I am posting this on behalf of a family friend. Their situation is as follows:- Husband is working full time, wife is working 12 hours per week and earns just over £100 per week. They have 3 children, the eldest is 16 and starting full time college in September after just leaving school. Their 2nd child is 12 and was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 at the begining of this year. He has just been awarded DLA High Rate Care and Low Rate Mobility. His condition has deteriorated and he needs around the clock care. Their 3rd child is 3. They have no savings and the husband is considering leaving his full time employment to become his son's full time carer. (Wife cannot be full time carer due to a recent family bereavement and is still grieving) Can someone please advise what benefits they would be entitled to as trying to get any information is turning into a minefield and different people are saying different things. Many thanks, JB

I recently received a review letter from CTC asking if someone was living with me. I phoned straight away and admitted that my ex partner had been living here. Although we have not been living together as a couple. Of course that doesn't matter and I should have told them. Back in November we found out something awful had happened to my daughter when she was younger, she is now 11 and there is an ongoing court case in relation. So after much discussion my ex moved in, end of January for support for my daughters emotional well being and my own. Also this was a better arrangement as he would see the children more and not have to keep 'sofa surfing'. We have another child of 20 months, which doesn't look good, but we stupidly thought about being together again, until I realized I could never get over him cheating on me years ago. I tried to phone CTC all last week to get a new claim form to start claiming as a couple as that is what we should have done they said. Although to be honest I don't know if I want him to continue living here, we get on ok and it benefits the children, but I haven't had to rely on him financially since we split up about 6 years ago and I have not always been on income support in this time. Infact I have been on it for about a year. Then I received a letter from HB so I phoned them and told them that he had been here since January, I tried to explain the situation, but I don't think they care, I was in tears on the phone..I was advised to phone Income support, so I did and of course my benefits have been suspended until I receive a letter from them and send back all this information. If I decide to continue to let him stay here then I will lose the benefit anyway. So I am expecting them to say I have to pay back the benefit since January. I am very worried that they will have me done for benefit fraud and maybe look into everything more. I have no way to prove he has lived here since January. I let him use my address for mail purposes since he started his job which was about 3 years ago. It's been hard enough to just try and get through each day and make things as normal as possible, which I know is no excuse. I have already received a letter from CTC saying I have been overpaid by about £1000 since April, thing is if I had told them then, as a joint claim we would have been receiving almost the same in CTC anyway, infact I think it might be slightly more, but of course I think I can only request it be backdated by a month. I know it is my own fault. And I am worried that CTC will send me more letters for overpayments on previous awards, they didn't even ask how long he has lived here. As a joint claim on the phone I was told we would be entitled to £5 a week WTC. I will obviously lose some HB too and from my working out I will have to pay about £80 a week towards rent and CT. I have been receiving £50 a week from him for a long time for the children, which the children will now lose out on as I will not have enough money to cover everything from CTC and will have to ask for more money from him to live on. I feel the best option is to make him move out, I feel physically ill over all this. I don't really know why I am writing this an a forum, just looking for some advice I guess. When I have spoken to my ex about all of this he has offered to move out and help to pay back any overpayments I have to pay.

Hi all, if anyone can help, or point me in the right direction, I would be grateful. As of Tuesday next week I would have effectively left my job. I had been there 5 years, but in January of this year I had a bad back injury, which led to ongoing sciatica, and me being on sick leave (signed off by GP). By May my employer was putting pressure on me in various ways to either come back (which I was/ still am incapable of) or leave. I decided to resign, obviously stating in my resignation letter that the reason was my health, and that I was unable in the foreseeable future to return (both my GP and physio had recommended against returning, due to the nature of the job and the daily 4 hr commute) So my first question is, what benefits can I claim? I am still not capable of working, and when I am the types of jobs will be limited. To add to the complication, my wife works full time and we have 2 young children (2 and 1). As I no longer earn a salary, we have taken them out of nursery to save the money and I will have to look after them 24/7. So, for health reasons and childcare reasons, I am effectively unable to work. Am I entitled to income support? and finally (I promised it was complicated), my mother in law, who is widowed, has just been diagnosed with a terminal cancer of the brain. This has led to my wife having to spend some days/ nights with her (she has lost a lot of mobilityetc), meaning even more so I am the childrens carer. I have no idea what to try and claim for, so was hoping I could get some general guidance, or more specific help if possible. Thanks for reading!

Suppose you fail your Atos test and subsequently are refused JSA on the grounds you're too ill to work, as is happening to an increasing number of claimants. You're left to survive on your own with no benefits bar your HB, CT and any DLA or whatever. What happens to your NI stamp? Is it still paid by the state? If not, what happens if you survive long enough to get a state pension? Would you get a reduced one for not paying your stamp?

I have to attend an interview under caution shortly. It is to do with undeclared income and receiving income support and HB. Can you tell me how long I will have to wait until I know the decision , i.e. if they will prosecute ? I am guessing that they definitely will prosecute but I was just wondering how long the delay was between them interviewing me and then calculating the overpayment/deciding to prosecute. Obviously if I am going to jail a timescale would be useful. Thanks

Hi all A quick question for you all. My mum is 67, she remarried about 15 years ago and her husband is 15 years younger than her, so 52. They keep their finances separate, so she has no idea how much he earns and likewise, he doesn't know what she gets (a basic state pension only) He has his own financial commitments, so whatever money she gets in, is her own, but usually gets used up very quickly on bills/food etc So my question is with regards to benefits, she can't claim pension credit, because he's in fulltime work and his wage is taken into account when she applies, is that correct? Or can she apply without that information, given that she doesn't receive or have access to any money he earns?

Not sure where to post.....will keep it brief..... Been off sick since january with depression and anxiety, not ready to return to work due to difficulties with manager (bullying etc) Getting housing benefits to help while i am on SSP. Considering taking up home study, if i decided to do this full time (and leave my job) so i can then look for a job in a different sector once course completed would we still get housing benefits etc

Hi all, Unfortunately my employers are relocating and the move will leave it impossible for me to continue working for them. I will be offered a redundancy payment (Approx £1700). Will this have an affect on any benefits i may receive when u become unemployed. I must point out that i will be unable to look for other work as i will be caring for my own 2 children (3 & 2).

My husband was in receipt of Incapacity Benefit until August 2011, when it was changed to ESA, contribution based. We currently live in a bungalow as my husband is disabled and cannot manage stairs. The bungalow is privately rented and this payment helps to pay the remainder of the rent after Housing Benefit. We are a bit confused as to when this ESA benefit will stop...will we lose this in August as we will have been claiming if for 1 year? My husband has had support interviews cancelled as he cannot travel, so we cannot understand what this benefit is, why it is going to stop, or what, if anything, we can claim instead. If our benefits stop or go down, we will not be able to afford to live where we are, but we won't be able to afford to move either! We have 2 children at home, with school and collage nearby, so if we do manage to move, they will likely have to change these, too. It's all a bit of a nightmare, and we're at our wits end, thinking we are going to lose our income and our home, and end up on the streets or something!

Hi I am writing this because I need some help and guidance for my next move. I was in a job for 10years and now am unemployed as I had to resign so that I would not be dismissed from my job and have a bad record when an employer ask for a reference. I am now if I am right by next week into my 13th week of signing on and receiving JAS starting on the end of February. So I have a personal advisor to see next week around 22nd to 24th May 2012. The rates I am getting from February are £67.50 a week From April 2012 it was £71.00 a week. I am paid Class 1 National Insurance Contribution which runs out on 15th Aug 2012. I really have no idea how they worked this out can anyone shed some light on this for me please and in a very very simple way????

Hi, i have recently won my appeal at the tribunal and am still waiting for the information from the DWP. my query is basically i have been on esa contributions based since my claim started but dont quite know why because i am 23 now, live alone and only receive this benefit along with housing benefit. ive always been under the impression i am entitled to income based as i haven't worked for 3 years due to my illness. when speaking to the jobcentre back about a year ago i was told i dont qualify for income based but i dont understand why not really. the reason i want clarity on this situation is because of this new legislation put in place for esa contributions based being stopped after a year. i haven't received a letter regarding it but have a feeling that i might in the near future even though i have just passed my appeal and satisfy them that i am unable to work. can somebody please tell me if i do qualify for income based or not. if anymore information is needed im more than happy to give it. any help would be appreciated. thanks.

I have just received a letter from the council demanding housing benefit overpayment of £1130 or they will start court proceedings in 7 days. The circumstances are as follows: I moved from my house in September 2010 and phoned the council tax department to make them aware of my change of circumstances and to take my name off the council tax bill. They informed me would cancel it and my housing benefit payment also. I received a letter later in the week outlining the date of my last payment. In February 2011 I was checking my bank account and realised that I had received a payment for October and November. I emailed them straight away to tell them there had been a mistake and they did not reply. I assumed that as it was an error on their part that I didn't have to pay. I moved to another EU country in March. Ten months later they sent me a letter demanding payment in full within 7 days or face court action. They claim to have sent me two previous letters, but I have not received anything from them. I also do not have the letter they sent me last September saying when the payments would stop. I am now in a complete panic, as the money is due in full tomorrow. Do I have any right to appeal? Can I ask for copies of the letters they sent me acknowledging my change of circumstances as proof that it was their error? As I now live in another country can they really take me to court? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Hi all thanks for taking the time to read this. Back in sept 2009-jan 2010 my father in law asked me to help in unofficially at work and explained to me i could not be paid he just wanted help. I did so for maybe at a push 2 days a week ranging from an hour to sometimes staying all day. His boss explained to me i could be paid a im not employed and i agreed to help out. As a thank you they agreed to give me a little gratuitous payment which i didnt know about and told me again because im not employed by them she would just give me £30 cash more so for petrol than anything else. A little time later they paid me some money but into my partners account as she already worked for them. This year i have been interviewed under caution for benefit fraud amounting to just under £500! I never had any contract of employment nor p45 upon leaving or anything, during the interview they magically showed me a document clearly not written by me and a computer print out of some payments into my partners account OH and an employee number which the must have generated out of thin air. When they interviewed me i explain the details to them and also that i am under the care of mental health team and cant promise to give accurate info as my medication knocks me out=- they continued to interview me none the less. I am not even able to recall the interview due to my mental state. My point is there is not contractual agreement in place signed or otherwise and any documents they have are either compter generated and or not wrtitten out by me. Im due in court in december and not sure what to do.

Hi consumer forum, I bought a house with EX partner ( separated over 15 years) as was in (both owned seperate flats previously) best interests re housing investment to pool money in joint mortgage as both working in London). 18 months in he had major operation + became life threateningly ill and could not work. After him being 5 months in hospital and still in crisis but to be discharged needing a kidney transplant I sold the house and moved with him to property in country more appropriate to his recovery as London was not ideal and he had no family to helpl. However I could not get his name put on mortgage as he was not working employed at that time. so I (with his full written agreement overseen by solicitor who did the sale) put house in my name only. He is now on disability benefits and he is contributing what he can towards the mortgage from his DLA and pension credit, can I charge him rent ( i am formally assessed as his carer correctly -Not his partner) housing benefit or similar to help with mortgage? I help him with home dialysis and other needed tasks. thanks for your help

At present, I receive 372 in DLA each month and am due for around 10,000 in savings. My question is of my eligibility to continue receiving DLA after I receive the savings for which I'm due. Furthermore, is it also possible that I can claim ESA and receive those savings? And if I failed a medical screening for ESA, would that illicit a block on my DLA? Thanks, any help is greatly appreciated!

both letters are are dated 11-8-11. the income support letter says... "i'm writing to tell you that your recent change in circumstances does not effect the amount of incom support we pay you, however there may br future changes to your entitlement. this may be because of future changes you have told us about, the uprating of benefit or changes in deductions from your benefit." the mortgage interest payment letter says... "because there has been a change in your circumstances we have had to change the mone we take off your benefit to pay the interest on yor mortgage." thier payments have gone down by 74p per week from the 25th of August. my circumstances haven't changed and i haven't told them they've changed, so what's this about? has anyone else got letters like this?

Hi folks. I hope someone can offer some useful advice about a creditor that's chasing me. From 2003 to 2006 I ran my own business offering web design services. For some clients I provided web hosting for which I used a server from 1&1 Internet. In 2006 I went bust, but I was a sole trader and didn't declare myself bankrupt. To avoid letting hosting clients down, I continued to run the server to give clients time to move elsewhere. Some time in 2008, someone hacked into the server and used a large amount of bandwidth. This bandwidth would have cost perhaps £100 from a ADSL provider, but 1&1 said I owed them over £600. I denied responsibility for the bandwidth usage and refused to pay. I had a couple of letters from Wescot with reference to this, which I ignored and all went quiet. I moved house last year (2010). I've just received a phone call from Wescot on my new landline. I didn't discover what they were calling about, but I presume it's the 1&1 account. Where do I stand if they start chasing me for this debt? I'm now unemployed, have no savings, and at the moment have no income. My wife works on a modest wage, and we're waiting to hear back about an application for tax credits. Both of us have credit management plans through a fee-charging credit management company and are paying about £310 a month between us. Should we do something else with these debts too? Cheers, Jon.

Hi fellow CAGgers. I'm pretty active over on the Public Transport Forum... (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?161-Public-transport-(Trains-tubes-and-buses)) ...but this is the first time I've ventured into foreign parts Yes, I know what you're thinking... "He's only here now he needs something!" ...apologies Anyway, some advice, if possible? Today my better half received a NTP from HMR&C: 'We have sent you a notice showing an overpayment of tax credits for the period ending 05/04/2005'. £3,000+ for Working Tax Credits £700+ for Child Tax Credits (Actual total= £4,000+) She says she was informed around that period of owing about £11,000 (!!!) in overpayments, but she discussed in with the Revenue then, and was informed that if she stopped claiming from that point, it would be cancel itself out, or words to that effect. This would be reference to the fact that at the time, her two youngest children would have been 11 and 15 years old, so some years of entitlement could have still been due to her. So she cancelled and has received to TC's ever since. Of course this conversation took place on the phone, nothing written down or recorded in writing (apparently). I have suggested to her she immediately requests an exact breakdown of the monies owed, and the why's and when's- can she do that? The letter she received looks like page one of a phone bill: no detail at all. If anyone can offer me advice oon our next move, it woould be greatly appreciated. Links, case law, template letters too, if available? There's plenty more urgent cases than ours on this site, so as long as I'm pointed in the right direction, I should be able to work things out for myself. Thanks for your time and attention CAGgers... keep up the good work!

I went to the bank yesterday to lift only my second payment of JSA only to discover it had been stopped, I am positive this is due to a fraud investigation as I had the interview under caution only few weeks ago but they didn't tell me they could stop my money altogether!! I have nothing or no-one to help me as I am a single 34 year old women, the fraud covers 2 x 4 month part time jobs I had while receiving incapacity benefit 2 years ago, it was true but I had a lot of problems at the time and have worked hard to sort myself out and recently had a 6 month contract on a completely legit employment. I am having panic attacks and don't know where to start looking for help. I have been left without a penny and have bills, food, rent to pay. Who do I contact amd can I get a crisis loan today?? I am really worried as I have no-one to turn to.

HI, wonder if anyone can help. I my partner and I claim working tax credits and child tax credits for her son. I have two daughters wholive with their mum most of the time but stay with us most weekends, during the week at times and some holidays. My ex wife doesn't claim any tax credits as their income is too high. As I claim tax credits, could I claim child tax credits for my children? thanks in advance.

Hi, Really hope someone can help me, i have been claiming I.B. since August 2008 due to mental health, I suffer from severe depression, panic attacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, suicidal thoughts and actions. All this stems from years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by a now ex partner. I am on several medications to combat all of this, but unfortunately nothing makes it better or makes it go away even for a minute! I recently went for a pca which shortly after found i had been failed on, reading the reasons on the form shocked me, and the person who came with me (as i cannot go out alone)! I had not been asked 99% of the questions on the form. And also in the process of this medical the doctor (and i use this word lightly) told me "you should have been able to stop all this abuse if your partner was smaller than you" and "you should be fine if your no longer with that person"!! This caused me severe distress and upset as you can imagine!! So now my I.B. has been stopped i have an appeal going in.......while this is going ahead i was advised to claim E.S.A (i thought these were the same thing), however i have now been told i will need to go for another assesment and in the meantime i am not entitled to any form of payment due failing my pca?? So i then called income support to see if they can help......and was swiftly told that i could not claim that because it was already included in my esa claim....confused??? so am i!!!! I am not able to get a crisis loan due to them saying im at my limit which i dont agree with so am now also having to fight that also. I have had absolutely no money for 5 weeks now, my landlord is sending me final warning letters as my rent is not being paid, i just want someone to tell me what i can claim, where from and who to call and what to say to them....as i have explained my situation so many times and just got nowhere!! Well aside from the one guy at Incapacity saying "sorry but i think your only options are the citizens advice and the samaritans"!! Please please can anyone help me??

I'm in desperate need of some advise from someone, I have searched the Internet for hours trying to find a case similar to mine but I haven't managed to find anything that's helped. Sorry for the length of this but it's a complicated story. I suffer from social phobia, panic attacks, depression and self harm, because of this I am unable to work and clam benefits. I receive dla, hb, ctb, and income support. In 2008 I moved into a flat with my boyfriend, at the time he worked full time and I had just started to receive DLA and IS a month or so before we moved into the flat (we were not on HB/CTB at this time). I filled in a change of address form as soon as we moved in and on it I said my partner was living there too, all I heard back from this was a conformation letter saying my details had been updated so I thought everything was fine and that because I was receiving IS based on incapacity that it didn't matter that my partner was living with me and working, I know that sounds really silly and dumb but I was under so much pressure at the time that I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to think straight. After about 7 months of us living together my partner had to stop working and stay at home to care for me as he was constantly having to leave work because I'd self harmed etc so we thought it best he stay with me. So at this point we applied for HB and CTB which we got. Then in June this year I found out that my partner could get carers allowance for taking care of me full time so we applied for that and got it, I received a letter from IS telling me my money was being reduced because he was getting carers allowance, which was fine as I knew that would happen. But then a few weeks ago my partner went to the cash machine to get the IS out only to find it hadn't been paid in and when he phoned then they said they had been given information from the carers allowance people saying that he lived with me and that we had to fill in a form with his details to add him to my is claim before they would pay anymore money. so we filled in the form and sent it back as soon as we got it. we heard nothing for a week until last Thursday we had a missed call from the IS people, when my partner called them back they said they needed to know the date he moved into the flat as it wasn't on the form but when my partner was talking to them he mentioned that he had been working when we first were living here, they then said I shouldn't have been getting IS for that period and it would have to be investigated further and they asked us to sent them a letter saying when and where he worked etc and were unable to make a decision on our claim until they had investigated it. We sent them a letter with the details they asked for but I am worried sick about what's going to happen now. I honestly didn't think I had done anything wrong, obviously I thought they knew about my partner as I put his name on forms and he always talked to them on the phone for me etc so I thought they knew. Do you think they will see what happened as benefit fraud? If they do what action are they likely to take and what effect will this have on our other benefits? We are not receiving any IS at the moment and do not have enough money to live on and to pay the bills etc, do you think our is will be stopped permanently? I was originally hoping that we would get our IS paid this week sometime but now I'm worried it will be stopped permanently and that I might get a fine or worse, also I'm terrified that I might have to go for an interview as with my social phobia and panic attacks etc this would be really difficult for me to do. I would be really grateful for any advice etc. Thanks.

hi i am new to all this so please bare with me. my story: i am a single mum and on all the single parent benefits,and i am thinking of asking my BF to move in the problem is, i have been friends with him for years and in this time he has had no fixed address and he has been using my address for his post while he was working etc. the the past few months he has not been working or claiming benefits, and as our friendship grew into more i would like him to live with me and my children, but i dont know how to go about it he cant prove where he has been living and because he has been using my address for mail it looks like he has been living with me-which he hasn't but how do i prove that or will it not matter??? im really confused and want to do the right thing by the law, but i dont want to be penalized either. many thanks in advance for any advice given

Hi all, I am a 25 year old single male receiving Income Support and the low-rate DLA component ("for help with getting around"). I have an anxiety condition which causes me difficulty with travelling and being comfortable in public. It is a disability that can only really be overcome by learning to cope with that which causes the fear, and to this end I am continuing to make gradual progress. I am now at the point that attending a course at my nearby college, with a bit of extra support from staff, is seeming a difficult-but-doable possiblity. Part of me is desperate to take the plunge and chance the path to a normal life, but I am worried how this would effect my benefits. (I know the obvious option is to contact the DWP/JC, but I'm worried they will incorrectly take it that I am fit for work and review my benefits entitlement). The course I am looking at is meant for mature students returning to education and is averagely around 12 hours per week, but states 'maximum of 16 hours' and is classed by the college as full-time. Would this exclude me from receiving IS? I am worried that my benefits would be revoked as in this case I would have zero income, and with my condition there is no way I could manage college plus a job - I'm not certain I could cope even with college, but I need to try.