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Pls Help Hubby with Aspergers JSA/ESA claim mess up REALLY long post sorry.

Hi all i hope someone can help me.

My Husband has Aspergers and gets DLA for this,he is also needing to claim jsa for us both. Unfortunatly his due to his aspergers he does not cope with being in large rooms with strangers,appointment times not kept to the minute and gets so anxious days before he is due to sign on.Due to this,his "disability advisor" suggested back in December of last year that he claim ESA instead "same money no need to sign" we were told.Thats completly wrong as he was getting jsa+disability premium worked out at £135.00ish a week ESA took him down to £100 per week with an extra £25 if he passed the work support thing.

anyway-he failed the medical for ESA,apparently he not disabled enough and his long term sick note from the dr didnt stand for didly squat so would have to go back to JSA,this was in april time of this year.

We decided to start an appeal against the ESA decision as we were told,again by his disability advisor that "the appeals were taking months to complete and so you could still claim ESA in the meantime whilst it was all going through with no need to sign" this was where the probs really started-ESA cancelled our claim and therefore stopped the benifits,we had a month of ringing up and having to collect a giro after alot of fuss,and by this time i had looked into the JSA+disability premium rates again and realised that we were £39 odd out of pocket PER WEEK being on ESA at £100 basic payments per week,so we decided to cancel the ESA appeal and claim JSA again as we could no longer survive on the lower £100 as we only expected to be on the £100 for 13 weeks until begining of Feb originally!! it was now May!!

3rd June-sick note ran out so JSA signing commenced,claim not cleared thou-odd looked into it further claim lost. Claim re submitted,still not cleared-claim lost again. Claim re re submitted-and OH getting a bit angry at the whole situation right now as the only way this can be delt with is by phone which due to his aspergers he cant talk on the phone,but is forced to by this system which stresses him out even more (they wont talk to me about his claim even though its a joint claim-he is claiment) the last straw was 10 days ago when he went to sign on and there was STILL no claim on the system for him,none of the managers were available to see him about this at the jobcentre as he was told they had all gone to lunch,but if he waited half an hour they would be back,so he waited,the manager came and told him that he couldnt see him now as he was going to a meeting but could see him next day (weds) (He could not do this as he was going to Aspire the employment support group for apergers sufferers) then manager said ok what about thurs/friday,again OH was busy either taking me to maternity appoint at hosp,or Aspire again. Manager said "well if you cant find time to see me you OBVIOUSLY are not looking for a job!!" This was the final straw for Hubby and he yelled at the manager for being so rude,for leaving a young girl on her own to deal with all the Jobseekers querys whilst all the managers went off for lunch,and for the general incompetance of the dealing with his claim.He also pushed over a table-which i no means commend-his actions were all wrong,but he does not cope well with social situations at the best of times.

Later that day we had the Police round to "have a word" about the incident and now this morning we have a letter from the Jobcenter solicitors saying he has been banned for three months from entering the jobcentre he signs at.

Claim still not sorted so have no Council tax benifit/Housing benifit so those are pilling up as well,have been told that when we phoned up to CANCEL ESA appeal,the note was put on system to CONTINUE claim so JSA claim will not go through until ESA is officially stopped-he called them AGAIN yesterday to try and stop appeal-we have to wait now and see if that does anything again.

Has anyone got any advice at all with our situation,I am currently 29 weeks pregnant and need to claim the sure start preg grant but it wont be cleared until the JSA claim is dealt with. Hubby now cant go to jobcentre and sign on so i guess he will be assigned a different branch until his three months is up. Im worried sick about all of this,its been going on since decmber 5th last year,but i cant do anything myself to sort it as they refuse to speak to me about it.

HELP!!!


Best regards,

jennie

Comments

  • joolsybools
    joolsybools Posts: 1,595 Forumite
    Not sure what to suggest but didn't want to read and run. Perhaps you could put some of this is writing to complain to Jobcentre? Keep it very factual and to the point, nice and unemotional though to get a better result. Good luck.
  • sarlyka
    sarlyka Posts: 74 Forumite
    Hmm. I think you need me to go and give the Jobcentre staff some autism awareness training.
    Not sure what to suggest at the moment. Is there anyone at Aspire who could help you? Perhaps go to the Jobcentre with you and explain the problem? If you're assigned to a different branch, you may find that the staff there are better.

    Have to admit, I had such a terrible time claiming JSA two years ago that I decided not to claim this time round. A bit easier as my hubby has a job but I would have been entitled to something. I'll have a search around and see if I can find anyone who might be able to help.

    Could you let me know which part of the country you're in? Send a PM if you don't want to publicise this information.
  • Prinzessilein
    Prinzessilein Posts: 3,257
    First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    Not much advice to give - just a friendly hug and support!
    I have been through pretty much the same. I have been threatend by JSA staff with police/arrest - because I burst into tears when they falsely accused me of lying!
    I have autism and am currently int he process of claiming DLA (they have refused me - and their 'grounds' show they haven't read my form!...so I've asked for it to be reconsidered). I no longer claim JSA as I have moved to IB and I live in fear of being told I have to go back to the jobcentre.
    It's sad, but I have given up on anyone at the jobcentre understanding my condition. ...or even making an attempt to understand. I don't fit their paperwork so am, at best ignored, at worst accused of being a fake.
  • sarlyka
    sarlyka Posts: 74 Forumite
    I'm hoping that the new Adult Autism Strategy will address this problem. I made it clear in the forms I completed and the interview I went to that the benefits claims system is almost impossible for people with autism to manage.
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