Healthy fucking start

[BeyondDoesBootcamp]

Yeah, its not strictly an aibu, they are bu and fucking arse twats.

We are going round and round in circles. They seem unable to understand that we are eligible due to ESA (so yet another shining example of how the world doesnt give a shit about disabled parents), even though its on their own website and the paperwork we sent off.

Getting hold of them is awful by email, if they bother to reply it takes at least 5 working days, and then (twice now) i have had the response that if i am claiming cause of jsa i need to call the job centre, if it is because of tax credits, you need to call them. It is neither, you fuckwits!!!

I cant talk on the phone, dh has phoned them three times and tried to get some sense, yet they say there is no manager we can escalate our complaint to. They just keep saying that they have no confirmation of my claim, that it is their job to get - if they'd asked me for proof of income/disability/whatever, i would have bloody sent it.

To top it all off, if we get to 90 days since we applied, we have to start again from scratch.

Helping vulnerable families? Fucking liars.

So... Anyone else? Can anyone help me get it sorted?

Screenshot of the eligibility page of their website...

Sorry, I have no knowledge of this area, but it sounds like you are being horribly screwed around. Can you contact your MP and ask for an appointment at their next surgery? They might be able to help.

Sorry to ask an obvious question, but have you sent them a copy of your ESA award letter?

It needs both pages - the one that states that you've been awarded ESA from X to X, and the one that show that it is income based.

That is all the proof that they should need. They aren't usually too bad at this!

Feel bad for you. Hope you get the help you need.

Healthy fucking start sounds like a sexual health clinic!

Did you send in your claim by recorded delivery? If not you have no proof they have it , they might have lost it or it could have got lost in the post. If they have your claim but are saying it isn't valid why are you not claiming tax credits , you must be eligible if your income is income based ESA.

I havent, but i checked and was told i didnt need to send it.

But if that was the problem anyway, surely they just had to say? The communication from them is just so shocking. We've had one woman saying that we are not elligible at all on IR-ESA, it is only jsa or ctc (under £16k income).

Sorry just realised are you pregnant with no dc yet?
Ring them back and ask them to do a paper claim.

We do get tax credits, but dhs income before he finished work was about £500 over the threshold for us to be elligible on that.

They def had the claim, they are telling us that they need proof sent from JCP/tax credits, not from us. Spoke to tax creidts, they said they have sent our info over twice, but HS are still saying they dont have it

Not pregnant, have a two year old :)

DH is going to try phoning again in a minute. Think i might send my six tonnne of relevant paperwork to them anyway

I feel for you, it often seems that the public services exist purely to employ the unemployable and no one ever seems to give a fuck!

Sorry no help - just sympathy.

I've gone from a little angry to fucking livid. Tears and everything.

DH has spoken to them. They say that our current income apppears to be too high, as we receive higher ESA, ctc and enhanced pip. So because i get extra money to help with the general shit of my everyday life, i am being discriminated against and not getting help that is for my children. I get that money because i am ill, because odds are i will never get better. So mu childrne lose out on money they would get if i were healthy and just on jsa.

I dont know what to do or where to turn. DH is trying to phone ctc, see if they have any idea. We are bickeing wherre i am so upset, he thinks i am taking it out on him. I want to curl up in a ball and cry.

Bump.

Wonder if i might have more luck with some sort of specialist? Any idea who that would be? It cant be that my disability money is what makes me inelligible. That cant be right? :(

I think it might be right tbh. Wasn't there a thread recently that covered this?

I have no idea on the practical advice front BUT I'm posting to hand hold. I agree, that can't be right, because that'd be fucking appalling. Could you contact your MP? I've seen that suggested on threads before for benefit sanction related issues so might be worth a shot?

Oh. Sorry. That sounds all too plausible. I'm not eligible for free prescriptions or dental stuff etc on Incapacity Benefit, now ESA, because I get the NI-contributions-based rate, which is slightly higher.

So do check, but it they're quite probably right.

HOWEVER, surely they should absolutely not be counting PIP in with that? DLA was always specifically NOT counted as income.

I hope that's just the twit on the phone being wrong. And not that they've slipped in yet another nasty little change with the introduction of PIP...

Send scans of your ESA letter. Yes, they should just ask for it, but it looks like you're lost in the system now.

Don't send proof of PIP. They don't need it. Just proof of income-based ESA.

Really you have to ask for a ""paper claim" I am guessing you or your dh has earned money this tax year. If so that is the problem and it will never be sorted unless they do a paper claim.

Yep, the person dh spoke to at hs was an idiot, its nothing to do with benefits, its just dhs earnings that make us ineligible. Even though it says under £16k or on ir esa on the website and the forms i filled in. At least this now means that in april we'll be fine.

Sigh. Long day.

Soon, how does a paper claim work?

This is just the sort of case an MP can make a difference with.

Its probably worth a try. We are only a tiny bit over the limit they are now giving us, and although we had an income til dh stopped work, we now rely wholey on the state. That should (in my expert opinion ) mean we get the 'weekly' stuff thats meant to be part of the benefits system.

A paper claim is where the award is done manually. Basically the computer will " say no" due to any money being earned since April. Or if there is any less than a straight forward claim.
Our award took four months to process. We did receive a cheque for the full value if the vouchers we missed out on. It was only sorted by ringing three to four times a week and eventually speaking to someone who explained nothing would happen until they did a paper claim. Also they do have managers you can speak to , they are lying. Hope you get it sorted it is very frustrating.

That is very helpful, thanks soon! I'll tell dh to start pestering thrm :)