Why am I being penalized?

jennilb

Hi

Sorry this is so much later, but I'd not kept tabs on this thread.

Here's where I got the insulation from:
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy/our-products/essentials-programme.html?WT.seg_3=i100264

Jenni

daska

And, as NASA informed me on another thread, if you've been awarded Contribution based ESA you can apply for Income Related ESA using form ESA3... when this form number was quoted at the helpline they magically discovered that I had already been awarded an 'underlying entitlement' to ESA (IR). (Not that I've received a CWP as a result, but I'm feeling in fighting mood atm so JC+ will be getting a call tomorrow!)

clb776

cant your doctor right you out a prescription for a bigger supply of the tablets? this would save money

Bubbles911

daska wrote: »

And, as NASA informed me on another thread, if you've been awarded Contribution based ESA you can apply for Income Related ESA using form ESA3... when this form number was quoted at the helpline they magically discovered that I had already been awarded an 'underlying entitlement' to ESA (IR). (Not that I've received a CWP as a result, but I'm feeling in fighting mood atm so JC+ will be getting a call tomorrow!)

Where did you get the ESA3 form from? I did a search online but did not find anything. Keep us updated on whether you get the cold weather payments.

bored_at_home

this thread is making my blood boil!
you give your parents 100 pounds a month for rent of a room AND food and pay a third of the bills and you are complaining?
if you didnt live with your parents and got rent paid you would still need to pay for food and all the things the fairies buy such as toilet roll, toothpaste, cleaning equipment, washing up liquid, and the other two thirds of the bills.
how much do you expect to be left with a week with out of your benefit?
the idea is you get enough to live on, not with spending money on top.

people on IR ESA are not necessarily folk who have sat on their bums for the last 5 years. how bl**dy dare you!
they get IR for a reason!
i live on my own, no parents to pay two thirds of my bills, no fairies to buy extras. i have to pay all the bills, buy everything.
i am 41 and for the last 16 years i have worked around 70 hours a week. for the last 4 years of those i was self employed , ran my own business despite having MS.
until xmas 2008 id never claimed any sort of benefit in my life.
im now unfit to work, and having been self employed i qualify for IR and not cb based.

to whoever it is complaining about not getting cwp, your attitude to those on ir benefits also stinks. it shouldnt cast assumptions about people.

daska

Prescriptions aren't exactly fripperies, neither is dental care. And aren't mortgage payments another little perk of being on IR? On top of that, if you get Income Related ESA then, local to me, you can get perks such as reduced rates for the leisure facilities - but if you're on contribution based ESA you have to pay full price. People are being penalised for having paid NI contributions - if only because the ESA helpline seems incapable of giving accurate and helpful information to claimants.

Bubbles - I didn't get an ESA3 form, the DWP double checked and found that I had an underlying entitlement to Income Related ESA and therefore qualified for free prescriptions etc.

Indie_Kid

daska wrote: »

Prescriptions aren't exactly fripperies, neither is dental care.

Fill in a HC1 form then?

daska

sh1305 wrote: »

Fill in a HC1 form then?

If you'd read the posts you would have seen that this isn't and shouldn't have been necessary at any point - though the DWP did kindly send me an HC1 form when they were still failing to give me accurate information. This has been an ongoing saga for several months and it would help if the rules were clearly stated and the letters written in english rather than DWPese.

At the time I paid for the prescriptions I 'knew' (because the DWP had told me in no uncertain terms that I didn't qualify for free prescriptions) that I had to pay so I didn't get the relevant form filled in at the pharmacy.

Welshwoofs

Op - I am not in receipt of any benefits, but I have had M.E for years and I live in a very old cottage with no modern central heating (solid fuel stove powering rads instead) and have learnt lots of tips and tricks for getting warm. The first winter here we had no heat at all. I sit working from home all day so get cold easily - here's the things I've done:

• Calor gas heater. Costs £16 for a bottle that'll last a week. It easily heats my sitting room (which is large, has airbricks through to the outside and wooden floors).
• Thermals. I can't emphasis enough how much warmth a good pair of thermals add! I also always have 2 pairs of socks on in the house in the winter and on top of my thermals I layer a couple of thin t-shirts and then a jumper. Layers trap heat.
• Hot water bottle. I generally slip one under my top layer.
• Kitchen foil behind radiators. If you stick kitchen foil to the wall behind raditors it reflects heat back into the room.
• Door curtains. Hop over to Freecycle and see if anyone has some heavy, long curtains (old velvet ones are ideal), Screw in a couple of hooks above all doors, slide half a broom pole or something between the hooks for a temporary curtain pole.
• Door draught excluders. Old pair of tights or long socks stuffed with anything from rags to newspaper etc. Tie off one end and put them at the bottom of your doors.

As others have said, if you are a private tenant there are grants available to get the heating in your property up to standard, from new central heating systems to loft/cavity wall insulation etc.

dookar

I agree it seems a little unfair.

Obviously if person gets contributory benefit because their partner works or they have capital I have no problem with it, but if a person gets it just because thier persanal rate is equal to their applicable amount then they are being treated unfairly compared to someone in the exact same situation as them other than having not paid sufficient nics.

My solution would be to increase the ib element by one or ten pence so the applicable amount will be more than the personal rate