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Last Thursday ALL my benefits were cut off with immediate effect as the GP couldn't fit my medical symptoms to the new "fitness to work" form. Basically he took fright and didn't do a sick note, even though he acknowledges that my ongoing health issues which are compounded by my loss of hearing do cause significant problems in my life and employability.
I was fobbed off with a list of telephone numbers to ring which, due to my deafness, I simply couldn't handle, so I dragged myself to the job centre and burst into tears in desperation.
The local job centre disabilty advisers were absolutely fantastic and even argued with my health centre practice manager on my behalf ... but to no avail. So, yours truly is now in the situation of bringing her son up on £20.30 a week UNTIL 4-6 weeks time when the JSA is due to come through. I am allowed to apply for a an emergency crisis loan but not until next Wednesday.
I am pretty upset as I was booked to see the ESA specialist incapacity officer this coming Monday about getting tailored assistance in returning to work. However, now my ESA has been closed, the job centre has cancelled that appointment (which, believe me, I'd been angling to get for ages) and I have to see the standard JSA adviser instead at some time in the future. The sheer stupidity of the situation is crushing!! Even so, the job centre have been very sympathetic and assure me that I will not be forced into a work situation/environment which will make me sick. Some sort of limited job-search contract thing? Need more info.
Suddenly having the ground pulled out beneath me could have led to me losing housing and council tax benefit and becoming instantly liable for rent and council tax, but I acted quickly BEFORE those benefits were pulled automatically. Phew... I think! Still, it is astonishing how quickly one's entire world and security can just collapse like that :o(
Being unable to negotiate over the phone, I've had a lot of physical running about to get to face-to-face encounters with officials. Took 2 days and was absolutely knackering! Needless to say, after having been in remission since April, I've now been hit with a relapse (have to see a neurologist in a few weeks to rule out nerve damage and MS).
However, my life isn't all bad news ... if it were, I really really would have done myself in by now. I have a lovely man in my life at last :o) In fact he is, beyond a doubt, The Right Man! He lives a train journey away and is in the throes of a divorce, but everything is going extremely well in spite of that. I'm hoping to move sometime over the next year, so we can set up home together. Fortunately my job prospects are much better there and it will be a much more financially viable situation for both of us. My son knows about him but I haven't mentioned the plans to relocate yet. I told my ex in order to give him the opportunity to strengthen his relationship with our son, before we move a bit further away, and he is surprisingly supportive.
I'm just hoping that all the bullshit I'm being forced to deal with doesn't jeopardise our future plans, so fingers crossed folks!
Louise, you are right! I'd completely forgotten about the CTC so that means we do have some money coming in as a safety net. Phew! Though I'd budgeted against the continued income of the ESA so am now unable to pay the water bill, the credit card (I avoid using cash as I get embarrassed trying to make out what the cashier says) and the gas bill.
Hi Harissa, what an almighty nightmare for you. As for the bills, some companies are very good, contact them asap, and I'm sure they will be able to give you more time to pay.
Congratulations on your new man :) I really hope things work out for you.
How ridiculous for you to be put into this situation! At least the jobcentre have been helpful...
My very best wishes for the future. I really do hope that happiness is there for you - about time!! And you can move forward with things.
Your son, I'm sure, will deal with it. :-)
The nightmare continues :o(
Firstly, my advice is DO NOT even attempt to apply for a crisis loan if you are feeling down (which of course, you will be if you are in that situation). The advice given by the job centre was wrong and I am now in a situation where I have no option but to go into debt in order to survive. The over the phone humiliation I was put through was absolutely unbearable - they want to know EVERYTHING you have spent money on, and I found myself crying when I admitted that I had bought a bra in the last week and that I needed money to buy socks for my son. (All his socks inexplicably fell to pieces over the last week). Clothing and power costs are non-essential.
The fact that I had already budgeted and accounted for the £130 I would normally receive tomorrow (it was earmarked for the gas bill of £150, which I now have no means of paying) and so had used yesterday's £20 to tide us over foodwise, has essentially disqualified me from emergency assistance. "You can't expect us to pay your gas bill" the bitch sneered over the phone. I ended up informing her that I felt like killing myself then and there and then told her to F off, before slamming the phone down. God, I REALLY cannot cope with telephone interrogations, especially where I can only hear fragments of conversation and THEIR phoneline has got the echo of other call-centre phone calls interfering yet further.
Then, the Job Centre phoned me because there has been a problem with my JSA application form. It had not been sent to Cosham by the advisor but has been circulating aroung the local office's internal mail system since Thursday. In effect that explained why the crisis loan woman had been so adamant that I did not exist on their system. I hadn't been given a signing-on date, though it has been suggested that it might end up being on the one crucial weekday on which I travel to meet boyfriend and do a physical job hunt while I'm there.
I have TWO more appointments at the job centre this week - one for a WFI and the other for a face-to-face interview for a crisis loan. I've had to break my commitment to my voluntary job plus delay an essential train journey. And it is half-term next week so my son will have no school meals. I just feel sick to the core.
Nightmare is the word! I am sorry that you have been passed from pillar to post, and treated in such a humiliating way.
So...clothing and power are non-essential. Right. That makes sense. Not.
I hesitate to ask you to contact yet another bureaucracy but do try and steel yourself to contact the gas company to get payment delayed. Good luck with the "interviews" this week, I thought you had had a WFI quite recently?
Harissa, I really do hope you're making some headway with all of this.
You take care.
My JSA finally came through today minus the ten day period including when the GP prevaricated over whether or not he was going to sign the sick note and the JSA form got lost by the job centre in their very own office. As it amounts to a very necessary £93, I'm not in a position to let this slip. Here we go again! Sigh!
Firstly that's great that you finally got some JSA through , but dreadful that it is £93 short. That is so much money! Hope you can show that there was a period during which you got nothing, and they stump up the shortfall.
I have a phone bill which shows all the phone calls I made to their various offices when the GP couldn't decide whether or not to sign the fitness to work form, plus several members of staff at the local office hopefully can back me up on how far in advance I had sought help. One woman should even be able to confirm that she personally sent off my form on the 20th not the 25th, so that is 5 days in which the ball was definitely in their court. The 5 days before that (when the GP was acting up) will probably be trickier and the health centre staff and practice manager are so unco-operative but, we'll see!
Keep going harissa, you will get your rewards in the end!
you've done well getting all that together.
Hope its sorted really quickly now.
I'm so sorry to hear that your problems started with your gp. If I was you I would change to another immediately. You won't get anywhere without medical backup. You must push your GP to refer you to a hospital consultant. Secondly, you should visit your local citizens advice bureau. And also look at 'benefits online' which is a guide to claiming ESA, disability etc., and offers amazing advice from experts. I have been through the process of ESA, and strongly advise you to try along these lines, it is a very exhaustive and difficult thing to do but if you deserve entitlement your doctor should be more supportive. I wish you all the best.
Hello harissa
What a massive shock to be told that ESA is being withdrawn and how ridiculous that they do not have a smoother transition between ESA and JSA. Your Child Tax Credit should stay the same though, and Child Benefit. If they have also said they will be suspending the CTC (which is paid separately to both ESA and JSA) then that's completely illogical. In addition to the crisis loan do not hesitate to approach your local Salvation Army if you run short of foodstuffs and also you could contact your local Childrens' Services (this is the more palatable name for Social Services these days) I expect you are absolutely exhausted.
Good news that a move may be on the cards. You may find that your son kicks against the idea at first but it is a fresh start for him away from some of the people who have made life difficult for him locally. It is great news that you have met a nice new man and I wish you lots of happiness together.
Hope you are able to relax a bit this weekend at least