Claiming as a Couple and My own ESA

[AskingForAdvice]

Hello,

 

I was on ESA in Leicester England and moved in with a friend who is on full ESA in Wales. I had not passed my ATOS Medical Exam and was waiting for my Tribunal hearing in Leicester. But now that I moved to Wales, suddenly a couple of Compliance Officers made us claim as a Couple when we really are not a couple.

 

But anyway so now all of a sudden I received a huge package of papers from Leicester Job Centre, with all my Appeal stuff in it, and a letter saying something like that I will hear about my Tribunal Hearing soon.

 

Now I am just completely confused because from what I was told, I wouldnt even have to worry about getting any more sick notes from my doctor or having a Tribunal Hearing or anything like that, now that I am claiming as a Couple with my friend?

 

Can anyone please enlighten me about this?

 

Also, if I still DO have to go to a Tribunal Hearing, and lose it, what happens then to this filing as a Couple thing?

 

Thank you

Edited August 27, 2012 by AskingForAdvice

[abc123def]

How did you meet these compliance officers? How did they 'make' you claim as a couple? I would have totally refused if I wasn't part of a couple. I guess because you have done you have provided firm evidence that you are indeed a couple.

 

What paperwork do you have that evidences your joint couple claim? What paperwork do you have that evidences that your old claim has been superceded by the new couple claim?

[AskingForAdvice]

How did you meet these compliance officers? How did they 'make' you claim as a couple? I would have totally refused if I wasn't part of a couple. I guess because you have done you have provided firm evidence that you are indeed a couple.

 

What paperwork do you have that evidences your joint couple claim? What paperwork do you have that evidences that your old claim has been superceded by the new couple claim?

 

I wrote online to a place that SEEMED as if they were there to help people who had complaints and instead of helping me, suddenly I got a letter saying that a Compliance Officer was going to come out to the house. There is absolutely NOTHING that should have made them think we are a couple. We are merely friends.

 

But anyway, then we got a letter in the mail saying that they have decided we are a Couple. Blah Blah Blah.

 

Finally, after appealing, and then reading some things about it, and going to the Citizens Advice Bureau, it seemed to us that if we appealed it then lost, then that would end up being bad news, so we decided to drop the appeal and just go ahead and claim as a couple, although on the ESA form we put that we are only doing this because we feel that we are being forced to do it.

 

My friend now is receiving £139 every two weeks and I am receiving nothing.

 

Then suddenly I get this huge package in the mail from Leicester with all my former ESA stuff in it and this letter about the Tribunal Hearing.

 

And by the way, just because they SAY we are a Couple, does not mean that we are. Just like ...just because they SAY someone is able to work, doesnt mean they actually can work if they are disabled.

 

We both had gone online to a legal aid place and my friend got a lawyer and so did I, and when we told them everything about what had happened, both previously to me and the things that had happened since I had moved to Wales, the one Lawyer said, "This is just SO wrong".

[AskingForAdvice]

So I didnt bother to even fill out my forms to authoize my legal aid lawyer to help me because I thought that I wouldnt even have to GO to a Tribunal Hearing now.

 

It is so confusing because even at the Job Centre, one person will tell you one thing, and another person will tell you something else. I was told by the Job Centre that I would not have to get doctors sick notes any longer now that we are claiming as a couple.

 

I had wanted to move out on my own. But I wasnt making enough money to live off of. Only £124 every two weeks. My friend was making £99 every week and he told me he was struggling to make it on that. So I had planned to try and wait till I had hopefully won the Tribunal hearing so that I would finally have the full amount of money to be able to get my own place. I had onloy been here in Wales about 2 months, but because I told the Compliance Officers I would be staying with my friend indefinitely, they are using THAT as their excuse for making us claim as a couple. Even though they already know WHY I hadnt yet gotten a place of my own. It seems ridiculous to me. Now I dont even have any independence of my own and am sleeping on the couch with a back problem and ankle problem, both needing surgery. We applied to get a two bedroom place as soon as I got here, just so I'd have a bed to sleep on. I was initially removed from my home in England, because of an abusive marriage situation and now I am basically ending up homeless.

Edited August 27, 2012 by AskingForAdvice

[abc123def]

ah, so there is only one bedroom. I have heard that if people say they intend to live together indefinitely and there is only one bedroom that is evidence enough that you are a couple (in the eyes of the DWP).

 

As for the appeal pack, I would contact the DWP and they can close the claim as you have decided to claim as a couple now. You may need to tell the Tribunal service yourself though that you have closed your appeal.

[AskingForAdvice]

That seems ridiculous to me since the next day after I arrived here we went to the housing place and applied for housing, a 2 bedroom place. They granted that to us, because of my disability, it raised his points... and we now can bid on a 2 bedroom place. The Compliance Officers KNOW THIS.

 

They also know that I had no intent on being with this person forever, we barely even know each other. The only reason I even came here was because the Government has left me with no place else to go, after Social Services removed me from my home in the first place. I had even told the housing officer that as soon as I could, I planned on getting a place of my own. And we even told THAT to the Compliance Officers.

 

To me it seems they pick out any little statement they can, to then twist it to mean whatever they want it to mean. It was just a way to rob me of the money I am entitled to. Just like when I went to the Medical Assessment and didnt pass it. They asked me "Do you watch TV?" Not having any idea how they were going to twist around what I answered, I said YES. Then I asked WHY? and the Nurse said because we are wanting to know if you can sit down for a long period of time. I answered NO I just told you that I cant sit down very long because my feet hurt and my left foot used to turn purple before I got a back injection. I also wrote in afterwards and explained that I SELDOM watch TV and when I do, I sit on an L-shaped couch with my feet up and have to get up all the time. But regardless of what I said, on the Medical Assessment Records they just put that I claimed that I can watch TV. And I was ASTOUNDED at the innacuracies they had on there, in light of what I had told them.

 

Also, the Compliance Officers said that even if we applied for a 2 bedroom house, they can still class us as a couple. I mean, really, why WOULDNT my friend have a one bedroom house when I first moved in there with him? LOL! Geesh.

 

But anyway thats beside the point, all I wanted to know really, was do I still have to go to this Tribunal hearing.

Edited August 27, 2012 by AskingForAdvice

[AskingForAdvice]

Also when I told my Legal Aid Lawyer that they made a big deal that I was paying my friend £20 every two weeks to try to help out with gas and electric... THAT was supposedly indicative we were a couple. (according them them) And my Lawyer told me no matter WHAT I say, if I say I am NOT paying him anything, they will claim that means we must be a couple. So it really doesnt matter what you tell them.

 

I think its because I am an American and I married an English man. I do have Permanent Leave to Remain in the UK. But these Compliance Officers said to me, "Cant you do this same thing in America? Cant you go back there?"

 

Why SHOULD I It wasnt the American Government that put me in this situation, in the FIRST place.

 

But NO I dont have any way to get back there, and no where to go if I did get back there.

 

I think they have treated me this way because I am an American. Thats why my stepson and his girlfriend told me. I ended up having to stay in Leicester with them for 8 months, waiting to get on Council housing, only to find out after all that time, that I couldnt get on it since I hadnt been in Leicester for 2 years. But the only reason I even moved in with them in Leicester, was because Social Services had removed me from my house with not so much as an email or any contact to find out my entire situation before taking that action... and stuck me in a hotel on one meal a day with no money. The police just showed up at my house and I left there and they told me I'd only be in that hotel for one night. It was turning out to be 10 days, when I talked to some guys downstairs at the hotel and they said they had been stuck there going on two months. The Council people filled out a housing form for me and said "we cant guarantee that you will get on housing". So thats why I went with my stepson, who I barely even knew to stay with them in Leicester, which in itself turned into a nightmare situation, which was why I finally moved in with this new friend in Wales. I mean, I am 54 years old and he is 39, and we are NOT a couple. and the Compliance Officers KNEW all of this. Because I sat there and told them.

[AskingForAdvice]

The Compliance Officers said that I should have STAYED at the hotel.

 

There I was, I had my Cat with me who is Elderly and has medical problems and I LOVE my Cat and there was NO WAY I was letting them take him from me. So the police let me take him with me, and to the hotel. I ran out of cat litter. I had a make shift cat box with no end on it... going up and down 2 flights of stairs with my bad back just to be able to go downstairs... and I was getting SO hungry. Getting one meal a day at 7:00 in the morning. I was sick as I could be because my husband had been depriving me of heat... and I felt like I was coming down with pnuemonia. The police men from Leicester said it was the worst they'd ever seen, the mold in our house, that neither the landlord nor my husband would do anything about.... and here comes my stepson offering to let me stay with he and his girlfriend? He took me to the corner shop and bought me some food, etc.. I mean, what would YOU do in that situation? I had no friends or family, I had kept myself isolated for 5 years because of my abusive situation.

 

And the Compliance Officers KNEW all that and sat there and blamed me for having left that hotel to stay with my stepson and his girlfriend... telling me that I should have STAYED at the hotel. Then when I told them how my stepson and his girlfriend were doing things like letting the electricity run out every few days so I would have to pay for it, and all sorts of things like that to where I ended up with NO MONEY... and him coming and yelling at me to give them more money... etc... the Compliance Officers acted as if I had done something WRONG to leave there to come and stay with this new friend in Wales. I had already told the Job Centre and so did my friend, that I was staying here, the minute I got here, and he called them even before I got here to let them know I was coming. They had no problem with it at all. When I got here and called they asked, do you share a kitchen, living room, bathroom? we said YES... (no other choice it is the only rooms we have) then they asked do we share a bedroom? we said NO ... that I sleep downstairs on the couch. This was right when I moved in here a couple of months ago.

[abc123def]

It's a shame that you are not well enough to work, do you think that is likely in the short term? Once you have enough money for deposits and rent in advance you could rent your own place which would provide you security for the future. I can see that you feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. In retrospect it might have been better staying in one area as the LA don't have responsibilities to house you for a set period. Had you moved into a womens refuge you might have had ongoing housing support too.