Short answer....yes. When your friend signed or, if done by phone which will have been recorded, agreed to the declaration part of this is the agreement to notify them of any changes in circumstances. One off lump sum payments are treated as capital and not as income, however the amount of capital held can affect ESA (IR); so long as your friend holds no more then £6000 in capital then the amount of ESA (IR) paid will not be affected, over £6000 in capital then their payments will be reduced by £1 for every £250 over £6000. Your friend can either send a letter to the Benefit Delivery Office (BDO) together with the original letter of settlement showing the amount of the payment, or take the settlement letter to their local Jobcentre where they will take a copy and send it to the BDO.

To answer your query I need to ask a few questions Do you have a partner whom you wish to claim for? Are you over 60? Do you (or a partner) receive DLA care component at middle or high rate? Normally when an ESA claim is processed it is treated as a claim for ESA (Cont) [contribution based] and ESA (IR) [income based]. If you have paid enough NI in the relevant tax years you will be entitled to the ESA (Cont). Now for ESA (IR) purposes the claims processor will look at your personal allowances and premiums if you are entitled to any. The amount of ESA (IR) you could be entitled to will depend on your circumstances and will take into account factors such as: Personal Allowance for you (and partner) Age of you (and partner) DLA care component at middle or high rate for you (and partner) Capital Other benefits - including ESA (Cont) Pension Income If the ESA (IR) amount is higher than the ESA (Cont) then you will be paid the ESA (Cont) and the difference between ESA (IR) applicable amount and ESA (Cont). Unless you have claimed under the Special Rules (braodly speaking terminally ill) then all persons claiming ESA will have to attend a Work Focused Interview within 4 weeks of claiming during the assessment phase. Failure to attend without good reason will result in your claim being sanctioned. The WFI is used to gain an insight as to any potential work which you may be able to do and what support you might need in employment. ESA is not about focusing on what work you can't do but rather what work you could do. You will also be required to attend a Work Capability Assessment within the first 13 weeks of your claim, this will determine if there is any Limited Capability for Work and wil be used to decide which of the 2 groups you will be placed into on the Main phase. Your claim should have been backdated to when you first made contact to claim ESA, if it hasn't then you will need to get the decision reviewed to get this taken into account. If, after the decision has been reviewed, you still do not agreee with the decision made you can make a written appeal. Should you send a written appeal it is beneficial to you if you include as much detail as you can.

Incorrect in this case. These are provided without charge, DWP/Jobcentreplus/HMRC are one of the few organizations who do not charge for a SAR. The £10 is the maximum amount an organization can charge a data subject, not a broad based flat amount.

A SAR can be made to the benefit office. Your friend will need to make a written request to the Data Protection Officer at the office which deals with the benefit concerned and include name, address, NINO and DOB. There is no charge for this.

Unfortunately the council are correct in saying that that your property is to be treated as capital. This is because it would not be your main residence but counted as a second home and must be declared as such. However, the value of the property can be disregarded for the first 26 weeks of a claim if you are trying to sell it; this may continue beyond the 26 week period if you are experiencing difficulty in selling it. From DWP RR2 - A guide to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (October 2006) The full guidance can be found here Income Support would ordinarily entitle you to full HB/CTB, however as it is income based you will, by law, have to notify the change of circumstances in relation to your property status. Again, for the first 26 weeks of a sale, the value of the property will be disregarded for Income Support purposes.

An abuse, yes. Unlawful, no. Strangely there is nothing in law which states that a person cannot receive SSP from an employer and still work for another employer whilst there is a period of incapacity for work; there is no requirement to declare this. However, most employers would take a very dim view if one of their employees were found to be doing this and would be quickly following their disciplinary procedures. For ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) Contributon and Income Related purposes, you are allowed to do some paid employment (Permitted Work) so long as it is not more than 16 hours per week and pays less than £92.00; this MUST be declared. If you receive ESA (Income Related) then any earnings will be deducted from the rate of ESA allowed.

As your husband is self employed he won't be able to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for any period of incapacity for work. This means that he will be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). To start the claim your husband will need to contact 0800 055 6688, he will also need to provide medical evidence and attend a (WFI) Work Focused Interview and (WCA) Work Capability Assessment. There are two elements to ESA - Income Related and Contributory, which ESA he will get will depend upon National Insirance contributions. The WFI is usually held at the local Jobcentre, and, initially thwy will go through the claim statement, take all necessary evidence of identity, incapacity for work and discuss the type of work that might be most suitable for your husband. The WCA is focused on what work your husband "can" do rather what he "can't" do and is in all intents and purposes a strict medical examination. In order to "pass" your husband will need to score 15 points in either physical, mental or a combination of both. You will find a series of comprehensive factsheets about ESA and the process here.

Does the paperwork from p4u state the the tariff as being 600 min unlimited text or does it just say 02 600? The airtime contract is with o2 and you are best dealing with them direct. The standard tariff at the time you started the contract with o2 was for 600 mins 500 text, o2 600. This is because all 3rd party tariffs, even if the order was done online, are classed as retail tariffs. To get the unlimited texts p4u should, at the point of order, have selected the correct option. Without proof from p4u that the tariff chosen is different to the tariff set on o2's billing system you will struggle to get the excess message charges back and will also struggle to terminate the contract early without penalty. With proof it is a lot easier as o2 customer services will be able to amend your tariff and credit back the charges, subject to a copy of proof being sent to them.

They eventually removed the CIFAS with the CRA's after I threatened to sue them for damages.

Or roughly translated, they are thick :D Last month OH receives letter from these bunch of clowns alleging she owes a debt to Barclaycard, no recollection of having a Barclaycard within past 6 years so "prove it" letter sent. Lowell send reminder letter demanding payment, quickly followed by one of their "We tried to contact you" cards. OH sent formal complaint detailing Lowell's various breaches and demanding complaints procedure. This has been ignored. Yesterday OH received letter from Lowell threatening court action. It would appear, allegedly, that A Bartle & co have a basic failure to understand the English language. What would be the best way forward? OH has already complained to OFT and TS. Can she go direct to FOS as Lowell have cpmpletely ignored a formal complaint?

You will need to be on a £40 pm flext plan or above to benefit from the inclusion of certain 08xx numbers in the allowance, even then you are only able to use half the allowance to pay for these calls. They are charged at 40p per min from 1st May 2009. The new price plans are effective as of now for new customers, as you took out your contract in Feb you will need to change to the new flext plans through customer services. It was this, in some cases 400%, increase that has caused me to leave T-Mobile a third of my way through an 18 month contract as per this thread

After my formal letter of complaint went (apparently) ignored, I contacted the Directors Office, by email, to complain about T-mobile's failure to follow their own code of practice in that all complaints are acknowledged within 3 days of receipt. Received a call from the Directors Office on Tuesday informing me that a member of the Customer Relations team had contacted and spoken to the password holder (me!!) on 31/03/09, and that I had agreed to the resolution and was happy to pay my bill??? WTF???? This is now being dealt with as a separate matter as this did not occur. The person I spoke to at the Directors Office agreed that the upcoming increase in 08xx call charges was detrimental to me as I spend, on average, £8.00 per month calling these numbers and agreed that I was able to terminate my contract early without penalty and also receive my PAC without charge. Also T-Mobile are paying for the cost of returning the hadset by Special Delivery once the account has been terminated. For the benefit of others, in the new Flext plan only certain 08xx numbers will be included in the monthly allowance and even then you may only use half of the allowance towards these charges.

Hope it goes well for you. Similar to what I did on my last claim, straightforward claim as well. Income based JSA so full entitlement to HB/CTB but they still hadn't processed the claim 14 days after receiving the notification of JSA nor made payment on account. Council even tried to tell me they get 28 days from receiving all information so went an dropped off a copy of the guidance manual, highlighting the relavant sections - claim processed that day and cheque received 2 days later

As per DWP Housing Benefit Guidance Manual Chapter A6 s6.20 - here, the Local Authority has 14 days to make their decision from receiving all the required information. However, 6.157 will most probably come into effect in your case meaning that your Local Authority should consider making payment on account without the need for you to request this, specifically refer them to Regulation 93 as it can be argued that the 3 week delay in their asking for further information is not your fault. From experience, local authorities will try not to make a payment on account, and a lot of front desk staff do not have sufficient knowledge of the guidance manual or regulations. And for making payments on account if a decision has not been made in this time frame, DWP Housing Benefit Guidance Manual Chapter A6 s6.157-s.6.161 HB reg 89, which can be found here, states: and regulation 93, here

Bank and public holidays can be included by an employer in the statutory maximum holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks (pro rated from 1st April 2009 dependant on employer holiday year). However if your OH's contract states that his holiday entitlement is 24 days + 8 bank/public holidays then his employer cannot enforce his bank holiday working unless: 1. There is a clause in his existing contract stating that he may be required to work these days if business needs demands. 2. A new contract has been accepted or deemed to have been accepted through working practice, and you OH was consulted about these changes 90 days prior to the change taking place.

Interestingly, Moorcroft state that they have confirmed your residency with a public utility company. Did you give your permission to Moorcroft to discuss any account you may hold with utility companies, and did you give the utility company your permission to discuss the account with a 3rd party?? Chances are that you didn't, so add a breach of the Data Protection Act into the mix as well.

Would a 100% increase still not be classed as detrimental as I make numerous calls to 08xx numbers. If it was only the odd one or 2 then fair enough but on average I make 10-20 calls per month. Also T-Mobile charge different rates to 08xx numbers depending on which price plan you have ie Flext, Solo or Combi.

Received a text notification that T-Mobile, as from 1st May, will be charging 40p per min for calling 08xx numbers. On their Flext price plans this represents an increase of 100%, for Solo and Combi plans it is an increase of 33.3%. According to their own T&C, this allows me to terminate my contract a the increase is of material detriment. Not according to a T-Mobile manager it does not:-x:-x as they are arguing that calls to 08xx are outside of the price plans which means that 7.2.5.2 does not apply, nor does 7.2.5.2 as the increase is not of material detriment. I could have one of the new Flext price plans which will include 08xx from the monthly allowance but I would have to pay £40 per month, as a percentage increase this is 33.3% more than my current monthly charge. They have informed me that I can terminate early so long as I'm prepared to pay £340 in termination fees. However on this page it states: and on the tariff pages the call charges come under "View plan details" This, to me, implies that whilst calls made to 08xx are not dedcted from the monthly allowance, they are charges for calling are part of the price plan. Would I be correct in assuming that as T-Mobile are insisting that call charges to 08xx are not part of the price plans, nor do they consider the increase in charge to be of material detriment, that the contract now falls foul of the UTCC and CPUTR?

How many working days can be allowed for service where a creditor uses the likes of TNT Post or UK Mail?

Recorded delivery - yes, Special Delivery - no. 1st Credit's correct address: 1st Credit The Omnibus Building Lesbourne Road REIGATE RH2 7LD Although on their letters they list the postcode as being RH2 7JP which Royal Mail says is incorrect. Shows how good they are

Know that feeling well, academically I'm trained as an electronics technician and a sparky. Couldn't find employment in those areas at the time as had no experience - the usual circle of can't get experience if can't get a job, can't get a job as haven't experience; ended up falling in to CS call centre work which I love to hate and hate to love. Even if you apply for a vacancy with the DWP you are put into a waiting list if you are successful at interview, fortunately my advisor can see that I "technically" have a firm and accepted job offer, but am waiting for them to give a start date. Anyways back to the job hunt.

Sorry, even with my screen magnification software and screen reader I can't make all of the letter out, though I have been able to make out that the FOS are saying they cannot deal with your complaint but not the reasoning as to why. You'll need to rescan the letter to a larger image or pdf file.

Sounds like a company I used to work for, who are owned by a major utility company, until the utility company took the contract back in house. Anyways, back to the subject... Not all staff at job centres are bad at what they do, there are some helpful staff out there it's just that they are few and far between. There is a lot to be said for people skills training From experience in the past, I have never gained employment through any of the job centre vacancies and my advisor has agreed that it is unlikely that I will find a suitable vacancy in my area for my skills through the job centre as the vast majority of the vacancies they have are either in care or warehouse vacancies which require flt licences, which I don't have. However I will not rule out a job just because it doesn't match my exact skillset requirement, I would much prefer to be in employment that having to rely on JSA each fortnight. I agree that the job centre is not currently set up in a way which will be able to help those who have, for want of a better word, more "unique" requirements in their employment needs as previously the vast majority of people using the service were young, inexperienced and/or unqualified. Until recently, there had been no perceived need to cater for people who are either academically qualified, time served skill trades or highly experienced etc; now the job centre find themselves in a position where they cannot help those who need assistance in getting back into employment.

Mmmm.... Ordinarily I would say that you are still bound by the T&C of the agreement as the network provider cannot be held liable for, nor foresee, you moving from one area which has coverage to another which has no coverage. However, looking through the T&C for 3, section 10.2c might actually give you a get out clause. "© no network access or 3 Services. We may end your agreement if we no longer have access to other operators’ networks which we need to provide 3 Services, or if we are no longer able to provide 3 Services due to factors beyond our control or because we cease business." The crucial part begin highlighted. As 3 are reliant on another network provider, IIRC T-Mobile, to give them the coverage in any given area, and the fact that you have no 3G coverage which is essential for mobile broadband, I would say that on this occasion you have a strong case for early termination without charge as 3 do not have the required access. By this clause, 3 should actually be ending your agreement on their part

Nor does this county court case set any legal precedent. For that to happen the case would have had to be heard at the High Court