Review launched to respond to patient concerns about NHS treatments READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/review-launched-to-respond-to-patient-concerns-about-nhs-treatments

I'm on ESA and PIP due to severe mental health problems. I live in England and am single. A friend typed this up for me as I'm unable to manage this type of thing usually, but I'm really worried and desparate for some advice. A week ago I had to attend a Compliance Interview at the Job Centre. When I got there it turned out they thought I'd had too much savings in the past, and they wanted to see bank statements. Turns out it was their mistake and the bank statements show I'm in the clear. However, during the interview the Officer became extremely unpleasant and aggressive, questioning me about my living situation. They then insisted that I'd have to come back for another interview. I'm presently homeless, only just got a raise in benefit which will enable me to sort out a place, so they are having a go at me for having too much savings to be homeless- even though I haven't had a chance to sort anything out. They then started to rant about how a friend who I stay with occasionally and am very close to must be my partner (even though we're a male and female and both gay), and then insisted I must return for another interview. The whole process took a big toll on my mental health and has set me back majorly both in terms of my recovery and sorting my living situation. My main question is, do I have the right to bring a friend into the interview with me? Just to provide emotional support. Do they have the right to refuse that? I am trying to get an 'advocate' from Mind sorted, but it might be too short notice. Also, although I've got nothing to hide (as the evidence in my bank accounts shows), I'm very worried about how confused I get about details and keeping track of things- in my last interview it seemed that they were trying to trip me up constantly. I don't want to be in trouble for fraud because I get confused! Can they take my benefits away? Any advice at all would be so helpful. Thankyou very much bones

Hello Everyone, I have recently received a letter from Lloyds Bank writing to advice me of their 'concerns' about previous advice regarding my Fixed Rate ISA with Scottish Widows, take out in 2012. First question: Is this just a ploy to sell me another product which wouldn't necessarily be of any benefit to me / reduce my interest rate? I have been looking at the new Fixed Rate ISA's currently available on Money Saving Expert and interested in 'The Coventry' at 2.10% AER until 2019. Second Question: Does anybody have any experience through banking with them? Positive or negative. Finally, I would be gratful for any advice with regards to moving / saving my money to gain the best interest rates / return on my savings (currently over £10,000) Thank you for your time and I appreciate any feedback and advice from you in due course

Hi, I am new here and would like to apologise in advance if this is in the wrong place and also for the length of my post, I wanted to make sure I included everything. Any advice would be greatly appreciated... 2 years ago my daughter passed away and I completely lost my way. I became homeless and lost my job within a very short time frame. I put myself into a lot of financial difficulty during this time and messed up a lot of my life. I am in no way trying to make excuses for my behaviour and I take full responsiblity for what I have gotten myself into. People go through a lot worse than I have and still manage not to get themselves into the bother I have. After sofa surfing and spending days on the streets I finally deicded to try and turn my life around and sought help. I was found a place in a hostel back in the city where I come from. I was supported in getting my finances together and prioritising everything. I contacted the bank to make payment arrangements for my unplanned overdraft. They informed me it had been passed on to a debt collection agency and took my new address and had the agency contact me there. I made payment arrangement plans and have stuck to them since. My next steps were to contact the payday loan companies, who informed me they had also passed my details onto debt collection agencies. I only heard from one of the agencies, which was MotorMile Finance, who contacted me and we made payment arrangements at £10.00 per week. I gave them my email address but not my new phone number. The person I dealt with seemed really helpful right up until they wanted bank details. I emailed them back right away and informed them that I no longer had a bank account and that I am in the process of paying off what I owe the bank but let her know that I was more than happy to pay by postal order. I then received an email back informing me they could only do this by bank. I emailed again what I had just told them and received a reply (from the same person) informing me that they do have bar codes they can send out so that I can make a payment via a pay point. This is ideal for me and a lot easier. I received the bar code in a letter, emailed to activate it as intructed and made my first weekly payment. I did this for another 6 weeks, until I received an email at around 3:30am informing me that they had not heard back from me regarding my defaulted account. This was a surprise to me as this was the first I had heard of it and I had been paying weekly. I emailed to ask what was happening and heard nothing back. I also went onto their website and emailed from there. I heard nothing back from them except the automated emails in the early hours of the morning instructing me to call to arrange a repayment plan or be referred for a home visit. Over 8 days I emailed the two people I had previously dealt with, sent emails to the email addresses I had managed to find and sent emails via their website and I heard nothing back. Again I contacted them and explained that I felt that I was being purposely ignored and explained my reasons for not wanting to talk over the phone as I wished for everything to be by post or email. I felt and still feel that I was being ignored in order to phone them - but then they can say whatever they like over the phone and I have no documents of it. After 8 days of not hearing back I got an email from one of the women who had previously dealt with me. I was told that I had defaulted my account as there had been more than 7 days between payments. This was a complete misunderstanding on my part - I thought that I was okay to pay weekly on whichever day as long as I paid it weekly. I didn't realise that it had been be on the same day every week. This may sound obvious to a lot of people but I honestly didn't know this. because I had first paid on a Tuesday and paid on a different day the next week this defaulted me. I explained that this was a misunderstanding on my part and we set a date for the payment to begin again. I was also told I would be sent a plastic card that I could use to make the payments on. No card turned up and I used my old bar code from a letter. During this time I received another email informing me that I need to arrange a payment plan for my balance within 5 days or they will send somebody out to visit me. I contacted MotorMile and was ignored again. After 3 days of emails I got an email to tell me that my payment plan was still in place but the email was in regards to a second account they had just bought (it was the one I was waiting it hear from, from the other pay day loan) We set up a payment arrangement plan at £5 per week per account. I was told that the card would be sent out that day for my previous account and that she had set up a standing order for the account we had just sorted out an arrangement plan on. I let her know right away that I do not have a bank account and that any details of an account they have will be of no use. She said she would send out two plastic cards. I received the cards, activated them and made my first payment on the Wednesday as agreed. The following Wednesday I made the payments again and again last Wednesday. Before I left to make payments this morning I received a letter from MM informing me I had defaulted. Knowing that I absolutely have not defaulted and feeling very frustrated I emailed the person who had been dealing with me and asked why I had received this letter and how it was possible I had defaulted. I also sent a photo of my payment receipts that show the amount and the dates. I was emailed back almost immediately and told that after checking my account she could see I have defaulted and that is why it had been passed to the collections team and a home visit being arranged. She said she would be happy to reset my account for a date. I just want to get my payments sent and get all of this paid off, so I agreed about setting another date but I stood my ground and politely asked how I had defaulted when I had the receipts to show I have paid on the right days, the right amounts and haven't missed any payments. I expressed how concerned I am that this is going to keep happening as it is really beginning to stress me out. I am very ill at the moment and I really do want to get everything into order. It just seems like I have had nothing but issues since trying to arrange repayments with this company. I agreed to set the date for next Wednesday and for them to be as usual, each Wednesday and £5 for each card. Within an hour I received a reply telling me that my account had been set for one payment PER MONTH on the 21st, £5 on each card.. . Now as great as that is for me as I am struggling to live just now. I am very concerned at the offer. When I very first tried to make payment arrangements on my first account with them I offered £20 a month but was refused. Now with two accounts they are happy to accept £5 per month on each account? I feel like perhaps this was a mistake, so I emailed back confirming one payment per month at £5 on each account. I said this would be perfect for me and as usual once I start to earn more I will pay a higher amount on the accounts as I genuinely want to get all of this paid off. I have heard nothing back since but have a feeling that this time next week I am going to be bombarded with emails regarding a defaulted account and/or needing to make a payment agreement on both accounts. The person I have spoken to has been quite, but also very evasive at times. I have been very polite throughout these emails but have expressed how fed up I am getting and I have also expressed my concerns of paying these accounts when my payments seem to suddenly default and details aren't updated on their system, as well as their communication not happening within the company. I understand mistakes happen and people sometimes forget to do things but the amount of miscommunication does concern me. Also, as petty as it sounds, they keep getting my name wrong. It has repeatedly been spelt wrong which I can understand as people do often but I've been called two other names that only begin with the first two letters of my name. This makes me concerned as my details are right there in front of them. Again that probably sounds petty but added up with everything else and how evasive they are being and dodging answering my questions I can't help but wonder would this be better off going to court? I am really unwell and could do without having to go to court but the stress of this is really getting to me. I feel I shouldn't complain as I have brought all of this upon myself but I do genuinely want to get this paid and I am trying to turn my life around and settle down. Once again, apologies for the lengthly post. I wanted to give as much detail as I could as nothing has been at all straightforward with this company and I am very concerned that my payment plans are going to permanently be failing one way or another. Has anybody else had this problem with MMF before? And would I be better off letting this go to court? Thank you for reading. Any input would be appreciated.

I have noted the number of concerns expressed about Parcel2Go and thought ought to add my own. Prior to the Post Office privatisation I sent the majority of parcels through my local PO. There may be odd concerns but I have to say my figures show a problem rate, expressed as the percentage of parcels that gave rise to problems, was approx 0.04%, over 3 years total. My problem rate with P2GHermes is 48.20%. A staggering figure. That is all documented. Friends and I have done 'test' parcels and sought feedback, the results have not been good.at all. I have tried taking matters up with them on their 'chat' line, almost entirely in vain. The chat operators are 'homeworkers' just manning a computer, they have no way of knowing what is really going on and have to email P2G themselves if they want info other than that on their screen. 2 operators come up with different answers. The customer service system is amongst the very worst I have even seen in a long working life. Their web info is misleading, it only includes selected positive feedback. They edit negative comments off Facebook etc. There are a whole host of issues from standard service issues to legal issues re contract responsibilities and matters of public safety. Any company operating in this way ought to be brought to the attention of all potential customers. A couple of us re now using the internet to ensure all our contacts are aware, and make others aware. We are also putting together a dossier to send to ebay as they actively promote P2G and may be able to put some pressure on. You might want to consider passing this to your own contacts?

Hello, yesterday I received a notice through the door stating that a bailiff would be attending with locksmiths and police in order to remove property to settle an unpaid court fine. However the issue is that the person named on the notice doesn't live here, I don't even know her nor has she lived here for the past 16 years! The notice doesn't have my address on it, or any address, just the recipient's name. I contacted the bailiff on the notice immediately and informed him of this. My concern now is that he may come back with those locksmiths and police in order to remove property; can he legally do this now that he has been informed that I don't know this person and that she doesn't live here?

Hi everyone. I'm due to start work with a new employer shortly, and to put it mildly, they're ringing some alarm bells with me. Firstly, they're a relatively new start up company, which never fills me with confidence, but briefly: 1. At interview I was told that the achievable bonus is £500 pcm (I never believed this to start off with, so no harm no foul there). In my written offer of employment, this had dropped to £250pcm, with much more foggy instructions on how it's to be achieved. In my contract of employment, it's now turned into "As detailed by the company, from time to time". 2. There is a LOT of "hours of work to be from Xam to Xpm, but whatever is required to 'get the job done'" going on in the contract, but no mention of overtime or time in lieu whatsoever. There's also this paragraph, and these two issues combined are making my spidey senses tingle: The position is salaried, but I've worked out that I could do roughly 45 hours before I dropped below minimum wage, which works out at about an hour a day extra. What is hinted at on the contract is that more (possibly at lot more) than this will likely be required, and quite possibly weekend working too, which is something definitely not mentioned up until now. Unfortunately, I was given this application by a JCP adviser so I can't turn it down. I can't decide whether I should just shut up, start work and look for another job A.S.A.P or email them tomorrow asking directly about TIL/overtime/bonus arrangements and risk hacking them off before I've even started.

Hi, I'm a new user and I'm here on behalf of my mum. And I'm sorry if this is long. Basically, a couple months ago she went to her doctor about ESA and, after asking her questions, he said she was eligable and wrote her a sick note from 1st August for 4 weeks. She took the sick note to the Jobcentre, told them what the doctor said and handed it in. They said that was fine and gave it back to her, but she thought that was just to keep for records or something. About when the 4 weeks were up, she realised she hadn't been paid ESA yet, and she had been living off of her last JSA pay. She went back to the doctor and he told her she had to post it off herself. He then wrote her another note from when the last one ended for 3 months. She then posted them both off at the same time. 3 days later she got a call saying they had recieved the note, but she hadn't made a claim yet (she thought she did that when she took the sick note in the first time), so she made one over the phone and they said she would be paid within 14 days. That was on 17th September and she hasn't been paid a thing. And just 2 days ago she got a letter saying her sick note was only from 1st Ausgust to 7th August and they need a new one if she wants to keep getting her benefit. Is there something she missed/didn't do? And although they said it would be backdated, it's been almost 10 weeks since the start of the first sick note. Will it still be backdated? Any advice would be brilliant as I have no clue about these things. And, again, sorry it's so long. Thank you

Some travel agents will not be ready for a new scheme that clarifies holidaymakers' rights if a tour operator collapses, organisers say. Travellers booking flights and holidays will be given new certificates from Monday. The Atol certificate scheme will make it clear which elements of a holiday are protected, and make refunds easier. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says the protection still stands even if certificates are not ready. But the consumer organisation Which? is advising consumers not to book holidays with agents or websites that cannot provide certificates. More ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19534488