Hello all Caggers. I have not posted on here for a while, but tend to look around from time to time. As most of you will already know there is currently a payout going on with the mess with switching claimants from incapacity benefit to ESA. We filled in the long winded form and sent it back to DWP in December. Around a week ago, we received the B16 form to fill in and send back. When did the DWP start counting their partners earnings and adding ESA to the combined income of the household? I seem to remember in the not to distant past, my partner who was on Invalidity Benefit which then changed to Incapacity Benefit and finally (at this present time) is Employment and Support Allowance, used to be classed as only them receiving the benefit, not taking into account any earnings that I earn. Does someone know what date this happened? I am curious to know, before I fill out the B16. Regards, Allets.

I opened a new claim for Jobseeker's Allowance last week and I do not have a claimant commitment yet, since they won't give me anything until next week. I was made to come in again this week and they have sent my details forward to a company, who will arrange an interview with me for a job. The job is of absolutely no benefit to me. I am already working part-time on a Saturday, which they know about. The job they have put me forward for is Saturday's only, clashes with my current part-time job, has more hours and pays less. It is also a job with no skill set required and no hopes of career progression. The part-time job I currently have is relevant to my degree and will lead to full time employment this summer. I didn't give them permission to pass my details on. Have they breached the Data Protection Act?

ive just had a discussion with someone who is also on the WP and he claims that it is possible that there could be hidden cameras and microphones in places like WP providers centres and jobcentres that not even the staff who work there know about. he said there could be someone sitting upstairs monitoring everyone and not even the staff here may know about it, the building where ingeus the provider we attend is located does have lots of empty floors :/ could this be happening or is this person just trying to spook people?

Hey guys First of all I think I should fill you in on the full story, I would like answers from people who know the answer, please no guess work as that might end up getting me nowhere. So recently my Jobcentre adviser changed due to my old adviser going off to manage a different age group, I went in there this morning (having applied for 23 jobs in the last fortnight) and she asked me how my job search was going, I said "yes not bad, I've applied for 23 jobs so hoping to get lucky on one of those" and she replied with "yes, because you will be due to go off to a work programme soon". Now, I do not receive Jobseekers allowance due to my partner working full time I am entitled to no benefits at all apart from my NI stamp for a pension which I will probably never see. So my question is, can I be forced to attend one of these "work programmes" if I am not claiming Jobseekers allowance? The reason I ask is that a few years ago I did have to attend one of these and let me tell you it gave me absolutely no help at all and I think I may be forced to sign off if this is the case. On another note, it would be helpful if someone could tell me if I am entitled to ask for a change of adviser? The reason being that I have been going there for 10 months now and have seen just about every adviser in the building, none of which have ever had a problem with my job search as I usually manage between 15 and 25 jobs every 2 weeks and they can see that I am genuinely trying to get myself back into work. My new adviser however is a completely different story and no matter what I do or how many jobs I apply for nothing seems good enough for her and she does not possess any ounce of a helpful attitude, rather just giving me a hard time when I'm doing exactly what I should be doing. Thanks Jay

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum and not very confidant. I have just received a letter from Jobcentreplus dated the 5th. September which arrived on the 21st. of September and on the same day a separate letter from ATOS with an ESA50 form enclosed. Has this happened to anyone on this forum? I also tried to ring the Jobcentreplus on Saturday but they were closed. I wondered too if it was normal for them to want to call you back as they've said they don't have my telephone number? but if I am phoning them what difference does it make. Thanks.

well yesterday i applied for a job and they called me on the same day to invite me to an interview, unfortunately i couldn't attend as i had something planned which i told them..they said they were only holding interviews today and was i sure i couldn't attend. then today when i went for my advisors appointment at one of ingeus sub providers and they asked me if i minded them sending my c/v off for the very same job, i replied by saying i had already applied and they said nothing more about it. is it possible the sub provider knew about the events of the previous day or it was just a coincidence that they said about the same vancacy? also is it possible they'll find out that i couldn't attend the interview and if they do will i get sanctioned? the employer said they will keep my details as they will be advertising further vacancies soon.

Hello fellow Cagers. In a bit of a muddle regarding the letter my OH received from Jobcentreplus. A quick rundown of what is going on. She went for an assessment in Sept 2011 and was successful with the outcome. Assessment again in 2012 but failed, not enough points. Even though she has deteriorated and become worse since 2011. I am sure that many of you have got the same result. We lodged an appeal against the decision straight away. Was told that the process could take up to 9 months. In the meantime, she received a letter from Jobcentreplus this week with the following information. YOUR CLAIM FOR EMPLOYMENT AND SUPPORT ALLOWANCE CHANGES IN SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS From 8 April 2013 the rates of Social Security Benefits will change. From 10 April 2013 your Employment and Support Allowance will be £71.70 a week. This is because of: a change in the rates of Social Security Benefits. We cannot pay you Employment and Support Allowance from 12 October 2013. This is because you will have reached the maximum of 365 days that you can get contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance. So what does this mean? I am not at all clear on the statement in red. Suppose the appeal process takes place after 12 October 2013, how are we supposed to live in the meantime? Would she be placed on some other interim benefit? I am puzzled as to what to do next. Could somebody advise please. Allets.

i've just signed in to my emails and discovered a company had invited me to attend interview last friday, it's not a vancancy i was matched to by my advisor but i did apply for it off the directgov website. will the jobcentre find out and if so will i get sanctioned? please help, advice needed

both letters are are dated 11-8-11. the income support letter says... "i'm writing to tell you that your recent change in circumstances does not effect the amount of incom support we pay you, however there may br future changes to your entitlement. this may be because of future changes you have told us about, the uprating of benefit or changes in deductions from your benefit." the mortgage interest payment letter says... "because there has been a change in your circumstances we have had to change the mone we take off your benefit to pay the interest on yor mortgage." thier payments have gone down by 74p per week from the 25th of August. my circumstances haven't changed and i haven't told them they've changed, so what's this about? has anyone else got letters like this?