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DLA to PIP

January 12, 2016, 7:40 am
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Hi,

My mother is to be moved from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments.

We have filled out the forms for her and sent supporting evidence and she has been told that she will be required to attend an ATOS assessment. However around 6 months ago she underwent the same assessment for Employment Support Allowance in which she received 0 points in spite of being virtually unable to walk, very limited use of her hands and almost daily blackouts, fits and seizures owing to a number of degenerative illnesses.

After months of appeals and such this finally went to HM Courts & Tribunal where she received 30 points. We have a letter from the courts which states this and the fact my mother should not be reassessed for 24 months.

Does anyone know if she will have to attend another assessment or does this letter from the court make her exempt? Although I understand this is for another benefit, it is all under the Department of Work and Pensions 'umbrella' so to speak.

Any advice will be gratefully received.
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Want to go back to work - tax credits

January 12, 2016, 8:29 am
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So looking at getting back into work, i have 5 children the youngest is soon starting nursery.

My partner works full time for Royal Mail.

I have offers of jobs though on a bank hours setup or I guess 0 hours contract.

Does anyone have any advice how this could work. The company has said 160 hours a month should be possible starting at £7 an hour.

My partner is on roughly £23-£24k a year but as and when I go back to work, this could rise to £26-£27k if he wishes.

My tax credits are currently around £230 a week for the 5 children circa 12k based on my partners income. So combined say £35k a year.

I'm unsure what affect working will have, I need to be earning over £1k a month if that makes sense, I was under the impression we should be better off for working as opposed to on tax credits.

I also have some nursery fees to pay but can get a better rate with other halfs childcare voucher scheme.

Many thanks

I hope this makes sense
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Transferring from JSA to ESA - Work Program

January 12, 2016, 10:59 am
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Hello,

I have just signed off JSA due to illness, I have started a claim for ESA. The problem is, do I still have to attend Work Program appointments? I am just wondering beause they (PeoplePlus) have still sent me appointment reminder emails. I would have thought they would have been told by the DWP that I had signed off JSA.

Thanks.
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Housing Benefit question

January 12, 2016, 11:30 am
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My dad has just signed up for a flat in a fold as he has been assessed as "unintentionally homeless".
He is 81 and owns his own house but it is not suitable for his needs and will be sold eventually.
He has a reasonable private pension, the state pension and Attendance Allowance and no real savings except for the money he got when he recently gave up driving and sold his car.
When he went to sign for the flat he was given a Housing Benefit claim form as he was told he can claim HB whilst paying his rent and awaiting the sale of his house.
Now I don't know the criteria for claiming HB, and with a net income of about £18000 per year I wasn't entirely sure he would be entitled,so I called the local Housing Benefit helpline and they couldn't tell me what the criteria was and whether he would be entitled stating " oh we assess various things just get him to complete the form"

Can anyone tell me what the criteria are and if he should go ahead and claim.

Thanks
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Claiming jsa for ni contributions only

January 12, 2016, 11:43 am
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Im hoping someone can give me some advice


I have just returned to the UK after living in Spain for nine years
Applied for JSA and taken the Habitual Residence Test and failed
Something I fully expected due to not being a full time resident in the UK for three months


Im after access to the job centre and support the staff can give


With my application for JSA being turned down, I asked about keeping it open so I can get national insurance paid even if Im not getting any other payments


At first I was told to simply close the claim and reapply after three months of being a resident
When I asked about keeping the claim open for the NI contributions, I could not get any kind of advice either for or against


I fully understand I have to comply to the JSA guidelines the same as if I was getting the benefits. Four hours a day seeking work, applying for jobs etc


My question, is it worth keeping the JSA going just for the NI contributions?
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Tax Question

January 12, 2016, 2:18 pm
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Just almost finished my first year in a full time job and im quite confused over how tax works....i got told you get £10,600 tax free then i get taxed on anything over this but i have been taxed every month around £80-£100 like is this normal or am i missing something??

Thanks Zach
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over payment of housing benefit

January 12, 2016, 3:23 pm
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Can anyone tell me how far back a council can claim back overpaid housing benefit. We have just received an invoice on 7/1/2016 from our council wanting repayment of £1165 in apparently overpaid benefit between Oct 2007 and Feb 2008 demanding repayment arrangements by end of Jan 2016.The benefit claim actually ceased in Feb 2008 and no benefits are currently being claimed. There has been no over payment demand made in intervening years until now. We read on a debt advice site there may be a limit of 6 years on this.
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Tax credits, childcare and vouchers

January 13, 2016, 12:23 am
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Hello,

I'm just about to submit my first claim for tax credits (newly separated) and I need some advice about child care vouchers.

Up until now we've paid for childcare via the voucher scheme. I now want to claim the childcare element of tax credits but know I can't do both.

When should I stop claiming the vouchers?
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Childcare vouchers - separate providers

January 13, 2016, 3:42 am
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Hi,

We are looking into childcare vouchers for our two children.

However, my wife's employer uses Fideliti and my employer uses Computershare.

Assuming our childcare provider can accept both these schemes, are there any problems with the cost being split over two sets of vouchers?

Thanks in advance.
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Child Tax Credit Overpayment

January 13, 2016, 5:25 am
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I think I've done all that I can, so this is more a rant than anything, but if someone who knows the system could cast a quick eye over this and advise, then I would be extremely grateful!

My daughter and her partner both work and claim CTC. They are absolutely punctilious about immediately reporting every single change in circumstances - and there are a lot as son in law is self employed, so monthly income varies considerably. Anyway - long story short - in December their CTC payments stopped without warning and, on ringing to query, they were informed that they had been overpaid by £1000 in this financial year and that this over-payment was being clawed back immediately by stopping all further payments for the rest of this financial year (until 1st April 2016).

Bewildered by where the over-payment had come from (all information on received Award notices was correct), we asked for an explanation. The answer, apparently, is that a previous childminder was randomly and incorrectly added to the claim by HMRC.

It's taken us nearly a month to get that answer and, as usual, no further figures have been provided and the over-payment still has to be paid back - leaving no CTC for three months with childcare costs still having to be paid during that period if my daughter is to continue working. The Award notice showing the over-payment finally arrived on Monday of this week. I am therefore having to pay for the childcare for one child (£65 per week) whilst the children's paternal grandparents pay for the childcare for the second child at £31 per week. Neither of us can really afford to do so, but needs must :(

So ... we have raised a dispute against the over-payment, plus an appeal against the decision which led to it happening (on the grounds that it is an Official Error). We have also submitted a SAR request, in the hope that it will enable us to submit new information when the dispute and appeal are refused (which I'm sure they inevitably will be - HMRC being the way that they are :mad: ). All have been posted today by recorded, signed for, delivery. Is there anything else that we should be doing at this point?

I'm not really expecting it all to yield results, but I'm just so angry about how unfit for purpose the CTC is, and how unaccountable HMRC are, that I want to make a point - even if it's just inconveniencing them as much as I can. This is a ridiculous system that just pushes people who are already, by virtue of being eligible to claim, struggling to make ends meet into debt :mad:
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Commons Work & Pensions Committee launch inquiry into "intergenerational fairness"

January 13, 2016, 6:00 am
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The House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee launches a major new inquiry on "intergenerational fairness" – the question of whether the current generation of people in or approaching retirement will over the course of their lifetimes have enjoyed and accumulated much more housing and financial wealth, public service usage, and welfare and pension entitlements than more recent generations can hope to receive.

The Committee’s inquiry will investigate the extent to which this disparity is a consequence of government policies, such as the "triple lock" which protects pensioners' incomes, and/or broader economic and demographic trends. It will consider steps which could be taken to address any intergenerational unfairness.

Aim of the inquiry

The Committee intends to:
  • Assess trends in, and the sustainability of, the intergenerational distribution of income, wealth and public expenditure
  • Assess the impact of recent developments in welfare policy on intergenerational fairness and the interaction of pensions and welfare with other policy areas
  • Produce a cross-party assessment of the sustainability of the existing welfare system, in its wider context
  • Take a view on the long-term viability of policy measures such as the triple lock in the context of financial pressures on younger groups

Committee's call for written evidence

The Committee invites written submissions addressing the following points:
  • What has been the collective impact on different generations of policies in recent years, including welfare reform and deficit reduction with areas of protected spending?
  • To what extent is intergenerational fairness a welfare issue?
  • What effects are these changes projected to have over time? Are they sustainable? What have the long-term trends been?
  • How does the welfare system interact with other areas of public expenditure and income and wealth in the wider economy, including issues of health, education and housing
  • Is the triple-lock necessary to prevent future increases in pensioner poverty?
  • What would be the effects of reforming the triple lock and how might the worst of these be mitigated?
  • How might other benefits such as Winter Fuel Payments be reformed?
  • To what extent will existing policies encouraging work and savings ensure a more sustainable system?
  • What are the options for reform?

Submit your evidence to the inquiry by Friday 19 February.
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ESA Question

January 13, 2016, 7:55 am
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My good lady currently is in receipt of ESA and DLA. She's in Support Group on contributions based ESA and Higher Rate DLA. She has been in receipt of a very small pension from Allied Domecq ( £642 per annum declared from the very beginning)


She has now been told that following government legislation, companies are to carry out something called Trivial Commutation where any pension pot below £30,000 is to be paid out in lump sum. No issues with any of that, as the lump sum she will receive to 'buy' her out of the pension will be £22k minus tax.


My question is this:


How will this sum affect her ESA and DLA. We have asked at directgov and CAB and nobody seems to know.


thanks in advance


shelts
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PIP Claim awaiting decision. But??

January 13, 2016, 9:45 am
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A few people have told me they had a phone call with a decision. But a couple of mates advised me the called to say they had been unsuccesfull etc.

Do they only call to advise about un succesfull claims??
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How do I set up HB/LHA when moving long distance

January 13, 2016, 9:45 am
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Hello I'm hoping someone could help me.

Has anybody on the board had any experience with moving from 1 area of the country to the opposite end while claiming Housing Benefit/LHA? I'm really confused and could use a few pointers.

My situation is: I'm currently living in West Yorkshire and renting a room with an award of LHA/Housing benefit. I've been speaking with a long term friend over the past few months and we now want to relocate to Devon together in a flat share together as she'd be nearer her family and I no longer have any ties linking me to my current living area.

From the information that I've gathered online, I know that it's possible to claim HB for two properties for a short period of time if you can prove that there is a valid reason to do so. Likewise apply in advance of moving if you have a move-in date secured but not able to move just yet (HB starting on the physical moving date on the tenancy agreement). However, I am fairly sure that these rules only relate to properties within the same council area and I can't seem to find any information about rules relating to the right way to keep a claim open in my current area for the property I'm in, and claiming for the property I'm due to move into in another area of the country.

Would it be legal and possible to claim for both areas for a short period of time? And would each claim be entirely seperate to one another?

My concern is that there would be a break in claims i.e. my current one would stop if I applied elsewhere in the country and would mean I'd also have to somehow have to find rent to cover my current tenancy on top of moving expenses in the mean time. Likewise I would like to have everything in place (or at least have some idea of the correct way I'd do this) so that I'm not risking having a massive amount of 'missing' rent in either area before I move due to a HB/LHA claim not covering the amount of time.

Any help, advice or clarification would be helpful - I'll contact the relevant places based on the advice :)

~ B xx
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self employment and illness question

January 13, 2016, 10:11 am
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Hi,

I am self employed and have a long term illness (I am in receipt of PIP). Nearly a year ago, I split from my husband and have been just about managing to keep the marital home going financially, but I'm really worried about if I get ill and cant work for a period of time (which is very possible as my condition relapses - luckily its been on the better side lately). I can't get payment protection for my illness as it is considered a preexisting condition and excluded.

I understand that if I am ill for a short time I can claim ESA, but wondered what happens if the illness is prolonged? I am paying a mortgage at the moment, but am considering going into rented/shared ownership - would I be entitled to housing benefit if I became to ill to work for a period of time? Also would I lose all my working tax credit or am I allowed to keep it for a short sickness period?

THanks for your help :-)
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Very confused and in need of help please!

January 13, 2016, 3:21 pm
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Hi all, I guess the best way for anyone to help is to get it all out there! So I'll jump right in

Basically me and my boyfriend live together and are both unable to work due to health issues at the moment we are claiming contribution based ESA, he is 27 (28 in May) and I'm 24 (25 in March) (just encase this affects anything)

This according to benefits office is a benefit claimed by my partner with me added on
We are in the support catagory of ESA and are receiving £173.65 per week in ESA benefit but when we put all our details into the benefits calculator it says we should be getting about £218.60 per week
But when we call them they tell us that we are getting what we should as its all based on my partner and I don't affect the benefits

Can someone tell me what I'm missing? As we are struggling to keep up with bills and feeding ourselves (so normally skip meals) but we don't know what to do to see where we are going wrong any light or help would be MASSIVELY appreciated!

Thank you all in advance!
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New Tax Credit Claim

January 14, 2016, 1:49 am
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Hi all


My husband and I are separating. I still live in the family home at the moment though it's currently on the market.


I'm just looking at starting a claim for tax credits as we have two children.


I work full time and earn an OK wage. However, my husband is happy to continue paying the mortgage on the property until it's sold.


Do I need to declare this as other income or is it irrelevant as my husband's paying? I've used the calculator and if I include it as spousal maintenance in other income I'm not entitled to anything.


Our salaries are still paid into a joint account and the money is left there to pay the bills. If it is OK for him to pay the mortgage and me not to declare it should we then separate the accounts to make things cleaner from a government point of view or is it still acceptable to use the joint account?


Also, on another subject, is there a cap on the amount of child maintenance which can be paid? I've tried to Google this but can't find an answer anywhere.


Many thanks.
x
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Newbie to tax credits after some confirmation?

January 14, 2016, 3:24 am
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Thanks in advance to anyone who can advise here.

In tax year 14/15 our household income was well above the threshold to claim any tax credits.

However for 15/16 our household income will be down at around £15k. Back in April I made a Tax credit claim and was given a zero award (based on previous year's income).

Of course now my income has changed to a level that I'm entitled to tax credits. I haven't received any yet as I haven't advised HMRC about my income drop.

Am I right to assume that once my tax credit renewal is completed after the end of this tax year (say next April/May), then I will receive a lump sum from them for the backdated tax credits in 2015/16?
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16/17 Tax Credit Help

January 14, 2016, 3:40 am
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It looks like my P60 for this tax year will be £2728 over last years, pushing me over the £2500 allowed increase, can I pay £250 into my pension to get me back under? What effect will it have overall on my award?
Thanks.
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£5000 disregard

January 14, 2016, 3:58 am
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As a couple we are possibly going to be earning about £4500 more than in the year 2014-2015. We've not declared it to tax credits as I believe there is no need as it will be under the '£5000 disregard'.


However just a bit concerned what this 'disregard' actually means.


Doe it mean we will be liable for paying back any overpayment during this current 2015-2016 year or is it what it says and is disregarded??


We understand we will get lower tax credit payments next year based on our higher income this year but would like to know if we'll get stung and have to pay money back
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