Urgent advice needed

hayleyjl

joejoe wrote: »

i was in a very similar situation at about the same time as you.
in my case i was suddenly struck down with illness,going into my 2nd year of self emplyment,9 months later i was diagnosed with alife changing illness.
during this time i had not made any claim for any benefits.
anyway the point i want to make that may be of help to you,
whilst in work you have 5 years to bring ni contributions upto date.
when you make a claim for benefit this is reduced to 2 years from the starting date of your self employment.
but your claim for benefit ie incapacity, will only be paid from the date ni contributions are brought up to date.
this was advice i recieved from my accountant,i am now recieving all benefits.
national insurance contributions, is a seperate department to benefit agencies. these various departments do not always tell you what or how you should claim.
research,research
best of luck.

Thanks very much for this information

just to clarify......

*I won't be able to get the incapacity backdated but will be eligable from the date that I bring my NI contributions up to date?

*As I haven't worked since August 07, I need to pay the 2 years, prior to this date, of contributions to bring them up to date to be eligable for incapacity?

joejoe_4

you do not say when you started self employment, the 2 years start from this date.
(you have 2 years to bring your ni contributions upto date.)
i suggest you have your employment details at hand,then phone ni contributions and ask for the amount required to bring this upto date.
they will then notify you of the amount required and a date for this to be paid by.
providing this is paid and ok,allow for there computers to be updated (a phone call may be required to double check) put your application for incapacity in.
you dont say whether you done your own self assessment for tax,and i know many people do there own,but if you have family this can be false economy.
an accountant is paid for his knowledge,this is then offsett against any rebate you may be due? they may also be able to check your tax credits.
from my own similar experiance you cant rely on just 1 group (citizens advice etc )to deal with your case.
i am not having a dig at any group,they all do terrific work in there own rite.
But you need to look at your situation from the differant angles of your case ie taxes-benefits-disibility-children
i have found alot of advice from various disibility web sites for illnesses not connected to mine , disibility is disibility
best of luck

mostlycheerful

from your post “...the removal company stole all of my belonging, the owner assaulting me and hitting me with the truck as I attempted to stop them.

My physical and emotional state as a result of this prevented me from continuing with my self employment...”

Hello, I’m really sorry to hear about what happened. Are you aware of Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority CICA and have you applied for compensation or considered doing so? In case not and also for other people who may not have heard of it I have typed up this post which I hope may be of use.

I assume that to get the insurance payout that you reported the assault and the theft to the police? Or if you didn’t then perhaps consider doing so now.The reason being that when a crime is reported then there is normally a crime number allocated to your case and once you have a crime number then you can apply to CICA, as long as it is still within two years of the crimes but they also state on their site that they “may consider instances of abuse beyond this time period”.

These awful crimes have done you great damage so I would hope that you are eligible for compensation. Of course, maybe you’re not eligible, maybe they’ll just refuse you, but you probably can’t be sure unless you apply. If you are applying then maybe also consult CAB and/or a solicitor who I would hope that you can consult on free legal aid (if legal aid is still available – I think it changed again recently so may not be available for this) with regards to how to better present your case.

If you are applying then I would suggest including all the information re the self employment loss and the massive disruption to your whole life and the lives of your kids and the extreme lack of “psychological” well being. Yes, if it was me, I would fully describe in detail the whole information about the terrible time you are having regarding benefits and the full extent of the debt situation that the crimes have directly caused and the resulting huge and ongoing stress and sadness and huge reduction to your quality of life and your kids’ quality of life.

From Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority website :
https://www.cica.gov.uk

“Am I eligible?
Have you been physically or psychologically injured because of a violent crime?
Did the crime take place within the last two years?
(CICA may consider instances of abuse beyond this time period.)

frequently asked questions
Q.How long will it take to decide my claim?A.Reaching a decision on your case usually takes a year or more depending on the complexity of your case. However, where appropriate, we will proactively look to make interim payments before then.”

If you haven’t already applied or considered applying then I hope that you feel that this is worth considering. And if you do apply then I hope they award you something. I would hope that you might get a few thousand but even a few hundred would be better than nothing and probably worth the effort of applying. And I’m sorry in advance if you apply but then they turn you down or if this has already happened.

If you do make a claim then, if you feel like it, perhaps you could post the results here as that may be of help to other victims of crime. I’ve encountered a few victims over the years who are not aware of compensation so some more publicity may be of help for other people. And if you apply but they turn you down then that could also be useful for people to know.

And I wish you good luck with your current struggle with benefits and your work. There are only a few lucky people who don’t suffer at one time or another, so I feel for you and anyone going through the mill,
Regards, Mostlycheerful

hayleyjl

Hi

I have only just returned here after several months of trying to sort my situation out and being totally bogged down with problems, so really sorry for my dely in replying to your post which you quite obviously spent some time over.

I did report the incident to the police and have had a solicitor handling the CICA claim for me. This was originally rejected and is now under appeal.....17months and still waiting.

I have now also made progress on the criminal side, my solicitor has instigated a police complaint and now they have reviewed the details of my case, under the local resolution process, they are reopening the investigation and will be aiming for a prosecution of the man who did this to me.
Re the benefits side, I attended a IS tribunal hearing on 6th Jan 09 and won! :j

The Tribunal Judge also stated that I had been treated in an appalling manner and ordered that my IS claim be backdated to Sept 07......now waiting for income support to process this mess!!!!

DLA decided that they were going to lower the DLA that I receive for my son but I also won that appeal and am now also in receipt of Carers Allowance!:j

I was also successful in resolving the Council Tax mess and received a refund from them.

I am now in regular contact with my MP as I strongly feel that something needs to be done about the benefits system so that nobody else has to experience what I went through (and still am).

Unfortunately, because of the mess that was made of my claim and the subsequent debt I incurred trying to survive whilst waiting for this all to be resolved it appears I may have to go bankrupt.

On the plus side I know so much about the system now that I can probably provide answers to a lot of questions, so if anyone needs help please ask.