Hello, I recently experienced a severe change in circumstances which meant I was removed from my residence in London and had to move over 55 miles away. In London, I'm tied into a 12 month contract with Parkwood Leisure. I emailed them, explaining my change in circumstances an that I was under severe financial strain and therefor couldn't afford to pay my membership - I provided them with proof of change of address etc. I also took the following steps: - tried to find someone to transfer it to - asked if they had a gym near my new address, so I could transfer it to someone here (they don't) - Offered to pay them a smaller amount (2 months fee) to effectively cut the contract early, which would be beneficial to both sides and is all I can afford. So far all I have received is strong arm emails just reciting the same contractual terms, with no compassion showed by what appears to be a pretty awful organisation based on other posts I've read about people who've been admitted to hospital etc (Parkwood Leisure). I suppose my question is - is there anything I can do? I'm tempted to just tell them to do one and take a chance, if they file a CCJ then I'll just pay up but as you can imagine a gym membership is definitely not high on the list of debt priority (unless it has to be, with a CCJ). I'm not too familiar with CCJs, but from what I understand: - If you pay in 14 days then it wont impact your credit rating - You will be charged a CCJ administration fee on top of what you owe Does anyone know if the above are correct in this case, if so, what is the administration fee? I'm tempted to offer the gym a payment of say £10 a month for the foreseeable future to make the payment easier - would they likely accept this? The whole experience has been awful to effectively just speak uncompassionate gym staff (I even had a phone call with the head of the centre). What an awful way to treat customers. Thanks for any advice!

Hi I am in ESA support group and have just been awarded PIP last week. I live alone and no one claims carers allowance for me so I believe I am entitled to SDP. On the Gov website it says you don't need to apply as it will be added automatically. My question is does this actually happen?

Hi all I currently get PIP and ESA. My father passed away in July this year,so I took over the tenancy and did a quick benefits check online, that is when I came across SDP. I have never heard of SDP before.So I rang the DWP in July this year and applied for it.I got it backdated to May this year, after doing more research I now believe I may be entitled to having my SDP backdated further. I was originally on DLA middle rate care and low mobility as well as Income Support before I was transferred over to ESA and PIP.I was transferred over from DLA to PIP last March.I was also transferred over from Income support to ESA in May this year. I had been on Income Support and DLA since the early nineties,but never got SDP,I now know I was eligible since no one has ever claimed Carers Allowance for me,and although I had lived with my dad for over 20 years he was on high rate care DLA and Income Support to.So he was on a qualifying disability benefit so i would be classed as living alone. I have been in touch with the DWP and the lady on the phone told me I would not be able to get it backdated any further.Would that be right or is she wrong.

Hi All, the main crux of my post is to ask if anyone knows why the DWP just simply ceased the Severe Disability Premium? In February 2017 the DWP confirmed my entitlement of SDP together with ESA, Disability Income Guarantee and Limited Capability for work for work (support group). Two weeks ago I received an identical letter from DWP stating; "We have looked at your claim again following a recent change. This is because of: a change in money coming in. There has not been any change, to any of my entitlements, at all. The last, previous contact I had from DWP, before Feb '17, was a notice, dated August 2016 to inform me that I failed to be awarded PIP. I had previously been in receipt of DLA since June 1992. Only the tightening of the criteria of PIP and my failure to take medical evidence to the ATOS assessment caused the failure of any PIP award. I went through 'Mandatory Reconsideration' within the 1 month time limit but, because an SAR to the Hospital Trust, for my medical notes took longer than 40 days, which prevented me from appealing within 30 days, the CAB are supporting a Tribunal Appeal. I'm only waiting for a trial date. It just seems odd that the SDP of £62.45 has been ceased which has drastically reduced my income? Kind regards, Will

18th May this year I was awarded (like it's some kind of competition??) standard daily living rate, and enhanced rate mobility. This ''should'' kick start other payments into effect, namely ''severe disability premium''. However, due to the unique way in which the DWP acts with impunity and is answerable to no-one, the SDP hasn't materialised, no biggy really as it will be backdated to May anyhow, so in essence the DWP have a savings account for me. I tried to ring JCP today on the standard 0345 number, went through the lethargic condescending ''briefly tell us why you're calling'' nonsense, got to the department I needed, only to be cut off............................ Not once, but, for the last 9 days, weekends excluded. It's as though they just don't care!

I live alone and are in receipt of ESA and PIP, daily living and mobility components both at the standard rate. I have been receiving these benefits for the last three years. I was recently informed that because of the above i should also be in receipt of a severe disability premium. I have never been informed by DWP about this premium and knew nothing of its existence until recently. I have now applied for this premium and have been granted it by DWP but there is a dispute over the length of time this premium can be backdated. On the DWP website it clearly states "You don't have to claim disability premium, it's automatically added to your income support(ESA) if your eligible". I was never informed by DWP of my ability to claim this premium. I am also informed that the award of a premium is effective from the day the qualifying benefit for the premium was awarded. I interpret this as i became entitled to the severe disability premium immediately i was awarded PIP on top of my ESA and the DWP should have informed me. Has anyone any experience of a similar situation to this or any advice please? Thankyou.

Hello ,lovely to be back. Yes just a little bit about what i am recieving, since this year, and all income based . Had Pip awarded ,standered care for 4 years, also on Esa assessement phase , 9 weeks in. On severe premium disability too. What i am asking please is when i go for my esa medical,and say i fail, which i should not ,but you never know with them ,Would i lose the disability premium as it has been a godsend. Its Helping so much after being unwell for years with chronic joint pains and having little income, it really helps along with pip benefit with transport ,online food shop etc.. Would someone please be able to tell me if what are the reasons i could lose this benefit please? i live alone too. Thankyou for any replies in advance.xx

right , this sounded easier in my head than it is to type but here goes, im considering representing a few friends to a tribunal over the treatment they had dealt with , with one employer and his wife. I have a good knowledge of employment law but id like someones elses opinion on just how far this could go.its really bad employer behaviour within a public house. 1st case is a young lady aged 22 who was indeed contracted however was not given national minimum wage. she was only paid £5.20 per hour. she worked there for approx. 6/7 months. 2nd case is two close friends who worked there as a cleaner/bartender on the side. wrong on both sides I know but heres the story....they worked for a mere £5 an hour no contract no terms etc then they were told by the employer and his wife that they were being "let go of" (after working for them for two years each) even worse, they claim the employer made them write a formal letter of resignation out of pure intimidation. the reason they were "let go" was to make way for a young enthusiastic experienced individual and his girlfriend who were promised good managerial jobs and promised to move into the flat above the pub while the employer and his wife moved abroad. 3rd case is the enthusiastic individual and his girlfriend. he had the contract of manager, was paid accordingly, then when the employer visited they decided the pub was not upto scratch and sacked both on the spot also making them effectively homeless. 4th case is the young man who the then manager hired to help behind the bar who was also told to leave. he did not have a contract of employment either. you cant make this stuff up, its absolutely appauling behaviour and yes, I also used to work for them but because I made quite clear my position in management and knowledge of employment law they did not break any law with me, I left from my own accord to run a business. so come on guys verdict on an employment law basis please....... what do you make of this and what cases do you think I should take on ? if not all of them?

Hello, Thank you ...

My wife works as a nurse at a G.P practice. She suffers with arthritis and lately has started to suffer severe pain and is limited with her movement. A medical assessment shows problems with both her legs and her back she spoke to her superior about a slight reduction to her working hours, After a meeting she was told that they were willing to consider a job share which would significantly reduce her income and working hours but the reduction which my wife suggested was unworkable. Having read through various bits of legislation it is unclear what my wife's rights are . Could anyone enlighten us please.

h i am hoping someone can help me as im goin round in circles with the dwp. I am in receipt of the care part of PIP, live alone and on esa assessment rate. I failed the work capability test and am now waiting for my appeal to be heard. I have applied for the severe disability premium but have been refused as they say i cant have it while appealing my esa. Im sure this is wrong. Can anyone point me to legislation that says i am entitled to this while appealing ? i would be so grateful

Hi Just trying to get some info for a family member, if anyone might be able to help. My uncle has been on Incapacity benefit for a couple of years due to an accident caused at work. He has been assessed for ESA and has been placed into the support group. He has been in receipt of Industrial injuries benefit during this time. Well, a couple of weeks after being placed into the support group, he was sent an application form to apply for Severe disability premium. He is confused by this as he is currently in receipt of the following. DLA Care - Middle Rate DLA Mobility - Higher Rate ESA - Support Group Rate - Contributions based Industrial Injuries Benefit - Around £49 per week Is it worth him applying for the Severe disability premium as he assumes he wouldn't be entitled due to the other benefits he is currently receiving. He is now living on his own, and his mother helps him out, but no one received carers allowance for him. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

I have been living on incapacity benefit and disability living allowance for a number of years due to severe mental health issues I am currently being hit with around £80 worth of charges from Santander at least every 2 months, sometimes I am being charged £25 for going overdrawn by 99p It has been going on for a few years and due to my mental health problems have just been letting it happen as I didn't know anything could be done about it I recently found a forum on Money Saving Expert and was amazed to find I could reclaim this money, so have requested the last 6 years of charges list Fingers crossed, if i research enough and know what I'm talking about I might be successful! I was hoping someone might have experience of financial hardship claims with mental health issues as grounds for a refund This month its £75, being on benefits that's a large chunk of my money I feel like I've really been taken advantage of as a 'vulnerable' adult (I hate calling myself that, but quite obviously I am) If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it Thank you in advance!

i have been awarded low mobility and middle care dla,i received a letter to claim severe disability premium,my daughter lives with me and is at college,i don't claim for carers allowance,someone told me I will not get sdp because my daughter lives with me,is this true,she is 21

Hi I am new to this forum but I need to ask a question and hope one of you can help! I am in receipt of Income Support as I care for my daughter who does not live in my property. I used to receive Severe Disablement Premium until I allowed my friend to come and live with me! My question is that I do not have a partner therefore why has my entitlement to severed disability premium stopped, I understand them stopping it if I have a partner but as to sharing my home with a friend should not mean that I should lose this premium. My friend does not receive carers allowance for looking after me! Is there any way I can claim my entitlement back? Thank you

I have been told we may be able to claim this for my mother. Could anyone tell me what information they will need as I like to be prepared? Thank you.

My uncle has recently been hospitalised after the 4th fall in a week. I am his Nearest relative which under the Mental Health Act is his Next of Kin. He has dementia and a urine inferction which made him more confused than normal. His private carer who was in charge of ensuring his safety, apparently went home for a bath and left him alone till night time carers came in to put him to bed. This is despite the fact that an ambulance was called two days previously when she had done the same thing again. He has been besotted by her - he is 97 - she is now 51, but clearly marriage has been discussed and he had said she knows how much he cares for her and has left her comfortably off. After a rocky 4 weeks in hospital and a realisation he may not walk again he has begun telling us what has been going on behind closed doors, over a period of a week, we have taped quite a bit of it on our phones and I've typed up transcripts under the suggestion of a nurse. He says she takes his papers away from him so he cant see what is on television, she takes the controls off him so he cant find out what's on and she leaves him in the evening with no access to television or newspaper so he is in silence. She also threatens him regularly that is he doesn't say please and thank you for everything so she won't do this and that for him. He's always said it to me for everything. When he grovels to her promising to say please and thank you for every little thing. She then says "it's no good apologising, it's too late now, I'm going and I'm never coming back". He evens mimics her voice when he tells you - deep and threatening. Then today he was transferred into a care home for the first time and a housekeepr was with me when he called out "I know i cant marry you, you know i'm fond of you. I'm sorry I promise I'll say please and thank you all the time if you let me have some dinner. I'll do anything you want please". Suddenly his voice changed it became deeper and sterner and it said "too late now, no good apologising now, i'm going and I'm not coming back, get yer own dinner!" Later I asked what she gave him to eat and he said "cubes of cheese", i asked what he had with it, he said "more cubes of cheese". I asked what she gave him for hot dinners and he said "I used to have hot meals, proper dinners but i can't manage proper dinners now, she says it's bad for my stomach". I asked "dont you ever have hot dinners any more?" - "not any more, she says it's bad for my stomach". My question is would this be a subject for the police to investigate. We have some tapes if they want to listen to what is said. But would they say is is a dream or hallucinations. some times he's perfectly lucid and he sounds angry about it and when he's stressed and out of it and saying it, he sounds frightened but still goes on about how fond he is of her.

Can anyone tell me where I can find the exact criteria for this please? There's no information on my local council website. I've looked on some other council websites, some mention ESA and others don't. (they mainly talk about DLA, IB & IS - the latter don't exist for new claims for disability) Some say something about social functioning and intelligence. Someone did once tell me that IQ is relevant - mine is impossible to work out as I differ so much in various areas.

Hi I am new and this is my first post. I hope this is in the right section. I rent a shared student house in our 2nd year and I am having heavy damp and white fluffy mould and black spots on the wall. It gets that bad that water runs down the wall when it is raining. I have told the letting agency and they told me that they would pass this onto a contractor. This has not been resolved. Where do I stand with this please? I have heard I can stop paying rent if the room is unfit to live in? What is the legalities regarding this? I am fed up with living a wet room and nothing seems to be getting down All help welcome xx

I know that over time everyone on SDA will be assessed by ATOS in order to switch them to ESA, does anyone know the intended timetable of this? Will it be after all the IB claimants? Could it be decades away or will it be soon? eta It's ok, I found out it is all happening at the same time and that the transfer for IB and SDA will have been completed by spring 2014

I will keep it short as I can but my close friend ex-girlfriends split with him last week after 4years. Normally this wouldnt be a problem however my friend has been off work for a number of months with major depression disorder and anxiety and taking numerous medicines and counseling to help. With all help we were making very good progress and kept on top of the situation so my friends was very positive - then when she left things have gone significantly worse. She is constantly sending one liner comments and 'like' tags to his friends on facebook which is really getting him down so much so that we had to take him for two medical assessments because we think he thinking of doing something very bad. A lot of the 100+ friends they known together she has not previously engaged with now it seems that she is doing it on purpose. Both medical offices we saw today reiterated that given the current health problems my friend is having, and more importantly the long term actions, the interaction with his close friends and his network of friends are detrimental to his and personal well being and could lead to far greater consequences as he has in the past tried to commit suicide. We have been to look into either a restraining or injunction order give the risk to life. Could anyone offer any advice please? there is also a issue in the will not provide a forwarding address of were she is staying. Any help would be gratefully accepted My friends is at his wits end and we are so scared he will do something stupid if we cannot get his ex to stop whats she is doing