Any advice on Income support please?

Oldernotwiser

The stupid thing is that if the OP had done it by the book, she could have bought an adapted car (almost certainly an allowable expense) which would have put her well below the maximum amount of capital allowed and then received a slightly lower IS payment until her money went below 6,000, when she would've received full benefits.

Just shows it doesn't pay to try to cheat the system!

rhoda_baker

welshmoneylover wrote: »

Why didn't you ask your solicitor to put in a claim for the 'clawback' amount on top of your £16000, thereby receiving more money so you can pay it back.

Well had I known of this at the start then I would have done.:)

rhoda_baker

to quoute 'olderbutnot wise:'-

"Just shows it doesn't pay to try to cheat the system!"[/QUOTE]

I don't get you? But who has tried to cheat the system? I am trying to find out things which I cannot find out from the sources I thought would advise me. They don't want to part with information easily, it would seem.

When I have been and had the interview I will post what happened, maybe it will be good news.......

Oldernotwiser

rhoda_baker wrote: »

to quoute 'olderbutnot wise:'-

"Just shows it doesn't pay to try to cheat the system!"

I don't get you? But who has tried to cheat the system? [/QUOTE]

You have received a large sum of money, informed nobody and carried on claiming means tested benefits. You will have signed to say that you didn't have capital of this amount and that equates to trying to cheat the system.

This may well have happened out of ignorance, but ignorance is no defence.

victoriav

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I don't get you? But who has tried to cheat the system?

You have received a large sum of money, informed nobody and carried on claiming means tested benefits. You will have signed to say that you didn't have capital of this amount and that equates to trying to cheat the system.

This may well have happened out of ignorance, but ignorance is no defence.[/QUOTE]


No they won't have signed to say they 'did not have this sum of money' as the compensation wasn't given at this particular time, it was afterwards, unless this person is derek acorah and can see into the future....and then they'd have known exactly what was going to be occuring...:rotfl:

Oldernotwiser

victoriav wrote: »

You have received a large sum of money, informed nobody and carried on claiming means tested benefits. You will have signed to say that you didn't have capital of this amount and that equates to trying to cheat the system.

This may well have happened out of ignorance, but ignorance is no defence.

No they won't have signed to say they 'did not have this sum of money' as the compensation wasn't given at this particular time, it was afterwards, unless this person is derek acorah and can see into the future....and then they'd have known exactly what was going to be occuring...:rotfl:[/QUOTE]

If you're claiming means tested benefits then you have to notify any change of circumstances. You surely don't think that someone who wins the lottery can continue claiming IS just because they hadn't had the win on the day they made the application?

victoriav

SuziQ wrote: »

The DWP don't look at an individual and inform them of what they are entitiled to-you have to research and apply for the benefits.

So then upon a claimant making enquiries as to what they are entitled to in benefits, the DWP can 'withold the information' deliberately then? Isn't that classed as 'dereliction of duty'? Although I suspect some of the DWP staff are bitter and twisted and like to do this sort of behaviour, as they have a belief that the benefit money is directly from their pocket and that's one less pair of jackboots and a monocle to them...;)

If a person has paid into the system it is not unreasonable to expect something back in hard times is it. Without having to jump through hoops and made to suffer further.

victoriav

oldernotwiser.....we are not discussing a lottery win, we are discussing benefits.

A compensation payment is paid as the consequence of an accident, a one off payment, not like a benefit which is there to support a claimant weekly until they are better and can return to work. If they have paid into the system that is not unreasonable to claim a benefit for which they are entitled. You sound very bitter, did you have a bad experience.?

Oldernotwiser

victoriav wrote: »

oldernotwiser.....we are not discussing a lottery win, we are discussing benefits.

A compensation payment is paid as the consequence of an accident, a one off payment, not like a benefit which is there to support a claimant weekly until they are better and can return to work. If they have paid into the system that is not unreasonable to claim a benefit for which they are entitled. You sound very bitter, did you have a bad experience.?

A compensation payment is still a large sum of money that will affect a someone's ability to claim means tested benefits. If the claimant received the compensation payment the day it was applied for (to use a ridiculous example), then benefits would be affected; this is why the money is clawed back when the payment is received later.

SuziQ

victoriav wrote: »

SuziQ wrote: »

The DWP don't look at an individual and inform them of what they are entitiled to-you have to research and apply for the benefits.

So then upon a claimant making enquiries as to what they are entitled to in benefits, the DWP can 'withold the information' deliberately then? Isn't that classed as 'dereliction of duty'? Although I suspect some of the DWP staff are bitter and twisted and like to do this sort of behaviour, as they have a belief that the benefit money is directly from their pocket and that's one less pair of jackboots and a monocle to them...;)

If a person has paid into the system it is not unreasonable to expect something back in hard times is it. Without having to jump through hoops and made to suffer further.

Not quite sure what you are getting at here? If I lose my job,the JCplus are nbot going to ring me up and tell me to apply for benfit,are they? I have to find out what I am entitled to, and then apply.
It would seem from the OP's original post that her first action was to apply for JSA. If the people she did this with didn't know about the circumstances then why would they have known to inform her of a different benefit to apply for etc? Are you saying that DWP staff have some sort of crystal ball and know everything about a claimant despite what they don't disclose? (obviously not,given how rude you are about them). Believe me I have had my own problems with DWP with regards to Income support,but I always have seen it as my responsibility to find out what I was entitled to etc-there are plenty of places/forums like this to give that exact advice,this was how I found MSE in the first place! (Obviously if the OP was unable to do all of that herself due to an incapability of mind or body,that's different.)
In the OP's case,when she applied for benefit,if she had read the forms and information on them she would have seen,that it tells you to inform the DWP of any change in circumstances. This can result in increases or decreases to the benefits recieved. THAT was the point I was making. Where has it said in any of the OP's posts,that the DWP withheld information about this? I see it more as a fault of her solicitor for not making her aware of this and not pre-empting the situation by dealing with the claim properly-and there have been several posts on here in the last year,where the solicitor involved seems to have let their client down. The medics/therapists working with her also had the ability and maybe even the responsibility to get her advice re benefits-not sure about that as everyone's job description varies.She also however had a responsibility to report the change to her circumstances.

As for your remark about DWP staff being bitter and twisted ,what a needless insult. I expect they are pretty harrassed,overworked and yes they are human-they make mistakes,don't we all? They also have to deal with a lot of nasty calls where members of the public take their own anger and frustration out on them. I have worked in a call centre (NHSDirect) and know what it feels like to be yelled at and called names,when the cause of the callers anger and frustration was nothing to do with me. I always dealt with those calls with total professionalism,but then I had a lot of training and support on that subject,not sure whether the DWP staff have the benefit of such support. I do know that they are desperately short of staff in many departments and that often training is poor or absent when someone goes onto the 'phones,eg when moved into another section due to staff shortages. That makes it even more important that we all take respnonsibility for ourselves-we can't complain about a 'nanny-state' and then moan when we are not spoon fed information that is easily read off a form.