Hello, 9 I have recently failed my ESA medical after scoring less than the required amount of points needed. I have appealed the decision made by the DWP. I am in receipt of housing benefit at the moment as well. I have claimed ESA a few years ago for a different health condition and once again I failed the medical. At this time I was also in receipt of Housing Benefit and Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit for my daughter, who no longer receives these benefit's but still lives with me. When I appealed the ESA decision a few years ago, I was able to keep my HB claim ongoing as I still had an income from my daughter's CB and CTC. This time however, I don't have this as an income. I am currently meeting my day to day living needs from a small amount of money given to me each week by my other daughter. My concern is will I still receive HB whilst I'm appealing the decision made by the DWP this time around as I have no income of my own? Will Housing Benefit allow me to receive my weekly award if I have no income of my own? I know I will get the basic assessment rate of ESA whilst my appeal is being looked at but whilst I am waiting for my appeal to go through (which I hear takes around a fortnight) I will have no income so I am unsure as to whether I will be still awarded any HB. I hope this makes some sense and I thank you for any help or advice.

Hi all, newbie here needing advice before possible court action. I was in dispute with Aqua over charges applied after they closed the account and my account was being managed by their dispute team. However, Aqua sold the debt refusing to accept my dispute. I had been getting hassling calls from DCA and kept asking them to return the account to Aqua. Eventually after about 5 calls in 2 months i sent them a Cease and Desist email (I know it should be by mail but they confirmed receipt of the email and later in writing.) They have since just sent me copies of statements showing the balance being claimed matched the last statement. Conveniently they had no record of the dispute with Aqua. I dont dispute all the debt and offered them same as I offered Aqua (750 of a 1000 balance - the extra being i believe unenforceable charges --In brief they've closed the account because they withdrew the product from all customers apparently. I have a letter showing this and sent it to DCA. At that time Aqua should have closed the account (to confuse matters Aqua never actually closed the account when they said in writing they would) but had they done it, i no longer had a line of credit and my argument is you cant charge overlimit fees once the limit is removed by closing the account. I refused to pay them anything all the time they continued to charge me these fees, hoping common sense would prevail I suggested to DCA they have 3 options - return to Aqua, accept my offer which is still probably double what they paid for it or take me to court.. NB Till now, they have not yet sent me a copy of the original CCA so i suspect they are unlikely to go to court without it. Just to add all the comms between me and Aqua were via their secure email as part of my account and i attempted to get a copy of those mails and Aqua claim they are no longer available so evidence of the exchanges cant be found. Hence i am looking for general guidance about : 1) Can a CC sell an account in dispute? 2) Can a DCA refuse to return an account in dispute with the original CC 3) As part of the C&D letter I told them I would start charging for my time if they contact me further unless its to accept one of the three options - i wont physically invoice them but presumably can keep a record and if it goes to court and i win ,deduct it from my settlement? 4) Any thoughts on my statement that once a CC account is closed by pure reason of them no longer offering the service, can they charge overlimit fees still (and interest on that overlimit fees) when i no longer have a limit. Surely it now just a debt which needs to be repaid? Thanks for your attention...

Hi. I received a NO ASN required dated 7th of July 2015 to attend court on 10th August for keeping a motor vehicle on the road whilst a Statutory Off Road notification declaration was in force. My car had been towed away on 8th June 2015 after I had it recovered to a garage for repair work. At the time the vehicle was untaxed and was on SORN. The vehicle got towed whilst being in possession of the garage and going through repairs, assuming it was taken on the road for a test drive. Since the towing I paid the fine and taxed the vehicle immediately. Can you kindly advise if I can appeal this is in anyway or come to an out of court settlement?

Hi Looking for some advice please. I was unemployed in April/May 2015 and whilst getting JSA applied for council tax benefit. When I received the full bill, I wrote to said council to tell them there should be reduction for that period as I was receiving JSA. The reply "With regards to 2015/16 bill, you have not been granted any council tax benefits, therefore, you are liable to pay full council tax as per the bill you received. Please pay the outstanding instalments by return". They granted benefits in the past so how do I take this forward? I was not earning whilst unemployed yet they are not going to grant any benefit whatsoever. Should I escalate the complaint? Many thanks in advance.

Hi all, My boyfriend lived in a shared house in 2008/2009 for which there is a £900 council tax debt. His 'share' was paid by CT benefit/reduction, but I understand he's jointly and severally liable for it. We've contacted his brother (who was a tenant with him) who's willing to pay £3.50/week to the bailiffs for this debt. He's currently on JSA and he's had no contact with the bailiffs yet. We've had letters & visits from bailiffs (Excel) but not communicated with them or let them in. Last letter we received was hand-delivered at end of Feb saying they'll return on 04/03 - but nothing so far. I've recently bought a car and my question is: if his brother (who doesn't live with us) makes a payment plan - will the bailiffs stop visiting us? Or can they accept the payment plan from him, but still take my car too? And are the £310 fees enforceable as they have only visited our address, and not his? The receipt/invoice and V5 are both in my name and I am nothing to do with this CT debt, if this makes a difference to my car's safety... Thanks, Gemma EDIT: It has just occured to me that although the V5 and receipt are in my name, the car was a gift to me so the money will be coming from my boyfriend's bank account. If I need to prove ownership, will the former two documents be sufficient - or will the bailiff need to see a bank statement? And if so will that be enough for them to take the car on the grounds it is jointly owned? Apologies if I am sounding paranoid or jumping the gun...

Hello CAG posters, Any advice on my current predicament would be MUCH appreciated: Last July I was caught on the TFL network for using a friend's Freedom Pass. I provided my parents' address (genuine, and it was checked via a phone call to Inland Revenue). I admitted that I was trying to save money and when asked why I did this, I replied that I would be leaving the country to volunteer abroad for a year and needed to save some money. My parents received a bailiff letter last week to collect a sum of over 800 pounds. I imagine this is because I received a court summons and did not attend the hearing. However, I left the country mid-August last year (I have evidence to prove this: contract with NGO; entry stamp at airport). I am due to return to the UK in a couple of months but am really worried about: a) getting arrested at the airport b) having to pay the new sum of over 800 pounds What are my options and how I can limit these hefty costs? Please, I know I have been very stupid in this regard, but don't need any more guilt trips. I have registered on this forum for professional advice and would be very grateful for any such posts. Many thanks

Hi brief run down. My daughter who has mental health issues (and covered under the equalities act) was signed off work with mental health related issues two weeks ago, however due to the time of year and the job she does I suggested she asks the company for support to enable her to keep herself in work (IE following company policy of supporting her own attendance.) However, it became apparent that the support was not forthcoming and she went off sick with the full backing of the senior manager. However, today she gets a letter from the personnel manager giving the normal drivel about wanting to support, but if the illness is going to be long term they may have to terminate her employment? 1. She had attempted to support her attendance 2. Senior manager was aware that she was going to take the time off whilst her medication and mental wellbeing were being sorted 3. The sick note states the end of this week when she was looking to go back in 4. The company didn't meet with her in order to see what support she may need in fact, she says that when she went in the union rep who said he was going to arrange a support meeting told her to just smile and get on with the job? ( How accurate that is, or if added to I don't know. ) This letter has now caused further stress leading to a relapse and is in my opinion etreemily insensitive. As a union rep at the same place I am fuming, but need to keep out of it. So what are others thoughts on this issue what redress do others see? Regards, Bill

Hi, I am in 3rd month of sick leave from the NHS and awaiting an operation that may solve my health issues, (tumour on adrenal gland causing high BP and chronic nausea) my NHS Trust has just interviewed my grade of management for yet another restructure - the 5th in as many years -and my current post appears in the new restructure but despite being the most experienced candidate and a successful manager, (having been interviewed by email questions, due to my condition) I have been told I was unsuccessful for the job I have been doing for 14 years. No disciplinary or capability marks against my name and apart from this year we have always exceeding all targets - this year is the first year that has not happened, which is in keeping with the national trends. They have offered my role to another manager, who has no subject area experience or specialist knowledge, leaving me 'displaced' and as I am unlikely to get my operation and recover within the three month displacement period - will effectively leave me redundant. My Questions are; whilst my sick period will take up the three months do I have to consider lesser, not equivalent roles, if offered ? - I feel they may not want to pay my redundancy. Am I entitled to have the outstanding holiday pay paid to me upon the end of the three month period ? Given the widespread disbelief that I was not given this role, inside and outside the service, including service commissioners, etc. - then if this is some kind of unfair dismissal because of sick leave or politics - what kind of financial rewards are offered at tribunals - don't want to go there if it is not worth it given the stress factors and my health? Appreciate any support/advice or comments you can offer

My wife and I have been on a Stepchange DMP for 4 years - we had over 30 creditors to begin with but now have around 20 and have paid off about 70% of what we owed. One of the remaining creditors - Cahoot - has recently contacted us to say that they are writing off the amount owing (which is £1579) because they have failed to provide us with any statements since the start of the DMP. Looking at the other creditors there are 2 more on there who don't send us any statements either. Is it worth raising this as a complaint with them? If so what wording should we use? They have both frozen all interest and charges so we don't really want to upset them! Additionally my wife received a CCJ at the same time as we set up the DMP and we agreed with the creditor to pay £116 a month on a £9k judgement. They then sold this to Investec who we have paid via standing order ever since. They never ever send us a written statement and rather strangely no CCJ shows up on my wife's Noodle or Experian accounts - there definitely is one, we have a copy of it. Does anyone know if they have to supply a written statement of account for a CCJ?

Hey guys, Just wanted to know if this was possible? Have a dispute with the retailer, and the Ombudsman is delaying and delaying with giving its response - I've got to the point where I'm happy just to go to court. Thank you

Hewwo peeps I've just gone through my last 6 years of statements to clear my head for the new tax year *now I've got a headache lol* and noticed that somewhere along the line barclays slipped in 2 x £8 Returned truncation fees. Can I claim these back? I'm just wondering as I think the threshold was @12, but I feel that they can't prove that an automated transaction costs £8 :-/ Having worked in IT for years, I don't believe I've ever seen a computer chew up 470 odd Kwatts of power in the .5 seconds it takes to do the transaction Cheers, A

Hi, I'm a bit confused about the situation. I was served a S.21 in June, giving me 2 months until 22 Aug to move out... Which all ties up.... The odd thing is that in July, the Letting Agent, offered me another contract (18 July) to which I replied "could I have a 12 month fixed AST as well as an allowance for a cat"... Nothing was heard from for weeks, until yesterday that I was told that I was NOT being offered a new tenancy and that the S.21 is in offer? Can I do anything about this when it comes to the letting agent? I'm a little lost as one moment I was offered one thing and the next another?!? The Letting agent event went as far as sending me a draft copy of the contract to go through before I actually signed it?!?± Cheers, A

Good afternoon Hope someone can help. I am new on here. Currently working for my current employer for nearly 4 years, been a good worker however I have been signed off for stress at work for 4 weeks now due to what I would view as bullying from my line manager. This is an ongoing issue that HR are well aware (and witnessed once) of and I am very anxious about returning to work and am actually considering leaving for another job. Anyway last month I was off for 2 weeks of my monthly pay period backed up with sick notes and I'm 2 weeks into being off this month. Last month my wage was paid as normal. I assumed that this was normal policy and maybe because of being off with stress at work the ssp threshold did not apply to me. Today I was meant to be paid, logged on to my bank and no wages but all my DDs are showing as taking me into an unauthorised overdraft. I spoke to HR and they said that the woman in charge or salaries is off but as I was overpaid last month, I should have been on SSP for 2 weeks they have paid me SSP this month but as I was overpaid it means I don't get a wage this month. This wasn't communicated to me, its not that i want money for nothing but I now have a full month and rent bills etc to pay and no money. I do t even have the money to go to work and I'm not sure what to do. Is there any agencies who can help me with some money until I'm back at work or would I be better leaving and making a claim for ESA whilst I'm off sick? Never been on benefits so I don't know what to do. As I say if I've been paid too much it wasn't explained to me how for this month and potentially next month I won't get a wage.

Unfortunately my wife and I have decided quite amicably to head our separate ways. Everything is very civil at the moment but one can't always count on that. We're not divorced yet and I'd rather not force that issue through for emotional reasons. My question: We have completely separate finances and if I buy a property now is there anyway I can protect myself in the unlikely event our relationship turns sour and she came after me for half of the property I would like to buy? (Not sure this is really a CAG question now I've typed it out - but you guys are so good at similar things your opinions would be greatly appreciated...)

This has been posted elsewhere on the site,but its needed in here too. A friend of mine was in despair following Santander not only charging him for a failed direct debit,but then continued to add further daily charges. He informed me that he had called them and emailed them,explaining that the charges were punitive since his only income is Jobseekers allowance. The fees stood at £55 and were rising. He asked me if I could help,and duly wrote him a letter. I was finding it hard to understand,how a bank like Santander,were openly flouting their obligations. My friend had pleaded with them and explained his situation. Santander of course could see from the account too-that he was in reciept of benefits since they were paid into this account. No excuses then...lets get to work. Account number xxxxxxxxxxx Sort Code xx xx xx letter before action Dear Sir/Madam, I am very disappointed in your response to my complaints which were made to you today, and that you have chosen to ignore my request for hardship, I therefore have no alternative but to seek recourse through the county court system. I believe that Santander have treated me unfairly under the following BCOB rules of which Santander should be compliant with,since Santander is a firm regulated by the FSA. Rule 5.1.1 R states “A firm must provide a service in relation to a retail banking service which is prompt, efficient and fair to a banking customer and which has regard to any communications or financial promotion made by the firm to the banking customer from time to time.” Rule 5.1.4 G “Principle 6 requires a firm to pay due regard to the interests of its customers and to treat them fairly. In particular, a firm should deal fairly with a banking customer whom it has reason to believe is in financial difficulty.” Santandar have been informed that I am in reciept of state benefits and that I need these to cover essential living costs including food and heat/lighting. Santander have not at any point acknowledged that this is a hardship case despite me notifying you.You have levied charges of £55 in recent days,and have refused to refund these in your return call to me on 6th.June. For these grounds I feel that I have been treated unfairly. In order for this claim to be settled without the need for court action I require that the full amount taken of £55 returned to me by way of a credit to my account. If I have not received a satisfactory response within 14 days then court action will be commenced without further notice and further costs will be incurred. A judgment for a breach of BCOBS is very serious and the FSA would be empowered to act. Yours Faithfully Mr V. Upset Would the recipients of his email to Santander actually know what the letter was about ? You bet they did! He got a reply quite swiftly...in fact in the space of 30 minutes. Message: Good Afternoon Mr V. Upset Thank you for your email. I am happy to reverse the amount of £55, which have been waived due to exceptional circumstances. To ensure no further charges are incurred on your accounts, we would ask you to monitor your accounts throughout the month. This can be completed through Online Banking, Local Branch and Telephone Banking. I hope this information is useful and if you have any other queries, please do not hesitate to contact me via Secure Messaging or my colleagues on 0845 9724724. Kind Regards, The nice man (who knows his BCOBs from his bankcharges) Santander Customer Services So the message to all those who believe they have been treated unfairly,is to give them a taste of their own famous words when they fob you off with sorry we cant refund the charges..... "This may not be the reply you wanted" Edit. The banks get letters and emails from people threatening them with Court action every day. We know this and so do they.So its essential,that you are willing and prepared to act on any threats if the bank do ignore your letter/email.

hi i was pulled for using phone whilst driving, i went to pay fine at court and was told i cannot pay fine as police officer had not correctly filled in ticket, she had not put 3 points next to fine amount, court clerk took photo copy of my ticket and said he will contact police and if i dont hear from them within 4 weeks i was to contact police. where do i stand is ticket invalid and can i escape prosecution. incident happened in scotland. thanks for any info .jim

6 months a go I had an ATOS WCA. I was ill and unable to attend. I contacted ATOS to let them know before the WCA and they requested a letter from GP confirming this. I visited my GP who after an examination agreed to send a letter to this effect to ATOS on my behalf. A month latter I received a letter informing me my ESA had been ended due to failure to attend and not supplying any reason as to why. I contacted my surgery, who had told me the letter had gone, and after some time it was discovered the letter had been left behind the reception of a different surgery to the one I attend, and never posted. I was told by the ESA advisers I would have to begin a appeal in order to send this letter in. This is what I did. I had appealed before and had received the standard appeal rate whilst waiting for the appeal, once the appeal had been processed. It took 4 months for my appeal to be processed. During this time I had been told that to make any new claim would invalidate my appeal and would save no time regardless due to the backlog. When my claim was processed it was made clear that I would receive no payments whilst my appeal was in process. I contacted the CAB and after a brief interview gained a full consultation. This took a month. The CAB informed me that I could, in fact, claim JSA whilst my appeal was in process without it affecting my appeal, despite the obvious conflicting requirements of JSA and ESA. This has left me with a 6 month deficit of payments which I owe out to my utilities providers and landlord, for which I am being taken to court. I have been told that whilst I can apply for backdating, it simply won't happen. They would also require a 6 month history of active job seeking, something there was no way for me to be aware I needed to be compiling at the time. I'm at a loss as to see how I would have been able to avoid this situation. I have made another appointment at the CAB but I'm not sure what they can do. Is this simply the way the system works?

Hello, I moved property 3 months ago. When I chose this location, there were several factors which were very important to me. 1) A NTL connection had to be available, which the estate agent told me was available, and they even showed me the NTL connection. 2) That there was CCTV around the entire property, which there appears to be by various cameras placed around the property. Since I have moved there, I have found out that: 1) The NTL connection is infact a dummy and does not work. I approached the letting agent about this and got the following response: ********** Response: With regards to the NTL. This is the first ive heard about it. And as far as i am aware if you are in a non serviceable area then NTL would'nt install a connection point. If there is a connection point Joseph would assume like anybody else would, that NTL would supply a connection there. ********** 2) The CCTV camera's are ALSO dummies... I also approached them about this and they came back with the following: ********** Response: With regard to the CCTV this would be down to the Managment Company (SLM) TEL: 01482 328068. ********** Now why do I feel like I'm being fobbed off here and that the buck is being passed on. What options do I have to sort this out? Also in light of this, can I dispute the £120.00 administration cost which they said was for 'administration and credit checking'? Thanks and Regards Adrian

I currently receive ESA, DLA and housing benefit for a long-standing disability. My savings have amounted to £6,500 (which i have declared) and thus my ESA is gradually going down by £1 a week for every £250 increment, hence i thought i would invest the money in a buy-to-let. How would this affect my benefits?? I imagine after all deductions from the rent, i would receive around £200 a month NET. The obvious goal is to become self-sufficient in a gradual move away from benefits over the long term. Advice is greatly appreciated, as the benefits helpline no longer exists. Thank you.

I'm currently in receipt of ESA (WRAG) after having to leave my job a few months back due to medical reasons. I'm doing a OU degree and volunteering but would really like to start earning some money again. As my health is pretty up and down I figure something I'm able to do at home would be ideal. I'm very artistic and a friend has offered to give me her kiln and pottery supplies...I did Ceramics in college years ago so I know what I'm doing. The whole "self employed" thing really scares me though...I would have no idea what I'm doing and would be scared about not earning enough to pay the bills. I'm aware that if I work over a certain number of hours per week I can claim WTC, does this apply to CT and HB too? This would obviously affect my ESA? How is WTC worked out if I have no idea how much money I would be earning...it would all depend on sales wouldn't it? So some weeks I might earn nothing at all, whilst others could be hundreds. It really would be luck of the draw. I am aware of a couple of shops that would be interested in stocking some of my stuff, I know the owners...but this would be me getting paid when they sell the item, plus they'd take commission. The idea is very appealing...getting away from DWP would be great for a start and working at my own pace would really help health wise. I'm just worried about how they'd work out how much rent/CT and WTC I'd have to pay/receive if I don't know how much I'd earn. Do you have to "earn" a certain amount per week to be eligible or is it based on hours? How does the self employed tax stuff work? I'm aware I can earn up to 10,000 per year without having to pay tax, but I still have to file them, right? Receipts for everything...If I'm selling online, what info would the tax people need? Invoice printouts? How does the "money earnt" thing work...Say for example I sell £5000 worth of stuff in 12 months...but I spend £1000 on new materials and £500 went on shipping/packaging...that would mean I only earnt £3500 or do they count what your expenses/out goings are as income? Stuff like firing the kiln would be around £4 a go, that would be expenses? Like I said...no idea how it works. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

My son has received a letter from an insurer who is about to pursue him for £24,000 for a drink driving incident back in 2010. This is the background to the case http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?316662-Pursued-by-insurance-company-for-uninisured-losses Insurer is asking for income details with a view to agreeing repayment within 28 days, or court proceedings will start. Problem number 1 is that my son is in Australia and not due back until end of year possibly longer. He has no job to come back to and no assets to speak of. Problem number 2 is reducing the figure from £24k - I think the insurer is incompetent and not challenged the claim - the written off vehicle is a 10 year car worth £1400, the rest of the claim is car hire (£3k) and "personal injury" costs for driver and 3 passengers. Problem number 3 is if it goes to court should he defend the claim and risk incurring claimants legals costs - it would likely be Fast Track, not Small Claims due to size of claim. I've had all the comments that he deserves everything he gets for Drink Driving so just some sensible advice would be appreciated.

Hi all, advice needed urgently, I am posting for a friend, her situation is this, May 2012 she fled Domestic Violence, the council tennancy was in her sole name but her ex would not vacate the house, Housing Benefits was temporarily paid in her absence for 52weeks. She was then giving a new council tenancy at a different address. Because of all the domestic violence she started to abuse alchol quite heavily and now has the chance to go into Rehab for 6 months. My question is, will her Housing Benefits be paid whilst in Rehab as she wants to return to her new house. I know they normally pay Housing Benefits in this type of situation for up to 52 weeks, but as she has already received this for her previous address would they still pay it for her new address. Any replies would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Hello Can a person declare themselves bankrupt whilst in prison and if so how would you go about doing it. Thank you

Hi I have a lease hire vehicle with Hippo Lease which recently had some work done on it by Hippo. When the car was returned there was damage to the rear driver side, a dint/line approx 5 inches long. Hippo have denied it and are saying that damage was noticed on the vehicle when it was brought into their workshop - utter rubbish, unless the driver did it on-route. Additionally, I was told verbally that the work the car went in for initially would be covered by Hippo, yet 3 weeks later a bill for almost £300 landed on my doorstep. Actually next door's doorstep, they got my address wrong.?! I called the Hippo asking why I was being billed and to discuss the damage to the car. They have basically said that the bill is my responsibility - not what I was told by Neil at Hippo via the telephone - interestingly I did ask for Neil to confirm via email, twice. He never did! I have been pursuing the damage via one of their Sales Managers but they are adament that they will not accept liability. Any ideas how to take this forward? Thanks

Hi guys! ...can anyone give me some up to date advice on the current situation re: permitted work whilst on ESA (IR). I know all about the hours you can do/earnings limit...etc....my major concern is all the horror stories I've read (albeit quite outdated!) about ESA being automatically suspended when you request the PW1 form! Unfortunately I'm not physically fit enough to cope with full time work for the foreseeable future, but would love to do something part-time as not working at all is driving me demented!!! There is a possible opportunity for me to do 15 hrs office-based work, which would be due to start in a couple of weeks (if I pass the interviews, lol)....so hours and earnings meet the current criteria for PW...however, there is no way I can afford to lose my ESA in the interm...even if it does get backdated later on...as I have a child to support also!....Can anyone advise what the current situation is?