I nearly ended it all but couldnt leave my son with nobody
Posted: Sun 28 Sep, 2014 5:50 pm
cheekipixi wrote:I just wanted to show that I understand how people feel from experience and if I can help in anyway then I will. This will be brief and it only just scratches the surface of what the DWP have put me thru in less than a year.
NUMBER 1
In May 2012, I received the ESA50 questionnaire from the DWP asking me to complete, sign and return it no later than September 2012. A few weeks later I was sent an appointment with ATOS for a face to face assessment, due to panic attacks I failed to attend this app and another one after that, on the third attempt i took my daughter with me and I managed to attend this one, this was on the 26th November 2012. I didn't hear from the DWP again until the following June.
NUMBER 2
In June 2013 I received a letter stating my Incapacity Benefit was going to be closed down and this would take effect on the 11th July 2013. I also received the report from the ATOS assessment at the same time. This report was completely untrue. And was full of contradictions.
On the 11th July 2013 ALL my entitlements where closed, these being:-
•Incapacity Benefit - this was closed down
•Income Support - this was closed down
•I lost my entitlement to the Crisis Loan and The Community Care Grant
•The assistance towards the Interest on my Mortgage stopped
•Council Tax Reduction entitlement was suspended
I had been left with no money, no advice of what to do next, I even lost the right to school dinners for my children. It was at this time that I asked for help from my local MP
NUMBER 3
From July 2013 to present the DWP have sent me 100 plus letters, the last letter always contradicting the present one. These letters were to inform me which entitlement I was in receipt off, the amount payable each fortnight and the amount of help towards the Interest on my Mortgage. These payments kept changing weekly and they ranged from £200 per week to 10 pence a week to no entitlements, this also included the payments towards the interest of my mortgage, which was not being paid.
My mortgage company requested an Income and Expenditure form to be completed and suggestions of how I was going to repay the arrears that were mounting up on my account. Obviously with not knowing my Income I could not complete this form accurately and eventually the Mortgage Company applied to the courts for an eviction date. Again I sought the help of my MP and it was found that the DWP had not paid anything towards the Mortgage Interest, in addition to this, with my entitlements being unknown and the amount also being unknown I could not pay the Mortgage Company either, so it was no wonder they wanted to evict me. In a panic I sent a copy of every letter I had received from and to the DWP since July 2013, to prove that I was not intentionally avoiding payments. I also enclosed and Income and Expenditure and entered as much information as I possibly could. Thankfully the order of an eviction date was cancelled but a charge of nearly £400 was added to my Mortgage account for court and solicitor fees, putting me into even further arrears.
NUMBER 4
During this time the DWP had also stated that I had 2 overpayments which needed to be repaid, one for £1,700, this was because apparently the DWP had been paying me ESA as well as Income Support, from my bank statements I discovered this was untrue, I notified my MP of this and after further investigations I was informed that this overpayment had been wavered even though I had not been paid as they said I had been.
The other overpayment was for £2,345.70, I constantly queried this but received very vague answers. It was only when I appealed against this decision and the Tribunal services sent to me all the relevant papers for the hearing, that I discovered that the overpayment was actually due to a failure to inform the DWP of a change of circumstances from 2 years previous. Now being fully aware of the reasons for the overpayment I was able to find and forward onto The Tribunal Services a copy of a form I had filled in, giving all details of the change of circumstances. A few weeks later I received a letter from the Courts advising me that the DWP had looked at my appeal again and had made a more favourable decision and my appeal was now cancelled and closed. Even though I had appealed against this overpayment, the DWP had already started to deduct money from my entitlements in repayment and in the report the decision maker had also stated that I was NOT to be reimbursed with the payments already taken. I have queried this decision of cancelling my appeal and to date I have not received a reply. To confuse matters even further, I had received yet another repayment plan to start 18th December 2013 of £135.00 every fortnight until March 2018. This I have also queried numerous times and to date I have had no replies.
NUMBER 5
My Tribunal date for my appeal against the decision to NOT award me ESA was set for the 28th November 2013 and a week or so before this date I received a letter from the Tribunal Services stating that they had received a letter from the DWP stating the decision maker had looked at my appeal again and had changed the decision to a more favourable one and that my appeal had now been cancelled. have written numerous times to the DWP requesting this new decision and only received a reply on the 14th January 2014, making an appeal against this decision impossible. This decision being to cancel everything and reinstate my Incapacity Benefit and Income Support and start the whole process once again from the beginning. Apparently Income Support and Incapacity Benefit had already been reinstated months before this decision had been made and I still await a reply from a letter appealing against this decision.
NUMBER 6
Earlier in the year (2013) I had received a budgeting loan but obviously due to ALL my entitlements being stopped the DWP could not take any repayments from me. I didn’t receive any advice on this matter on how I was going to repay this loan until around October time of 2013, where it was stated that £49.00 per week was to be deducted from whatever entitlement I was in receipt of at the time. I replied stating that I could not possibly offered these repayments, especially now I was in arrears with my mortgage, I still await a reply.
NUMBER 7
Just before Christmas 2013 I discovered that deductions had been taken from my entitlements and instead of receiving £140.00 per fortnight I was actually only receiving £40.00 per fortnight, giving me £20.00 per week to live from and just before Christmas and even though I queried this, I received no explanations or advice and deductions are still being taken from my fortnightly entitlements.
I still await replies from the DWP even though I have requested the information many many times. I have in the last few days written to ICE and now await their reply.
I discovered the DWP lost my file for seven months, they add they had not followed the correct procedures, they admit I have a mental illness and they admit that all of this must of had a detrimental affect on my mental health, they say they are sorry for all the distress they have caused and now want to put me through it all again. I may lose my home because of them, I have nearly lost my mind because of them and have been put on high blood pressure tablets due the stress, I am a single parent of two children living at home, one being disabled, facing life with my children being homeless is something I cannot imagine, I have worked all my life but was signed off sick by my Dr to then lose my job because of long term sickness and then to possibly lose my home of twenty three years is something I finding hard to cope with with.
Thanx