Mental illness and stopped Benefits

scooby1001

I am in a bit of a mess at the moment because i have been getting very despressed and phychotic over the last few weeks which led to me cancelling all my benefits(dla and Income support). I have been on strong medication for the last week and am now sane again and devestated that i cancelled my benefits. I don't know what to do now. I was wondering if anyone else had done the same thing and what did they do about it? I think that if the contact them and say i have changed my mind they will think it is a bit suss and think i am trying to claim benefit fraud. HELP

robin_banks

Scooby, I used to work in a benefit office , so you would need to establish the following how when why etc you stopped benefit.

Though I am curious as why these were stopped as DLA is normally awarded for a fixed period typically 2-3 years though there can be a life award in certain circumstances. If you were submitting sick notes why was your income support stopped if you have these documents I cannot think of any instance why your benefit would be stopped.

I would speak to your CAB for a start, but again if you were on such medication you would presumably be getting sick notes thereby continuing your benefit.

I dont wish to cast doubt on your claims and I am sorry if I offend but there are 1 or 2 things that I'll be honest dont add up. If you were on these benefits then you would be recieving Housing Benefit, as you haven't mentioned this are you still in receipt of HB and if so how ?.

scooby1001

I stopped my benefits. My dla was an indefinate award and i wrote to them telling them i did not want it anymore. I did the same with income support as i thought i was going to be made a saint if i dit it. Obviously that is not going to happen and now i am rational again i want to get my benefits back.

Errata

Scooby, last time you told them to stop your benefit they contacted your doctor and told you that as a result they would not stop your benefit at your request. The same thing will probably happen this time. Speak to your GP.

scooby1001

I know this time in my letter i told them that they were not allowed to contact my doctor so chances are they will just take me at my word and cancell it. My income support was also a incapasity benefit claim so by cancelling it i have put myself back to square one. I am really panincing now i realise how deluded i was and should never have done it.

Errata

Chances are they may still think you're not thinking straight. Ring them first thing on Monday and tell them they CAN contact your doctor like they did last time, then talk to your doctor immediately, explain and get him on your side again. Do you have a CPN ?

PasturesNew

From what I've read, if you contact them on Monday and they check the files they will see they were supposed to contact your Doctor (and actually may have already done so anyway), so it will become clear very quickly that your letter was to be dismissed ... and it'll all be all right very soon.

I wish you luck and hope they've followed procedures and not stopped it and/or will quickly get it reactivated and backdated.

nanokitten

Even if they cancelled your income support that you should be able to get your claim reinstated and sometimes you can make a linked claim. (You may have problems as the IS and IB have been replaced).

I would get the full help of a proffessional (such as you cpn or an advocate from mind to contact them, It may be worth asking for a note to be put on youraccount that they are to check with your CPN / doctor before they cancel your claim in the future In case it happens again.
Its worth remebering that the data protection act does not appply where there is a risk of you doing yourself harm (which cuttting of your money should be considered!) they can break data protection rules and contact your doctor even if you told them not to.
This means that they should not really have stopped your claim (especcially if your a repeat offender!)

Don't give up o ths one, you may have afight on your hands but they key tpo most of these things is to get an advocate and not to do it on your own.

sharski

''(You may have problems as the IS and IB have been replaced).''

You'll have no problem going back onto IB/IS as you will have a linking period..

ESA is only for brand new claims..

p.s. do you perhaps have anyone who can act as an appointee for you to prevent this happening in the fututre??

bestpud

Get in touch with them, and your doctor on Monday morning.

I imagine they haven't actually actioned any of this yet anyway, given your history. Or has your money actually gone down yet? Or have you received anything from them?

You need to write a letter, with your doctor/CPN or other supporter, and state very clearly that you will only cancel your claim by getting a named person to write on your behalf, or something like that? That way, you will have to ask that person and they will hopefully say no!

That seems better, to me at least, than giving your permission for something and then telling them it no longer stands because they have a duty to protect your information and it could be dodgy for them if they ignore your later requests iyswim.

By saying you will only ever cancel it by doing x, y and z, they should just ignore you (that sounds awful, but you know what I mean) unless the specific series of actions is carried out.

Really though, try not to worry as you are unlikely to lose your benefits for very long, if at all.

I hope you get better soon now you've got your meds sorted.

Valley's_girl

Hi scooby I hope you managed to sort everything out.
Take care
ally x