Having just had my 1st taste of Council list bidding on single bed properties. You apparently bid on Wednesday when the weeks properties are released to be told next Wednesday if you are on the short list. I am until I get the court letter stating possession band H (lowest of the low) with 25 points well 35 since I got the extra 10 for the medical assessment. There were only 6-7 1 bed properties non were band H. 1000 bids on the estate by Clapham and 500-600 for all other properties. The girl who showed me how to bid said we might get lucky! Amazing also is apparently I've been on the housing list since Jan but never received the letter telling me so. With odds like the above it probably wouldn't of made a difference! Apparently a band H only property does exist and does come up rarely I'm not holding my breath. This is Lambeth we are talking about who are well known for selling everything social property wise and are now going who me guv?

Surprised there's no tips tricks and recommended gear thread so here goes. Liquid - I vape a 50:50 mixture of 24mg RY4 and 18mg AV4 (acevapers organic RY4) - will be cutting the nicotine mg strength soon. Kit - Kanger MT3s Tanks with 2.4 ohm coils and the bog standard top 2 1mm wicks replaced by a 2mm Ekowool one on EGO-T standard 900 mah batteries. Tanks with head are £5 batteries off amazon for £8. Liquid cheap as chips except the AV4 which I pay a premium on as it's divine. I've now bought a volt/amp/ohm meter plus some Kanthal A1 Heat Resistance 1 Wire - 0.2mm with the 2m of Ekowool wick so that I can build new heads/coils for my MT3s tanks. Next step for me with be a variable voltage battery holder like the VAMO. So what you all vaping? For the best beginers guide to kit etc see here http://allaboute-cigarettes.proboards.com/thread/28309/pics-vids-get-started-abbreviations It does all look intimidating at 1st but I highly recommend going the rebuild-able route as you for a couple of quid outlay replace and tinker slightly with things to solve common issues. I paid £4 for 10 meters of coil wire and 2 meters of Ekowool. Once I figure out how to use me volt meter I'm building my 1st head around the 2mm Ekowool. You should also search youtube for how to clean and dry burn your kit for longer life.

They're the crack of NRT! Very effective but also very expensive. If you have a look at online chemists you can get some very good deals on 3 packs of Nicorete branded also Boots and other small local chemists do 3rd off promotions on all NRT products every now and again so it's worth stocking up when they are on. The issue for me with them was there is only 1 strength. I would have liked to have a low nicotine one to ease the spray down in a more gradual manor once your down to 1-3 snorts a day. I use to save all my near empties and use them to try an wean me off. They were also at times very hard to find in stock anywhere which is why I started buying online. Loads of fun with smokers trying yours in the pub. Red streaming eyes and coughing fits If that fails have a think about the so called E-Cigs. They give you a lot of control over nicotine liquid strengths, delivery method and flavours. It's also pretty cheap once you figure out the basics, get the right vaping device for you and learn where to buy liquid and bits n bobs.

Quick question..... Why did you miss the appointment? Plus did you actually appeal the FTA (Fail to attend) or just accept the DWP decision after a reconsideration? If the latter you might want to think about a late appeal or trying again to get them to reconsider. See this thread for more info on a successful FTA an ESA assessment http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?372590-ESA-Stopped-for-failing-to-attend-appointment.-Can-somebody-please-help&highlight=speedfreek

Almost Antone No ESA is payable until after a new LCW decision is made and either 1, it is decided you have LCW 2, you appeal the decision that you do not have LCW With 1 you will be paid whatever group rate you get + basic, whilst 2, the basic/assessment rate will be paid until decided by a tribunal. Plus what 45002 asked is this a failure to attend an assessment or a LCW decision. If it's the former then the DWP/ATOS are supposed to prioritize a new WCA medical appointment. Although this does take some reminding.

You need to read up on the Health Work Wellbeing program run by the DWP. CBT is designed to be measurable for statistical outcomes. Since these were devised by and constantly tweaked by the DWP for the DWP need I say any more? The aim of a CBT therapist is now not what the patient wants or needs but to achieve a quick reduction in measurable test scores to produce the desired outcome result for the DWP. It's a tick box excise to produce favourable statistics. One of the reasons the success rate of CBT is so high is that everybody no matter how many times they go through CBT is treated for statistics as a new patient. So complete a CBT course relapse the next day and hey presto your a new patient rinse and repeat. Ignoring the very real fact that 50% + of CBT patients relapse within 6 months is quite a nifty fiddle. IAPT were incepted and micro managed by the DWP in partnership with the NHS, completely defunded then handed over fully for the NHS to run. GPs were then told last year that everything has to now go via IAPT and all freedom for GPs to refer to anything else was ended. The reason for this was that it was envisaged that their would be more and greater variation of treatments being funded by other parts of the Health Work and Wellbeing program i.e. the Work Program. The funding for this was all pulled in 2010 but the plans to end all access to secondary services via GPs/NHS carried on full steam ahead. Lots of expensive therapists and prime hospital land to be disposed of replaced by a 10 minute triage call via IAPT. I could go on all day but I'm going to finish steam cleaning my oven to destress.

Have you asked your GP if they have a charity they can sign post you too? Or if your lucky enough to be in secondary NHS service care Mental Health team/psychologist etc they might have access to help or a charity too. My GP sign posted me to these folks http://www.shp.org.uk/ With £750 rent I'm assuming London but there's various S.E. locations that would be normal for. You really also should give SHELTER a call on the free national advice line 0808 800 4444

No don't think they meant that hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" So GP/Doctor/Nurses all pledge to save us via an oath to the river horse - no pigs mentioned at all tbf.

there's a rather good guide to obtaining and maintaining your NHS records in the NHS sub forum sticky section *cough* Your bang on tbf. This is an absolute non story which is trotted out 2-3 times a year for various indignation, uproar and shock factors. £10 for computerised (upto £50 for non) it costs for any NHS record. These come with the added advantage that you can pick n choose what exactly you want to present with the relative safety that ATOS/DWP will never ask for them so will never know what they are missing. Lord Fraud said it's a simple benefit where by we do not need these pesky letters. Also for most a GP will have minimal meaningful contact with a patient so...... Most if not all letters from them will be absolutely useless. Sometimes they'll be so wrong to be detrimental to your case. 2 years ago the DWP sent my then GP a form asking various questions for DLA - every answer is........ "I do not know." Brilliant Except for a DS1500 (? - terminal illness) request expect absolute gibbins, tish n piffle tbf. The DWP contract with GPs is £35 (I can look this up on my copy of my patient record if you like) My then surgery charged the local advice center under the legal aid contract (Surgery and Advice Center were actually in partnership together as the advice center gave weekly briefing to the surgery on benefits etc) £89 for my patient records. It cost me £10 for them when I requested. Plus remember this ain't Kansas - GP's are very busy, work long hours and are extremely over worked given the fact that they have life n death decisions to make. They have a 10 minute slot for an appointment. How long do you think it would take then to fully review your records (some will have to be retrieved from paper filling) then write up a comprehensive and full report on that within the various benefit criteria that exist? Which would you rather have GP learning new diagnostics and medical guidance to save multiple lives or how to correctly format and write a letter to the DWP? I look forward to your comments 45002 on how my GP who has spent 40 minutes with me knows more about me than my counselor with more than 60 weeks of 50 minute contact with me might be valid? It took me 6 months to convince her to contact my private councilor as the NHS is full of wrong assumptions!

The recommendation runs from the date of the original decision so this is correct. So we take this mornings run down Appeal won Aug 2012 - 6-9 months on appeal so lets say decision date is Jan/Feb 2012. ATOS will send out an ESA50 some 13 weeks prior to new WCA assessment so Aug with return date in Sept. 3-4 months wait (i think this wait is edging ever upwards) for decision to call for WCA = Jan/Feb 2014 Jan/Feb 2012 to Jan Feb 2014 = 24 months give or take a lot of assumptions. The earlier sending out of an ESA50 by ATOS would more than likely be due to administrative error either by ATOS or the DWP when recording the appeal decision or if an earlier date from the original decision had not been replaced by the new one of 24 months.

You really need to give the SHELTER national help line a bell for this. They can talk you through and advise you on what to do to make a homelessness application with the local council. Very helpful they are too. Then you'll probably need to approach her GP 1, to see if they have a charity/service they sign post homeless people too & 2, for a letter to support her homeless application with the council due to mental health/medical grounds. My GP has just dome both for me so it's well worth asking.

Whilst I commend your fortitude Bakatcha I suggest providing the information they request then making the complaint to recover the £!0 to anybody who needs it urgently. For cases like these one thing you will certainly need to ask for specifically is the Work Program Providers postal logs. They have to keep an accurate log of everything they posted. If they do not or they can not provide the information then it's an easy win at tribunal stage. It may even convince a DM to reconsider in your favour if you argue your case well enough. See here on this thread for a result on an ATOS failure to attend due to missing post. I didn't expect bs0lth to get anywhere until tribunal but it just goes to show what a bit of tenacity with a DM when your right achieves. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?372590-ESA-Stopped-for-failing-to-attend-appointment.-Can-somebody-please-help&p=4199450&viewfull=1#post4199450 The rightsnet thread linked explains the arguments. Whilst that's for DWP/ATOS there must exist a minimum standard for DWP/Work Program which follows the same basic line. If they can not produce the evidence then it's down to credibility of each witness at tribunal. bs0lth played a blinder tbf

Would a Subject Access Request to the WPP also requesting the postal logs be a good idea in this situation? All WP mail out should be logged. If a letter is not fully recorded as sent, has a different sent date/address or a copy of it not stored it's an easy win at tribunal. Just a thought as it's how you always beat missed ATOS appointments due to missing letters for ESA when it gets to the tribunal. Their logs only show something was sent and there is no copy of the letters.

Am I missing something here? You will have an accurate with no possibility of error record of the tribunal! Surely that's better than a transcript based on the judges notes? Why are you not happy about this?

http://www.simplywhois.com/whois/jsajobs.org.uk http://www.[problem]adviser.com/check-website/jsajobs.org.uk Interesting [edited by site team]

10p to upgrade it to 1st class and a free proof of postage certificate from the post office job done. Call 7-10 days later the ESA helpline to check receipt. Never heard of the DWP over ruling general postage rules (that since they are not the post office and have no say in the matter) or stating such on an envelope?

It's going to be very difficult to advise you/her on here. If you want to help her I suggest you do some research on whether there are any local community/religious groups, Advice Centers, Charities etc that speak her language and can offer local support/assistance. Then persuade her to contact them. Although you may have best intentions at heart you're to far removed to be of practical help. This is quite complex and will not get any less so so....... The appeal and subsequent treatment here would be about not fully understanding what she was signing? There's also the fact of would it be considered reasonable to ask somebody with limited English skills to follow the actions on that Job Seakers Agreement? Then we have should the Job Center offered her additional help with interpretation and also learning English. They could also hopefully advise her on local college courses in both basic English and computer literacy and how to get these funded either by the EU or DWP. She's looking at 6-12 months wait on the appeal so keeping that going goes without saying. She also should look at ways of making things easier for herself for the future. Having worked and lived abroad you tend to have a language subset based solely on the environment you are working in. I can still identify 50 types of mango in Hebrew on sight and can order a beer in almost every country on the globe but amazingly it's not much help on an official form in any language.

OP a quick search pulled up this thread - Flumps is one of our helpful resident JCP advisors so knows her shizzle. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?297379-what-happens-if-you-cant-sign-on-because-you-are-in-a-different-part-of-the-country There shouldn't be an issue with signing on temporarily at any other job center in any other part of the country as long as you stick to the terms of your JSAG Job Seekers Agreement. Now staying to fix up the boat could be seen by JCP as intentionally making yourself unavailable for work. So did you stick to the JSAG word for word? Or did you let it slip because of the upcoming job? A fair few people fall foul of thinking that just because you have a job lined up you don't have to stick to the JSAG until you sign off. I'd be a lot more concerned now about a sanction for failure to take up employment! You need to be very careful of what exactly you say and do now. Did you contact the employer and explain the difficulties and ask for a week or 2 delay of your start date? If they said no did you consider even a temp B&B/hostel till you got the boat going again? As for a boat I'm a bit shocked by the reaction on here about it. It's just a method of transport like say for example a car or a bicycle. It's a bit more like a camper van as you can sleep in it. Plus with satellite Internet or using telephone 3/4g masts on the coast there's no reason why a sailor can not be capable of doing their 35 hours a day (between screaming ahoy ya land lovers and bracing the main sail) on Universal Job Match. You do not vilify a home owners now do we? Having been to the boat show at the Kensington Olympiad there a big big difference between what your Chelsea owning Russian billionaire calls a boat and what you can hire for a quick row on the Serpentine in Hyde Park.

Where Osdset when you need him? Right you have a 12 month+ recommendation that means that your participation is voluntary on the Work Program. The confusing bit You have been mandated (you have to go) by the DWP to an initial meeting with a Work Program Provider to discuss participation. This is not the same as being mandated into the Work Program. At this meeting you have 2 options; 1, say no it's not for me and walk away guilt and sanction free - as they can not sanction you for saying no! 2, say yes I will go on the Work Program with you - ONLY and I mean ONLY if you say YES does the next meeting become the start of your actual participation in the Work Program and attendance from there on is mandatory! I explained this to Osdset after he was in exactly the same situation and the [pejorative word edited] @ Ingus actually told him he was a voluntary participant during the interview you're about to go to. The only people who can be mandated (on ESA) are those with a 12 month or less recommendation for reassessment. You might get a good un like Osdset who knows what they are doing & tells you, but it better to be for-warned and therefore for-armed in case you have to remind them of this.

Rent has always been paid on time and in full. So not sure where you've picked that up from?

An AST was signed/commneced on April 1st 2007 so pre April 4th 2007 so I'm not covered by any deposit protection scheme. Think it went periodic either 1st October 2007 or April 1st 2008. The only issue might be with betterment (as he's not the sharpest tool in the box on his responsibilities) or getting ****y and having a hissy fit if we have to go down the Council eviction route. After 6 years I'm not expecting too much difficulty but am prepared to use the Courts if he does decide to be a plonker.

@ time4change2 - I'm not at that stage yet! It's taken 3 years to get back to a point now where we are almost at that stage! Awaiting 1st interview with secondary care services. Something went wrong last time I was referred in 2010. So I'm a bit exposed here in that regards. Luckily I've had my current Counselor for almost a year now and my latest GP is on side now which took some 4 months of doing. I'm writing to my GP for her advice and help on keeping this referral going. She's young pretty and feisty! Plus I wouldn't want to meat her down a dark alley way armed only with a travel scrabble board. I'm in good hands Any way yesterday I spoke to SHELTER who explained the process of going via the Council most of it I sort of knew from doing the research last year. Having it explained threw up some interesting bit I hadn't found and we now are almost fully informed and have a paln! @mariner51 Here's an extract from the letter I'm writing to my GP which may help others in this situation. That sleeping on the streets business I hadn't considered but SHELTER stressed it's importance. Also You will receive a Section 184 Decision Letter/Notice. - If they say you fail here then this is an appealable decision and you can still get legal aid for help with this. They suggested contacting Civil Legal Aid at this point. Saw my Counselor today and showed her 1st draft on my GP letter so she's up to speed. Will visit the Council Friday to see if they will accept the Section 21 as valid and ask their advice for what options of help finding somewhere exist. Then Monday I'll have a chat with that charity Monday who offered to help last year. Get letter to GP finalised and ready to go for Wednesday. I'll update as n when

Cheers for the replies @ sequenci - there's an exact job title/department. I've seen it posted on CAG before but can't remember it. Otherwise as I found out last year you get blocked by the reception desk and go round in circles. Good idea! I think there's a rethink drop in session near by which I'll take a look at. @ mariner51 & fletch70 - Negotiation is out of the question now. He's wrongly of the opinion that I rejected the £200 rent increase May 2012 and that I can not afford it on benefits! I asked for a valid section 13 notice (sent recorded in July 2012) as the Council refused to accept what he originally sent as valid. It also would have opened up some options for me (as it was £100 over the LHA rate) but he's not very good at things like notices or repairs. Once he's cheaply refurbished it he can get £400-500 a month more than I'm paying. Knowing that and the state of the place after 7 years, plus no matter what happens I'd have to move soon anyway it's time to go. My main importance is stability and keeping the psychiatric referral alive. So that's keeping in the hospital catchment area and a permanent residence. I'm not going to cope with eviction nor living in temporary housing like hostels or B&Bs. Which knowing Lambeth council well and it's non existent social housing stock are both on the cards unless I get help/support and take action whilst I can. So that's what I need to avoid/get help with and I have two months to do it in.

Well with a rent increase hanging over me since May 2012. Which apparently I can't afford (sort of true) as I'm on benefits and I apparently rejected by asking for a valid Section 13 notice in July 2012 as he hadn't server correct notice. There was a knock on my door Wednesday and my landlord with witness handed me the following. [ATTACH=CONFIG]44873[/ATTACH] Now I've had a look on Shelter and although a bit of a mess all the information for correct service is there. If somebody could double check for anything untoward before I take it to the Council it would be appreciated. Not looking to get out of it as we've had a good innings and no rent increase for 7 years. The other thing does anybody know the exact title of the department/person I need to see at the council? Also options with them for housing? My Council is Lambeth which as a single male with mental illness means I'm on a bit of a sticky wicket. Money for deposits, rent and moving isn't an issue. It's more a case of looking for somewhere (see bellow), losing my GP, Counselor and having fought for 3 /12 years for a psychiatric referral at St Thomas's Hospital which I'm currently waiting on an appointment for.... I don't really want to start again, since last May proved there be no affordable private housing within quite a distance. I get ESA WRAG, DLA mid rate care and low rate mobility. Can leave the flat twice on a good week, haven't been able to use public transport for 3 years and using the telephone can/does trigger panic attacks. I think my GP and counselor will support me but it's a question of what they can do and how to go about it? It took 8 visits in May 2012 to get to see somebody who knew somebody at an affiliated charity who offered to travel to places with me. After 3 days of constant phone calls (where the people calling could understand why I couldn't leave the house) plus the £50 each way by taxi to the nearest places they were offering. I couldn't cope and this fizzled out. So this is going to be interesting! I'm going to give Shelter and the charity from last time a bell later on this week. Then it's camping time in the Council offices next door. So help with who/what to ask for would be great.

Cheers DX that makes a lot more sense I think it time for me to step away from the keyboard and put my head in the freezer