February 18, 2013, 2:11 am
After my partner losing his job, we have made a claim for housing benefit. We went to our local council offices with everything they requested a week last Friday (8th)... My question is, how long does a claim take to process and the money come through? Our rent is due on 1st...
Thanks
eppp
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February 18, 2013, 2:41 am
Hi, not sure if this is the right forum, sorry if it isn't.
I had a couple of weeks off uni due to illness. They require a doctor's note if you're off more than a week.
I went to the GP and asked him for a fit note. He said there's no such thing. He said there's statutory sick notes for employers but that they will not provide anything to students for uni. He said he's not going to 'keep the register' for the uni, if they want anything from him they can write out and he'll do a full occupational health assessment at private rates. Apparantly this is also to protect me from the uni being able to get information about me without my permission.
This seems a bit extreme just to get proof that I had a simple infection.
Can he just refuse to issue a note like that? Because given my health problems it could mean me getting kicked off the course if I get something that's more than a run of the mill infection (which is quite likely).
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February 18, 2013, 3:26 am
What is the position when a Housing Association is unable to provide a smaller property for someone.
The person is at present living in a 2 bedroom bungalow, which is required for mobility purposes, however there are no one bedroom properties available.
She has written confirmation of this situation from the Housing Association, is the council obliged to cancel the tax?
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February 18, 2013, 3:39 am
Im not sure if this is posted in the cirrect forum but here goes
My daughter has a medical condition requiring special treatment as an outpatient in london. We live a 350 mile round trip away
Over a period of 8 weeks in March we will have to travel twice a week for treatment.
My daughter is 18 and on DLA but is also attending college, albeit that she is currently working from home as is too ill to attend.
I work full time but will have to attend each appointment with her
We have been told that as I work there will be no help with transport costs. My daughter also has been told she cannot claim help because she is not in receipt of JSA or IS
We are now faced with travel costs of just over £200 a week even using her Disabled Rail Card
I really want her to have the treatment but this is going to place us as a family in real financial hardship for the next two to three months
Can anyone tell us if what we have been told is correct as it is a real worry at the moment
Many thanks
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February 18, 2013, 4:47 am
Hello all, sorry if this is in the wrong place. I was just wondering how this bedroom tax will affect me.
I am married to my now new wife in a 3 bed council house. We have 1 child living with us (her son) so we have a 'spare' third bedroom.
As i have 2 children to my previous wife I have them every fortnight for 3 days and have done for the last 3 years.
We use the spare room as a bedroom for my kids complete with bunk beds wardrobes etc.
How will they look at this as to me its not fully a spare bedroom but it is used as a bedroom every fortnight for 3 days at a time.
Obviously we cant take in a lodger as the bedroom is used on the earlier mentioned times.
The Council say this is an option to take on a lodger but it is impossible for us to do this because of the situation already. Seems to me that i have lost this option the Council are offering because i am a good dad who has my kids regular. What on earth are this government going to try and tax us on next.
Another option is to take on more work to pay for the reduction in benefits yet again this can come back and bite you as if you start earning more money you then get it taken from somewhere else and be worse off!
They were quite happy offering my wife this house and other 3 bedroom houses 10 years ago while she was single and with no kids! They never even offered here anything smaller so who fault is that.
Anyway Ill shut up now as im going off topic and ranting!!
Any help would be appreciated.
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February 18, 2013, 5:35 am
Waiting for interview but not sure if I will be eligible for contribution based JSA.
Worked for 35 years paying tax and NI but left with redundancy in nov2011. Then started to look for part time work, claimed contribution based JSA for about three weeks in jan/feb 2012, till finding a part time job (low payed below tax and NI contributions).
Done this job for a year untill now job ended feb 2013. Will this mean I will not qualify for contribution based JSA?
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February 18, 2013, 5:42 am
The 0845 numbers are giving me no joy on this question. Hopefully someone else has had a similar experience and knows what to do.
- I'm a single parent on income support.
- About two or three times a year I do a little bit of writing for a company in The Netherlands.
- There's no contract. There's no guarantee of work - it's just as and when they need me. And I don't do any work for anyone else - just this one company.
- The work is usually 4 hours each time, usually split over two months. Each job earns about £12.50 per hour. So that's no more than about £30 per month, earned in six months of the year at most. (Hope that makes sense!)
- I'm paid into a bank account in The Netherlands.
- I know this is well under the disregard allowed me. But I'd prefer to be honest and declare it if I have to. But how?
It seems to be a bit too out of the ordinary for the benefits helplines, and they are saying that I'm a company. I don't feel like I'm one - it's just that work sometimes falls in my lap! They are saying I am self-employed and must fill in a B16 form. This might be right, but I just feel that the call centre agents aren't really listening, and I've had so much info from them that was just plain wrong over the last 6 months, that I don't trust anything they say any more.
And I'm not finding the answer to this online, oddly.
What would you do?
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February 18, 2013, 5:51 am
Hello
My partner currently works full time, however he is considering doing an apprenticeship that pays just a little less then what he gets paid now. It offers an excellent job at the end of it and his current one is a dead end one so its definitely an opportunity he is considering. We currently receive working tax credit as we have the little one.
My question is, if he was to take the apprenticeship, would we still qualify for working tax credit? Ive done a search and found conflicting information, some sources stating that aslong as your being paid a wage and working over 24 hours a week then yes you will qualify, and others stating that because its training then no.
I rang the tax credit helpline and spoke to an advisor, whom said he would check but didn't think so and said something about reimbursable work, the line went dead. So I rang back and spoke to another advisor who told me blankly no then said goodbye.
So can anyone help me on here? He will be being paid above the apprenticeship national minimum wage.
Thank you
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February 18, 2013, 6:58 am
My daughter passed away last month.We were claiming DLA and ESA for my teenage daughter as she went to a special needs college for some of the week.I had the carer's component of the DLA to.Someone said to myself I was entitled to Carers allowance 8 weeks after my daughters death.I hadn't noticed any payments go into my bank so gave them a ring today( her DLA and ESA used to go into my bank).I was told I had never claimed carer's allowance in the 4 years I was her carer but they did see I had the carer's component of DLA.My husband had told me they were the same thing back then.So the lady on the phone said I could not claim back that far but may still get it back dated for the 3 months before she passed away.
We've lost a lot of money over the years and I feel stupid for believing my husband about the DLA carer's component being the same as carer's allowance! Well I've put my claim in today for back dating 3 months from her death like the lady advised.
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February 18, 2013, 7:54 am
Hello,
I'm on income support (lone parent).
In April last year, I had my eyes tested at Specsavers and bought a fairly cheap (£25) pair of glasses.
I was involved in a nasty RTC in January and my vision had been funny ever since. My GP recommended going for an eye test, I did today and paid £10 (Boots Voucher), I need new glasses now as my prescription has changed quite a bit.
The optician said that I might be able to get new glasses on the basis of 'clinical need' or I could have new lenses put in my old frames but given my frames are not Boots frames, they said to go to Specsavers again. Then he suggested maybe Specsavers got the prescription wrong last year?
Went across town to Specsavers, they gave me a quote to put lenses in my frames £124, said they wouldn't entertain allowing me to have another pair with my NHS voucher as I'd already had a pair in the last year and the NHS only allows you have one pair every two years.
I understand that but the prescription is very different to my last one.
I didn't go back to them for my sight test as found them very heavy on selling me extras I didn't want or need and they got quite rude when I declined their extras.
If I go to a different opticians will I find the same thing? It seems cheaper to buy new than have new lenses in my old frames.
I accept I will have to pay for new lenses or glasses, I just wondered if there was any kind of dispensation for those who have 'clinical need' (for want of a better phrase) for new glasses earlier than the two yearly intervals.
Do want to get from a shop as have ordered glasses online with disastrous results.
I
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February 18, 2013, 7:56 am
Well here's the story and problem !!
Hope someone can help!!
After beating breast cancer in 2009 my mrs,(partner for 17 years) and I have had the devastating news that she now has secondary breast cancer which has spread in to her bones and will eventually take her from us
She was working until recently when the pain in her bones got too much, and had to stop work, on the advice of her GP
She has good days and bad days, some days she can hardly move about and others minimal pain with good movement.
We enquired through McMillan weather she would be entitled to any benefits and was told that they don't think so even though she can't work they were of no help and only sent a 60 odd page leaflet. I have a small company that only employs 2 people including myself and my income has come down significantly due to me having to take time off work to care for her approx 25k income at present which will further decrease the more time I have to take off not to mention the long term effect this will have on the company to be able to keep paying me.
I have looked at DLA but the criteria seems ridiculous as she can still wash herself and make herself a sandwich I don't think she is eligible
The only help I seem to be able to find is when a government doctor deems she only has 6 months to live which seems really awful, but I understand there have to be rules.
Am I missing anything here? is this really right that she cannot claim for anything? We have never claimed from the social system even though we have paid in over £150k over the years and now is the time we need a bit of help
Can anyone offer some advice
On another issue with this she has a private pension which isn't worth much (8k pot at present) because she is only 45 the pension company say that she is not entitled to unlock it until she's 55!! Even though she has a terminal illness.
Is there any way or can someone suggest how she can unlock it after all it's her money and she may as well enjoy it as much as she can in the time available to her.
We have no children at home anymore they are all grown up and independent
Thanks
Andy
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February 18, 2013, 8:04 am
I downsized in November due to the forthcoming changes to housing benefit. Now there's a big possibility that my daughter may need to come home, but she won't have a bedroom, so she will have to sleep on the sofa. I'm wondering if the council will still expect her to pay an income related proportion of the rent and council tax, despite her not having a bedroom of her own?? I suspect the answer will be yes, though it seems incredibly unfair!
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February 18, 2013, 9:52 am
Hi all, my partner has moved out and I have used the 5 minute benefit checker on mse to see if I'm entitled to anything. Everything looked OK until I got to the bit about a second property and now I think I may not be entitled to much because my name is on a mortgage for another property. To cut a long story short I have a 5yr mortgage on the property I live in now and also a long term one on a house that is in neg equity, that we've tried to sell but had no luck.
My question is, will this second property affect any claim for benefit? (the house is worth about £80k (could be less), we paid £115K for it and we owe just over £100K to the mortgage company).
Thanks in advance
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February 18, 2013, 10:04 am
If I change my bank account, is it a long process for our ESA and CTC to be swapped to new account please?
Am waiting on Lloyds TSB account leaving Natwest and obviously want it changing asap.
TIA xxx
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February 18, 2013, 11:08 am
Hello all,
I wondered if i could have some advice please, i'm about to move out of my parents house and i was wondering if someone could advise the best route for them with regards to benefits
They are both in their mid to late 70's and it is a council house
My mum had breast cancer and is about to undergo chemo and my dad is waiting to hear about a hip replacement operation and cannot walk very well..
I will be there for them as much as i can physically but am moving from the area and work full time - but financially is there help out there for them??
They dont have alot of money, obviously they will miss out on the 'board' i pay but there must be some benefits they can claim ??
I'm worried about how they will cope ??
Please can you point us in the right direction, the hospital have given them some advice but they wont ask ?
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February 18, 2013, 12:24 pm
My OH applied for dla last December. Today we have had a phone call to say they are coming to our house on Friday to do an assesment. Can anyone let us know what to expect and how long they take?
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February 18, 2013, 12:32 pm
hi
cant seem to find the right circumstances for my dad with this bedroom tax thing,
he is a pensioner, 82 living in a council house (same for 52 years)
BUT he is NOT on benefits, housing or other wise( saved all his like bah bah not going there)
but everywhere says pensioners will not be effected ? is that ONLY for pensioners on benefits, housing etc ?
any body not on benefits even pensoners still have to pay extra?
or any suggestions where best to find out ?
thanks dean.m
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February 18, 2013, 1:01 pm
Been told this ends in March after a year - What now?
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February 18, 2013, 1:18 pm
saying switch over and no metcal was need took about 6 weeks to hear back
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February 18, 2013, 1:27 pm
Failed the test (!) got 9 points and told to seek JSA.
1. I plan to ask for reconsideration by letter, is there any merit in doing this? If so, it would seem best to wait till I see what the HCP wrote in the report. or not?
whats the difference in asking for a reconsideration and going straight to appeal, apart from the latter paying some interim money?
2. is an apeal a leagal process as in a law court? I ask as I have seen stuff re judges being involved.
3. Re awarding points per descriptors- would the section apply on its own in the first instance, which gives LWC for problems with eating swallowing food and drink and chewing food? (16 points) OR does this section only apply After being given 16 in the first test?
I was given 9 for being unable to go to familiar places unaccompanied by someone- but then tell me to find a job, ergo I will need someone to take me to work lol, its madness!
Crucial to my claim is the social phobia- they completely ignored the descriptor relating to this despite psych evidence , but of course they couldnt possible let me have another 6 points, now, could they?:(
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