AIBU to think this hardship payment is slightly unfair?

[RoseRedder]

An old friend of mine contacted me to ask if I would buy his asda vouchers from him so he could shop at farmfoods and put some money on his electricity meter.

It transpires that his ESA benefit has been stopped (no appeal) and he applied for a crisis loan however this no longer exist so was given a hardhip payment which was 2 cards for Asda each with £10 on that can be used for food (so no tobacco etc)

I had heard that this was being considered but I didn't realise it had happened?

Is this not the equivalent of saying benefit claimants can't be trusted, or I'm I reading to much in to it?

The other problem is he has no Asda within walking distance and no money to get the bus there and back to one (£3) but does have an Aldi, Lidl, farmfoods and Iceland close by.

Would it not make more sense to be able to use shops that offer more value for money?

Thank you Misspixie, and so sorry about your friend, Fanny.

Housing benefit will have been stopped because they don't know what his new income is. Sadly they will have seen many people in your friends position.

If the benefit doesn't pay all the rent, because of other benefit changes, tell him to apply for a Discretionary Housing payment. This is from the Housing benefit office too.

if he has no luck or they are taking too long shelter are brilliant with advice

3 years ago Dh and I worked and owned a home.
One disability and repossession later I'm the sole wage earner on a low income.

I'm lucky, I can work and my Mam helps me.
There for the grace of God.

op can he get to citizens advice?

he needs to ask the DWP for a reconsideration/for the claim to be looked at again.
there is a form to fill in to do this GL24. i believe there is a time limit to do this from the time he hears from DWP that he is not entitled to ESA.

if he has already done this, it might be why he is not in receipt of esa at the moment, they used to pay a basic which was the equivalent of Income support/JSA, whilst they were reconsidering the decision.

They don't pay you this anymore. It can take a few weeks till they tell you what the reconsideration is, so alot of people are trying to get hardship payments during this period
Housing benefit will still be payable, he needs to contact them and explain, he has no income.

Back to ESA. When he fills in the GL24, he must ask that he wishes to appeal, and that he asks to be paid the lower rate of ESA £70, whilst waiting for a tribunal. If he wants to be paid the £70 ESA he needs to go to the doctor for a sick note. During the time waiting for a hearing (this can take months) he will be able to gather info and support about his illness, to submit.
It is a very hard road, when you are ill.

Sorry, that was to those in ivory towers.

I'm sorry for your loss, Fanny

Pirate I thought you didn't get anything at all whilst waiting now?

They say that most of us are 3 pay packets away from disaster

Some of you have NO IDEA what it's like to live hand to mouth. I've done it my whole life, although I've worked full time for the last 30 years, I consider myself lucky I've not had to claim benefits.

You people that are well off... have some fucking empathy and compassion. One day it could be you, you haughty bastards.

I think there should be some payment for electricity and gas, but don't see as there is any difference between hardship loan and the rest of the population. Asda is making deals with gov for workfare, these hardship payments etc and will soon take away any choice that any of us have.

as far as i know, the rules changed in April this year.

When appealing you could ask for the reduced rate from day one of asking them to reconsider, now you can only ask for it AFTER they have made the initial reconsideration decision (looked at your claim again).

This process, the first bit can take 2,3,4 weeks. This bit, no you won't get any money for. It's a disgrace, because there is no time limit for them to make that decision.
When that decision is made, and hasn't changed you can then recieve the reduced rate because you are taking it further, iyswim.

This will last until you go to appeal.

I am not sure from op's post at what stage her friend was told the case is closed? op can you clarify at all?
Has he gone to court?

Employment and support allowance claimants who want to appeal against a decision they are capable of work will be forced to claim jobseekers allowance or go without benefits, possibly for many months, under a clause in the welfare reform bill currently going through parliament. Astonishingly, the government is already consulting on whether their harsh changes to the appeals procedure go far enough. We are urging readers to respond.

Currently, claimants who are found fit for work can continue to receive ESA at the assessment rate by immediately lodging an appeal if they think the decision is wrong. ESA will then remain in payment until the appeal is decided.

That is all set to change, however, under clause 99 of the welfare reform bill.

Under the new rules, which are intended to be effective from April 2013, claimants who wish to challenge a benefits decision - including ESA and DLA decisions - will no longer be allowed to choose to lodge an appeal immediately.

Instead, there will be a mandatory revision stage during which a different DWP decision maker will consider the evidence and, if necessary send for more information, before deciding whether to change the decision. There will be no time limit on how long this process can take.

Only once the decision maker has either issued a revised decision, or decided that they cannot revise the decision, will the claimant be able to lodge their appeal. According to the consultation document:

"There is currently no time limit for the Department to complete the reconsideration of a decision. Decisions made and reconsidered by Decision Makers can vary considerably in complexity so this activity is not considered suitable for a generic time limit."

In effect, this means that the DWP can delay a claimant's appeal indefinitely. The only recourse for the claimant is likely to be to seek a judicial review of the failure to reconsider, something very few claimants would have the knowledge, resources or support to attempt.

In reality, just because decisions vary in complexity, that does not seem to be reasonable grounds for saying that no time limit should be imposed.

One simple solution would be to set a maximum period of, say six weeks, for a reconsideration, after which the claimant would have the right to lodge an appeal directly with the Tribunals Service. The DWP would then have the option to request an extension of the reconsideration time limit, if they could show that they had good grounds for needing it - other than simply being understaffed and inefficient.

Any appeal will, from April 2013, have to be lodged directly with the Tribunals Service, rather than with the DWP as happens now.

Do you know what? We manage, we get on ok, can pay the bills, eat well and heat the house. But even my kids have more empathy than people on this thread.

I was sorting Christmas cards to put in the post box yesterday. DS2(16) said "don't send them, mum, spend the money on food to give to the food bank instead!" He is 16! He was thinking of those who have nothing. I am going to buy stuff for the foodbank too.

I was telling DS1 about these vouchers, he is disgusted. He is almost 19. He would be an incredible politician. He couldn't sleep the other night because he was thinking about what David Cameron is doing to the poor and vulnerable. He is so outraged at the way the rich are being treated in comparison to the poor. He can debated so intelligently that if he met David Cameron I think he'd leave him speechless.

Some people need to get their heads out of their arses and look around them to see what is actually happening. It might not directly affect you, but it is real. People are cold and hungry and poor. It is 2013, this is the UK. It should not be happening!

piratecat I would assume not. I believe the process used to go... Medical. Then Appeal to the Decision maker. (Decision maker almost always uphelds the Fit for Work because they know the Tribunal wait is bloody MONTHS if not years for some. 18months is the longest wait I have known to date). The new one is 'misinterpreting' the wording in the summing up by the Tribunal Judge. They 'think' it gives them a loophole in calling claimants back 6months after their appeal when they've been told not to reassess for a year for example.

Iam they seriously don't give a shit.
Under my previous name I was saying what was going to happen - exactly what is happening. I was told I was a hysterical liar and the state owes me nothing.

It's not a good place to be living your life in constant fear because someone who has zero idea of what your life entails decides they're going to cut your money off when you have zero options to earn your own other than putting your kids in care.

I have, last year and this year, spent 17 months waiting for restoration of ESA after ATOS threw out their own report for being, in their words, "not fit for purpose".

I was on the (lower) assessment rate for 12 months. Then I received nothing for 5 months.

Then I was actually assessed and am now in the support group - ie group of the most sick.

I am wondering what the fuck I am paying taxes for if they are treating people in this Kafkaesque way. FFS.

BoffinMum it does make one wonder doesn't it? Well for starters that big case where Call me Dave took the EU to court to protect Bankers bonuses. I believe that paid for itself out the lovely generosity of all these lovely Taxpayers.

I am on a disability management course at the moment and we all have DWP horror stories, even those of us who are really articulate capable people. They treat citizens like utter morons.

thank you

woowoo I'll look up the MS society stuff to give to him (he does not have internet, don't know why I'm having to say that but it just feels I need to justify the fact he needed a hardship payment to explain to the posters here that are thinking he should have savings that he is not wasting the ESA when he did get it on stuff like the internet) thank you for that woowoo

gobbysadcase what is a zero income claim? His flat is a housing association flat (supported accomdation) and they told him he needed a qualfying benefit to receive housing benefit. If you could point me in the right direction that would be amazing. I've googled but only got hits that say it's hypothetically possible. If this is an actual thing I'm going be so happy because maybe I can help with information rather than money .

Thank you

Knowledge is power

I know, Gobby.

I've actually had to stop thinking about it day to day. When the time comes, that will be soon enough.

Well you'd be paying for the changes to universal credit which is hundreds of millions over budget with an IT system not fit for purpose....

We need a new political party, a moderate one, with proper values.

(I may have been watching too much Borgen).

Rose I know you can get HB when you have no income (or very little).

You DON'T need a qualifying benefit. Phone up and ask to make a nil or zero income claim.

As you have no income they have to give you the HB.

We had this when the engineering firm DH worked for went bust but didn't give us the correct paperwork preventing him from claiming JSA. The company couldn't pay redundancy, the govt redundancy took weeks and we had literally nothing. But we got HB.

To all the previous posters with the screw you Jack attitudes - Did your alien leaders not fully train you in human compassion before they sent you here?

Secondly - instead of typing on here about how shit it all is (and I agree, it really is) how about we physically do something about it?

Admiral, we are but we are outnumbered by evil bastards. So it takes time.