Hi, My brother recently split with his partner ( over three months ago ).He now lives apart from her with my young nephew.He was the sole carer for the first 6 weeks ( approx ). They then went to Court over custody and an intrim order gave residency to my brother with my nephew stopping with his mother for two nights a week. The court has now decided upon indefinite 50/50 residency. Throughout my brother has not received any financial support other than a couple of small crisis payments and the odd food parcel. He has been told that he cannot get IS because he needs to be in receipt of the Child Benefit, which we assume his ex is getting. He has been to his MP but has still not received any financial support. Can this be right ? Also, as custody is now split with each having my nephew for 5 days at a time, how are future benefits going to be paid ie for 5 days my brother cannot work but then for 5 days he could / can the Child Benifit be split at source etc BTW my nephew is 27 months old. thoughts please .

I understand fully if this post is not allowed to remain, but hope it will be. It is not intended to be in any way inflammatory. However, I would like to offer a public show of support for Bailiff Advice (previously Tomtubby) who seems to have another site now hell bent on discrediting her excellent advice and reputation. This treatment is not only unfair, but is often highly inaccurate in what it states. It must be very distressing to be targeted in this fashion, so I just wanted to pledge my support for the superb work she does not only here, but in many, many places. Thank you.

Hi This morning I had to attend an interview with the Compliance Officer at the local Job Centre. I am the appointee and official carer for my daughter who is receipt of ESA (Support Group) and we went to a family wedding in Turkey for 7 days in June 2014. Apparently I am meant to inform them when my daughter goes on holiday for a week, firstly I would like to know if this is true as I thought it was longer than this. The second thing I would like to clarify is that since this holiday someone has informed the DWP that my daughter is living abroad in Turkey with a Turk which is totally untrue. After this holiday my daughter broke off her long term relationship with a boyfriend who she was not living with, they both had seperate properties and since then has moved back into my home with me due to harassment and other problems, my daughter has mental health problems. We attended a Compliance Interview this morning in which she showed her passport, I had to show some I.D. and I provided written confirmation that my daughter is living with me. The Compliance Officer used bullying tactics which were way over the top, it is a good job that I know the Benefits system quite well as I used to work at the Citizens Advice Bureau but that was a few years ago now. This officer was like a rabid dog with a bone and treated us both terribly. She has stated that my daughter is not even allowed to stay overnight anywhere with her new boyfriend nor he with her when she is in receipt of ESA, is this correct because if so then that would mean that nobody under the new system would be allowed to have a normal relationship. I did state I was very unhappy with the bullying tactics and that I was going to complain at a higher level. Can somebody on this site please enlighten me on the new rules in regard to ESA. I appreciate any help in this matter. My daughter is 26 years old.

Hi Everyone, I am on Income Support and receiving Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit for my 19 years old son, he will be 20 years old in January, I was told by both CB and CT that my son can receive those as he is under 20 years old and is a full time student, he has just enrol for his new course and I am wondering what hours does the Housing Benefit class as full time studying! I have the papers for proof for his studying from his College, they have put on the start date and end date for the course! which is Sept 2013 until 26/6/2014 start from 9-00am to 5-00pm! I have already rang my local authority and will take the hard copy to them as they suggested because the would not accept a photo copy that is no problem, but I am now very worried after seeing a thread on here very recently about someone studying for their course and could not take exam all day as they were classed as not available for work, I do not want my son being hassle by either the DWP or Ingeus he is studying hard at the moment and wants to go straight to work once he finishes his study, I am also helping him to look for Apprenticeship job whilst he is studying! Can someone please tell me how many hours does the Housing Benefit class as full time studying??? Thanks in advance! helen

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/39367 Child Support Agency overhaul needed for sake of children and non-resident parents Responsible department: Department for Work and Pensions The current legislation for the CSA doesn't allow for living costs of the non resident parent. I've argued this point many times over the phone with the CSA who are not interested in the devastating consequences this can have for the children or as in most cases, the father as a result of this shockingly awful government agency. This agency needs a serious overhaul and needs to put children first. That means a fair assessment of the non-resident parents income to include living costs. At the very least I would expect the government to make special allowances for low income earners, to include specifically ignoring any overtime worked, as in most cases overtime is needed to make ends meet anyway. And the government needs to involve and get the ideas of non-resident parents in this overhaul, as they are the ones suffering with the way things are currently done.

Hi, I'm currently in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA, and have been on the work programme 2 years at the end of the month, the provider has said at this point I end the programme and the Jobcentre will take it from there and I'll be on 'Post work programme support'. I can't find much online about this, it all relates to JSA rather than ESA. Is anyone able to tell me what I can expect? I'm a bit uneasy not knowing! Thanks in advance

Hi, I just wondered whether anybody can help me with this. I am in the Support Group of ESA and I am also in receipt of both the care component and mobility component of PIP. I received a letter today from my local job centre saying I have to attend a work-focused interview with a view to helping me back into employment. I telephoned them to ask what it was for and why I was being called in for a work-focused interview whilst in the Support Group and they said it is because there is a new advisor at the job centre and she is calling people in “for a chat, just to get to know them”. As far as I’m aware the DWP don’t call you in for a chat, just to get to know you. I’m really worried now that they’re going to try to force me into work or sanction me because I’m not capable of working. They said on the phone I had to attend or it will affect my benefits. Anybody any ideas why this might have happened and what I can do about it?

Hi Guys, Last week I called the DWP to transfer from JSA to ESA. This morning, I received my ESA Customer statement. I am just a little confused about what to do now? In the Statement it states "We require evidence to support your claim. Please provide us with documents to support your claim" What documents do they mean? It doesn't state in the letter what they are. I hope this doesn't sound a stupid but do they mean sick note which I haven't provided has yet or my P45? Appreciate your help guys...Thanks Tom

Just asking for my brother he has recently been put in the support group of ESA, I have advised him to try and claim PIP, but as of yet he hasn't. I have been reading a lot about Severe disability premium, and wanted to ask is this added automatically to your ESA if you are in the support group, or do you have to apply for it separately. Any advice would be very welcome, BTW, he lives on his own.

I dont quite understand what the problem here is, claimant on DLA, partner is a carer, claim income support/child tax credits etc. Do not claim Mortgage relief (barred for whatever reason it was at the time of the claim some years ago) October, the Atos form arrives re assessment, form filled in and sent back (recorded), nothing heard from since. No medical sought (as yet) Roll forward 2 months and a letter drops through the door from the Benefit Integrity Centre in Ilford (about 100miles from the claimants address) withan Income Support from A2/04/12 . Form states that claimant has been getting income support for some time now and they need make sure they're getting the right amount of money. The enclosed letter from the Integrity Centre was dated 7th December and they want it back by the 20th December, just under two weeks. It is 33 pages long, has questions that were not asked the same or were not on the original form filled out about 6 years ago when the claim was first made, some of the questions seem almost intrusive. Some of the questions require quite accurate information, the claimant is currently not really well enough to answer the questions, some of the paperwork required needs a bank statement obtaining/ share amounts calculating etc. All this within 13 days or the threat of money being stopped? Seems a little unfair. They also want 'where to pay the money into' which they already have the details re accounts/sort codes, so why the need for these details? In part5 it asks ' Do you or your partner have any of the following' and ' You must answer for every item in the list. Tell us about accounts even if they are not in credit. but then go on to give just one line and £ amount for the bank accounts? Does this mean the claimant has to say 'Yes' to the bank accounts and then add how much is in each one credit wise and put the total in the box? If this is the case, the accounts are all but one overdrawn. Also, it asks for saving, there is a running float of around £1k in the account that the DWP payments are put in to, this would not be 'savings' but more of there before it gets used (which it does every month. They also want details of the mortgage but this was before the initial claim was made by some 4 years and no mortgage relief is being claimed (they are disallowed by the rules) so why is this relevant? why do they need to know? any help/advice would be much appreicated, the time limit given for the form (sent on 7th, received on 9th and want it back by 20th) seems a little strict.

My son has been dianosed with Autism and gets DLA. My husband gets carers allowance and stays at home. I work full time, but I hate it. I get stressed about the thought of going to work and get anxious and panic when Im travelling to work and it gets worse as I arrive. Im looking for something else, but its hard to look while working as I need time off for interviews. There's only so many doctors appointments and sick days I can fake. I have been reduced to tears just with the thought of work. Anyway when I was off work before my husband claimed Income support with no problem at all, but now Im not sure if its still the same with benefits being changed by the government. If I was to hand my notice in voluntarily will we be able to claim Income support again? I realise that I wouldn't if I was trying to claim JSA, but Im not. I cant find anything on the government website saying we would apart from saying that we are entitled to IS due to my husband being a carer to our son. I do want to work and will be hoping to be back in work ASAP (who knows we may not even need IS) I just dont know how much longer I can cope with the job I am in.

hi I am a single parent due to start Univ full time andwant to know how Income support calculate if your still entitled to any help. My income from student finance which IS taken into account will be £5,975 - I know something like £660 is deducted for text books, costs, and the rest is then used to work it out. I get £72 a week plus help with mortgage of £38 a week - is this the total amount their will work from? Is it worked out over Univ terms 43 weeks or 52 weeks? I am informed that in July next year I an go back on IS for the 10 week break as student finance does not cover this. I will be worst off as I will have travel costs, mortgage will go back up to £431 a month and I have to pay £70 a month towards my childcare.

Hi, Two years ago (2012) I was placed in the WRAG ESA group for a year then this time last year I received my ESA50 form for review......I filled it in with all evidence and details of docs, social workers, support worker etc and I was then moved into the support group (2013). It is coming up for the time of the year when I last received my ESA50 last year. Should I expect another one soon? I don't know if I can be faced with all the stress and hassle again especially as I have just moved to a different doctor............ Thanks

Petition here. http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/support-your-firefighters-1 Thank you.

Hello, I have been sent an Income Support A2 review form and I'm having a little trouble with one or two questions. In particular, part 4 - "Other people who live with you" - says: -Please tell us about relatives if they live in your household. -Do NOT tell us about members of your immediate family if you live with them in their household. I'm really not sure what to put here. My circumstances haven't changed since my claim started: I live with my parents (and a brother) in their home. It's the family home but their names are on the tenancy, mine isn't. I contribute to the household budget for food, bills etc. Do I put their names down in answer to part 4? I notice later on in part 9 it asks "Do you live with parents as part of their family." which seems to cover the same ground, confusingly. Many thanks to everyone who helps maintain this invaluable forum. Any assistance you can offer would be very gratefully received.

HI, this is my first post on here but I need some help with an issue, I received an Income Support Review form in April which I sent back and received a letter saying there was no change to my payment. Then last week I received a phone call from Head Office saying I had been randomly selected for a review. I received the form last Wednesday and returned it on the Thursday. My income support payment was due in today but I have checked with the bank and no payment has been made. I live in Northern Ireland and the banks were closed on Saturday and Monday so I was thinking this could be the reason but also I was wondering do they stop your money while they review you. The guy from Head Office didn't mention that and was also very helpful on the phone so I had no reason to think there was a problem. I have spoken to the bank and they say they have definitely not received any payment. I have to wait until 9am to ring the social security office but could anyone here give me any advice in the meantime? Many thanks.

Hi Guys, I would like some advice please. I would like to try and gain entry into the ICT Support technician or service desk job. I would like some advice on how best to go about getting my foot in the door and which courses I should start with? I am 35 years and have been unemployed for 4 years now and am really in need of a job. I do have some experience of working with computers and working on websites. Any advice/ information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

I found out today I have won my mandatory reconsideration and have been moved over to the support group. I was so shocked, happy, relived I burst out crying. Truly cannot believe it. The pressure release is amazing.

Hi. I just have a question regarding ESA. My husband had spinal surgery in October and has been on ESA since the end of September. He has received a letter saying he has to attend a medical on the 13th February but thats the day he is due back to work and all being well he will go back that day. Do I ring and tell them that he is back to work that day and they should cancel the appointment for the medical? Many Thanks

This cowboy outfit have already cost me my home. They were a 'panel solicitor' introduced by Ratio Money to take on MBNA. They were supposed to have all the insurances and financing necessary to do the job. They screwed up their financing, told me two different versions of the facts and then demanded money off me despite the No Win No Fee, then didn't represent. Asked for court fees which my father paid but then did nothing. Then they sent me a very large bill, no complaints procedure, no explanations despite my protests. Months later just sent their thug round to serve a Statutory Demand. I complained to the Legal Ombudsman (LO) who took it up in a halfhearted way and they agreed to get back on track . . . they didn't, took court fees for the second time but did nothing but tried to get their hands on my house. The LO said they couldn't take up a case a second time and the Solicitor's Regulation Authority said it was a matter of quality of service and not their bag! My MP took it up with Ministry of Justice but they never replied. I sent an SAR to obtain the documentation from the file. It timed out, a reminder was sent but nothing was sent by them. I asked for an order from the court but, instead of sending copies of the file documents to me or to the court they sent them to the solicitors for MBNA and sent their man into my house (despite my putting in writing that they should not) again to serve a second SD. This harassment has seriously alarmed my Partner and I'm now being treated for stress and the effects of their actions (my GP has specifically identified this as the cause) and am having to sell my home. I have, of course, applied to the court to set aside the SD. The court have set a date to hear my application in three weeks time . . . . Frankly I'm dazed and don't really know how best to fight this as the latest installment of a two year saga. Any suggestions?

Hi, Me and my wife have been on ESA(joint claim) for roughly 4 years, it's been for stress and anxiety which we have both tried to deal with. We've asked doctors for help, and received nothing but referrals which took ages to happen, but eventually both have received medication and various types of therapy. Unfortunately, during these years other problems have also cropped up. I myself suffer from chronic migraines, I get 3-4 a month that completely put me out of action for a day or 2, and have headaches that impair my regular daily function at least 2-3 times a week, which I can just about manage with medication. However, 5-6 times a year I do have 'super migraines' which cause me to black out. I don't pass out, my body carries on, but I don't remember anything and just get little flash backs to remember what I do. Which, as my wife tells me, is always the same. I basically lie on the floor screaming in pain for hours until I end up in hospital for 2-3 days. I've been like this for just over 3 years, stress seems to be a big part of the cause of all these attacks. I'm currently doing some volunteer work 2 days a week at a charity shop, hopefully working towards being assistant manager (job I've done before, and honestly I find it calming more than stressful) but I need to be able to be flexible on my days because the attacks are random so I may need 3 days off when I should be there for 2 of them. Which is why full time work is a definite no right now, obviously though it needs to be 24 hours to be entitled to Working Tax Credits, otherwise we'd not be able to make enough to make sense signing off, the Job Centre have made me turn down 2 jobs for this reason last year My wife does not have the migraine issues, but she does suffer anxiety and stress a lot more than me. She also has asthma, osteoarthritis, and had an operation on her knee which did more harm than good and has left her unable to walk long distances, and really unable to walk small ones either without medication and a lot of bed rest following it. One of the days I work (wednesday) is a day my son is at nursery too, and I chose that day purely so it was a day she could just spend all day in bed without worrying about anything, to make sure she had some pain relief in case we wanted to go to the park for a bit on the Thursday when we're all home. Her anxiety stops her working with people, and even prior to the incident that caused us both to suffer with it more extremely, she was already diagnosed with social anxiety and worked on her own as a key holder cleaner, something she can no longer do because of her knee (no manual labour was the doctors orders) 2 times we've been called to ATOS, both times my wife (main claimant) scored the customary 0 points. 2 times we went to appeal, and 2 times we won (one took 13 months, one took 9). When we received our paper work, we score 21 points for the first failure, and 27 for the second one, almost all were related to mental illness, with a few due to the physical issues my wife now had. last week, we got told ATOS want to see us again on March 1st. My wife is in a state, she does not handle stress well obviously, and she's constantly crying and worried. Not only because of the appointment, but also because of how to deal with it. She's scared of saying certain things because we have a young son (4 Years old in May), and worried that being honest about the amount of help she requires from me, and how much she struggles from time to time might make them think she is unfit as a mother, despite our son being in perfect health. I've tried to calm her on this, but it's not working and she's not booked in to see her therapist again, and is taking tramadol at night (partly for her pain, but also because they knock her out so she can sleep) to get any rest Our biggest worry is the change in how claims are handled now if you appeal, because we don't know the full information on it, we just know that we cant appeal and get ESA back right away (with doctors notes), and that JSA would be the way to go, but it offers lower rates. Our main issue here is that due to stress, anxiety, migraines, issues with mobility, etc. When it comes to leaving the house, we rely on transport, be it public or via taxi. Taxi is usually the option as the bus is quite far from us, and my wifes anxiety causes panic attacks on buses (manages ok if the bus is empty though) but I use the bus if I go out on my own, or preferably I walk. But we do spend quite a bit on public transport, other than that though we have no luxuries. Internet/Phone/TV is a low package, which we only have because it's the main way we keep in touch with friends due to issues with going out. We have no mobile phones, except really old PAYG ones with no credit unless absolutely needed, and we have debts from losing our home when we first had to go on ESA, and the house was sold for less than the value we owed on it. So that is being paid off. At the end of each fortnight, after bills, food and everything else we have little more than about £5-£10 to our name which we use if we need to go somewhere unexpected (trips to hospital as my son has asthma too, and has had a few times when he has needed to go due to trouble breathing) Obviously, if we lose our ESA, and have to go on a lower rate, we're really going to struggle. We already have some bills we're slightly behind on, so have to occasionally shift stuff around to do double payments, but it's really hard. We've gone through debt advice, and how we are now is what's best and what honestly works for us. It's a bit sad that we can't go out nice places (unless a lovely friend or family members takes us and pays for everything), but for the most part we can't really cope with it anyway. So we're ok with that. Our other worry about being switched over to JSA, is our housing benefit and council tax benefit. Sorting these out before took our local DWP office 3 months. Which lead to us nearly being kicked out of the home, because housing agency didn't think we were really entitled to the benefit, we actually had to take a member of their staff to the job centre to get proof that we were and that the DWP offices were being unreasonably slow to respond about it. With the issues we've had before, the two previous (incorrect) assessment fails, the money worries and the stress of switching over we're both really panicked at the moment. Obviously, we're hiding it from our son, trying to be nothing but upbeat when he isn't at nursery, but when he goes bed, or goes to nursery, the curtains drop and we both get back to worrying, I've broken out in a rash and my wife as I mentioned is constantly crying. I'm sorry this has been long winded, not wanted to miss anything out. But we really need some sort of advice on what to do with ATOS, how should we handle an assessment by people who have falsely failed us twice before... what's best for us to do if we do fail? what is the procedure? and how long will be in limbo? It's all stuff we can't answer ourselves, and stuff that's terrifying us right now... perhaps it's silly, but it really is bothering us.

Ok I'm going to try to make this as short as possible. I'm 18 and in full time education. I don't live with my parents due to domestic violence (mostly by my father). I live in accommodation provided by a homelessness charity and claim housing benefit and income support while I am in education. So my problem is the following: My 6 month review was today. She asked me if I'm still estranged from my parents. I said yes but I now talk to my mum on the phone sometimes. She made a HUGE deal out of this saying that it's not allowed and that 'estranged means estranged, not talking on the phone sometimes' etc. She also said I would have to write a statement about it. This seems like a bit of an over reaction but hey, they even seem to think they can control who I can and can't talk to now! Anyway, I hadn't managed to get a learner's agreement from college so she stopped the interview and re-booked it for next week. They requested the past 3 months bank statements and this is my problem. The most recent month's statement looks really bad. I sold my TV and deposited £135 cash into my account. This alone worries me, but I also went on holiday to Dublin on the 20th May (with Ryanair and stayed in a hostel so no funny comments about this please) and my mum decided to give me some early birthday money (my birthday is next month) towards Dublin. She NEVER gives me money but decided to deposit money into my account without telling me. A nice gesture if it had been in different circumstances. The worst part is that she put the reference as 'pocket money'. While I was in Dublin, a few days after the first deposit she put a further £25 into my account with the same 'pocket money' reference. Now, if they made such a big deal out of me TALKING to her how will they react when they find out she's given me 'pocket' money?! I've been losing sleep over this and I'm really worried they will stop my benefits. I could never go back home as not only would neither of my parents allow it, but I'm not safe there. I don't even visit my parents and they never give me money- as my two other statements will prove- but I'm so scared the job centre are going to make a huge deal out of these two incidents. Can they really stop my benefits over this? Even though it was a one off thing and she did it without my knowledge? It's not like it's regular income or I asked her for money. I'm really scared

Hello, quite new to this forum so not quite sure where to put this, this seemed the most likely forum so apologies if wrong. I have been on income support for 6 months, due to being estranged from my family at 18 years of age. However, recently out of the blue I received a letter from income support stating the following; I am writing to tell you that we cannot pay you from 18/4/14 We have decided to stop paying Income Support because you have failed to return the A2 review form issued 7/3//14 Please reply to this letter within one calendar month of the date of the this letter. If you fail to do so, we may cancel your entitlement to benefit. Please tell us straight away if you cannot give us the information we require. I am baffled as to why they have stopped my benefits without informing me about a review letter I was supposed to receive and complete. As of today I haven't received any such A2 review form. Is there anything I can do from this stage? Does this mean I will have to re apply for Income support or is this merely a suspension until I give them what they require? I also have no possibility of appealing this decision. Thanks. Wayne

I was moved from incap to the ESA work related group, since then had 1 ESA 50 review without a medical and passed... the DWP said on their record I would most likely get another in June 2013. Dec 2012 I was called up for my first work focus interview at the jobcentre they looked at my condition and advised I appeal to be placed in the support group. Today I received a letter from the appeals officer saying the decision has been revised in my favour the letter is vague but I guess it means I have been placed in the support group I have 2 questions Will I still be up for review in June? Support group pay is more than workgroup will I see back pay and if so when from?

Hi, I was originally put in the wrag group of esa, and was sent to a4e last year, after 2 useless induction things, 1 meeting, and a unkept (on their part) phone interview. I have now been moved into the support group, I was recontacted by a4e by phone where i was told i had a letter sent informing me of this interview, {no letter received}. I told them i was now in support group, and the man said they knew but still had to keep in contact, and would call again in 2 months, for another phone interview, I then recieved a letter stating I had a mandatoryinterview in 2 months with date and time, My question is,do I still have to keep contact etc with a4e, and can I be mandated to do anything. any links to official rules etc would be appreciated so if possible I can legally tell them to get lost. stating relevant rules Thanks in advance