How could they do this?

[brizzledrizzle]

You're on the verge of losing everything - but you don’t understand why http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-42789610

This should not be allowed to happen, this is supposed to be a civilised country. How could they do this to somebody

Oh, and the waiting time for a tribunal date in my part of the south east is currently 50 weeks.

50 weeks? That’s....I can’t actually think of a word strong enough.

Inhumane is the closest I could get to,

It's no good blaming the system if you don't have the documents when you attend.

And where is a homeless person supposed to keep all these documents? Or someone who's just fled domestic violence with just what they could carry for themselves and their kids, or just out of prison, or who was evicted from their flat when they were sectioned for 9 months and has no possessions whatsoever?

All true stories, all genuine clients I have worked with in the last 12 months.

I was on job seekers a few years ago for a few weeks but the conditions were ridiculous.
I had to prove I was spending 35 hours a week looking for work, 35 hours! They then told me I had to go and do 'work experience' full time in a shop to get my benefits. Not only was this slave labour but I was also taking a full paying job off someone else.I was lucky I could tell them to fuck off!

I know a woman with cerebral palsy who has had her benefits cut, I know a blind man who is having to get his friends to fill lots & Lots of forms in for him which are going backwards and forwards.

I volunteer at a homeless place there is a man in a wheelchair who fought in the war who is homeless, he's lovely & surprisingly not too bitter (yet)

Yet I see so many young girls getting pregnant to the first guy that comes along, is then given a house, money to furnish the house, they drive cars, they go on holidays, they have more money than me.

There is something very wrong here!!

your GP can provide you with a statement about your condition.

Your GP may well charge you, £25 seems to be the going rate, although I know of some that charge £35.

Some GPs even charge for printing a summary of medical history, which is a push-button job and rarely amounts to more than 2 sides of A4. They usually charge a tenner for that, although there is a GP in Hastings who charges £25.

Not easy to find £25 when you're on benefits of £73.10 pw.

My GP provides them for free (they shouldn't but I can't afford £40 per page - it more than one) but doesn't tell the dwp or practice manager that - there's a very unsubtle mention about the cost of doing letters every three months.

lakie lack of support for appeals is why the success rate where I am is so very low compared to everywhere else since funding was cut.

He needed someone to support him through the bureaucracy of his claims at a difficult time in his life - I don't think that's an unreasonable thing to ask

like his caseworker, legal advisor AND citizens advice personal assistance? He had all those.

Koolaid Not until a long way down the line, when he was threatened with eviction - and it seems even they were confused by the state things had got into by then.

You go to see a legal adviser. You haven't been able to see a lawyer until now, because benefits law isn't covered by legal aid any more, but some housing law is.
Your lawyer and a Citizens Advice caseworker can't make head nor tail of what's going on at first.

He needed one person to take ownership of this much sooner:

It seems that every time you go to the Job Centre, someone gives you a different story about what you should be doing. You try to phone the DWP to sort things out, but no-one seems able to help you there, either. Each phone call costs you something like £8 - the claimant helpline is premium rate from mobiles and you haven't got a landline.

Zippitydoodar, no-one in the UK is given a house because they get pregnant. In areas were housing is available, they would be entitled to whatever the local housing allowance is, for their deemed need. Just like a OAP.

Benefits don't pay for cars and holidays. Families and the NRP sometimes do.

The money for furniture is a loan.

Stop spouting shit.

I had my third and final tribunal a year after my first claim. As I said, I was turned down, but awarded it within months. it's a crafty way of not giving back pay, or awarding benefits.

So I missed out on a years worth of benefit, which would have paid all of the debt that I got into during that year. There were times that I couldn't attend hospital because I didn't have the money to and wasn't well enough for an early pick up and late drop off.

Oh, and the waiting time for a tribunal date in my part of the south east is currently 50 weeks.

In some areas it is up to 67 weeks, I had been waiting well over 50 weeks when it was postponed for another 4 weeks, I would have to double check but I am fairly sure it is going to take me over the 60 week mark, from losing PIP to the tribunal, we are up to our eyeballs in debt. Our landlord has given us notice (rent is the only thing we have made sure we paid) due to losing PIP we got a council tax bill for over a grand, because of that debt, which we are in a debt agreement for, the council will not give us social housing till 75% is cleared, they will however give us TA, which means we need to get rid of our pets, pack everything up and put into storage, which needs to be paid upfront, plus paying for a van to be able to move us.

It has been one of the most stressful years I have been through since I was an adult. All because my brain has a defect

SugarIsAmazing, so you've taken a job that pays less than benefits? that's very noble of you.

Either that or you now aren't budgeting in the same way that you used to.

You should write a book about budgeting, unless of course you had maintenance and family help.

Also when my DD changed from DLA to PIP, because she turned 16. By the time she had her assessment, it meant that she wouldn't get all of her back-pay.

Which is being done to a lot of disabled children.

Well, I was on benefits and I afforded three holidays - one of which to Canada. I had full rent and council tax paid, was able to claim free school meals and uniforms, had milk tokens, free prescriptions, free veterinary care for my animals and free college!

Come on share please!! Your income and outgoings....? I'd love to go to Canada but clearly my budgeting is shit.

Birdsgottafly if SugarIsAmazing was noble she'd have stopped claiming the milk vouchers etc when she clearly had no need of them.

My best friend was made redundant last year . She had to claim UC and missed an appointment to sign on - because she was at a job interview that the job centre had arranged - and got a sanction . Her children ended up having to go and live with her parents because she had literally NO money to feed them and her rent wasn't being paid , it took months to sort out and she didn't get money backdated .

My sister had a miscarriage in November . There were complications and she had a two week hospital stay , with a laparoscopy , blood transfusion and another emergency surgery . Her boyfriend was unable to contact the local jobcentre and had to phone a national number to leave a message and rearrange her appointment but when he got through they wouldn't accept the message and insisted on speaking to my sister who couldn't talk at all due to the meds she was on . When she was discharged the workcoach wouldn't accept the hospital discharge letter as proof of her being in hospital and needed a gp note . So my sister had to walk 4 miles to her gp surgery to get a sick note less than a week after having two surgeries and she STILL had her payment stopped . Luckily it only took her 5 weeks to get reinstated and she did get it backdated .

All systems have flaws, UC is no exception. It's better than tax credits though as it's a little tougher and is live rather than using estimates etc.

It doesn't go far enough though, people are still having children whilst claiming, only having to work a few hours etc. Better than it was but could be stricter.

t doesn't go far enough though, people are still having children whilst claiming, only having to work a few hours etc. Better than it was but could be stricter.

2 people on minimum wage, would still be claiming child tax credits, child benefit and housing benefit, or are you saying that because you are in a low income job, that lets face it, doesn't actually pay a living wage then you should not have children?

@CuriousaboutSamphire the clue is in the name JOB SEEKERS allowance. Hence the reason you ought to be seeking employment. Surely with all those degrees that should be self explanatory

The system is inhumane and I really struggle to recognise the UK sometimes. Vulnerable people being left without support, judged, humiliated - it seems to be the norm? Sickening.

.

Only the tories could think up such a vile, inhumane, spiteful system. Bastards.

Actually Trumpodious I do think what you said was helpful The horror stories do put people off and sometimes it is easier than you expect.

It is a horrible process - no doubt about it - but sometimes it goes smoothly so yes, people shouldn't be put off. If they have a good reason for a claim then sometimes it is straightforward.

the clue is in the name JOB SEEKERS allowance. Hence the reason you ought to be seeking employment. Surely with all those degrees that should be self explanatory hmm

Appropriate user name for someone who couldn't assimilate the contents of my post!

I did explain... to the Job Coach too! It's really simple. No job > Job Seekers > New Enterprise Allowance --> self employed.

Sadly some people just don't want anyone to actually access the benefits they are fully entitled to!

But you were using jsa to fund you as you set up a business samphire, I think that’s what some people were uncomfortable about.

Birdsgottafly and chopchipcookies

I was paid
£825 a month rent
£320 a month child benefit
£1200 a month child tax credit
Free school dinners saving approximately £160 a month
Vouchers for £240 to buy school uniforms.
Plus income support and council tax!

That was what I received as a single mum of six for four years until the government capped benefits.
I then got a job when my youngest started school, working in a nursery and my income dropped dramatically.