Has anyone ever heard of these lovely people? My partner has recieved one of their letters today acting on behalf of their client MACKENZIE HALL RE AKTIV KAPITAL/BARCLAYCARD. Stating that if he doesn't pay within 5 working days of receipt of the letter then they will instruct one of their agents to visit him at our home to collect the outstanding balance. I think I may just file it with the other letters received from various DCA's as my partner has never taken out a Barclaycard so I believe they are simply phishing. He has never even applied for a Barclaycard let alone had one and as we have been together for 11 years and he has never applied for credit whilst we have been together it would also indicate a statuate barred debt (if it existed!). Any advice would be greatfully received as I would hate for one of their agents to encounter me , this is my home and everything in it has been paid for by me! except for the food which he buys so if they think the food in the cupboards fridge and freezer will cover the debt then carry on my love! Also who is to say he has received the letters as it wasn't sent recorded or registered delivery. Many thanks Flumps

His partner could consider making a claim for Income Support for them as a couple until the baby is 15 weeks old, this would mean that your son wouldn't have to sign for JSA in thoses weeks, if his partner is still suffering and requires additional support she could consider a claim for ESA supported by her GP giving her fit notes. Definitely need to make sure that the increase in Child Benefit has been claimed and also the increase in child tax credits.

The BC attached to the JCP where I work currently has a backlog of 5 working days for JSA changes work, but things still appear to be processed quickly.

Was it a joint claim or a couple claim that they made for JSA? If it was a couple claim then there would have been an element of Income Based JSA in that for the increase for a partner. If it was a joint claim then if your friend was in receipt of IS prior to the claim then it could have been both contribution based JSA (if they both satisfied the contribution conditions) or if one of them didn't then there would have been both Contribution and Income Based in their assessment.

Thanks Andy, I work in a JC and have worked for DWP for last 16 nearly 17 years! I do have common sense and I would like to think that I good at the jobs that I'm required to do each week. Surely people working in a JC are the same as other areas/businesses which happen to be full of both good honest people and also those who are dishonest or don't give a rats about what they do or how it affects others. Please don't tar us all with the same brush.

The 3 days waiting period actually stems back to when welfare payments first started. It was to stop people finishing work on a Friday then walking into the welfare office Friday afternoon to claim welfare payments during the weekend before returning to work on the Monday morning!

Some JSAGs will be noted with specific items such as contact JSD 3x weekly and apply for 2 jobs each week. This is usually for people who are searching for specific job roles such as IT Techninican or Plumber (for example) or if you happen to have a permitted period at the start of your claim. The majority of Job Seekers will be looking for a wider range of jobs (factory warehouse, labouring, retail etc) and are usually required to conduct 3 seperate activites each week. If someone comes into the office where I work and they have only conducted an internet search not applied for any vacancies then they are referred directly to an adviser to consider if they should be referred for an Actively Seeing Sanction by DMA and unless it is a specifi job search requirement then each cumstomer should be showing the 3 seperate activites as required by our local DMA team. The vast majority of referral sent for a decision will come back as Disallowed and a sanction imposed as the customer did not conduct an adequate job search during their sigining period.

As long as you conduct 3 different activites in each of your jobseeking weeks you would be classed as Actively Seeking Employment, so yu could look on line, look in the local papers, ask friends or family, do something to improve your chances of finding employment (update CV, adapt covering letter), or call for an application form or finally apply for a vacancy to name but a few. Any of those 3 as a combination and you will be ok but if all you can do is look on line because you are ill then you need to complete a JSA28 to cover you for the period of illness.

I can only agree and try asking at the bank if there is a credit due to go in or not. The Crisis Loans section won't re-open now until Monday. Do you have any friends or family members that you could ask to help you out over the weekend? I don't mean to sound funny either but you state you had £5 left from your previous payment can you withdraw that directly from the bank at least you could get some basic food items with that.

As id6052 said, you will need to call your office for form JSA28 to be posted out for you to complete to cover you for a maximum of 14 calender days. You can have a maximum of 2 periods of sickness in any 12 month Jobseeking period which runs from the first effective date of your claim for 365/366 days.

You can remain in the support group for a varying period of time from a couple of months to a couple of years. The reviews at the moment seem to be focused on the Incapacity Benefit claims.

Expenses are hit and miss for non JSA interviews at a jobcentre, have you spoken to the personal adviser to discuss how the journey impacts on both you and your husband (him having to take time off work to get you to the appointment), I know our DEA adviser has the discretion to be able to reimburse taxi fares as long as it is pre arranged via her and you would need to pay the fare one way requesting a receipt to show what he return journey would coast for it to be remibursed. I would strongly recommend contacting your adviser on Monday to discuss this further. Taxi fares are not normally reimbursed as it the cheapest method of transport. If it is your work focused appointment then those are mandatory but the PA also can consider how relevant the 6 appointments will be and may be able to defer further appintments following the inital appointment.

After your Contribution Based ESA exhausts you will continue to receive a National Insurance contribution for the duration of the claim.

The government changed the Standard Interest Rates payable via benefits last year, some cases were paid in error at the previous rate which was approx 6% wheb it should have been revised the current rate which is approx 3%. A lot of cases were not reasessed quickly enough resulting in overpayments which will be recovered by the DWP. The mortgage lenders refused to refund the money so it os recovered from the customer instead.

The decisions regarding misconduct take time to be decided. The DMA team need to contact the previous employer to establish what ground the employment ended, depending on those answers the customer may be contacted to give further information by answering questions in written form, suprisingly the majority of the cases I see to refer for decisions have a repky from an employer but no answers from the customer. Sanctions if imposed can be anything from 2 to 26 weeks. If you friend feels that the decision was unfair or incorrect then they need to write a letter of reconsideration and tey will need to either answer the questions posed by the DMA team or provide new and subsequent information for a reconsideration to proceed. If there is no new information to provide then they will need to request that the decision is sent for an appeal but this can take several months. As his Contribution JSA had exhausted did he fill in form JSA3 to have his case assessed for Income Based JSA? If not then he needs to asap then resubmit an application for hardship as yes he may not be in a vunerable group but he may be entitled still.

bump!

I'm glad you are making process, I remember your original story from a couple of weeks ago.

It would also depend what rate of JSA he was originally awarded. Hardship cannot be considered if the erson who has been sanctioned was only receiving Contribution based JSA. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch35.pdf

What we advise if you come into a JCP office is as follows, to ask you employer if it is possible to have an advance of wages or an interim payment out of the wages over a couple of weeks (as advised above but I can't word it as well ) if that is not an option then to approach your bank to enquire about an overdraft or extension of an overdraft. Crisis Loans would need to know that you have taken steps to source the money from elsewhere.

You will have to declare any hours you work as it is your household income during the financial year that affects payments of tax credits.

The wheely case contains the documents of other cases the are due to visit as the cases have to go out and about with the ifficer but they cannot be left unattended in a car. The case the officer is about interview is removed and put in the briefcase as they arrive at the address where tey are due to interview. Additional stationary items etc are also kept in the suitcase.

It's 6 months from the date of the decision not the tribunal as tribunals can take a long time to be heard!

The statement that you gave along with the form CP2(LT) will be referred to a DM for a decision to be made about your claim.

Yes while he was not able to be part of any benefit claim he was ignored but as soon as his visa was changed it would have affected your claim. This was a change in circumstances that you would have been required to notify the HMRC about and timeously within 3 months. As soon as his visa was changed your childcare costs would have stopped as techincally there would be no requirement for childcare as there was a responsible person (acting in place of parent regardless if biological parent or not) in the household who could take over the childcare. It will be a bit of a grey area regarding the period that he moved out as you will need to establish if you were maritally separated or not, just because he wasn't living in the same house doesn't mean that you weren't still together as lots of couple spend time apart either through health or work commitments. When are you due to speak to them?

Yes it is standard procedure, after Civil relationships became legal the legislation had to be updated and altered to include 2 or more people of the opposite sex living under the same roof to be considered as a couple. It has nothing to do about sex or your sexuality btw, it is to do with maintaing a household and how the bills, chores and household set up is in general.