Aibu to think if you have worked in thsi country no one wants to help you

[tjacksonpfc]

Bit of background i've worked all my life up until i had my 2 dc eldest one is 6 on july. 2 years ago i started working part time aswell. my dp has always worked aswell.

Any way last feb i had to give up work due to ill health i am going in for shoulder reconstruction surgery next month and am waiting to see an orthopedic surgeon about collapsed vertebrae they found i had in december.

Since i gave up work we have struggled by on dps wages and help from friends and family. when i was at drs 2 weeks ago she asked what benefits we got i said none as we have never claimed not thinking we were entitled.

The dr told me to contact the dwp as we should be entitled to something as dp only brings home £250 a week {i no its more than a lot of people get}.

I done this filled out all the forms to get a letter today telling me that im not entitled to employment support allowance as ive not paid enough contributions in last 3 years. whilst i was being a sahm and working part time so not earining enough to pay NI. And my dp earns to much according to what the goverment think a family of four need to live on.

I was really upset by this as we have always worked and the one time we ask for help we get told no so we have to struggle on paying rent and everything else. when there are people that have never worked get everythinbg handed to them.

AIBU to think the goverment policys are all wrong?

sorry its a long post but need to get it off my chest.

Are all the different benefits administered by different Government departments?

Madness, there must be a massive amount of cash just poured away into admin.

Madness, there must be a massive amount of cash just poured away into admin = it keeps people in work, although it is not well payed work and they often have to claim there own benifits. the advantage ebing they are not on the unemployment lists ro numbers.

I do beleive that I have heard there are more people working for the state in its various forms than all the companies put together.

This would include police, nurses, admin, civil servants, teachers, council workers and the list goes on...for now.

Yes, but there must be people essentially moving bits of paper about. It makes my fingers itch when things are not properly organised, but I have issues.

Have thought the same since using the NHS for this pregnancy (not really needed it in the previous 4 years). Everything seems to be very disorganised, the urge to shove the person off the computer and take over myself has been unbearable. The medical care has been excellent but the admin is a nightmare.

oh yes different people

Tax Credits - HMRC
JSA/ESA/IS, mortgage interest relief - DWP
Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit - local council..........BUT it's a different department from the actual council tax department

DWP and Tax credits are particularly AWFUL for sending out HUGE amounts of paper, we once had 4 letters all dated on the same day, telling us 4 different things from DWP...........why couldn't they just put it all in one letter??????

It is a strange system I think. I have worked since leaving school, so 28 years and never claimed dole etc. I picked daffodils when I was younger instead of going on the dole. I have worked for 20 years for the same company and was made redundant in December.

I can't get job seekers cos I receive a widows pension!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know I have an income and should leave the money for someone who is on the breadline but I do feel peeved about it tbh so you have my sympathy!

Morloth, I work for one of those Government departments and you would not BELIEVE how much money is wasted on admin/rebranding/reorganisation. It's shocking, it really is.

For example: I used to process benefits. I now work in what basically amounts to a call centre, fielding phone calls from angry benefit claimants who have not had payments - and 90% of the time, their payments were missed due to staff not doing their jobs properly. It's utterly shite. 500 civil servants in my office, employed solely to sort out the mess created by other civil servants!

I can't say any more else I'd get sacked.

moloth - I will have to slap you if you talk about logic

I understand the Ops frustration with the system but it comes down to how much people need to live on vs. income. It is just that simple, you may not like it but having worked before doesn't mean that you need anymore than anyone else does. What I don't like with these sorts of threads it not just being pissed with the system, but resenting others for being on benefits - none of us have any idea why and how people ge tinto their situations and it is not for us to judge.

Agreed the admin is terribly bloated which is why child benefit is universal because it would be more expensive to administrate a means tested system than give it out universally.

well indeed Ivy - currently being "in" the system - I can assure you that there's absolutely no logic to it whatsoever

As Ivy has pointed out, unless you are paying for your medical treatment yourself, you are "getting something back": you will be having surgery soon, and you have also been referred to another surgeon - and you have not made NI contributions for the last 6 years. The treatment you are getting is not cheap. Personally, I think you are every bit as entitled to it as anyone, I don't think it should be allocated on the basis of previous contributions, and I think the same goes for benefits. I realise that you are very frustrated, and I hope that the person you see at CAB has good news for you.

I just like things nicely organised, get all twitchy when things are done the hard way. Luckily I have managed to find a niche in the world where people pay me to get rid of my twitch.

Can you pay NI in restrospect? I work part-time (and I earn very little, well within the tax allowance) but always pay Class 2 NI, which meant, for example, that I was entitled to maternity allowance etc.

YABU

DH and I both worked and he was amderedundant last May, now works PT for himself and studies; I am a carer as two children have asd.

I'm not saying its an idealife but we have food, and a roof and comapred to may other countries we could have lived in we'repretty OK.

Agree about DLA- if successful your claim starts on the day you ask for the pack so the sooner the better really.

£250 a week isn't much..... insist to TC's that they assess you on the basis of now rather than a year behind: they can (we are under that) but they pretend they can't, put it in writing rather than bothering with over the phone. It does mean you have to be on the ball with any OT or anything as it can knock you badly next year otherwise.

Rent- reapply, and for council tax benefits. It'snot on contributions or whether you rowk or not,just actual income comapred to family size etc. It is set to a v low income though. get DLA in process first as you can mark that on the form and might give you extra (I know child DLA does).

IIf you fancy a degreeand don't ahve one this si the point- not only will it help you in the long term but they only take certain parts into account. It'snot the only reason and enough alone as you will have to work for it, but is a considewration that can get you restarted jobs wise,, childcare is reclaimable up to 75% if you are assessed as needing it.

Oh and DLA- if you get tuned down first off,I think they do at elast 50% of applcaitions tbh,just follow the rules re appealing and and keep going.

Good luck.

DH is funny about paying his class 2 contributions through choice,it does make sense but is ahrd when things are tight

Life is unfair.

I live on the edge of a council house estate. Most parents there don't work, the dads claim disability because they all seem to suffer from bad backs or depression. They have all the latest gadgets, the children all have Nintendo DSi, Wii, Sky TV, huge HD TVs, everything.

We struggle on what dh's earns which is £14k pa and what I can get doing freelance which atm is zero. When our TV blew up we went to ebay for a second-hand one. We don't have Sky TV or a DSi or any of the latest gadgets. We have a cheap holiday once a year whilst these other families are jetting off to Disneyland during term time no less!

Life sucks at times. But you've got to look at what you do have. Be grateful for little things and keep looking for work, take anything that comes up. Or use this time to take up a course that will give you more skills.

Don't just sit back and moan about what you don't have. Get out there and do something about it.

cjn27b my ds2 gets dla at highest rate what other benefits does it open the gateway to?

OP, just from the info you have given on this thread, I have made the following assumptions:

-You have 2 children over the age of 12 months
-Your partner earns £250 after deductions (so £310 gross) per week.
-You pay £132.05 rent per week.

• None of you get any benefits such as DLA already.

Using www.entitledto.com, I reckon you are entitled to:

-£110.31 in tax credits weekly (£13.99 WTC & £96.32 CTC)
-£3.56 in council tax benefit
-£34.90 in Housing benefit
-£33.20 in Child Benefit

If you became eligible for Lower Rate Care of DLA, you would get:
-£110.31 in tax credits weekly (£13.99 WTC & £96.32 CTC)
-£13.39 in council tax benefit
-£66.84 in Housing benefit
-£33.20 in Child Benefit
-£18.35 DLA

First step is to apply for housing benefit and council tax benefit (should be just one form).

Then phone for a DLA pack.

onlyjoinedforoffers - It means that you get access to the Warmfront scheme if you have a lowish household income.

You should declare the HRC to HMRC, because it increases your entitlement to Child Tax credits.

You get extra allowances on your Housing Benefit applicable amount.

You qualify for carer's allowance if you don't earn more than £95 per week.

this is why we emigated to oz. still don't get any benifits but the system is much better. we can also claim back tax on things like school uniform, certain spots equipment, anything we pay for school. so you kind of get benifits from being 'middle working class'!! it just sucks being a sahm and being married and trying to do whats best. always feel like you are being kicked in the teeth for having worked and then looking after your own children!!! oh and if i did go back to wok having my 2 ds in child care i'ld be down one hundred pounds a month!!!

'it comes down to how much people need to live on vs. income. It is just that simple'

Well no, I don't think it is that simple. I posted a thread here the other day describing how my DP (who usually works minimum wage and pays for private rental- although one poster on here said that's impossible, ha) is signed off sick after spinal surgery and is on £77b SSP a week. Nothing else. No HB. Nothing. So his £77 a week pays for his £60 a week rent and a few bills.
No food.

So it doesn't really come down to need, does it?

And someone mentioned he would be entitled to a crisis loan to pay for a dentist's appointment because he has a terrible infection- but no, he was turned down for that. Whereas his brother just got out of prison and has free housing and a lot more money than my DP, as he is on job seekers- but we all know he will never get a job.

Sometimes the system does actually stink, and it isn't fair.

SkipHopJump, but your DP should normally get around

£11.21 WTC weekly.

And right now, he can claim HB and Council tax Benefit, of around £3.69 CTB, and £15.90 HB, and then in April he might get a small lump sum of Tax credits because he earned less than estimated.

He needs to claim HB & CTB, today. They can backdate up to 3 months.

Ooooh yes skiphopjump sounds like you've been fobbed off, it happens

the crisis loans are notorious bastards for that- have had no delaings with themmyself but hear it time and agin

And YY ytou'reentitled to rent and CTB.

look on the entitled to website.

Of course,if you don't have a rentalproperty but do have amortagge its ahrder for those qualifying months I know.We soldu p eventually but not so easy now (back then there was nothing you could claim anyway,even longer term).

CAb best bet.

Oh unless you areworking and earning plenty or he is living separately ( by plentyI use a very wide definition obviously).

then it is different and it is a PITA situation.

If he were unemployed he'd get JSA contribition based but not on SSP.

TC's can change your claim to take into account earnings today but you need to putpressure on for that to happen.

Oh and the other thing I cam on to say

Never assumepeopleare OK by looking fromthe outside: to anyone elsewe look fine,affluent even- we haven't toldanyone bar MumoffMN about what ahs happened (school now know I think,suspect ds1 filled them in)-wegowithout plenty but you can't see it,its a pride thing. The boys ahve aWii (bought before redundany ever thought of- Dh not a victim ofreceission but a sale to an asset stripper,company was posting record returns on their site the same day as redundancy notices went out), they haveeither aDS ordsi each (twobought with DLA as they are a massivehelpwith theasd, one bougght as we didnt feel ds2 should miss out (healready doesso much- things like friends around etc) so we pooled mony given toDH and I for birthdays and Christmas. Not complaiining- we both didwithout lunch 2 weeks and bought ds2 a birthday party and gota massive buzz fromthat but it does show you can't tell (and Dh doesn't know that I know he goes without lunch, and he dosn't know I did either).

I think we'requite lucky to get the support we do albeit in a siot not of our own making at all, but it still isn't easy.

Oh Peachy - you sound very much in the same situation as dh and I. He had to take a pay cut in November or take redundancy, so he took the pay cut. I earn nothing, still applying for around 5 jobs a week but realise that this means I'll have to put the kids into childcare.

We are probably entitled to free school meals but like you say, I don't the school to know of our financial difficulties, esp as I worked for them last year and it's largely through my contract ending with them that I'm out of work now.

We get housing benefit and I hate having to ask for that. The sooner I can go back to work the better. Like you, our kids had a choice of going to visit family over Christmas (petrol money etc) or having decent Christmas presents. They chose to see family.

They understand they can't have everything they want, they know things are really tight right now, but I hope they also know that material things can never make up for the love and time we are able to give them. Whenever they compare the things they have with their schoolfriends I remind them of what they DO have that their friends might not.

Hoping things change for the better for you soon Peachy.