I'm not sure if this is the correct place to put this on so Mods, please feel free to move. I lost my permanent job late in 2016. Being older (almost 60 at the time), I've found, like many others in my age group that it's almost impossible to find a job. I was asked at the Jobcentre if there was anything I could do to become self-employed. I am a good pianist and had been working towards getting my Diploma after an exam break of 40 years, thinking ahead to when I retire. I am one of the women caught in the 50s trap, no husband and a son who's still recovering from a recent kidney transplant. Life is not easy for us Anyway, I got approval from the NEA to start a teaching business. To date I have not had a lot of interest despite advertising, my website, leafleting doors and anywhere else I can push my business. Just two adult students since I launched on 3rd January 2018 and I didn't get them until October. It seems the NEA and the Jobcentre don't communicate very well. The Jobcentre has taken my start up day from the 18th November 2017. The NEA says I started trading on the 3rd January 2018 which is the date I launched the website and my business. I now get £0 in Universal Credit, the reason being they are using the Minimum Income Floor of £1092 per month which is based on best case scenario estimation. I thought, fine, I don't get a penny from them but what I didn't get told is that my rent (council) wouldn't be paid either. This MIF is a hypothetical figure. Even from when I put in the business plan I have had to drop my prices to £10 for half hour and £19 for a full hour. This week I will earn £10 as one of my students can't come for personal reasons. You can imagine my shock to find out the last payment the council received was on the 11th December 2018. I am now in serious danger of losing my home and my son and myself being thrown out into the street. I am 62 years old and my son is, as said earlier, still recovering from a kidney transplant which has not gone particularly smoothly. I am really at my wits end. Something I thought would put us on the path to a better and more stable future has turned into a nightmare and I've done nothing wrong. I was given a hard choice by the Jobcentre. Either give up my business which I've worked hard to promote and prove I've done that (how do you kill a website - I've already paid for the website and domain for a year, that doesn't end until December this year) and let down my two students, one of whom is very good and practising for her Grade 1 exam later this year or claim UC and completely kill the business. Not knowing that my rent was not going to be paid, I chose to keep on my business as I know it is the type of thing that will take time to build. A year (in my case less) is not a long time. The Jobcentre has now closed my UC claim but I have until May to reinstate it. I have gone without, don't go out or do things other people do. I have been trying to get a job, either part or full time to help things out but get turned down constantly, usually by the agencies who come up with one excuse or another not to put me forward for jobs, the latest excuse being I haven't worked in an office for a year! 45 years experience as a secretary, often working at Managing Director level doesn't count. I met last week with a representative from the NEA who didn't really seem to know why the MIF is playing such a big part in this or even why it's stopping me getting UC to top up my earnings. One can work 16 hours without losing UC or if working 30 hours, similar to the old Working Tax Credits which even applies to self-employed people. These are the people promoting this ghastly scheme and if they don't know how are the rest of us supposed to know? I spoke with the benefits office (their call centre in Scotland) on Friday. Lady there said I would have to get a Mandatory Reconsideration but that could take weeks and may not even be successful. I just tried to reinstate the UC claim - supposedly a one click operation. No, it isn't. Question upon question regarding employment if you work for a employer but absolutely nothing related to being self-employed (I have not completed these questions as they were ambiguous). The Jobcentre advisor I had (or have) is a very nice person but came across as not knowing that much about the NEA scheme (which is run by Pinnacle People). I feel I have been lied to and misled and I'm sure I'm not the only one. From what I've gathered so far, it would seem that if I had started up my piano business on my own, without the NEA scheme I could have declared it to the Jobcentre as casual earnings and they would have simply deducted what I earned from my UC payment. Why there is such a difference between this and being self-employed via the NEA Scheme just doesn't make sense. I hope someone sees this or knows of someone who has gone through this that can point me in the right direction. I'm sorry this post is so long but I really am at my wits end to the point it's making me quite ill.

I am so angry at my partner. I have just found out he is being investigated for benefit fraud. He received a letter asking him to go for an interview under caution regarding his housing benefit, income support and carers allowance. He was on these benefits before moving in with me. He has ignored the letter and missed the interview. I am intending on getting him to call tomorrow to talk to them and stop burying his head in the sand. He was down as his mother’s carer. He lived with a flat mate and had housing benefit and income support also paid. He started work and cancelled his income support and housing benefit. He wrongly assumed his carers allowance would be cancelled as a result too. He never contacted them though and as a result has about a years overpayment now. The carers allowance has always gone into his mother’s account and she always kept it herself. It was the arrangement they had...he got the income support and she kept the carers allowance. But because it continued to go into her account he never realised it was still being paid and she never said anything to him about it. Next thing we know he receives this letter. The letter states it’s also about housing benefit and income support too. He definitely didn’t receive them in the past year so I can only assume they’re doing a big investigation about everything he’s ever received now. Whats likely to happen to him?? I’m so worried and so angry at him for not phoning to cancel in the first place and being so stupid to just assume all benefits are linked and let each other know about any changes! I’m also so annoyed at his mother as she never said anything this whole year and was receiving money she was not entitled to in his name! He’s going to be the one facing the consequences but she’s been the one with the money in her account! What happens now? Will he be prosecuted?

Hi all My wife has MS and claims PIP, she does not work, but does not claim any other benefits. She often falls and drops things, and is unable to walk easily. However she could be considered capable of work as she can touch her head etc. Having been made redundant earlier in the year, I have been living on my redundancy payment, and claiming carers allowance. Funds are beginning to running short, and I am now considering claiming Universal Credit. What I can't get my head round is if DWP decide that my wife is able to work, then how can I claim she needs me to care for her. Will we lose the carers allowance? Thanks for any advice!

Please can some one give me some advice. On June 18th my wife had her carers allowance suspended as they wanted information about her wages. They asked for P60s or wage slips for the duration of her employment which is nearly 4 years. My wife sent her P60s straight away. They then wrote back to my wife a month later asking for more proof and informed her that they will be contacting her employer as well for her wage slips. Once again my wife complied to their request and sent her wage slips within the time frame they had asked for. Now today my wife has received another letter asking yet again for more information with regards to her wages however this time they are asking for information on wages she has not yet received. Despite my wife complying with everything they have asked for they still want more information about wages and she doesn't know what more she can give as she has sent them everything apart from information on wages she has not received yet. What is the best way for my wife to deal with this situation.

Hi Husband restarted work 13th March informed ESA they did not acknowledge. So filled in Carers online form on 28th because, we could not get through on the phone. All was good and payments stopped on 16/04 as Esa still hadn't responded we were happy at least CA had completed to paperwork. CA sent a form to complete to see if my husband was still entitled however as self employed we had no info to put on form. so... Finally ESA after 3 recorded delivery letters updated the info and they were given earnings paperwork. We then had info to give to CA called them and explained ESA had only just completed paper work and now we can fill in the form and were able to send the information they required. They said don't worry about date to respond on letter just fill it in and send it back. So we sent payslips and all we had from the accountant earnings (the same paperwork given to ESA. Child tax credit was updated too with no change to entitlement too. Then received a letter 2 days ago from CA to say we did not inform the that my husband was no longer caring for me and why did we not tell them of the change in circumstances. ??? We did inform them of change in circumstances (my husband still cares for me and that's never going to change) the only thing we needed to confirm was earnings??? We have to respond to this letter but what can we tell them that we haven't already told them. I think we should just write "this is wrong we informed you on 28/03 and enclose the acknowledgement email received when we completed the online form" Any insight into this nonsense? Confused OSW

Hi, This morning i received a tax refund from HMRC, as I have paid to much tax on my earnings when I shouldn't of. I contacted the carers allowance department and they have suspend my payments while they investigate, as they think I have been overpaid however my net pay is under their threshold because I've been paying tax. Can they claim it back from me as I was not at fault? Thanks

An assessor came to price up damage to our house which was covered by insurance, they listed the work that would need carrying out and informed us that during the works food allowance would be £10 oer day per person. The work was pretty extensive and left us without electricity through a large part of the house including lighting. The ceilings of the effected areas had asbestos in so we had to stay in alternative accomodation for a few days while this was removed. We then returned during the very cold snap and the house was extremely cold due to the heat going straight into the loft space. They reinstated the ceiling upstairs within 4-5 days though we were very cold during that time. With the level of work involved and the lack of electricity we felt we should have been accomodated elsewhere but put up with it since they had said it would only take 2-3 weeks. The work ended up taking 2 days short of 9 weeks. When I submitted the claim for food (61 days at £10 per day per person) I was asked how many children did that include. When the assessor originally quoted this to us he didn't mention that it would only be £5 per child and £10 per adult. Though my children are 11 and 14 they are strapping lads who in fact eat more than I do. I feel like we've been diddled here, firstly since we didn't insist on the alternative accomodation as it felt like the upheaval for only 2-3 weeks didn't seem worth it and then to be told that we will be getting back substantially less in food allowance. We live on the Cornish coast and you can't eat anywhere for under £15 a main meal and often more. The pub even had on the kids menu that it was for children under 10. Has anyone else had similar issues?

Hello I am hoping someone can advice me on entitlement to carers allowance. I recently moved in with my mother to care for her. Previously I was full time self employed. I have been advised to apply for carers allowance as my mother will loose an aspect of her pension credit because I am living with her. I have asked social services if my mother can have a live in carer for one week in 6 so I can go back to Devon (my mother is in Dorset) and work one week in 6 to keep the business 'ticking over'. They have agreed to this in principle. I would not anticipate earning more than £3000 a year (at most) but am concerned that not caring for my mother EVERY week may mean i am not entitled to carers allowance. In all other aspects I should qualify. It seems one can 'take a break' from caring and still get carers allowance up to 4 weeks in 26. So that should be ok, but also one must be caring for the person for 22 of the past 26 weeks which would mean 4 weeks in one go is ok, but not one week every 6? I can find no information specifically addressing my issue. Any advice much appreciated.

hello folks I am on carer's allowance and income support i volunteer just few hours a week sometimes not always I would like to know if any benefits would be affected by my volunteering i don't get paid as it is a charity shop no expenses at all i do more than the carers allowance hours you're suppose to my few hours i put in over the days i volunteer shop is to catch up and talk to people i have got to know over the period i have been in there. look forward to your responses Merry Christmas to all when it comes and have a good New Year to:)

Hello. New to the forums and have been browsing the internet to find a decent support forum and ended up here. After being made redundant last year (I am a van driver) I fell ill with Vertigo which is extremely debilitating and although various tests have come back clear (MRI etc) the Doctors are unsure as to what the problem is although my consultant believes it is either Menieres Disease or Migraine Assisted Vertigo. The only test they can do to find out what the problem is is invasive and can by all accounts damage your hearing and being partially deaf anyway I am unwilling to take that risk. Not long after the vertigo began I also started to experience severe Insomnia to the point that I would not be getting any sleep at all. Again various tests have been performed and after lengthy waits I have finally been cleared of Sleep Apnoea which was the first port of call. Again my consultant is not sure as to what is going on so I am back to square one with getting a diagnosis. I am on long term sleeping tablets for the Insomnia and whilst they do knock me out from time to time I have extreme daytime fatigue and headaches on top of the Vertigo. The consultant believes that this is a combination of the tablets (drowsiness side effects) and the fact that I have not slept naturally for 6 odd months. So a bit of a quandary considering I get no sleep without the tablets but I am still exhausted taking them!! My Vertigo attacks have diminished to an extent but that is down to the fact that my horizontal balance mechanism is basically gone and it will take some time to repair if at all. This leaves me in a state where every movement I make, when I walk, everything in front of my eyes wobbles. It's as though I am not looking through my own eyes but a film camera being held by a cameraman moving. When an attack happens I get no warning. Everything just spins and all I can do is sit down and wait it out. Not long after my vertigo started and whilst I was awaiting a GP appointment I went to two interviews to get back into work. At the first I had a vertigo attack and was bouncing off the walls as I was led to the interview room. Needless to say the interview didn't last long! The second I was honest about my condition and was turned down immediately for the job. The interviewer said that I couldn't be employed due to my vertigo because of a Health and Safety issue. Basically he argued that if I had an attack and fell down the stairs who would be at fault, me for taking the job aware of my restrictions or the company for employing me?! I could see his point considering a health and safety lawsuit was not particularly appealing to him. And it throws in an interesting legal question on what legal risks the DWP are taking by forcing people declared "not fit to work" back into work. It was after this that I was signed off as unfit for work by my Doctor and I have fit notes ongoing since October. I claimed both ESA and PIP after advice and was awarded ESA at the starting rate. I was turned down for PIP after a medical assessment. Last week I received a letter stating I was to attend a Work Focused Interview at the Job Centre. After looking up advice I rang the DWP and explained that nothing had changed since a first "chat" at the Job Centre back in January and did that mean I had to attend the latest meeting. I was told it was voluntary and it would not affect my benefit if I did not attend. So I didn't. This week I have received a letter now informing me that I have to attend a medical assessment for ESA. I assume that this would have come through regardless as to whether I had attended the Work Focused Interview or not? The thing that concerns me is that from what I have read the medical assessments for both PIP and ESA seem very similar and if you can dress yourself, get out of bed unaided and make yourself a sandwich you seem to be deemed fit to work?! It doesn't seem to take into account the massive difference between being able to look after yourself to performing a full time job and also does not take into account the fact that if I am honest at any interviews the chances that someone would employ me at this present time are slim to say the least. Certainly my usual occupation of driving a van will be somewhat difficult to achieve if the road ahead of me constantly wobbles or disappears into a merry go round like spin!! That's not taking into account that I would also be driving a van on zero hours sleep!! So if I can walk 200 metres (although not currently in a straight line) or do my shoe laces up (whilst trying not to fall over) are deemed not severe enough then I assume I will score 0 points like many others and lose my benefit? Then from what I have read you have to then claim JSA although with not much in the way of work in the last 10 months or so I doubt I will qualify for contributions based. But despite being continuously being signed off work by my GP does applying for JSA actually mean that you are now declaring yourself fit for work not taking into account the fact that I am pretty much unemployable right now!! Does this then mean you leave yourself open to an interesting legal predicament? I hasten to add here that I do not want to be on benefits. I want to be back at work but if I am unemployable ESA is my only option and if I lose that I have no idea what I am going to do. I really don't know what to do at the moment and was wondering if anyone had been in a similar situation and how they dealt with it and what they did? Thank you.

Not sure if this is the correct forum so apologies if not but I was wondering what others would do/if anything, with regard to a complaint I made recently about a JCP Advisor. I have been on JSA now for over a year but have been suffering from a vertigo condition (saga is in another thread!!) so I am limited as to what jobs I can apply for. Those that I have applied for and there are over 300 of them, I have been unsuccessful. I had a pretty good advisor to be honest who appreciated my limitations but suddenly out of the blue I was moved to another advisor who was as far as I know newly qualified. On my first meeting with the new advisor I knew I had a problem. I am partially deaf and the advisor had a foreign accent of which I found it difficult to understand. He also looked down continuously when talking thus I could not even lip read him. I kept mentioning my difficulty but he didn't make any effort his end. He was having a nightmare, getting dates for the next signing wrong, being unable to work out when I had last signed and he even went on to criticise my CV at one point so I explained to him that the gentleman who had written my CV was sitting three desks away as he was employed by the DWP as their Careers Advisor so if he had any concerns the Advisor was the best person to talk to. I doubt this went down too well!!! I asked if it was possible to see my old advisor in the future and this gentleman said he would book me in with her the following week so all's well ends well........ Not. The following week I was back again with this new advisor. I politely asked as to why I was back with him and he mentioned that I was with him, end of story. I then stated, once again politely, that because of his accent I struggled to hear him due to my hearing impairment. He then replied "That's not my problem, it is YOUR problem". I'm not easily upset but that I have to be honest rocked me, I was stunned. Maybe it was the stress but moments later I had a vertigo attack and had to sit down for 45 minutes. I wasn't going to do anything about it but thought how can they speak to anyone like that, let alone about a disability, so I wrote to the DWP to complain because I think too often we all just accept the shambolic way they treat claimants. Unsurprisingly they have replied and this fella has denied making such a comment, of course I didn't really expect anything else although if he had said that he had made the comment and apologised I would have accepted that. So I am now not sure what to do. Leave it because I guess it's just my word against his or continue with the complaint? Fortunately they have moved me to a new advisor anyway, although not my original, and she was as nice as pie when I saw her so maybe someone has had a word, although I doubt it. So I guess I will not see this chap again, although he will certainly be in the same office. Half of me says leave it, but the other half says carry on and don't accept their denial. So I was just wondering what others would do? I have attached their letter. Have removed personal information and names. Apologies for the coffee stains, I suspect I spluttered it out when reading the letter!!!! Complaint 1 001.pdf Complaint 2 001.pdf

hi hope someone can help i had my pip renewel last tuesday/ i had one 2 years ago lost my mobility but kept standard care element my astmah and artitis was really bad the male receptionist pushed me in on a swivel chair/ the assesor said i could leave and have another appointment if i wanted i said no as i couldnt bear the throught of going back again/ my son was with me, i was in pain with my legs and im sure you could hear my chest weezing /she was very nice and kept asking if i was ok / i am concerned i might get zero points and lose my pip i didnt go for appeal as i couldnt stand the stress of having to explain all over again /i also suffer from anixity/ will the dm look at the assesment i had 2 years ago as it was a different situation and i am a lot worst now/ sorry for long post my assesment was with capita not atos

Hi. For the last 3 years, I've been the carer for my wife. Through unemployment, we have a joint ESA claim. Due to unemployment, I had the spare time to look after her, and did as I imagine any partner would do. The claim is in my wife's name, we get £280 a fortnight, as she was last put in the work related group, although her advisor believes she should be in support... But we need to wait for the next medical, and the people doing that have previously failed her 3 times with 0 points, before we went to court each time and they found she should have scored between 10 and 16. Anywhooo, it's a struggle. We recently had a friend, who was also on ESA. She lives alone, but has a partner. She got put in support group, and got enhanced disability, despite being far more capable than my wife of working. She gets £140 for that a fortnight, and gets a total of more than £100 than us. We asked at the CAB about what help the was for us, to see if my wife was entitled to more help and we were told to apply for enhanced disability and carers allowance. We did this 4 weeks ago (told it will take 9 for carers allowance to be checked). Enhanced disability, I phoned them for a time frame, and got told flat out that my wife was entitled to nothing. Because I'm not getting PIP (my wife does) as I'm her partner, and look after her, she is entitled to nothing. So I asked for their advice on what to do, to which he said don't bother with carers allowance. Because of I get it, at £62 a week, they will deduct £124 a fortnight from my wife so we end up with no difference, just a load of hassle? Is this true? I knew some of the £62 would be taken, but I thought you got an extra £30-something as a carers premium? So you do actually end up slightly better off? It's confused me now, and I don't know if it's with just cancelling it, to avoid the hassle of the benefit being split, deducted, etc. From what the disability premium guy said, it sounds like being in a relationship is a punishment, especially if you choose to be your partner's carer If it does work out better for us though, how much is back pay entitlement? It'll be 10 weeks from claim date by the time it is awarded, if we get it, but can it go further? We're a bit annoyed really, because our advisor knows I've been my wife's carer for 3 years, and not once has she mentioned the extra help we could get, that apparently we should have been able to request all that time ago

Did not pay NI conts in 14/15 and 15/16 as I was below lower earnings limit. I am now unable to work due to a health condition. If I opt to pay the contributions for both these tax years is it likely I will then satisfy both of the contribution conditions for an award (I know I am not entitled to income based as my partner works). The second condition is really confusing me!!! The guidance online says:- You qualify for contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) if you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions. There are two contribution conditions you must meet: First contribution condition - in one of the last two complete tax years, you must have paid Class 1 or 2 contributions on relevant earnings at the lower earnings limit for at least*26 weeks. This means you must have worked for at least 26 weeks of the last two complete tax years; and Second contribution condition - in both of the last two complete tax years, you must have paid or been credited with, Class 1 or 2 contributions to the value of 50 times the lower earnings limit. Anybody?? Please

Hi, I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place but I need help. My daughters boyfriend has just received an eviction notice, stating the eviction will take pkace a week on Thursday. I'm currently sketchy on the details but it's all due to problems with housing benefits etc. Hes had a nightmare of a couple f years, he was persuaded to take a 16 hour a week job because he was on DLA and could claim working tax credits, he also kept his housing benefit. He then lost his claim to DLA when he had to change to pip and so lost his working tax credits. He also lost his housing benefit but that was reinstated. Currently he has a total income of £120 per week and is supposed to be paying towards his rent as his housing benefit doesn't cover it all. Now he's buried his head in the sand, my daughter had just phoned me to say that he's being evicted and the eviction notice was delivered on Saturday morning. He has tried to contact the council today to see if there is any way he can stop the eviction and they have said no not unless he pays all of the arrears. I don't know if the amount they are wanting includes all of the costs that will have been added to the debt outstanding. Is there anything at all that can be done to help him keep his home or are we looking at a lost cause?

Hi guys, I was hoping that someone would be able to help me. I currently claim carers allowance for my disabled adult son. I was thinking about doing a part time course through the OU. The course is pay time and I could apply for a part time study loan to pay the fees. I don't claim any out of work benefits but I do claim child benefit and child tax credit for my 15 year old son. My question is can I continue to claim carers allowance and apply for a part time study loan to pay for the course fees? Thanks Me x

Hello I took out a two year contract with EE, in September 2016, on their 4GEE Max Plan, for £45.99 per month. That plan was £5 per month more than the one below it, as it allowed you to use your call and data allowance whilst in the EU. Awesome! Except that when I took out the contract, I was unaware that everyone would be getting EU roaming within their price plans on the 15th June 2017! Called EE and basically it's hard cheese. The only thing they will do is move me to one of their new 4GEE Max Plans and have allowance calls in USA, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand for an additional £2 per month. Personally, I think it's a bit rough. In my eyes the contract has changed significantly and I'm not getting everything I was paying for. What does everyone else think?

HI. I put on a claim to transfer part of my tax allowance to my husband as I'm not in full time employment and haven't been since having my first child 13 years ago. From what I can gather this will be back dated for three tax years, the current one included and should be for just over £200 per tax year? My husband received a cheque today for tax year 2015/2016 only and for the amount of £122, much less than expected. He's consistently been in full time employment so not sure how they've come to this conclusion, also will the other years be worked out separately, would that be the normal way of doing this? Thanks Lisa

Hello Im new to this forum and wondered if anyone could help me, my husband has applied for carers allowance and I sent in all our business paperwork to be sent back a form to fill in listing certian ingoings and outgoings, part of our expenses my husband claims for are made up of Capital Allowanaces and I am trying to find out if they disregard the Capital Allowances when calculating your weekly take home money, they said they dont use HMRCs profit and loss figures to get the calculations from.

Hi Recently come of age 65 and applied for my pension. No problem all ok. However upon getting my pension it would appear i cant have Carers Allowance and this will be stopped . Is this right as i still care for my wife on a daily basis. How can this be right as i feel a pension is not a benefit but cash i have paid in to the system . Your comments invited :mad2:

Hi, Sorry for the basic question but I'm struggling to find an answer. As a sole trader, do I pay class 4 NIC's on my personal tax allowance or do i deduct my expenses AND personal allowance from my gross profit and then pay class 4 on what remains? Thanks

Quick note: I was trading as self employed but due to massive downturn in income I made the decision to cease trading. My wife has standard rates PIP for both Care and Mobility so decided to make a claim for the CA. This was done 25th May 2016 just prior to me actually ceasing to trade. So please remember that the claim for CA was made before I ceased trading. I officially ceased trading on the 14th June 2016 as this was the last date I was paid any money from my self employment (SE) and the date which HMRC said was my last trading day when I requested my registration as a self employed person to be removed. This was done on the 5th July 2016 and I also started my claim for IS on the same day. We received a letter from CA around the 5th June 2016 with form requesting account books for 2015/16. This was no problem as we had always kept the books up-to date and they were complete and our self assessment for tax for that trading year had already been submitted to the tax office. So we filled them in got photocopies of the trading books and posted them back to them RM 1st class signed for within 24 hours. On 14th June we received a letter from CA with a request for the accounting books for the period of 2014/2015 so I phoned them to find out why they needed those books and after a lot of faffing about it transpired that the request was due to me asking for the claim to be back-dated and that meant the claim went into the previous years books. OK so I got those books copied and duly sent back (RM 1st class signed for). We had a one week holiday booked and paid for starting 18th June which coincided with my grand daughters last schooling day (She had just sat her exams so the 17th June was her last day of school). And we needed the break as life had not been to kind to us in the previous three years and we had not had a break during all that time. Fast forward to 25th June. On return from holiday we find a letter from CA and thinking it was a decision we opened it to find it was another form requiring filling in for the period 2014/2015, (why the heck this could not on come with the request for the 2014/2015 accounts I will never know. So on Monday 27th June they were sent back (RM 1st Class signed for). We heard nothing more from CA for a while then out the blue on 13th July we get a letter which requested yet more information from us. This was again filled out and posted back next day (again RM 1st class signed for) because of the weekend it arrived back with them on the 18th July. We heard nothing back so I followed up with a phone call just to make sure all the information I sent them was on their system. They stated that they had only got my income account figures for the period of 2015/2016 and had not received my expenditure books for that period. I got them to do a check of the system as I told them that both the income and expenditure copies of the accounts books came in the same envelope and I had a signature stating it had been delivered to them. A few minutes later they found them. Miracles never cease. On August 1st After waiting 13 working days I contacted them again for an update as my local council were now wanting to know what the current situation was with the claims. The first thing the operator says is that they are waiting for the 2014/2015 books to which I couldn't help but say "are you kidding me". I then pointed out that the books had been returned and I had proof that they had been received back at the Mail Handling site in Wolverhampton. Some more searching took place and after about five minutes they FOUND them on the system and a lame duck excuse that the system was not working correctly at the moment. I must also point out that I had attached a letter with one set of my books which clearly informs them that I have ceased trading and am in the process of claiming IS. So hopefully if I do not get the 3 month back dated they will still proceed with my claim on the grounds of my "in between jobs status" LOL at that statement which is now used to identify someone who is unemployed. SO, that's the point I am at with the CA Claim over two months since initial claim and still no result. As for IS. Made claim online on 5th July (did not bother before as we had the holiday booked). Was given an appointment time at local JCP office to go sign forms on 12th July. Arrived at office and to my astonishment was seen immediately. I took my time to read the forms and went over each and every question on it to make sure that the information the form contained was correct. It was apparent that the operator on the other end the phone when I initially answered the questions just did not listen or was having a OFF day as there were errors all the way through it. The person I was seeing was a little bit (shall we say) upset that I was taking so long and took the papers from me and read each and every question out to me and I answered each one. 40 minutes pass and there's a IS claim form in front of me with more corrections in it than there are correctly filled in questions. I offered her evidence of all the bank and saving accounts we have so she could take copies of them to prove the figures which had been quoted on the forms. I actually used them to make sure that all the information on finances was 100% correct but she said she did not need them. (think she was getting a little fed up with me by now as this was not the simple signature/rubber stamp she expected). Eventually I signed it but asked for a complete photocopy of the form which she was reluctant to do. I just said as I had put my name to an official document then I am entitled to have a copy of it. (whether thats true or not I don't know but I got my copy). Fast-forward 13 WORKING days to August 1st and I decide to follow up the IS claim as it was now well beyond the 10 working days which the Gov quote on their website. Lo and behold they are waiting for proof of our banking and finances which I should have supplied when I filled in the form. I politely told them that I had taken this proof of finances with me when I signed the form but the woman at the JCP who dealt with me said they did not require them. So I am now waiting for another form to drop through my letter box which I will promptly attached the printouts to (which have all got printed dates on them relating to the 11th July) I took with me to the JCP. and just to be on the safe side am also going to send ones dated 1st August just in case they want up to date ones. (RM making some money out of me with all this postage). So there we have it CA claim now over two months old and no decision made IS claim should have been completed by now but looks like going to be another xx days before done as waiting for yet another form from them requesting finance details. and my local council pushing for information concerning these claims, I took them a update letter after I finally got some answers from the CA and IS which I got the council to rubber stamp so I had proof that I had handed it in. This is fun....... it's frustrating that the system is faffing me around like this.... but it's fun Motto : don't let the system get you down, grit your teeth, have a laugh at how comical it has become and then do what needs to be done. Will update to to let people know what happens in the future.

Can anyone tell me what happens to the carers allowance my wife receives for looking after me when she gets a reduced state pension next year. Thanks for any information given. pin62.

Yesterday my mother sadly passed away and I have no idea in the slightest what to do regarding benefits. Theres so much to do already. Firstly I understand I will have to contact the DWP asap to get mums DLA stopped? Next, what do I actually do about my funds? I was on carers allowance for a few years for looking after my mum. In November my mental health problems deteriorated and I had to come off carers allowance to allow me a month or so to work on my own health. It's a very slow process getting help for mental health problems but as the ball was rolling I re-applied for carers allowance at the start of January since I started doing 35+ hours of care a week again for my mum. Unfortunately about a week after submitting the claim online, mum's illness declined and around the middle of January she was taken to hospital. She spent over 2 weeks in hospital and then the other day was moved to a hospice and she passed away yesterday. What can I do? I have heard nothing regarding my claim being processed yet. From what I can remember she will be sent forms to sign confirming that I am her carer but she is no longer with us of course. What do I say to the DWP? I dont think people get paid carers allowance if the person is in hospital so do I just tell them I only want to claim it backdated for 1 week (The time between applying and mum going to hospital). I had income support with carers allowance but when I cancelled my carers allowance I was oddly still being paid £91 income support every 2 weeks... Citizens advice did say income support is paid in arrears so maybe it's that? Or could it be I need to cancel income support as well? (I assumed that because CA entitled me to IS, that is CA was cancelled, IS would be too). Then it's the question of what now? IS entitles me to full housing benefit and a fair bit of council tax reduction, without that I have no money to actually pay my rent. So what do the government expect me to do? Give up my home and live on a family members sofa? Or to sign up for JSA? Even though I am clearly unfit to work at the moment but cant claim any disability benefits as mental health problems are never seen as a reason to not have to work. I just cant see how at a time like this when there is so much to do (arrange funeral, register death, close mums bank accounts, mourn etc) how the government can expect me to phone them up to get all of my money stopped and then end up losing my home too. Thanks

I am trying to decide whether to claim carer's allowance or income support. I intend to become a carer for my mother who gets attendance allowance. I am 50 and claiming income based JSA. I live with my mother in a council house.