Hello. I was an employee who was made redundant by my employer. I represented myself at an employment tribunal, who found in my favour on all counts. They judged that it had been unfair dismissal and sex discrimination and made an award of around £10,000 although I don’t expect any of it will be paid. At the start of the hearing my employer’s solicitor tried to wriggle, suggesting to the judge that they were not a legal entity. The business is run by a managing committee of volunteers (an unincorporated association) and is also a registered charity (registered with the charities commission). However, don’t let that draw sympathy, the hearing revealed how badly the charity was being managed and how the charitable funds were being wasted. The judge said that they are a registered charity and therefore a legal entity. So although they may wish to describe themselves as an unincorporated association, they did enter into employment contracts with me and other staff in the name of the charity and have assets in the name of the charity. Question So with the status of the respondent being a registered charity (claiming to be an unincorporated association), who should I address the high court enforcement order to? The managing committee will all be stepping down from their positions and running for cover. Should I put the name and address of the charity, or the present chair of the managing committee, or the then chair of the managing committee at the time of the redundancy, or the managing committee secretary who signed the paper work, or all the managing committee members by name? I’m not expecting to see any money paid to me but I don’t want to make it easy for them to wriggle of the hook and continue operating either. Thank you so much for taking a look at my thread. x

I had my ESA Appeal on Monday, finally got the letter today saying that I had won. Does anyone know if they backdate it to when I had the letter saying I wasn't ill enough to get ESA, as that was in February, waited a long time for this appeal.

Won a PPI claim with LLOYDS for my son and without having to go to the FOS however letter from them stated cheque by 28 days no cheque and now its with the PPI back office as cheque is lost rang their help line got someone in the Phillipines who states no time line for money being paid but will be paid electronicaly when it finally is ??? You cannot even get through to anyone else no matter how you approach them it appears to me to be another delaying tactic and how many people are they pulling it on ?? Any advise as to what to do other than letting LLoyds get away with it.

Last week my son won his ESA appeal, this is the 4th time he has won, after getting 0 points, the decision notice is different from his last ones, so it must be a new form, it does not say how many points he got from the panel, it says the appeal is allowed, and he is entitled to ESA with the work related activity component, it also says, this is because insufficient points were scored the meet the threshold for the work capability assessment, but regulation 29 of the ESA regulations 2008 applied. No schedule 3 descriptor applied. Regulation 35 of the ESA regulations 2008 did not apply. Could anyone explain the above for me please, I would be most grateful. also there is at the bottom of the form a statement. Information for the decision maker, which says this does not form part of the tribunals decision, any recommendation given is not binding on the Secretary of State. it states:- 1}The medical/functional assessment report relied upon by the decision-maker contained significant error. 2}and also:- they recommend the DWP does not reassess him within 1 year from the date of the tribunal. My question is about number 1 above, can he ask for a Statement of reasons for his tribunal, to find out what these errors where, and who does he write to, to find out. Many thanks.

Hi I hope someone might be able to advise: a little background:- my mum is terminally ill and to give her an extra few weeks a blood transfusion has been suggested. Fine. Except that she's already terribly frail and petrified of hospitals, has dementia so like familiarity so rather than put her through all that we declined, and the GP suggested that instead she could have periodic injections of EPO so that her blood count etc would improve. Great, but EPO is only available on the NHS to end stage kidney failure patients, and she doesn't have this, so although it would help, the GP could only issue a private prescription, which I'm happy to pay for and was told by the GP it would be about £90. Took it into her local pharmacy (NOT a big chain) who said it was a 'special' and would take up to 5 days. OK, well, seemed a long time, but what do I know. 3 days later they called and said it would be £588. I said that was impossible. They said they'd look into it. Heard nothing for another 4 days so went in and asked, and £588 is the price for a pack of six, my mum has been prescribed one per month - she probably has 2 months or so left. Their reasoning is that because they have to buy 6 they will have to charge me for 6 even though I only have a prescription for one. I asked for and got the prescription back and have since taken it elsewhere and had it filled for £98. Can a pharmacy do this, i.e. refuse to fill a prescription for monetary reasons? Or are they compelled to supply what's asked as part of their licence to be pharamcists? Any help appreciated as I don't care for their attitude and wish to make them aware of their responsibilities if they have any. Thanks Bob

Appeal Won over bedroom tax. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bedroom-tax-appeal-disabled-woman-2334611

Ladies/Gents I would like to share my success against Aktiv Kapital. AK has been bullying and harassing me since 2009 for debt that didn't exist. I bough a fridge with a comet edge card in 2006 and shortly after it was delivered I changed my mind and sent it back. I didn't hear anything from them until AK started calling me day and night and threatening me with court action and subsequently registered a default against my credit file. I also discovered that AK had illegally changed the default date by 20 months. Fast forward June/ July. I sent Aktiv Kapital a letter stating I did not owe the alleged debt and also this debt is statute barred anyway. They ignored my first letter, then I sent them DPA notice to stop processing my data and gave them 21 days to comply. Again they did not comply and letter before action was sent. Then I issued a claim online for damages and notes as per above. They filed a defence within 2-3 days of issuing the claim online and said they would defend. For the past 2 months they have tried to bully me into submission saying they had strong case and they would defend vigorously. I stood my ground through out and ordered them to remove the default immediately and pay me compensation for all the things they had put me through for many years. Finally once the hearing date had been confirmed and clock started ticking they offered £105 and to mark the alleged debt as settled. I refused straight away. Then finally they say they would settle and pay me full amount claimed and remove the default within 72 hours. I again refused as I had now prepared all the bundles and incurred further costs and I ask them to pay for them and surprise surprise they agreed and further paid for preparing the bundle. Aktiv Kapital are bunch of cow boys and I would advise all of you good people out there to stand your ground when you had been violated by DCA's and AK are B*****s for making up debt when there was none. Bytheway; before I issue the claim I tried the OFT and they were not helpful and infact very rude to me over the phone so from now on Her Majesty Court are way forward for me. cheers all

I haven't put any posts up about Capital One but I have a letter today confirming my PPI complaint has been upheld and the refund will be applied to my account (which is defaulted and paid through StepChange). It's not a huge amount - just under £100 but it all helps! I have found them one of the more straighforward companies to deal with! Am rather chuffed

Probably a simple one. On 07/07/2003 I took out a 2nd Welcome loan for £2451.90 (paid off some of an old loan with the new one) Loan: £2451.90 PPI: £780.70 (told my loan would be refused if I never took it, was not applicable to me as I was self employed) Total: £3232.60 APR: 45.1% Period: 36 Months Repayments: £151.50 In total I mate 19 payments of £151.50 then never paid anything after that as I got into real financial hardship, they charged me in total £450 for failed DD's, phone calls and visits to my home. I still owed them £3560 In 2008 I offered them a one time payment of £1200 in full and final settlement of the account and they accepted. Earlier this year I started a claim against them for miss selling of PPI. The short of it is they found in my favour to the tune of £2200 odd but at the end of the letter they said that I would not receive anything as the account was closed with an outstanding balance around the same amount as my PPI claim, essentially it would all be offset against that? What's your thoughts? Can I argue that having accepted my payment as a full and final settlement then I should be entitled to my PPI refund? Thanks

Hi I dont know if Im posting in the right place I have Neurofibromatosis Type 2 which has resulted in the loss of balance, complete deafness in the right side and vertigo. I was taken off ESA on 10th may 2012 after failing a medical with 0 points (ATOS). I had a tribunal on 17th May 2013 and wasnt awarded 15 points but the appeal was upheld on Regulation 29. I was placed in the WRAG Group. Its been 5 weeks since that tribunal and I have rang ESA numerous times to check that they have received notification from the tribunal service. They say they havent even though the tribunal sent it via email the same day and I sent it to them twice via letter. This morning I went to my local JCP and they emailed it over to them. I rang them up twice today and the first time they said ring back after 12 and the 2nd said ring back after 4.30pm. I rang back today after 4.30pm and now I have to wait until Monday for the Benefits Centre dealing with my claim to call me back. They say that it takes 4-6 weeks after receiving the notification to process it. I am in a jam at the moment. Its been 58 weeks since this all started and I just want it over with. Has anyone got any advice? Thanks Craig New Member

Just wanted to share a story with you all. I little while back when i was working for a delivery company i received a offence notice , apparently i was caught by mobile camera not wearing a seat belt, I always always always wear a seat belt so contested straight away, i then received a phone call from the local police department regarding me contesting it and the officer said we have CCTV from our mobile van to prove it in court, I said 'really, well id love to see it myself, as im a family man with 12+ years driving experience and have always 100% always all of the time worn a seat belt as does everyone who gets in my van or car. The officer said well, its clear you were not wearing one, i said ok let me come in and view the CCTV and if you are correct i will pay the fine and accept any points, we arranged a time and day for me to go and view the mobile CCTV recording. About 3 hours later the officer phones up again, very apologetic saying he has reviewed the CCTV recording after our earlier telephone conversation and on zooming in and slowing the images it is clear i was infact wearing a seat belt, I just said well yes i know, i told you that, he apologized once again and said the matter has now been dropped and cancelled bla bla bla. my advice is, if this happens to you then always contest it and ask to see the footage, unless of course you are a criminal and know you committed the act. I can imagine a lot of people would have folded or doubted them self and just paid the fine and taken the points. If you know you are right, you have nothing to fear. I won and so can you.

Hi, I am new to the forum and apologise in advance if I am posting in the wrong place. I was transferred from Incapacity to Esa in October 2011 and placed into the CB Wrag Group. I asked for a reconsideration to be placed into the Support Group this was declined, I then appealed the decision. In November 2012 my payments stopped because of the 365 day rule. In February of 2013 Atos claim to have sent me another questionaire to fill in, I did not receive this and immediatley explained this to Dwp. As Atos did not receive my filled in questionaire back, Dwp closed my claim and sent me my P45. I appealed this decision explaining that I had already told Dwp I had not received the questionaire to close my claim and Dwp sent me another questionaire to fill in, I filled it in immediately and sent it back to them. A week later I received another questionaire to fill in this time from Atos, I am at present filling in the latest questionaire I received and will be sending it back to Atos. Moving forward to 9th May 2013 my appeal was allowed to be placed into the Support Group with a reccomendation I was not to be assessed again for 24 months. My question is, will my payments be reinstated, will I be paid back payments to last November when my Wrag payments stopped, will I still be entitled to the 365 day rule if in the future I was to be placed back into the Wrag Group. Any help will be much appreciated.

Hello all, hope someone knows what to do!! I worked for a company for 1 week and 2 days but due to many reasons (mostly to do with the boss) felt really uncomfortable and told him that I was leaving. I wrote to him asking how he wanted to sort out wages due to me, and he tells me that he is appointing a solicitor to deal with me and that his solicitor will only deal with my solicitor ( I have told him that I won't be appointing a solicitor as can't afford it ). I spoke to ACAS who advised writing a letter stating that I am pursuing an unlawful deduction of wages which I have done, but I don't know what to do now? Any ideas gratefully received

Hello. So I won my paper esa appeal almost 3 weeks ago. I got a request for a drs note even though I had been informed I did not need any more. And since then ivs heard nothing from the dwp. I sent a drs note as requested. I have been looking at the back payment info on the net and its a bit of a mixed bag tbh I have been on esa since jan 2010 and was disallowed in may last year so do they have to give me the back pay crom may as it was not a new claim? Its put me under finacial hardship as well a great deal of stress over the last year and they dont seem to be as quick to reinetate my esa as they were taking it away.

Hello there, I am a U.S. Citizen, so I'm not entirely sure how much help I'm entitled under English law. Last summer, my wife and I booked a week's vacation with easyHotel in South Kensington for this coming summer. There was an unexplained charge in our bank account for easyHotel, which was concerning to us. easyHotel has no phone number listed to contact them by, so we sent a query through their online help desk, which purports to respond within two days. It took well over a month to get a response--as it turns out, our bank had mistakenly billed us but listed the charge as coming from easyHotel. While that wasn't their fault, the lapse in communication made us uncomfortable, and we cancelled our booking in late 2012. In January, I sent another query to their help desk asking when I can expect a refund. It has been over two months. I have just sent them another query, but that'll probably do little good. As it turns out, easyHotel's refund policy (poorly-worded and somewhat buried in the language of their Terms and Conditions) says something to the effect of they retain your money for twelve months afterwards to be used on subsequent bookings, and have the right to keep the money after that point. This is unconscionable. Yes, I should have read the Terms and Conditions. However, with such a well-known hotel, I would have never imagined them to have such an awful practice. I know that in American contract law, a clause like that would probably be legally unenforceable as it's pretty one-sided, unusual, and more or less hidden in easyHotel's Terms and Conditions. But I don't know what remedies would be available to me against an English company. Does anyone have any advice? Are there any English equivalents to America's Better Business Bureau that might help? Thank you so much in advance for your consideration.

Hi, I'm hoping someone can offer advice or point me in the right direction to get some as I'm not in a position to pay solicitors fees. My ex employer refused to pay an Employment Tribunal award made last October so I instructed a HCEO to attend to recover my money. The HCEO attended on numerous occasions but was not successful. Yesterday I received a letter from them saying he contacted my ex employer via telephone last week and was told the company is in administration. They have attached proof of this. Today I contacted the administrators who told me I am an unsecured creditor and unlikely to receive any money but would still like proof of the money owed to me. My ex employer is still operating his business but under a new name Can anyone advise if there is any way I can recover my money. It seems totally unfair that he can seemingly have his debts written off and get away with not paying me yet still carry on trading. Thank you

More support for the advice that you should not ignore completely but that you should make it clear that you are up for a fight. Here are some heavily redacted extracts:- Full horrible story here:- http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/law/article3698204.ece# Shocking. I had always thought that the United Kingdom Crown Prosecution Service has great integrity

Apologies, as this will be a long post, but I'd appreciate any help or input anyone can give me! My brother bought a flat at the begining of February (think the sale went through 5th Feb 2013). It's an old house split into flats - commercial property on the main ground floor, a basement unused flat, 2 flats on 1st floor, 2 flats on 2nd floor, and is leasehold (900+ years on the lease). He pays just over £600 a year maintenance charge, which he has paid in full the year upfront. He enters the property via a back door which services all 4 upper floor flats, and is the commercial property's rear entrance, though they have said they never use it. He then has his own "front door" to his flat. I went with him on one viewing before he bought the flat and saw that the estate agent had to fiddle with the key in the lock for quite some time before the door opened, but didn't really think any more about it. Since he's had the keys, the lock on the door 9 times out of 10 won't open. He's had to enter his flat by walking up the metal fire escape and going in through his bedroom (it's a raised small double-door window type). The couple upstairs have also said that they have trouble with it, and were stood outside for 20 minutes the other day trying to get it to open, and have told the freeholders, who ignored them. He called the freeholder of the building to let them know that the lock was broken. Lets call them Mr and Mrs C. Mrs C answered and told him it must be his key, and she will get a new key cut for him, and he would have to pay her for it, and Mr C would be round to his place of work to drop one round. 2 weeks went by and they hadn't turned up when promised on numerous occasions. When eventually he spoke to Mrs C on the phone again, he told Mrs C that he'd had a local locksmith round who had told him the barrel was broken and that it needed to be replaced. Mrs C said she would look into it (no excuse was made about not producing a new key). A couple of days later he got a call from Mrs C who said that she'd had someone look at the lock and it wasn't broken, and it was my brother's key. My brother, during this time, was still living at home with mum while he was sorting the flat out - had a new kitchen put in etc. Fast forward to the end of last week, and Mr & Mrs C hadn't given my brother a new key and wouldn't answer any phone calls. In the mean time, he has actually slipped on the fire escape and twisted his ankle and knee. He moved in "properly" last week. Rightly, or wrongly, my brother bought a new lock, fitted it, gave a new key to the people he could and left a message for Mr & Mrs C to say what he had done and asked them to pick up the key so they could arrange for the 2 empty flat's owners to get keys. He got a call from an irate Mr C who told him he'd be getting a solicitor's letter and my brother didn't have any right to change the lock. (Which probably is true, I imagine, he hadn't gone the right way about it!) Mr C told my brother he'd be at his work in the morning to pick up the lock he'd taken off. My brother went to the local locksmith (who incidentally is right next door to his work) and asked them to test the lock and write a letter confirming the barrel was broken. They did this. Mr C came in and was rude and "abrupt" (which is how my brother's colleagues described him), took the barrel, and the letter (!!!!!) and went next door to the locksmith. Mr C came back and handed my brother a new key he'd had cut, told my brother the lock wasn't broken and he was going to put it back on, and that he had misheard and misread what the locksmith said. My brother arrived home from work last night and the new key wouldn't open the lock. Mr and Mrs C haven't answered their phone. (As a btw, Mr C has also told my brother he had to remove his condenser dryer from the cupboard on the landing as it was a fire hazard (?) and, while he was changing the door lock, has taken off the lock on the cupboard and told my brother he can only keep a mop and bucket in there. This was sold to my brother by the estate agent as "his cupboard" (a very large cupboard) but I've asked my brother to bring all his documents with me to check if it is actually "his" cupboard. My brother has in the mean time taken the dryer out.) My brother called the solicitor who dealt with his sale this morning, and she said she doesn't deal with litigations and that he should write a letter asking them to sort this out and give them 14 days, and if they don't do it within 14 days to go to the citizens advice who would help him further. So, here I am, asking for some help! My brother has asked me to help him as he doesn't have a clue (and I must have a bit of a reputation in the family of being clued up......) and I want to do my very best to get a good outcome for him. All he wants is to be able to open the door with his key! Be this being supplied with a key that works (every time, not just after 20 minutes of nursing the lock), or by the lock being replaced. I will be writing a letter to Mr & Mrs C that my brother can sign, so wanted to ask for any help in constructing this letter. Is there anything I should definitely be saying? Definitely should NOT say? Any pointers will be greatly received, and thanks for reading this really long essay!!!

Hi, I would like to thank all of the people on this forum who gave me advice. My daughter won the case. it was a Mental Health case. She had been turned down completely and wasn't even in the WRAG group. I took all the advice given, here, and wrote a statement. I picked out the statements that I thought she could gain points on and then provided evidence for each point. I added to the evidence some of my own observations and picked out the key words after reading the factsheet that Rethink Mental Illness 'WCA' had published. ( it is a factsheet that 'Rethink' have published to help people to fill in the ESA50) it is very good and gives examples. I think that although it is for people with Mental illness that the advice it gives would help people with other disabilities because of the way it is explained. I think it is important to remember that the Judge is only concerned about whether your claim for each area, actually fits the written criteria. The doctor asked questions in such a way that my daughter was fooled into giving a straight yes or no answer. I have read that here before. I had to stop her and I asked her the same question in a different way. Example, the doctor asked her 'can you read?' my daughter answered 'yes'. The doctor mean can you read books for start to finish and that was what she had concluded from my daughters answer. I asked 'can you read a whole book from start to finish'. My daughter cannot concentrate to read a whole chapter or even a few pages, so obviously I got a different answer, but she can read. The point that I am trying to make is that the Doctors job was to ask questions in such a way that it would elicit the least favourable answer from the person appealing. The judge was nice and allowed me to ask the questions and to explain. I think it is a good idea to have someone with you or to even ask the doctor to clarify and break down the question so that you know what the question is aimed at finding out because the doctor is trying to trip you up. The doctor seemed to be very nice and you can get lulled into a false sense of security but she is there to stop you from winning and the judge can only go by what answer you give in response to the doctors questions. If I can be of assistance to anyone then please get in touch. I may not be reading the group regularly in the next 3 weeks but I will have access to the internet if someone messages me.

In November last year I had my E.S.A stopped as I was told it had run for 365 days and as it was contribution based I had reached the end of entitlement. I was told I didn't qualify for Income Based E.S.A as my wife worked. Later in November I attended Atos Assessment. It took until March this year to get a decision which gave me only 6 points and totally ignored what I had told the Atos nurse etc. I appealed and yesterday received a phone call stating that I had won the appeal and achieved 19 points. I was also told that all my benefits will be restored. Now I does anyone know if my benefits will be backdated as from the time they originally stopped (16th November 2012) or if it will just be from the time I appealed. I add also that I did not receive the Appeal Rate E.S.A and also that the appeal result took less than two weeks. I am awaiting the official letter but the woman yesterday actually said 'We only really phone if it is good news as we get a lot of abuse if an appeal fails' So am wondering if I am due a windfall or not!

Hi all, Firstly forgive if wrong forum!; not sure where to post. I own a flat in a block of 2. The downstairs flat sometime ago got repossessed by the lender Northern Rock. During that time there was a leak (I cannot prove if the downstairs tenants were resident at that time but have information to proof NR were contacted and did not react). The leak went on to cause subsidence affecting the entrance way and hence both flats. The insurer wants £1,000 excess. NR do not respond (I expect them to pay half). Equally the roof (in the lease both flats are responsible for) needed repair at cost of £620. I asked NR for half - no reply. I got my solicitor to write to NR especially about the insurance subsidence issue - no reply. Apart from being complete £$%£% ; what should I do? Is it worth small claims court? (i.e. is this a valid issue in that respect) ; or do I just give up pay £1000 excess and also the £620 for the roof repair. Any advice welcome. thanks

I have just checked my Noddle Credit Report and noticed an entry that I feel should be removed and would be very grateful if someone could advise if I am correct.... About 3-4 years ago a small claim was issued against me by a car finance company. It followed months of myself trying to ascertain the true figure that was owed, the creditor was very uncooperative and unhelpful and didn't seem to have a reliable system and produced contradictory amounts or even ignored my requests. I also noticed that the agreement they produced was shoddy so I included it in my defence and argued it may be improperly executed. The matter went to court 3 or 4 times and each and every time the finance company either didn't turn up and when they did send someone they were ill-prepared and came across as though they'd automatically win and didn't make any effort to answer the points of my defence. In short the judge ended up agreeing with me, got so fed up with their 'arrogant' stance (throughout they just acted as though they were owed money and seemed to ignore my defence and didn't expect to have to offer any proof of amounts owed etc). The judge ruled in my favour and said I had no debt to pay. Since then about a year after I received a couple of letters requesting payment which I ignored as I'm hardly going to pay something where there was a judgement in my favour. My questions are a) Can they ever take this matter back to Court again - e.g by altering the amount owed? and b) The entry for the debt is on my Noddle credit file - As I won a case at Court should I be able to get it removed? and if so, do I contact the finance company or just report it to Noddle? Any advice would be much appreciated as I would like it removed from my credit file if possible as it's a pretty large amount and one which was ruled in my favour in a County Court.

My sisters next-door neighbour was declared fit last August 2012 as fit for work after his Atos assessment,He decided to appeal, In Jan 2013 he decided because of pressure from his doctor and others and the info they gave him that he would not win his appeal as many do not, He decided to sign on for work JSA .But before he decided to sign on for JSA he had sent a letter and more info done by his girlfriend on his mental health problems and how she feels it was unfair after just decided after he had been ill for a very long time he was fit for work, She told them in a letter that the ATOS interview and its questions did not in any way reflect his life and things are just not as simple as they made it out to be and she put other relevant info in the letter too. The only reason he decided to sign on JSA was the fact his doctor told him oven though you are ill you will not win your appeal or are very very unlikely too win it and it is better to move on (he is still taking his tablets ) he suffers from very bad depression and anxiety attacks and other mantel health related problems.. Anyway today Sat 9th March 2013 he received a letter(this is about 7 months after he was declared fit for work) that they have looked at his assessment again and took into account the other info provided and have made a new decision in his favour and he now does not need to go to appeal and does not need to be re assessed until 20/07/2014 .. He needs info on what to do now ..he his now on JSA .. what will happen.. even though he is on JSA will get the backdated money he is owed whilst he was in the appeal mode .. can he now go back on ESA.. any advice please would be grateful

During my last reclaim i also started a reclaim for the above after much confusion upon WHAT was a freeflow account the Co-Op didn't know! i provided all the relevent statements & agreement in the Claim Pack. 1st they said it was a credit card, but said that the account number did not match any series ever used, so rejected the claim. they then claimed it was an OverDraught & as O/D's don't have A CCa , the agreement i had was false! after complainng to the CEO DEpt things started to move.

Hi Need advice, Friend bought a car under a year ago with 3 month warranty. Water was coming in at the front and pouring out doors when heavy rain. Went back to the garage a few times and they kept saying they would be in touch when the can repair via their body shop. Went back to garage/body shop and now it's closed. Contacted finance company who want proof that it has been like that since purchase.. A couple of mechanics said it would be hard to prove. Is there anything we can do?