will have to cut out the extra things I bought for my disability. My mortgage is nearly paid off and is just over £100 a month so I might just be able to manage. Does anyone have any advice please? Thank You

Has anyone ever been successful? My ex husband has moved in with his girlfriend and her 4 kids which means my money has dropped by £17 per week. Its a big drop considering our children are aged 3 years and 2 years so I can only work part time at best because childcare costs are crippling even with extra funding my Health Visitor got for me. At the moment I'm back on full benefits as my little boy has been diagnosed with development delays and I couldn't juggle work and his various appointments The CSA said I could appeal the decision but few were successful and they warned me my money could drop even more as a result. Not sure what to do

Not for me. Advice on behalf of a relative. If you're appealing your ESA, are you still required to attend WFIs? Mum doesn't think the decision has been received yet. Well, she's not had a letter stating they've got it yet.

Hi,I failed my ATOS medical assessment with 0 points,and have sent in an appeal along with a sick note from my GP. My understanding is that they should pay me ESA at the Assessment Rate but when I asked them if this would be means tested they declined to answer,which seems odd. I've been on Incapacity Benefit for years,so I've paid enough NI contributions,and if I'd scored 15 points I'd have been paid Contribution Based ESA for 365 days. Does the Assessment Rate come in two types,or is it all means tested?

I received a PCN which I think is unfair, what are my chances of getting it cancelled. I did an informal challenge on the Sheffield city council web site as follow: "I play football every Saturday from 10am to 11:59am at Goodwin Sport Center where we book a pitch. This place is around the corner where I park (and where I got this PCN). I always arrive a few minutes before my game and pay my parking ticket, like today at 9:56am. After my game finishes it takes me around 2 minutes to arrive to where I park my car. I've done like this for some months and have never had a PCN. Today, around 10 minutes to 12 I got hit in the face with the ball, some blood came out of my nose and I got dizzy, so I had to rest some minutes and stop at the toilet. Because of this it took me a bit longer to get to my car. I arrived around 12:15, when I arrived I saw this PCN and plenty of empty parking spaces to use. I agree with the payment for parking and the restricted time of 2 hours, this is fair and allows other people to use the parking space. In the other side, I may be wrong but I think it is unfair to issue a PCN for some minutes delay when there are plenty of empty spaces. I'd appreciate if this can be reconsidered. Thanks." After that, I got a letter from the council saying the following: "Thank you for writing to us. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your correspondence. We have carefully considered your points but we have decided not to cancel your parking ticket. You were issued with a parking ticket because the time on your pay and display ticket had run out. Although you may have parked in a quiet street with plenty of spaces, you still have to park within the rules. Unfortunately, unexpected delays are not grounds for cancellation." In the pictures they took it can be clearly observed there are plenty of spaces. I think the point of charging and setting an maximum parking time is so other people can park there, can I get this cancelled using that as argument? I'd appreciate advice. Thanks for your time reading this!

I looking for a bit of advice. My husband has been unwell for the last 18 months and last year had spinal surgery to correct the problem. Since he had the surgery he has suffered blackouts. He went back to work in June but is still suffering. Work has paid for him to have a medical and while the report says he has problems, the company should try and make allowances while the cause is found out. The report also says his problems are covered by the Disability Act. What I'm wanting to know is can they sack him. He has a stage 3 meeting next week to discuss his level of absence and the letter does say that as part of company policy he could be dismissed. We are both worried as if he is dismissed we are not entitled to ESA contribution based and I earn just over the limit for income based. Any help would be appreciated. Joanne

Hi everyone I am carer for someone who suffers from uncontrolled grand mal epilepsy, osteo arthritis, COPD and asthma. He take a LOT of meds to try to control the epilepsy but the best it gets is between 6 and 8 seizures per week - can be more but never less than 6. His days are spent very drowsy through the meds, confused most of the time, memory is non existant. He is not safe to cook as he burns pans, he cant cut vegetables as he has cut himself through either confusion or having a seizure in the middle of trying to cook. He looses control of both his bowels and bladder when he has seizures, he has to sleep for 3 or 4 hours after each seizure. Just trying to give you a tiny bit of understanding what his life it like. On top of that, the osteo arthritis is bad enough that there are days he can't get out of his chair - I have to help him get to the toilet etc. He is in the transition between IB and ESA. I helped him fill in the long form they sent him and returned it. He was then asked to attend for a medical though ATOS deemed that he should have a home visit as he would have had to go down 24 stairs in the event of a fire which he could not do. He had the home visit by their doctor at end November. She was actually really nice and was sympathetic to his disabilities. She asked me a lot of the questions as she fully understood that just before, during and after a seizure he is in a state of total confusion, doesn't know where he is or even who I am. She said she was satisfied but that it was down to the decision maker to decide what happens next. He received the dreaded letter on 29th December but the letter is dated 17th December so that's 12 days gone of appeal to start with. The letter stated that he had been put into the work focussed group. neither of us could understand how this could be so he phoned ATOS. He spoke to a really helpful man who said that so many people are being put into the wrong group and that he should appeal. He said he would send the decision makers report so we could see how the decision was made and how to word the appeal. He in fact sent the report made by the doctor with her comments and ticks all through it. That turned up on Saturday 5th January so another load of days of appeal have gone. We both went to see his GP this morning who said that she supports his appeal and that he should have been put into the support group and not the work focussed group. She said that his disability will not get any better and that it is not feasable for ATOS to require him to attend work focussed interviews and even more so in that the time for the work focussed group is 365 days. Things are not going to be any better then, in fact they could well be worse through the stress of the work group. She is going to write a letter to this efffect in the hope it will help with his appeal. He also called ATOS and told them that they sent the doctors report but not the decision makers report which we need for appeal. He was told that would be with him by the end of the week (hopefully). I was looking at the doctors report and all the ticks throughout it. It is full of contradictions. The doctor ticked the box that states that a return to work in the long term is highly unlikely and wrote that he is drowsy all day because of meds and has 6-8 seizures per week. She wrote that in her opinion he cannot return to work even in the long term. She wrote on the first couple of pages things which we had both told her which is all correct - cannot cook unaided, cannot go to new or familiar places as he gets so confused he forgets where he is going etc and walks into traffic when he is close to having a seizure so has no awareness of hazzards. Problem is that as I looked through all the different question numbers (I think they are descriptors??) she has ticked something totally different e.g., it asks for a box to be ticked about problems going to unfamiliar places and familiar places but instead of ticking that he cannot do this unaided, she ticked that NONE OF THE ABOVE APPLIES. She also did this on several other of these questions. She has said one thing in her written part yet the opposite in the ticked boxes under the numbered points. Everything she was told tallies with what was written on the long form we had to fill in at the beginning which resulted in being asked to attend the medical! What on earth can be done about this? 1. How can we write an appeal that he has been put into the wrong group and should be in the support group and 2. How can we appeal against what has been done on the doctor's report? Apologies that this is long but trust me this is very condensed - just needed to let you see exactly what is going on. Thanks for any help and advice

My prior thread had failed to generate much help in my case, as I think I had tried to give avery full account of my situation (or my son's); that it was just terribly confusing for anybody to read. I am therefore; just requesting any advice /guidance in the process of appealing to the upper tribunal. A very brief account: (bullet points) *My son applied for DLA (claiming again); approx Nov 2011; *he was turned down flat by DM; so he requested tribunal appeal *Appeal bundle/paperwork; had been vast in volume (it had all his history/back to age 15?) *He opted for oral hearing with representative *appeal proceeded without him, he had not been notified *the tribunal then wrote to my son, setting aside decision and offering a new hearing? *again my son opted for oral hearing *the situation repeated itself and they went ahead with hearing; in his absence (day before notice date?) *he received decision of them awarding him LRC and no mobility *he requested statment of reasons - in order to appeal further (decision date 9/09/2012)My *he wrote requesting this and made numerous telephone calls - chasing it up *In November 2012 - he received statement of reasons (for original tribunal decision/set aside) *he telephoned and wrote again - requesting statement of reasons *Statement of Reasons received via post; dated the 18 December 2012 So it has taken over 3 mnonths just to get the statement of resons - in order to start the process of requesting leave to appeal. This whole situation seems to have been flawed with errors, can anybody give me some guidance in preparing letter to upper tribunal and who's attention I should mark it for. Unfortunately, my son's legal representative has withdrawn from the matter, owing to their demise (welfare advice charity); they had written to tribunal several months ago to advise of this; hoping hearing may have been sooner. This situation has also led to my son not having representation now, unless he appoints new representative and will have to start from the beginning. I thought if I could at least prepare and send letter, requesting leave to appeal - it would reduce the need for further horrendous delays being caused. Any help advice or guidance, would be greatly appreciated. Happy New Year to everyone!!!!!!!!!!! NADIA PHILLIPS

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.

Today, I paid for a 2 hour parking ticket for a Council Car Park. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and went and pushed the ticket into the plastic windscreen clip the wrong way around and left the car without noticing it. When I returned nearly 2 hours later to buy another ticket, my car had a PCN notice stuck to the windscreen which cited "parking in a car park without clearly displaying a valid ticket....." This had been issued about half way through my parking time. I went to the warden's office and he said it might be worth appealing as I clearly had a ticket. When I got home and re-read the PCN and thought.. ..Was the ticket valid? - YES. Was the ticket clearly on display? - YES (it was back to front, but it was clearly on display) Not sure what to do...pay the £25 or appeal?

Hi I was asked to produce my ticket whilst just standing and waiting in a tube station. I was a bit surprised as I've never been asked in this sort of scenario before. When I started looking through my bag I couldn't find my ticket. I later found it and appealed with a scan of the ticket. Here is my letter I sent to IRCAS. They have turned down the appeal. Can you offer any advice please. Hello I was waiting with my mother at Shepherds Bush while we were trying to decide whether we would both to go Westfield or she would go alone and I would join her later. We were standing for a few minutes discussing when a member of staff came up to me and asked if I had a ticket. I said I did and started going through my bag to get my ticket. I looked through my bag for a few minutes and then my coat and explained that it was in there somewhere but I was having trouble finding it in amongst all the things that were in my bag. The member of staff did not even give me a few minutes to look through properly but started writing a penalty fare notice. I knew I had it in there unless it had fallen out and so went back to see if I could find it. I later found it at the bottom of my bag as I had not put it back into my usual ticket wallet. By that point, I was in Westfield shopping centre and when I went back, I could not see the member of staff to get the penalty fare notice cancelled. I am therefore appealing my fine and can provide, if required, a scan of my ticket.

Hi I've been unemployed since February and am on JSA. i applied for help with my mortgage and a consolidated loan on the house. After months of going backwards and forwards, I finally have the decision that they will help with my mortgage but not the loan. I have been paying minimum amounts on the loan each month, but now they're getting grumpy as I owe over 1k. I had hoped that the DWP would be willing to help me out on both counts. However they've said that they won't pay towards this as it's debt consolidation and not considered essential under their rules. I can't afford to pay the loan company, so want to/need to urgently appeal against their decision, I have the form, but I really don't know what to put in for my appeal? Can anyone give me any suggestions? I could end up losing my house over it all and it's really getting to me as I fought hard with my ex over keeping the house and now I could lose it. Please can someone give me some idea/help with what I can use to appeal? thanks Mary

Hello all I'm new here but I've been reading the forums via many Google search results since I received my ESA50 in the summer and now I've got the Decision Makers decision and I've been placed in WRAG when I thought I met descriptors to place me in support group. I'll try and keep this as clear and succinct as possible but I've typed it several times now and each one results in a novel so I think to get started I'd best keep to the basic facts. I've been on Incapacity benefit for over 10 years due to mental health problems, I had the ESA50 form which I completed and returned. I requested a home visit for the WCA medical and my Doctor sent in medical evidence along with a letter requesting the home visit. ATOS eventually informed me that the medical evidence from my Doctor was enough and a medical was no longer required. So this where I am today; I've been placed in WRAG, I requested my ATOS medical report and received a ESA85A form, I'm led to believe (via google) that you get this when a face to face medical hasn't been carried out. Is the ESA85 report different? My ESA85A form states: Advice I advise that the person meets the criteria for having limited capability for work. Prognosis: I advise that a return to work could be considered within 12 months. It then goes on to list all the descriptors, none of which apply to me according to ATOS. No mention of points, I thought there would be. Help needed, some questions I've just read about the ESA85S Personalised Summary Statement, would I be able to request that if I didn't attend a medical? Are there any other forms I can request to help with my appeal? I've read that Support Group isn't about scoring points but meeting one or more descriptors, is this true? Do ATOS give the DWP DM the medical evidence my GP submitted to them (ATOS)? Would it be wise to include it again with my appeal form along with a letter from my GP stating that the medical evidence expressively shows I qualify for certain SG criteria? In my appeal form is it okay to state your reason for appealing is that you feel you meet certain criteria for support group and set out your reasons? During the appeal will I have to send in sick/fit notes if I've already been placed in WRAG? Do I still have to attend the Work Focused Interviews? Thankfully my doctor has been really supportive which has been a great help and relief, just to feel someone is on your side when everyone else seems to be against you. If you have been thank you for reading and for any help you can provide, I'm sorry about the length of this post and for all the Q's. I've read so much info that my head is in a right mess, hence all the questions, I'm struggling to keep it all in. Thanks again Bill

Please help I currently have claims for race/disability/sex discrimination and unfair dismissal pending at the ET. Back in April I attended a CMD (i'm self representing) at which the judge deemed half of my issues out of time, she said after trying to persuade me to use these as background information but when I insisted that it was not out of time as it was a continuous Act of discrimination that I should sent to my employers a list of the issues I still wished to pursue and they in turn should request a PHR. She went on to give a time table for all the events that needed to happen and the date of the hearing in September. I forwarded to their solicitors the list of issues and subsequently they submitted to the ET a request for PHR to strike out my claim. Whilst waiting for the date of the PHR I forwarded the Schedule of loss, list of documents and then in June I hand delivered all the documents and awaited the trial bundle which never arrived. When I emailed them in August they said that they were waiting for the ET to give a date for the PHR. At the end of August a bundle arrived and almost half of the documents I sent to them were missing. I queried it and was told that as they had applied to have it struck out they would not include it. On 7th Sept I received the date of the PHR 13th Sept...Unfortunately for me I was at that point unable to mobilize and was depressed ( I suffer from chronic back pain, symphus pubis dysfunction, depression and meneires disease) I had just received a date from the hospital to have a facet joint injection, and bilateral root nerve block. I was a mess and I went to see my GP to request a letter. The first Dr I saw was a locum who said he could only renew my certificate, I went back and saw my own doctor who wrote me a letter requesting a postponement on my behalf. It was refused on the grounds that it was an old case and the full hearing was on the 20th of September. I was unable to attend and the PHR went ahead in my absence and the same judge who said I should use the issues as background information at the CMD again struck out the additional issues therefore completely weakening my case. I however successfully managed to get the full hearing postponed. I have only in the last few days felt better after two hospital visits and realize now that I have a matter of days to appeal against the Order, I have no idea what to include in my appeal..... Any pointers will help here as I am starting from next to nothing

A business has filed a Creditor's Bankruptcy Petition on failure to comply with Statutory Demand for a' liquidated sum payable immediately' and I am unsure what to do - I will provide some brief facts below and any help is greatly appreciated: I am Director of a Limited Company and in order to fulfil a contract which we took on, I had to open an account with some suppliers. The suppliers could not open an account with the company because of some small past problem that we had had, but agreed to open the account in my personal name (so as to get over the red tape, although both parties knew the account was for the business). Given huge losses that my company suffered on the job due to sabotage, I haven't been able to pay the suppliers for their equipment yet (the sum owed is just over £20k). I am, however, due for a tax rebate which would more than cover the amount, in the next couple of weeks (although the Inland Revenue cannot give an exact date) and also have a bond account with a bank which could also cover the amount owed (although this is not due to be paid back until next year). Around 4 months ago, the suppliers filed a statutory demand notice which I did not comply with or set aside, as I was working on getting the money from the inland revenue as soon as I could. They have now issued a Creditor's Bankruptcy Petition on failure to comply with Statutory Demand for a liquidated sum payable immediately and I am unsure what to do. Given that the account with the suppliers is in my personal name, a m I liable to lose my house (even though the account was always understood as being for business purposes)? Can they even try to make me bankrupt in this way? Is there any way that I can delay for just a few more weeks until the money from the IR comes in (I can show proof that this is on its way and would sign documents to say it will be transferred straight to the suppliers as soon as I receive it)? On what grounds can these petitions usually be appealed? The deadline for appealing the bankruptcy petition is in a couple of days and so I am really desperate to get some help. Many thanks

Sorry if this question has been asked a million and one times on this forum before. But i posted my gl24 form on Monday to appeal against the esa decision. I am still waiting to hear from the DWP. Im appealing because i thought the examanition if that's what i can call it was poorly conducted by ATOS and i thought what actually happened in the examanition what badly discredited. Im thinking of going to CAB or welfare for advice. Anyhow, my question to you all what is the process for appealing? Should i be active getting letters from Doctors asking for certain forms any tips you can offer? Im asking you guys i figure i wont get any better advice from anywere else Thank You

I don't know if this is even possible so perhaps you could advise please. My neighbour feels her banding is way too high. She's taken it to a tribunal who've told her it is fine as it is. She feels they've ignored her evidence and are wrong and wants to take it further. What can she do now please, if anything?

After getting my original eviction suspended in June I was given 6 wks to deal with HB, and of course they interview me 10 days before my next court date with no resolution, i had a solicitor with me,who felt it wasmore of a fishing exercise. Fast forward to 2nd August and the judge refused to suspend agin,so my eviction date is for tommorrow, we go to court agin today after filling in a N244 form and SHELTER are representing me, we felt we had good grounds and even better I got a job starting on Thursday which now gives me the ability to pay, unfortunately we didn't have the conformation letter, because it was sent late and i had to be in court at 9.30 so no post. The judge was basically uninterested and we were in there for about 5mins he wouldn't listen to my change in circumstances in fact didn't address me at all. Shelter then advised that I submit another N244 form stating the new change and the evidence which i duly took in,the judge said take it to the circuit appeal judge at another court, even though the eviction is due to take place at 10am tommorrow,so i'll be going to Chelmsford about an hour away at the silly o clock to see if i can get an appeal. Shelter said I need to fill in an N210 form, stating my reasons ,has anybody done this, I'm going to leave a note on the door just saying going to file an appeal do not enter as surely the bailiffs will not as they don't the outcome if I will even get the appeal which Shelter seem to think will be the case(they have now closed my case) though they did say they are unfamiliar with this process. Is it worth going and again has anybody done this...be will around most of the night inbetween bouts of packing, surely with now having a job that would helpmy case not hinder it.

Hi I'm new to this forum ,iv read lots of posts on here similar to mine and the advice and support on here is brilliant so i thought id post and hopefully some one can help me. My husband left me feb 2011 so i started claiming tax credits,based on i worked 19 hours a week and have 3 children. He moved into his parents and just paid board to his mum(cash) He continued to pay mortgage,insurance,sky and council tax here instead of maintenance. So i paid every thing else which comes with running a house 3 kids and a dog(poorly dog with heavy vets bills) I asked and asked him to change his address and the only things he changed were hmrc for his tax and his doctors,every thing else remained the same(foolishly i know) But our marriage had become a friendship so it was fairly amicable and i guess i just got fed up asking and i got on with running the house,working and dealing with the kids. Now i have had the dreaded letter naming my ex as living here and asking why i did not make a joint claim 2011-2012. I have spoken to the review lady and pleaded my case,gas and electric bills are in my name but they are key and card and so even though i buy these each month it is usually cash and so i can't prove i pay them,other bills such as tv license i can prove as that is direct debit.Basically because i would draw out a set amount each month and then pay every thing for the month with the money i can not prove i have paid these things.Im talking about gas,electric,petrol,food,bus fares, lunch monies,kids needs,maintenance of the house etc.... so even if i provide bank statements it would only show a set amount being drawn out each month and i guess in there eyes that money could be going any where even though it always paid bills, food etcshe wasn't having any of it and so said she was going to stop my money.She was saying i was financially dependant on my ex (which i disagree,if he had paid maintenance i would have paid the mortgage with it so does it matter who pays it?)Some how i managed to talk to her manager and basically his version of it was my ex was not seen to be financially linked to the alternate address i had given them for him. And as he only paid board with cash i see their point.This financial link rule is in the claiants manual which is only available to them and not us,this is what the manager told me....hardly seems fair! So i have to prove he hasn't been here even though financially to them i know what it looks like. My argument is they have to provide clear guidance in the forms and leaflets that they publish for us to read and follow,so why are they allowed to have this rule and lots of other rules they can see but we can not and so we have no idea if we are following them or not?As far as i was aware i was within the criteria for a single claim,if i had been made aware that having my ex still financial linked to the property would have such dramatic affects on my claim then i would have dealt with it accordingly and so now wouldn't be in the situation where I'm having to appeal and prove i have been single. My ex has given me his tax letters through out the year and half he has been at his mums address, i have a gp survey that was sent to him at his mums address and these are only the physical proof i have. My ex became very depressed and was under the doctor for this and I'm so desperate should i ask him to get a copy of any medical notes that may state about our split causing his depression? this is where i get really desperate....my ex had a vasectomy years ago, when we split i requested i be sterilised on the grounds i was now no longer with my husband and still did not want more children, i was sterilised may 2011 and I'm sure in my notes it should give my reasons for wanting the op so should i request a copy of my notes? will tax credits accept any of these? I totally get where tc are coming form and i actually think they have found a good way of sifting out the people that knowing make a fraudulent claim,what i disagree with is those like me that was totally un aware that having my ex linked or not linked to either address would cause me to be put in to such a gut wrenching position. A surprising silver lining to my dark cloud is my ex has told me he did not want to deal with the split and so buried his head and this is his reason for not changing his address, because of this ordeal he has been forced to deal with this mess and he has opened up to me and now after a year and a half he wants to see if we can salvage our marriage back.So as you can imagine i am all over the place right now. And i guess this would need to be in a different thread on a different forum. But what i need to ask is if i decide to try and work my marriage will us getting back together affect my appeal? I have a meeting with CAB and i am also in the process of getting my MP on board, because this is money i have been entitled to and the only reason i did not know my situation could be seen as wrong is because tax credits do no freely offer all of the rules, i have followed the rules and criteria i can see but if you can't see it in black and white and you have not been told that it is there then how are you expected to follow it? hope iv not confused any one reading this its quite hard getting all the facts in without writting an essay!

I have been lurking for a year while battling with a company and would like to thank everyone for your posts. I was able to gather together information I needed to successfully ward off a possession. Question Edited Out due to someone coming to my aid ... within two hours!! WONDERFUL SITE. Thank You, El-enn.

Ok I did a claim for DLA a month or so ago, had a home medical and that deemed I could walk 200metres and some other things I cant do. Now here is the confusion. Its mentioned alot on here DLA is all about needs, although the qualifying criteria clearly describes medical capabilities such as walking distance. I also still think judgement is also affected by if someone has already help eg. if the doctor came and seen me in a wheelchair, and an adapted living space I expect they would have taken a different view. I also have the problem that my doctor's surgery is staffed by locums and every time I go I am seeing a new doctor, they didnt even reply to a letter sent by the DLA people for the claim. So the basis of my claim is I have extra needs due to mobility as well as problems even leaving my flat caused by other health problems as well affecting my sight and awareness capabilities. The 200metres I am disputing and do have medical evidence which conflicts with the findings, the medical evidence was also shown to the visiting doctor. Not sure which I should push more either the medical side of things or my actual needs which are probably hard to push as I live on my own and have no current aids given to me by the NHS. Also I have an ongoing IB to ESA migration which is awaiting a medical and I am now worried they will make a decision on that without that medical based on this DLA medical. This is why medicals should be recorded as I explained a lot of things in the home visit which were clearly ignored.

Hi All I am here for some help on appealing on my partners behalf. On Monday we received a letter saying he had been giving 0 points following his medical assessment with Atos. In the letter several things we told the ATOS assessor were not included and some things he wasnt even asked had been but put down (it states he watches tv for hours at a time when he cant!). I rang up to say I was appealing and am in the process of writing a letter. The problem is we are still awaiting the full medical report so do I just pick through the letter they sent and identify where he meets the descriptors? Also his GP has written a letter but all it states is the medical operations he has undergone and now he is undergoing tests for carpel tunnel so is no help in matching up to the descriptors but should I still send it in and explain these are the reasons why he meets the descriptors? I am a bit confused as this is the first time I have ever done anything like this and as he cant read or write it is down to me to sort all these thing! Also the fact that he cant read or write is because he never learnt not through a health condition but does this still count as meeting part of the descriptors? Sorry for all the questions I just really need to sort this as we are a family of 3 and now have no income until I put this letter in and want to get it right!