It's impossible to say with any certainty but it is highly unlikely. They very rarely visit employers in person.

Yes - hopefully the IRS will review it in your favour. I've seen some ridiculous decisions that should never have gotten that far going to IRS and being overturned so don't think that because the Social Fund have turned you down that the IRS will too. I think that all it boils down to now is the items that you have requested. For example, they are not going to agree that having a TV is a necessary item that would assist you in settling, but a cooker yes, that is a necessary item that would assist you. Carpets is a funny one - they don't like to award for carpets. Have you heard of freecycle or freegle? These are free websites where people advertise goods that they no longer require to save them going into landfill. There is no money exchanged, the goods are free and you can place a 'wanted' advert too. Well worth a look.

Not necessarily. They can obtain bank statements in amongst a host of other things without you knowing about it. They can access the registrar to obtain the date of your marriage, and can place you under covert surveillance. If you have a joint account for example and the benefit goes in there, this will raise doubt over whether you knew there was a claim and it is widely accepted that married couples know what the other part of that couple is up to (though I'd argue that this is most definately not always the case!). That alone is enough to go to a court and let the court decide whether you knew that not declaring the change would affect entitlement. A lot of people think that by not attending the interview, they can't prove anything and they will just go quietly away. That's not the case at all. If this scares you I do apologise however you need to realise at this stage, it's not something that is going to disappear. You need to be aware of what information they can access and get ready for damage limititation if they do prosecute your husband or yourself. My advice to you would be not to attend if you feel you may incriminate yourself or to take a solicitor. Normally I would advise someone that it's ok to go to an IUC alone but not where there is a high probability that fraud has been committed. I say 'probability' rather than 'certainty' because I do not know enough about your circumstances to state for certain that fraud has been committed - it may not have been in the legal sense. I would always and CAG will always advise you to tell the truth. The reason being that other than the fact that CAG do not advocate fraud and will not help you to evade detection, further dishonesty will only worsen things. Honesty at the earliest possible stage leads to courts being far more leniant that they are when people continue to try and get out of it. However, it may not be the case that either one of you would be prosecuted. It will all depend on what information they have obtained already and whether that information is enough to prove a case. Your employer has to provide the information that they have asked for. If he does not then he himself is commiting an offence. He is legally obliged to provide the information to them.

Yes - that is a support plan. I would suggest that you submit a copy of it for the review if you haven't already. No, you cannot appeal an IRS decision, this is the final step in the review process. You can apply for a judicial review but that is something done via the courts and can only be done if there is an error in law resulting in injustice.

As above - apply for hardship payments for yourself/partner. You will receive child benefit and child tax credit for your children, JSA does not include an element for children, only for the adults. You will need to contact tax credit if your job ends to advise them of the change in circumstances and income for the tax year - they will then adjust your award. EDIT - you only get child benefit for the child? If you are not receiving child tax credit, apply straight away. Phone 0345 300 3900. They are open till 8pm. They will send you an application pack.

You cannot claim income based JSA because of a sanction on contribution based JSA. Whether it's worth an appeal would depend upon the reasons you left voluntarily. You will have been sanctioned for leaving employment voluntarily without good cause. If you did not have good cause to leave, then it's not worth appealing because an appeal will only reverse the decision if you can show that you had good cause to leave. If you did have good cause to leave, then yes - appeal. Good cause is not defined but you can find examples of it in the sanction guide - attached Hardship is worth applying for if you are in hardship, yes. It's 60% of the benefit that you would have received, if the santion was not applied. I've attached the hardship guide as well. Housing/council tax benefits are unaffected. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=35346&d=1337018788DWP Sanction guide.pdf

What you say is correct - for continued eligibility to JSA, you have to remain actively seeking and available for employment. You could apply for temporary jobs - they may allow you to amend your JSA agreement for this period as you have a pending job offer. As the job is reliant on further information (the CRB) you cannot be denied JSA in the interim period, so long as you are meeting the conditions. There is nothing wrong in applying for permanent posts either, or with accepting such a post - just be careful to look for notice periods. There is no minimum notice in the first month unless provided for in the contract. An employee with more than one month service but less than 2 years must give an employer at least a week's notice but this period can be specified as longer by contract. I'm afraid that there is no other way around it, the only way to maintain an income in the interim period is to remain on JSA and continue to satifsy the conditions of it. You could risk signing off and applying for crisis loans but this would be very bad advice because they can refuse on the basis that you have placed yourself in crisis because of your continuing entitlement to JSA during the period, and if they do grant one, this will be at 30% of your benefit unless you are a homeowner in which case it would be 60% - it will be expected to last you for two weeks maximum and you can only get three in a 12 month period unless it is an alignment to benefit, which it wouldn't be as it would be an alignment to wages.

For some reason your post in the benefit forum has been merged with your post in the employment forum. I'm not clear whether you are seeking advice on the employment issue or only on the possibility of JSA so for now, I won't move your thread. If you want it moved, please ask. JSA. Right, when you apply for JSA, you will be asked why you left your most recent job, or why your employment was terminated. The DWP will also in some circumstances write to your former employer to ask them for the reasons. Once they have a response from you and the employer, the case is sent to a Decision Maker who will decide based upon the evidence whether a sanction is applicable. A sanction is where you do not receive payment of the benefit for a certain period of time, but must still sign on and otherwise fulfil your side of the claim. The maximum length of a sanction is 26 weeks. In cases of gross misconduct, a sanction is usually applied. I have attached the sanction guide to this post so that you can read up about it. There is a specific section on misconduct. If you are sanctioned, you will not be able to claim other benefits as an alternative unless you meet the eligibility for those benefits. What you may be able to claim is hardship payments. This is a reduced rate of benefit which can sometimes be paid when people are sanctioned but there is absolutely no guarantee of you being accepted for hardship payments. I have also attached the hardship guide to this post to help you. A sanction will not affect your entitlement to other benefits such as housing benefit or council tax benefit, for example. However, you are not eligible for a crisis loan during a sanction period. DWP Sanction guide.pdf dmgch35.pdf

There is no obligation for anyone to attend an IUC, and if you do go, you can leave at any time. Whether you go or not will not stop the investigation, they will continue with the information that they have and any other information that they can obtain. There are circumstances in which a person who is not party to the claim (not named as the claimant) can be prosecuted where the claim is fraudulent. You can be prosecuted if the prosecuting authority believes that it can prove that you were aware of the claim, could reasonably have been expected to know that the change of circumstances affected entitlement to the claim and that you either encouraged/assisted in the fraud or allowed it continue by simply not notifying the authorities. This is provided for under section 111A of the Social Security Administration Act, as amended by the Social Security Fraud Act. In practice, they rarely go after people other than the claimant as the above three things are difficult to prove but it is more common in partnerships for them to go after the partner as well as the claimant as it is easier to prove in a partnership. The IUC in my opinion in the circumstances you describe will be to determine how much you knew. From your post it appears that you - or at least he, knew that continuing the claim was potentially commiting fraudulent, so in view of that, I would advise you that if you are attending, you take a solicitor with you. You are allowed to ask that the interview be deferred to allow you to seek legal advice, or as I mentioned before, you can choose not to attend, you can also attend and give a 'no comment' interview (inferences may be drawn) or you can leave during the interview.

It's difficult to say because you don't really say much about your resettlement other than you have been rehoused. Being rehoused by the local authority is not enough in itself to claim under the criteria of resettlement. The resettlement part of the criteria is 'moving as part of a planned resettlement programme after an unsettled way of life'. There has to be a programme in place. This is aimed toward people who have not had a settled life beforehand - for example, homeless people, young adults coming out of the care system, people being resettled in the community after being institutionalised or incarcerated. It also requires a planned programme of resettlement. The programme can have a variety of things included such as assistance with substance abuse, or basic things such as teaching the person to live independently if they don't know how to do this. The plan will have a number of goals in place and it could be really simple - finding a home, making it habitable, teaching basic skills, or it could be more complex - but there must be a plan. Because we don't know anything more than you have a new tenancy via the council and now have a support worker, we don't have enough information to say whether the decision will be overturned by the IRS. There is a lot of information on the IRS website that you might be interested in reading. They also have a digest of decisions they've made which can give you an idea of how they work. It's worth a look.

Which is it?

The DWP cannot refuse to deal with any representative chosen by a claimant. As long as a claimant has given consent, the DWP have no choice but to liaise with them if the claimant requests it. They are not allowed to interfere in the private relationship between a claimant and their chosen rep - the only time they can intervene is where an appointee has been selected by the DWP to deal with an incapable claimant's affairs, if there is evidence that the appointee is not acting in the claimant's best interests. Unfortunately, companies who charge for representative services often know that all too well. They sicken me as they prey on vulnerable people, and usually participate heavily in scaremongering in order to draw people toward using their services. Some sites have been shut down in the past but this has happened because they have mislead people into believing that they were official government sources when in fact they were not. When they are open about who they are, very little can be done about them unless they break the law. Taking large sums of money from people who can ill afford it isn't illegal - but it bloody well ought to be.

That's outrageous!

Hi. Before suspending payment, they must have clear evidence of the discrepancy leading to the suspension. If he is not convinced that they have this, he should challenge the suspension. They should also take into consideration certain factors (including disability) before suspending payment. That doesn't mean that they cannot suspend payments for disabled people but they must consider whether doing so would be inappropriate in the individual's circumstances. They must also reconsider the suspension if the customer claims that the suspension will cause them hardship. As this is clearly going to cause hardship, he really needs to put this in writing to them, outlining what issues it has (or will) cause for him. There is a wealth of information in the suspension guide.

You don't need to wait for a review pack for tax credit for them to make an adjustment to your current award. As Mikey says, you should be receiving a lot more than £11 per week, based on the information you have given. They disregard the first £100 per week of SMP and you are not earning so you should be gettting a lot more than that. They are open up to 8pm on weekdays - give them a ring and explain that your wife is on SMP and ask for a recalculation of your award. You will need her estimated income details for the tax year. You should also be getting child benefit. If not, do apply for this. You mention Wadebridge is too far, are you in Cornwall? If so, there are a variety of foodbanks right across Cornwall. Click here and scroll down to find one The very last option, which a lot of people don't like to consider but who may be able to help, are Social Work. Some Social Work departments do have funds allocated for families with young children in immediate crisis, where no other option is available to them.

Hi Christine. Firstly, I am so sorry for the delayed response. I've not been online the last few days due to illness. As he is on SSP, he can't claim any DWP benefit such as JSA, ESA or IS. I see you stopped working last year. If you were working in the tax years 09/10 and 10/11, there is a possibility that you may be eligible for contribution based JSA. This is only payable for 6 months, but it's a start and is definately worth looking into. The turn to us calculator isn't designed to deal with in-year adjustments as far as I am aware - it's more geared toward a total year award. However I would suggest that you contact Tax Credit 0845 300 3900, and tell them that your husband is on SSP therefore the total estimated income for the year will be lower, and ask them if it is possible to do an in-year adjustment on your award. They will likely need a new estimate for this. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on in-year adjustments. All I know is that it is possible in some circumstances and I've had them done when I've been long term sick years ago, so I don't know if you will definately get one or not but it is worth a shot. Another thing worth checking is housing benefit (if you are a renter) and council tax benefit. You may be eligible for some help with your rent and council tax due to the drop in income. Your local authority will have an application form to apply - don't delay though as benefits are rarely backdated unless official error is the reason for the delay. If eligible, they will of course be backdated to the date of your claim, apart from JSA because that has a three day 'waiting period'.

It's best to give the reasons early on - loads of appeals can be overturned without the need for a tribunal if the details are set out from the start. The real reason successful appeals are so high is that often the detailed information argued before a tribunal is not actually ever in the hands of DWP, as people wait until their case has gone to the Tribunal Service before submitting detailed evidence. If people sent this into DWP, favourable reconsiderations would be more likely, they would not always have to wait months for a hearing. The difficulty with this is that people only have one month to make the appeal and with ESA WCA appeals, they can't get money reinstated until an appeal is in and a sick note received so they want to get the appeal in ASAP without waiting for the report. The best way to do it is to go through each descriptor that you feel applies to you, explaining how it applies to you, to gain the points you need (15 points at least). You can do this without your report, though you will probably have to attach additional paper to the GL24 (write your name, NI number and ESA on each additional piece of paper). If they don't overturn the decision on that argument then you still have the opportunity of challenging the report (pointing out inaccuracies) when it arrives in your submission to the tribunal.

Anytime:wink: Have you seen Honeybee13's sticky? It's extremely useful for appeals - in particular IB and ESA appeals.

Put it on the form - but you also need to provide a MED3 from your GP and continue to provide them in order to receive the money.

You can get DLA and JSA at the same time, one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. SSP (if a person is eligible for it) is only payable for 28 weeks, after which you claim ESA. You have to satisfy the descriptors for ESA in order to be eligible for it. . It is payable if you have limited capability for work, not a limited capability to perform in one particular (or your usual) role. You can appeal the decision but unless you can demonstrate that you meet the desriptors set down in law, you will be unsucessful. Have a look at the desciptors, they are here and here. Your appeal should be focussing on what descriptors you meet as it is this that grants you eligibility. You need to gain at least 15 points to be eligible in the first schedule to be accepted as having limited capability for work - this gets you ESA at the work related activity group. The second schedule is about work related activity. You have to satisfy at least one in the second schedule to be accepted as having limited capability for work related activity - this gets you ESA at the Support Group. If you do not meet the eligibility conditions for ESA, you can claim JSA but in order to do this, you must be actively seeking and available for work. Your IIDB may affect or prevent JSA or ESA if the JSA/ESA is an income related claim. This will depend upon how much IIDB you receive. DLA does not affect any benefits. You can also claim DLA whether you are in work or out of work.

This changes everything. Do not appeal, there's nothing yo appeal against yet. Complete the form explaining why and send it off. If they then come back and stop his ESA, that's when you appeal.

He is appealing the decision to stop his ESA. Assuming that his ESA claim has been terminated, which appears to be the case. Note: It will have been terminated if the letter he got from DWP states something along the lines of "We cannot pay you ESA from X date. This is because....." And it will go on to say something to the effect of that they have decided that he does not have limited capability for work because he did not attend the assessment on x date at x place. If the letter simply asks him to make another appointment then his claim has not stopped. But I have never known them to stop someone's benefit and ask them to make another appointment if they have not attended the arranged one. If his ESA claim has been stopped, ATOS will not be able to arrange another appointment, because the claim no longer exists. He cannot appeal a decision not to give him another appointment because that is not a decision on his claim. It is only decisions on his claim made by DWP which can be appealed. Unless you can scan and post the letter here (personal details removed) or write it out (word for word, personal details removed) it is a bit difficult to gauge whether or not his claim has been stopped. We can only draw inferences based on what you have posted, what the law is and what they (DWP) normally do. That's right, if the claim is made within 6 months of this one ending - unless his condition has significantly deteriorated or he is claiming with a different condition than he was before, in which case he would be paid. If he resorts to claiming JSA, pending the appeal outcome, JSA would go into payment.

As others have said, you can download the form online or write a letter. I'd recommend the GL24 (with an attached letter if there is not enough space). The reason I recommend it is because there must be certain information in an appeal to make it 'duly made' (valid). If it's not duly made, the DWP can reject it. The GL24 contains fields for all information that is required in order for an appeal to be duly made. You don't need to write a long submission at this stage, you can send that in at a later date if preferred. All you need to write as grounds for appealing are that you believe you meet enough of the descriptors for to satisfy the entitlement conditions and that further information will follow once you have received the HCP report. This gets your 'foot in the door' and starts the appeal process rolling (more importantly, this, along with a new cert from your GP gets the assessment rate back in payment). Then once you get your report, you can highlight all the inconsistencies and explain how feel you meet the descriptors and send it in, along with any additional supporting evidence. You have to supply med certs from the moment you appeal.

That's exactly what it means. A successful (decision favourable) assessment (WCA). Don't apologise, by the way - the bonus of an open forum is for debate and qualification of advice. No. The decision of a 'fail to attend without good cause' is always treated as not having limited capability for work. Any decision of not having limited capability for work means that any repeat claim for ESA within the next 6 months will not be paid until an assessment has been carried out and a decision made, unless the person is claiming for a new condition or a significant deterioration of the existing one. Worried's thread does not talk about fast tracking claims rather than waiting the 13 weeks. That thread relates to payment of the increased rate (WRAG or Support group) elements after the 13 week assessment phase when no assessment has been performed within the 13 week period.

Anytime