Hello. I will try and be as brief as I can as this follows on from a thread I posted in the employment section which has now been resolved so I won’t go in to any details. I resigned and get full pay for the whole of November as well as full pay (Gardening leave) for December. Overall this was the right thing to do for me based on the likely outcome. My full pay went in today and will also do so for December as confirmed by HR. I resigned on medical grounds as my A&D got a lot worse and have been to the GP about this and all disciplinary action against me has been dropped. If DWP write to my employers or indeed another employer writes to them there will be no 'resigned under investigation' mandated. Now, I am in a UC area but was advised I should reapply for ESA and HB. I will only get ESA if my condition has got worse, I am seeing my GP again on Friday to discuss this. If my ESA claim fails it will be Universal Credit where I get a lot less. When I previously signed on and claimed HB my total payment was around £660pm. Under UC it seems I can only claim shared bedroom rate as I live at home with parents (private rent 2 bed) so my UC rate is around £580pm (used an on line calculator) This would leave me a shortfall of rent and leave me very short as the rest of my rent (50/50 with parents) would need to come out of my JSA element of UC. I also understand that if you voluntarily resign the JSA element of UC would carry a sanction but as I intend to claim ESA and HB initially based on medical reasons (I have sick notes and will get an updated one this week) I do not think there is any sanction, however, if my ESA claim fails and I do have to claim UC (housing and JSA elements) even if I am looking for some form of work based on my health and demeanour at the moment and my resignation being on health grounds I also do not think I should have a sanction held against me as I still have rent and bills to pay. If I do not get ESA and have to claim UC is there any discretionary top up I can claim? If not I guess this is all my fault anyway and I will have to suffer and get on to gas and electric, credit card, SKY etc. and reduce payments and make a 'deal' with them until I can start paying more again. I have no savings either. Can someone also advise that if I am paid my salary on Dec 16th taking me to Jan 16th at what point should claim my ESA and HB or UC? As it takes 6 weeks can I claim anytime soon citing I am no longer employed from the end of December and funds run out on Jan 16th so that I can get my payments sooner rather than later? If I have nothing for 6 weeks (is it backdated?) not sure how I am going to pay my rent or bills! In addition to all of this I also have an overpayment of £1100 working tax credits to pay back but when I spoke to them about this they said recovery is based on circumstances and won'tbe until the next financial year anyway Many thanks in advance

Hello I agreed to take part in a mandatory sector based work academy placement that I didn`t have to agree to but I took the opportunity to agree as it was only for 1 week. The big question is on the 4th and 5 th day I was and still am having some serious personal trouble at home. I sent an email to one of the work programme staff at the centre to let them know that I was having personal trouble and I received an email saying "OK Kevin," in that exact format. I saw my work coach advisor the following week and he never said anything to me but I did tell him I was/am having trouble at home and told him exactly what face to face but that was it. The sector based work academy ended approx 3 weeks ago and I haven`t heard anything about being sanctioned or received a letter asking me questions about what the reason was and I do get paid Universal Credit in a week. In the past I have received letters when I have informed them about a change in my circumstances and have also been told by letter when there was a slight rise in Universal Credit payment and when there the local jobcentre gave a wrong appointment date and I received a letter asking me questions why I did attend on that day which went in my favour due to the jobcentre admitting it was a fault on there part. I still feel uneasy and anxious maybe its due to matters at home but a touch of it is because I keep thinking I will be sanctioned and not receive anything next week on my Universal Credit. Really sorry on the long winded message on this issue. I`m just in fear if I have been sanctioned or could still get sanctioned as this whole system confuses me.

Hi all, I'm sure I'll get better advice here than from HMCS online who of course take up to five days to answer an email. A friend wants to sue a builder who damaged her property while working on a neighbour's house. I won't bore you with the whole story but it's been dragging on for nine months. She is very hard up, works and gets Working Tax Credits. I thought she would qualify for a fee remission, but apparently not. The online advice brochure says that you qualify if you receive a number of different benefits including Universal Credit, but there is no mention of WTC. As WTC has been replaced by Universal Credit in areas such as Manchester it appears that if you live in an updated area which has UC you can have a fee remission but if your area is still on WTC/CTC you don't. I don't get it. I have emailed HMCS online for her and the first response was that she should contact CAB. When I pointed out that it wasn't a legal issue it was information given in their own brochure the next response was to say that UC qualifies but WTC and CTC don't. I think the information has been prepared for when UC takes over and they haven't waited for it to come in all over the country. What do you think? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. DDx

I saw this thread over on Rightsnet today regarding how the working disabled/sick will fair under Universal Credit, and it looks like the phrase 'very badly' comes to mind. http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/4375/ I went and downloaded these new regulations and the CAB's report on them and unless I've got it wrong it seems to indicate that someone claiming the disabled element on UC can only do so If they work below 16 hours/and/or earn less then £99 per week and If you want to work longer hours and earn more you will only be able to do so If you're also claiming DLA/PIP as well. How on earth is that fair? Also by the looks of it a claimant will also be subject to medical assessments every year (so yet more money for bloody ATOS then) which I don't believe you had to do under the old WTC system and If you fail one then no more extra help/money for you. You can download a fuller explanation of whats to come and the CAB's response to all this over here.. http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/holes_safety_net.htm Have I got this right? If so this is going to have the most horrendous impact on a section of people already finding it hard to get by.

just wondering if the everyone on jsa has to create a universal jobmatch account from monday and what will happen if they don't? i apply for loads of positions every week and each time i go to sign on my jobsearch form is always full. if i applied for the same amount of positions without using universal jobmatch would i be sanctioned?

Newspapers and landlord magazines have been full of comments about the Government's intention to reform the Local Housing Allowance system to reduce costs. Some of the proposals are workable and fair and others not. Even London's Lord Mayor has joined the controversy against his fellow Conservatives. I emailed the manage of the local council housing benefits dept. on Friday about the issue that I thought might give me, as a LL, the biggest problem: "There's a lot of talk about the new LHA rules, but the one that concerns me most is expecting single people under 35 to share. I have enough problem explaining to people under 25 that they cannot afford a flat, but up to 35??!! Can you tell me when this new rule is due to apply. Different "reforms" are due at different times and I can't see anywhere when this rule is to apply." To which I had this unexpected reply: "As far as we know it is due to take effect from April 2012. Please be aware though that all the announcements made are subject to change and that this proposals may be short lived anyway now with the imminent introduction of the new Universal Credit announced yesterday which is going to include the element for housing costs currently met by housing benefit and local housing allowance and will not be administered by local councils but centrally by the Job centres and the DWP." So maybe all the huffing and puffing over this issue will have been irrelevant.

Universal credit CCJ passed onto Paragon, 15 years on and I owe more than the CCJ Hi all, I really could do with some advice and hopefully direction on this matter as I am yet another unfortunate who has had interest reinstated by Paragon. Previously Universal Credit. Having read numerous parts of the Consumer credit act 1974 I think I may just e able to stand up to them and hopefully help others reading this site also. Typically I am concerned that I am reading it with a bias eye and what have found will get blown straight out of the water by Paragon. Here is my story I will try to give you as much detail without boring you so please stick with it. My story I took out a loan with Universal Credit in 1994 for £8,000 to try and consolidate a few other debts I already had, they had an interest rate of 39.9% PA but at the time it seemed like a good idea to consolidate what debts I could. In 1995 after a change in circumstances I fell behind with this and about 3 other debts. This resulted in me having a few CCJ’s entered against me. Universal Credit accepted a monthly payment of £50 and entered a Judgement against me for £10,141 to be paid back at £50 per month with no end date. To my knowledge I have all the letters ever sent to me including Paragons welcome letter in 1998 etc etc and no mention of interest at all. They have asked me to increase payments which I happily did as I believed that I was chipping away at the debt slowly but surely and as with other CCJ’s it was just a matter of time and I would be all paid up. In August 2008 Paragon sent me a letter to advise me of my “current financial position” which was £12,895.45 in debt, as you can imagine I was puzzled, I rang them and they said they couldn’t comment on when interest was reinstated just that it had been and that I should write to them. I did and asked how after paying approx £8,000 back I could still be so much in debt? All I got back was a letter saying that they had been attempting to contact me and that I should call them? (they also had the cheek to charge me £10 for the letter) I did and was told verbally that I had indeed almost paid the debt off but they still wouldn’t comment on any interest. They suggested that if I increased the payments further it would help me to clear it quicker, so I increased them to £100 per month still in a blind hope that it was coming to an end. Last month I had another statement saying that I owed £12,595.33 which means that by paying them £2,400 over the last two years I have decreased my debt by £400. I again rang up on the 21st September and asked to speak to a manager to sort this out as I believe I have paid the full amount easily by now. They again said that they couldn’t comment but this time to my surprise they said that they would pass it up to their management and that I would receive a letter within a few days clarifying my situation. 1st October and no letter so I rang up again, still no answer as my case account was still under review. A few more days and I had a letter charging me £20 for me phoning them so I rang up again and was told that it was an error and they had the phone call logged but didn’t know it was incoming, they told me that now it was in the hands of their solicitors and that they would contact me in a couple of weeks. Last week I received a letter stating that my balance was £12,600.04 and enclosed was a copy of the original credit agreement. It looks genuine enough but on the back is a box stating “Conditions” and they have highlighted in the miscellaneous section a paragraph stating: (a)If the company obtains judgment against either or both of the Customer(s) in respect of any monies payable under this Agreement then interested on the amount of the judgement will be payable y the Customer(s) at the rate in force on the loan immediately before judgement. I like to think of myself as honest although arguably stupid in the past I have paid off all my other debts but this one is now 15 / 16 years old and I just don’t ever see there being and end to this. I have been reading all the other posts across the forums and wasn’t holding out much hope in putting up a fight but it just seems to be that adding interest back on at some point after the judgement is just unfair? They have still not after me asking a couple of times yet told me when the interest was reinstated. I think this is where I may be able to put up a fight? The details On the bottom on my CCJ there is a box saying “take notice” and there is says in brackets (including interest*) and at the bottom the star refers to: *If Judgement is for more than £5000 the plaintiff may be entitled to interest Please note that this does say MAY be entitled After reading “The County Courts (Interest on Judgment Debts) Order 1991” It states that…… The general rule 2.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Order, every judgmentdebt under a relevant judgment shall, to the extent that it remainsunsatisfied, carry interest under this Order from the date on which therelevant judgment was given. (2) In the case of a judgment or order for the payment of a judgmentdebt, other than costs, the amount of which has to be determined at alater date, the judgment debt shall carry interest from that later date. (3) Interest shall not be payable under this Order where the relevantjudgment— (a)is given in proceedings to recover money due under an agreementregulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974(1); This is my first point which I think I might have a case not to pay the interest the full article is here:(sorry can't add links but if you email me i will happily sent them to you) So whilst I realise that this is the general rule and not set in stone anywhere I started reading the Consumer credit act 1974 Which my agreement states it is regulated by and that signing it legally binds me by it’s terms, this is where I found this little gem: (sorry can't add links but if you email me i will happily sent them to you) 130A Interest payable on judgment debts etc. (1)If the creditor or owner under a regulated agreement wants to be able to recover from the debtor or hirer post-judgment interest in connection with a sum that is required to be paid under a judgment given in relation to the agreement (the ‘judgment sum’), he— (a)after the giving of that judgment, shall give the debtor or hirer a notice under this section (the ‘first required notice’); and (b)after the giving of the first required notice, shall give the debtor or hirer further notices under this section at intervals of not more than six months. (2)The debtor or hirer shall have no liability to pay post-judgment interest in connection with the judgment sum to the extent that the interest is calculated by reference to a period occurring before the day on which he is given the first required notice. (3)If the creditor or owner fails to give the debtor or hirer a notice under this section within the period of six months beginning with the day after the day on which such a notice was last given to the debtor or hirer, the debtor or hirer shall have no liability to pay post-judgment interest in connection with the judgment sum to the extent that the interest is calculated by reference to the whole or to a part of the period which— (a)begins immediately after the end of that period of six months; and (b)ends at the end of the day on which the notice is given to the debtor or hirer. (4)The debtor or hirer shall have no liability to pay any sum in connection with the preparation or the giving to him of a notice under this section. (5)A notice under this section may be incorporated in a statement or other notice which the creditor or owner gives the debtor or hirer in relation to the agreement by virtue of another provision of this Act. (6)Regulations may make provision about the form and content of notices under this section. (7)This section does not apply in relation to post-judgment interest which is required to be paid by virtue of any of the following— (a)section 4 of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1972; (b)Article 127 of the Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981; ©section 74 of the County Courts Act 1984. (8)This section does not apply in relation to a non-commercial agreement or to a small agreement. (9)In this section ‘post-judgment interest’ means interest to the extent calculated by reference to a period occurring after the giving of the judgment under which the judgment sum is required to be paid. My Plea for Guidance In short I have had no notice whatsoever of them reinstating interest and the first statement I received was some 13 years after the Judgement! I hope this is enough information for one of you kind souls to be able to guide me in what my next move is, I am currently still paying the £100 per month as I’m afraid of what might happen if I stopped. Please help. Robbie