Hi guys I found out by accident that I'm being investigated by dwp fraud dept . I went to the post office last month and no money paid in so as you do I rang them and was given a number to ring , the lady on the phone asked questions such as when do I get paid etc. , I though security checking no problem . then the bomb shell , she said I was being investigated for fraud apparently I was working (news to me ) ,I had been going to see my family who run a company and sitting chatting in the office. 3-4 days a week as my wife's father was seriously ill and I needed a break from it all . I didn't even answer a phone just chatted , so now my money stopped from April ,I get no money in at all and we have to live off my wife's wages . any way I asked how long the checks would take and how soon my money would restart and was told literally" how long is a piece of string "and the lady refused to give any details, I don't know where I stand or how we are going to pay our bills until its sorted I was told also if they find any thing I would be spoken to under caution (I think) so I asked if I needed a solicitor and was told why are you guilty . I said No but I would need to know what my next step is . when she hung up . so now we owe 4 weeks rent £95 week and 2 months council tax (I have spoken to the rent office and now receive £8 discount) but with my health not good and my wife's I need to find answers and where I can get legal aid for this as we have no money oh sorry about the ramble , please any advice that can help would be appreciated . oh spoke to cab and was told don't sign jobseekers as that's admitting your fit for work

Hey all, new here so apologies if this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it if required. Basically I was claiming ESA up to the end of may 2013 (my GP was providing monthly sick notes for me). After failing the ATOS medical my ESA was stopped. So I decided to claim JSA (jobseekers allowance) from June 2013 and am currently signing on fortnightly/weekly - as/when they call me in which is always on random days/times. My question is am i able to come off JSA and go back onto ESA for the same condition ? Or would it have to be a new condition? Is there any period of time I must wait after cancelling my JSA before applying for ESA or can i do so straight away ? Any advice/help gratefully appreciated, Thank you in advance

Hi, wonder if anyone can help, I have been onto the phone this morning to ask why my ~ESA has not been paid into my account. they said that on Friday the 15th of November it was decided that my reasons for failing to attend my medical were not good enough. This afternoon the post brought me a letter saying that we have looked at our decision again and upheld the desission. Now I have had nothing at all from the DWP stating that my ESA would stop I have had no decision from them I have contacted them to make sure that they received my reasons. My reasons quite simple was, that on the 23rd of September my house was repossessed by my mortgage company. i was at court and trying to sort out staying there when the baliffs actually changed the locks and I had the clothes i was standing up in. The mortgage company would not let me back into the house until the 2nd of October to collect my possessions. I thought that the medical that was arranged by atos at atos on my preivous appointment was on the 3rd of October. all of my appointments were stored on my computer and as this one was not arranged via letter then it was on my callendar but I did not have access to it. plus I was more concerned getting my belongings out of the house to open up and look at my computer, plus it would have been difficult since the electricity was turned off. ~Anyway, I did not ask them on the 15th to look at the decision again, I had no idea that they had made a decision can anyone give me some advice how to deal with this one again. i would have thought my reason was good enough... yes I forgot but I really was on a tight timetable and the stress was unbelievable at the time.. I couldnt remember my name never mind anything else

I recently received a overpayment notice of Working Tax Credits which were stopped some time back with the only explanation of "change of circumstances". This is the first time I'd actually been receiving Working Tax Credits. I thought that I'd "used up all my credit" and that the payments has stopped as they had "ran out". I called HMRC to query this and all they could say it that they were informed I was no longer working for the same employer. Only since, I've been able to work out that the payments stopped around the time when the school I work at converted into an academy. We were told nothing would change jobwise, financially etc etc and nothing did as far as I was aware. So now it looks like I've missed out on quite a few months of Working Tax Credits and have been hit with a bill where they paid it before the county council appears to have told them I no longer work for them. What really gets me is that it's the same county council who is handling all the pay & wages still! I've asked the HMRC to send me an appeal form as, as far I was aware, nothing had changed for me: I was still doing the same job at the same place for the same salary (being processed by the same department) and informed nothing else would be affected. Is there anything else that I can do to support my case? The way I see it is that I was not informed the specific reason why it was stopped and it was something "out of my hands". There was no indication that I would have to re-apply due to the school changing over. Any help would be gratefully received as it's the first time I've claimed Working Tax Credits. Thank you.

I am a courier on my own and I'm writing because my situation with the fines are clearly damaging my work. The last fine that was received in the category Parking Ticket issued by Civil Enforcement Officer AND SENT BY POST . In Camden Town Council I was sitting inside my van stopped in a bay of "Resident Permit Parking Only" waiting for a customer to deliver some beds when in a while a traffic warden approached and started to pass me a ticket. I wasn't doing anything (loading/unloading) at the moment I thought the officer would never pass me a ticket in this circumstances as I was inside the van and I could move it straight in any moment. Well I thought wrong because after a few minutes she had the ticket in hand ready to give me but when she confronted me with this situation I moved my van out of the place not even giving her chance to take the evidence pictures or giving me in hand the sheet. After one month of this event happened I get the PCN to pay 130 pounds and 4 evidences photos which is not clear that my van appears. Contravention description - Parked in a residents` or shared use parking place or zone without either clearly displaying a valid permit or voucher or pay and display ticket issued for that place, or without payment of the parking charge - shared use bay What can I do in this situation ? Thanks in advance

Can anybody help please! Last year I went to stay with ,y mom for a few months whilst my house was being renovated. I informed hmrc of the change of address. When I did my renewal this year for tax credits, they had my original address on file still, but my correspondence went to my moms address. My mom returned the post to sender without my knowledge, otherwise I wouldve known that there was a mistake. Anyway last week I noticed my child benefit hadnt gone into my bank (i have it paid weekly) So I called them and was told that another dept had informed them that they had returned post, I presumed that mustve been tax credits, and my payments had been suspended, I explained the situation. Anyway I called Tax credits straight away and they said yes those payments had too been suspended, but as I had called and given my original addres those paayment would be reinsated. True to their word my Tax credits went in my vbank on the due day. But still no child benefit has been paid in. Does anybody know how long that takes to be reinstated and why one dept can get it reinstated straight away, but he other cant? I called today and the woman at the child benefit office was very abrupt and said there is no time scale and it had been sent to head office. My daughter is 12 years old so its not like shes nearly 16 or anything!!

Firstly, this post is NOT intended to condone shoplifting. It's to protect people from somewhat rogue security officers/retail profit protection colleagues from abusing their positions. Theft is theft and if you comply peacefully, you'll most than likely end up in a better position than running. People steal for all sorts of reasons, sometimes it's an accident (You forget you have an item in your hand), compulsion, to make ends meet etc. The fact is, if you remove an item with the intention of permanantly depriving the rightful owner of it - It's theft. If you forget to pay, use self scan and make an effort to scan it but it doesn't register or a cashier doesn't scan an item, it is not theft. If you find yourself stopped for shop lifting, there are various rules that the civilian making the stop has to follow. This does not count if you've been stopped by police. Remember, a Profit Protection Colleague, Security Officer or any body else other than the police have only the same rights as you or me. They have to see a certain set of instances known as "SCONE". S - Selection of the item. (i.e, approaching a shelf empty handed, picking the item up). C - Concealment (Putting the item in a bag, coat, whatever) O - Observation (They have to watch you consistantly. If their vision is broken at any time, they shouldn't make a stop) N - Non payment (Going beyond the last point of payment in store - This is your last chance to make your name clean by paying or making an excuse at the checkout) E - Exit (Leaving the store completely past all points of payment with no intention of returning immediately) If YOU believe that any of the above have not been followed, seen and recorded mentally by the officer who is observing you, YOU have every right to put the item down and leave the store. If the company in question offers you a banning notice, you can do as you please with your excuse. More than likely, if you've made it to the last point and bailed, it's more than likely that you were going to remove the item from them. If you've left the store without the item and the security officer stops you, politely tell the officer that you simply did not want the item and have put it down. You do not wish to discuss it further. At this point, you are free to go, whatever he says as without SCONE, the officer hasn't seen an indictable offence take place. If you've left the store without paying for an item, security/colleagues should be polite and courteous. In the case of contract officers, this is worth their license to them. Once they've politely reqeusted you return to the store, they SHOULD inform you; "I am employed by XXX to protect profits. I have seen you remove an item from this premises without permission and therefore I am detaining you under Section One of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE). You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be noted and used in evidence. Do you understand?" The Security Officer will have to explain it if you do not understand. If you inform him you don't understand what he's just said, he should give it to you straight. If he says "Tough, you're coming with me" or similar, you've got a point of complaint. If he does not read you a caution, it doesn't mean that the citizens arrest is null, it means that you can say to him what you please and it will be less credible. Bear in mind, a lack of a caution can work two ways. Security Officers generally have the final say in what course of action to take; If that means you can negotiate with the officer and store representitive, all the better. There's no harm, just as if your kid breaks a neighbours window with a football; Theres not often reason for police involvement. It's a civil matter until the police arrive. If the word shoplifter/thief etc is used, remind them that YOU are innocent until proven guilty, just as YOU are entitled to leave at any time. Remember, civil matter. If they withold the right to use the toilet, drink water or be comfortably warm/dry/cool etc, they have removed your liberty as a citizen. Now, the police can be called or negotiations can be made. If you're pleasant, inform them of ANY genuine reasons that you've stolen/removed items without payment and comply with their request to come quietly to the office, you'll get off on the right foot. Negotiations can be made. Hell, if you're in hardship with three kids and abusive husband (for example), I've offered bags to take the goods away (minus the £35.00 turkey the woman had hidden in her babies "Cosy toes" foot warmer - I'm not THAT nice!!). If the police are called, remember, you've got the right to plead your case. There is discretion in it all. You can be remorseful and pleasant, or you can kick off. If you kick off and smack the person stopping you, you'll get CHARGED for two offences - For definate. There'll be no negotiations and you may be made more uncomfortable than somebody who is compliant. The rest is elimentery. Your rights; There's the right to pursue a false arrest claim if the person making the stop detains you and wont release you even though you've no goods on board or SCONE has not been followed. Remember however, the police CAN stop you and search you AND most towns have CCTV and WILL track you. Remember, if you've not got the goods on board at point of exit, you are NOT committing an offence. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to make notes of what is happening and you have the right to leave - They can NOT lock you in a room or physically restrain you unless you are violent. You have the right to water, toilet facilities and fresh air if available. Nobody can remove your liberty and not allow you the right to water and certain drinks if you suffer from diabetes etc - As long as you're paying, of course! You have the right to ask questions. However, these should be limited and always as "Alleged". You have the right to give the goods back in a saleable condition and negotiate. You have the right to dump goods at the last point of exit if a security officer/store detective is watching you. NOBODY (aside from the law) has the right to search you, remove items from you or look in bags/coats/buggy's etc Remember, unless the goods leave the doors, you are NOT a thief. If you're stopped without having goods on board, the best thing you can do is comply. It's embarassing for the shop, it will ensure an investigation by the SIA (If relevant) and will enable you to complain and potentially reap the rewards for 10 minutes of your time. I've known people get £205 worth of shopping refunded AND £50 gift voucher because an officer stopped them without seeing SCONE. By complaining, you are ensuring that other people will not have to endure the same treatment. The store will complain to the relevant people, the officer will be disgraced and retrained as required. But please, if you're really desperate, take a crisis loan from the job centre and pay for the goods rightfully. Borrow from friends and family or go without. There is nothing worse for us than catching somebody who clearly doesn't want to steal. We're there to stop the big gangs (Booze thiefs, Chewing Gum thiefs, Refund [problem]mers etc). We DO NOT want to be dealing with somebody who is trying to make ends meet. We're not all bad people and as referred to above, are known to turn a blind eye in certain cases; It doesn't happen always and we can't all be the same. End of the day, don't steal. It can end up wrecking your life. This isn't a guide to tell you how to do it, but to avoid becoming a criminal. Yukiko.

Hi advice really appreciated ? I have just returned to work 16 hours a week but have now realised as im no longer recieving Job seekers allowance that my mortgage interest payments have stopped . If i were in rented accommodation i would get help but im not . Obviously as a single mother with two kids , keeping a roof over their head is my main concern. So stressed its a nightmare !! do i go back and say im not able to take the job , although i started last week , do i get the sack which then goes against the grain as i want to work ? anyone else been in this situation ? Tracy

hi everyone, I will try to explain my situation as simple as I can, apologise if the story is too long... first, a year and a half ago I moved home and forgot to tell hmrc straight away, I was remindeed by the tx credits renewal packs that were sent out to my friends and gave them a call straight away and explained the situation. At the time the advisor was very understanding and we did the changes over the phone. I asked her if I needed to call child benefit as well and she told me NO, records would be updated for both offices. Since then I have been getting letters from hmrc normally, child tax credits and child trust fund as well. I never thought to doubt for a moment that all was all right. However, last month I accidntally noticed my child benefit payments had stopped. I rarely go out looking for the payments unless there is a problem, have all my bills on direct debit etc, so pay little attention to my bank statement. turns out the last payment was on the 29th of may 2012. I first contacted the office online as getting through the phone was taking ages. Few days later I got an email from them telling me my payments had been stopped due to a letter that I did not respond to and Id have to start a new claim. not happy with that short response I emailed back but never got any more contact. so yesterday I called the office. the advisor asked for my details to confirm my identity, there and then he assured me he had my correct address in hands, the present one. So I briefly told him my story, he kept in silence as I talked and when I finished only told me "well there is nothing else you can do apart from starting a new claim". I asked to be informed of when they sent me any correspondence as for what i can see they have my correct adress so it all sounds like a mistake to me. he said he cant tell me when because the letter could have been sent from any hmrc office, to wich i replied thats impossible, I had ust gotten ff thephone with tax credits office to make sure all was right there. he told me many things could have happened including a mistake from the post man. I said "what????" he said, yes, you never know the postman could have dropped your letters in another house, I said then how does that make the whole thing my fault? and how many letter were sent out until ending on my benefit being stopped that the postman delivered wrong? The advisor kept telling me in a ery rude mannner that hes wasnt saying it was no one fault but that there was nothing else he could do, trying to get me off the phone. I insisted for an explanation though. I asked him for a bit of understanding from his side to my question... how is it if they have my present adress my benefit could have been stopped over lack of response from my part???? if I never got any letters from them? he advisors, shckingly, asked me how did I know I did not ge any letters? I said to him he must have been joking there, because, obviously, I live in this house and get all the letter, and there wasnt one from child benefits. He went on to say about postman mistake and taht perhaps the offices were late on communicating the address change between them but there was no way we could know what happened. i asked further questions, like, if the office does not keep records of all mail sent out or when the address change in his system took place, that sure would have been recorded, to all he replied he did not know the information and few times told me "i dont understand what you want from me". Leaving aside the poor tratment I got over the phone yesterday, I also did not get an answer to my problem. I told him I believe my payments shoud be backdated to when they stopped because this was clearly a "postman mistake" or miscommunication within the department, wich is a bit strange since at the end of the day, they were communicated of my new address and got all my information correctly. Overall, I told him, there is no explanation or reason of why my payments woud have been stopped, and he could not tell me more than I did not reply to mail sent out to me. wich I believe is no good enough excuse, since they have my present address and sure would have taken more than one lettter missed for the to stop it all together, so its also hard to believe the "postman mistake" theory. after about half an hour on the phone with the man, I told him I would not get off the phone until he would give me more than "nothing else I can do", because I cant accept this type of treatment and unfair decision, he told me in a very spiteful manner he had already told me wha to do minutes ago, wich he had not, and he would pass my complaint to head office. I was shocked, never before I had seen such rudeness and lack of empathy from a HMRC advisor on the phone, any other call I had made before was spotlessly dealt with and politeness and professionalism always there, not to fault!!! I do not know what to do next and how to act. Another hour call like that and another advisor playing like that to me on the phone, its very frustrating any help will be very much appreciated!!

Hello everyone Thank you in advance for any information you can possibly provide uswith in our time of terrible stress and worry. The 'scenario' and subsequent journey of events and processes we have takensince. On 5th of September 2013 my wife was driving our family car with our 2children out of town in the early evening and was stopped by a marked policecar (I believe a traffic car). The officer informed my wife that they hadstopped her due to their computer registering the car as uninsured, this wasobviously at the time a complete shock, and of great concern and worry shewas apparently uninsured. She explained that we had 'taken out insurance' on the 9th of May2013 with esure (via the internet search engine Moneysupermarket). Theofficer immediately asked my wife how she/we had paid for the insurance(obviously thinking we had paid one installment then cancelled the policy andcontinued to drive, guilty until proven guilty!!!) my wife informed him we hadpaid for the insurance in one single upfront payment, and asked himto please check again. He did return to his car begrudgingly andfor a good 10 minutes we can only assume spoke to the insurance company. He finally came back and said the insurance policy had been cancelled andtherefore the car and thus my wife driving were no longer insured and so thecar would, (and was) immediately seized leaving my wife and 2 childrenaged 7 and 4 by the side of the road (to add to the situation it was my son’sbirthday and they were coming back from a cinema treat, both were in floods oftears and very traumatized by the whole incident) They would not take my wifeand children home but did stay with them until a neighbor could collect them. Due to the lateness everyone finally returned home we couldn't do anythingthat evening regarding contacting insurance companies etc, so the following hashappened from the 6th September. Due to the way esure work everything seems to be done via the internet/emailso the very first thing we have done is check all correspondence we have hadfrom them in this way. We have received ONE and only one email Dated The first two paragraphs read Thank you for choosing esure brokerfor your car insurance policy. Your cover will start from: 00:00 on 09/05/2013and your reference number is 6847 - ******-**** How much is my premium? £***.** has been taken from your creditcard ending ***** Thank you It then continues You just need to wait half an hour sowe can create your documents, including your Certificate of motor insurance,policy schedule, policy wording and key facts. Reassuring we had hoped? We have used their ‘online account viewer’ to see what documents we couldprint/download in our defense, and very worryingly they have denied access andremoved the certificate of motor insurance? We then contacted them by phone and had the following (condensed for yourreading) phone conversation Has our car insurance been cancelled? Yes Could you tell us why? No Why not? I’m not obliged to tell you Why did we not get any warning this was going to happen? We did warn you via your postaladdress We didn’t receive anything in the post where did you send it? Answer the wrong address, they hadsomehow (and they say through moneysupermarkets information) sent it to our oldaddress which we have not lived at for over 2 years!!. Why did you not contact us through any other means ie email? or phone? Nothing, they then very oddly unpromptedoffered a full refund and basically didn’t want anything else to do with us andwere very very rude and aggressive towards us. Theystill have our full initial one off payment, I don’t want it but I do want to stillbe insured!! Everythingto do with the car I.e. V5 registration, tax and my wife’s driving license, allstate our new address. The car has been insured at our new address previously.What is very strange is the police officer told my wife she does have a golf insured, my wifecorrected him and said we did butthat was over 3 years ago?? We arenow without a car, my wife especially is facing a very worrying and verystressful time with police and court processes to deal with, we have aninsurance company that don’t want to talk to us and the prospect of points onher license and financial penalties now and when we try to reinsure a new car. Aboveall this it has really affected our 2 children as they witnessed were involvedin the whole procedure What dowe do now? A step by step process and any information would obviously be sowelcomed we both cannot thank you in advance for your help and support Cambridgeblue- Family

My son missed an appointment which fell in between his signing on date and because the next appointment was excused because of the bank holiday he went to sign on today only to be told his benefit has been stopped. The reason he missed the appointment was because the appointment card or slip of paper was stapled at the back of his original appointment slip so he did not notice the appointment, plus the fact he is on diazipan and morphine medication which causes all sorts of problems. \they told him to do a rapid reclaim which he has done,but can he appeal against this decision. Please can someone advise. Many thanks Mashmallow

Dear Techies, I am having this problem as stated above. I have a Pavilion dv7 Envy Series Laptop that came with Windows 7 Home Edition. I have since upgraded it to Ultimate Edition and downloaded any Microsoft update required. Trouble now is, I get these two errors above and this then more or less freezes the PC and the display all goes funny. I simply do not have any choice but to hard reboot the PC and after about 10 - 30 minutes both erros come up again Displayed on the screen. Then I am unable do nothting with the Laptop but to reboot the laptop even a shutdown simply fails except a hard reboot. When I load a backed up image of the new windows 7 ultimate editon which is a copy a made earlier and do not install any msupdates the erros does not come up but then the display is not right untill I install updates but then this error re-occures. I have looked on the web and sites but not getting much happiness with this. I also have an old image of the windows 7 Home Edition but do not want to use or load that immage. There has to be some display configuration I can set or remove some drivers or tweaking to resolve this issue. I am not so new to computers but this is testing me to the limit. Any ideas please what to do next. See below for the error I get. Two different errors. 1st error HP Message Service has Stopped working. Problem signature: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: HPMSGSVC.exe Application Version: 2.3.6.0 Application Timestamp: 4cd8eee7 Fault Module Name: HPMSGSVC.exe Fault Module Version: 2.3.6.0 Fault Module Timestamp: 4cd8eee7 Exception Code: c0000005 Exception Offset: 00003b5f OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1 Locale ID: 2057 Additional Information 1: 0a9e Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789 Additional Information 3: 0a9e Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789 Read our privacy statement online: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104288&clcid=0x0409 If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline: C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt ========================================================= 2nd Error HP on Screen Display has stopped working Problem signature: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: HPOSD.exe Application Version: 1.3.5.0 Application Timestamp: 4e4e0737 Fault Module Name: HPOSD.exe Fault Module Version: 1.3.5.0 Fault Module Timestamp: 4e4e0737 Exception Code: c0000005 Exception Offset: 00005ad0 OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1 Locale ID: 2057 Additional Information 1: 0a9e Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789 Additional Information 3: 0a9e Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789 Read our privacy statement online: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104288&clcid=0x0409 If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline: C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

Please could someone advise me I have just received a phone call to say my ATOS assessment has reulted in a nil assessment. My benefit ESA has been stopped as of yesterday. What do I need to do Help please so stressed

Apologies if this is in the wrong place or is a bit rambly in desperate need of some advice. I've been claiming JSA for around 2 years and I have always done what I was asked to do. I applied for a job with a company and was invited for an interview got asked a few questions and given work to start there and then. I was never offered the job and just took it for granted I had got it, 2 days in however I was asked not to return. I was told I would be paid for the time I spent there so I told the JCP about this because I didn't want it to come back and bite me in the behind, I filled the forms in that I was given and sent them back. Last week one of them came back saying I had told them I had a part time job, I was told to put it in writing about what happened and send evidence to show how much I had been paid, at the time I didn't have any but got my bank statement too and it turns out they didn't pay me. Yesterday I had a letter saying that my JSA cannot be paid from 3 July 2013 because of a recent change. Does this mean I've been sanctioned? And how long will it be for? I have tried to ring them but I get a panic attack every time and end up putting the phone down. I'm such a worrier, I've been up all night in a bit of a state. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Everyone I would like some advice regarding Unum who my employer has PHI through. I have been on long term sickness from April 2012 with me/cfs. I am signed off by my doctor. Today I received a letter from my employer stating Unum have decided to stop my payments. I am unable to contact Unum directly so emailed my employer who stated 'Unum can stop payments at any time'? I advised I think this is discrimination and asked for the reports as to why. How can they just stop my money with no explanation not sure where to go as my employer is also looking to get rid of me so waiting for a date for 'formal long term sickness meeting'.

Hi again I have today got myself in such a state, i am going round and round in circles Check bank this morning to find no industrial injuries benefit had been paid in, i rang them only to be told that it had run out on the 10th july and they had sent a file to atos for my reassessment medical on 16th may and the appointment is for 8th August. I asked why i hadnt been informed it was running out and they said they had informed watford of the delays in medicals and that my JSA would be amended to stop iidb deduction. IIDB say they cant reinstate until after the medical. I received my normal jSA yesterday of 43.30 so i went to JCP who gave me a form A10 statement to fill out and they would send on to watford. I spoke to watford who new nothing of the delays and said they will look at the form when it arrives, i asked how long it will take, they said it should be worked out after my next sign on date which is the 27th july. I am so upset and confused where its gone wrong, i just cannot cope on 21.70 a week for the next month. Has anyone any advice please. I was left partially sighted following an accident at work last year hence the IIDB, and this amount is deducted from my JSA.

Hi guys, I wonder if anyone here is able to offer me any help or advice with regards to ESA and what my options are. First some background information, I've been signed off with serious depression and anxiety by my doctor for around the last three years. My anxiety is so bad that it often stops me from leaving the house. I missed my first two ATOS appointments because the thought of going gave me panic attacks and I didn't get to sleep the night before. The third failure to attend happened because the appointment letter was sent to an old address, even though I had let them know about the change. They accepted this as their fault and rescheduled. On the day off my ATOS medical examination, the dwp didn't pay me my usual ESA payment due to a gap in the medical certificates I had supplied. This was an admin mistake as my usual GP was on holiday and I saw someone else who got it wrong by a day. Of course I wasn't informed of this by the DWP and the first I knew of it was that morning and I spent the majority of the day on the telephone to the DWP and the GP trying to get it all sorted out. I informed the first person I spoke to when I made the call that without the payment I would not be able to attend my medical because I had intended on getting a cab there. I have no transport myself and no family in the area. I also made them aware that the whole situation made my condition significantly worse. I eventually got my payment and returned the form with regards to the missed appointment in letting them know why I hadn't attended. I now haven't received a payment from ESA for over a month. They stopped my payments and closed my claim. When I contacted them about it (again no letter from them) they told me I need to start a new claim before anything would be done, and that I had to do this by post as their system wouldn't allow this. I made a point of questioning this at the time, but was told it was all I could do. This form was sent to them as soon as I was able to fill it in. I also have a severe atheritits in my right hand which makes writing anything extremely difficult and painful for me. They now have everything they need from me, but are refusing to make any sort of payment from me until it's gone through their process which I was told could take another 2 weeks. There's no help available for me since they stopped crisis loans, i have no family to ask for help, my local council won't help me because i'm not receiving benefit and I'm now at a complete loss. I have received my mobile bill too which is £50 more expensive now due to the expensive calls to the dwp. I have no way of paying it without any money, have no food and as a result have lost around 3 stone. The dwp don't see this as an urgent case and anytime i quote anything from the decision makers guide, which i have accessed online they clam up and end the call. I'm not getting anywhere and don't know what to do.

Hi Guys, Looking for a bit of advice. I was sacked from my job, of 11 years since I left school, in March of this year. As soon as I lost my job I applied for Jobseekers Allowance, Council Tax Benefit and also Housing Benefit. I was awarded all three and have been claiming since. I have been looking for job but its proving difficult with losing my previous job for misconduct, anyway that is another issue. I received a letter saying there was a doubt over my right to claim jobseekers allowance due to the circumstances of which my previous job ended. I was told there would be an investigation which would include contacting my previous employer. While this was going I had to continue signing on as normal and my jobseekers would not be effected. I signed on Friday as normal and expected to receive a payment today, My advisor at the job centre did not hint that there might be a problem. When I logged on to my online banking today no payment had been received. I was just about to contact the benefits centre when a letter popped through my door dated 27th June saying I cannot be paid jobseekers allowance from 15th June 2013 until 27th August 2013. This decision was based on how my previous job ended and because it was my own fault. It says that my jobseekers allowance will continue at £71.70 from 28th August. I am very worried. Firstly I have no idea how I am going to survive with no money until the 27th of August. I have no money just now and was expecting a payment today. Because of not getting this payment today my direct debits for both my mobile phone and my TV Licence will reject. Surely my advisor at the Job Centre on Friday should have told me there was an issue with this payment? I phoned the job centre today and was told I would have to apply for hardship payments until the 28th of August and that I would have to go into the job centre tomorrow morning to complete a JSA10 form. I was also told the hardship payment, if awarded, would not be as much as my jobseekers allowance. I am struggling to survive as it is on jobseekers allowance and with even less I do not know what i'll do. I am diabetic and must eat to a balanced diet or this causes problems with my blood sugar levels. I have very little food in the fridge. I have no family I can turn to for support, the reasons my job ended has driven a bit of a wedge between us and I already owe the majority of my close friends money who have helped me. I should point out I have a severe debt problem so cannot turn to the banks for help. I have several questions hopefully some on here might be able to help 1, How much am I likely to receive in hardship payments until my jobseekers is re-instated 2, How likely am I to be awarded a hardship payment 3, How regularly are these payments made and how do I go about getting them 4, Do I still sign on as a jobseeker 5, I have the right to appeal the decision. Is it worth appealing as from my reading it seems unlikely the decision will be reversed 6, Is there any other support I may be able to claim as I have no money whatsoever at the present time and I would imagine there will be a bit of time between completing this JSA10 form and actually receiving a payment(should I be awarded one) I spoke with citizens advice on the phone and they suggested contacting my local council about a local welfare provision 7, Will the decision regarding jobseekers effect my council tax and my rent I am in Scotland. I am not sure if different things apply to England and Wales but thought Id mention it just in case I am thinking of going to Citizens advice for a bit of guidance after ive been to the job centre tomorrow. I am panicking and really worried about this decision so any advice whatsoever would be most appreciated

Hi All I was stopped at a routine checkpoint about 2 months ago with the work van which had failed its psv 2 days previous and was awaiting retest. The police man at the time said it was just a £60. fine and that would be the end of it, he gave me no fix penalty at the road side but he removed my psv disc and said I would receive the fine in the post . I couldn't believe my eyes today when the post man brought a court summons for the offence. Is there anything I can do? Thanks

Hi guys i just recently started my job as a residential installation tech for virgin media and i am on quiet decent pay 15,816 per annum starting. My partner works as a veterinary nurse on £1100 a month after tax so roughly we both come out with £2200 a month after tax between us. Today my partner phoned them to ask them about the situation with Nursery fee's what help would we get now we both work. They told us that our WTC will be stopped completly and CTC has gone down to £56 a week When we asked about nursery fees we was told we are not entitled to it when my partner asked about why no WTC and CTC has dropped drastically they claimed its now because i work. I always thought they was a year behind when my partner asked this as i was on JSA for a full year and she was on maternity leave at the start of the new 2012 tax year they said oh we have taken your predicted earnings this year into account therefore you are not entitled to WTC and £56 a week on CTC i think this is ridiculous and i should be able to appeal against this End of the day i know 2200 a month is alot of money between us but it doesnt go far when you have to fork out nearly £600 a month on nursery fees and you have all your other bills aswell as your rent on top. fuming at HMRC

Hi-I hope I've found the right forum for my question which is onbehalf of my daughter.I am trying to help her in this matter but it is an area that I know nothing about. My daughter is in receipt of benefits and is a mother of 2 young children.She has recently been a victim of domestic violence & her partener/ex partener is now in custody. During the height of the violence,my daughter was moved into temporary acomodation (a B&B) for 10 days.This has completely messed her housing benefit up and the housing association are now demanding £300 in rent arrears for the 10 days she was absent. Both the council who issue the rent allowance & the housing association are passing the buck,saying it is up to the other to sort it out. Are there any bodies that I can ask to intervene?I am considering asking the Local Government Ombudsman for help regarding the council,I just wondered if there were any support groups out there or governing bodies for the housing associations? Any help will be very much appreciated. Mark

Hello, A while ago I received an ESA50 which was filled out and returned and I am still awaiting any communication from them. Today I received a letter from the council telling me that HB and CT benefit (I don't get full benefit) has been suspended because the DWP have told them there is a change in my circumstances or income. This is news to me, I have heard nothing besides this so I'm getting very anxious that my IB has been stopped and I haven't been informed. Can anyone help with this, is this just standard while they decide or should I have been informed? My thanks for your help.

Hi, At age 12 I was diagnosed with ADHD and have been treated with stimulants ever since. Because I was on them for so long, my system got used to them and recently I was moved to a MUCH stronger medication which is a restricted substance too. Despite having had a long history of high Blood Pressure, my GP REFUSES to carry on this ADHD treatment (or any) as the BP takes precedence (in her eyes). Luckily I have a week's worth left so i can pretty much keep a clear mind open, think straight and logically for the next week. I asked her NOT to remove me from the medication, and instead treat my high BP like she would any one else. She refused. I explained that WITHOUT my medication, I am unable to focus, I get badly forgetful, my motivation goes down the drain, I won't be able to do my work (I run some companies), and eventually spiral back down into the pit I was in several years ago when I wasn't being treated. She still refused. Surely I have the right to disagree with what she says? What REALLY concerns me is that not being on ANY medication for my ADHD will affect my companies, start me drinking again (which stopped when I went back on medication), end up with the spin-offs of ADHD again i.e. depression, anxiety and various anti-social disorders. The ADHD specialist which prescribed me this new load of treatment said if the high BP continues, then we are unable to help you any more. I don't give a flying **** about my BP, it's nice to be human again, work positively and be productive... Can ANYONE point me in the right direction as to where I can find out my rights... I'm an inch away from having a panic attack that my entire life will be pulled out from under my feet

I have just received three letters from the DWP saying that they sent me out an appointement on for the 3rd of July to attend a ATOS assesment, and that they wrote to me to tell me that I failed to attend. I have received nothing at all from either ATOS or the DWP for either the meeting or the letter telling me I failed to attend. They are now saying my ETA has stopped as I am fit to work because I did not attend the meeting that I knew nothing about. This happened last year but I found out about it on the phone for a different reason and was able to attend. has anyone any idea what I do now...

Hi I have a serious problem. My incapacity benefit was stopped on the 4th of April, the first I knew was last week when it wasn't paid into my bank account (noticed on Friday 19th). Spoke to DWP today and they informed that it's because I didn't attend an ATOS assessment in Feb. The problem is... ATOS have never informed me of any appointments and this is the 2nd time it's happened in about 6 months. I even told the DWP that I wanted to make an official complaint about the failure to inform me. I live alone, no one else has access to my mail. If I'd received a letter I'd know about it and I put all appts on my calendar so I don't forget about them. These are duplicated onto my gmail calendar and I get a notification n my phone to remind me aswell. But the first I know of these appts is when I get the 'did not attend form' from DWP afterwards. The DWP didn't even send me a letter telling me it had been suspended. I am in full on anxiety/panic mode, over drawn at the bank and don't even have money to purchase food I desperately need help and advice on what to do.