Benefits help please.

UnderPressure

I wonder if these people "wrongly assumed" this is what would happen if they went to the council, being in this kind of a situation must be extremely stressful so I wonder if they just thought they needed to stay away from the council through fear of them saying they would take the children into care and then thought this is what they would say so nobody would pressure them to go to the council?

I have to say though the whole story does not really make sense to me if they were about to move into a private let they would probably have had to put down a months deposit as bond then a months rent in advance to secure the tenancy this is generally standard procedure for any private let so intheory they should still have this money which would mean finding another private let should be possible?

I can understand their reluctance to go to the council especially if they have not had dealing with them previously, they can be a bit unreasonable at time but they dont bite

I dont know what to suggest now, what I said in my original post is generally what they need to do staying with you cannot be a long term solution and with hardly any benefits and no income their only option really is the council.

I do no some council can offer help with a bond for a private landlord not sure how it works TBH but as Kimitatsu suggests Shelter would be a great starting point for them, I forgot all about them but they are a fantastic charity and will help them get this situation resolved.

I hope it all works out let us know how they get on tomorrow

Jowo_2

Crisis undertook a mystery shopping exercise last year and arranged for some people to present themselves as homeless to some London borough councils, all of whom the council had a statutory obligation to offer advice and accommodation. In virtually all instances, the council staff did not meet their legal obligations and did not process their homelessness application. In fact, their major strategy was to block the homeless people from getting past the receptionist and wrongly issue demands for further information and evidence before they would accept the application.

Therefore I can believe homeless people would get short thrift from a local council either knowingly not providing the service they should have or ignorant due to high demand and low training/resources.

UnderPressure

Jowo wrote: »

Crisis undertook a mystery shopping exercise last year and arranged for some people to present themselves as homeless to some London borough councils, all of whom the council had a statutory obligation to offer advice and accommodation. In virtually all instances, the council staff did not meet their legal obligations and did not process their homelessness application. In fact, their major strategy was to block the homeless people from getting past the receptionist and wrongly issue demands for further information and evidence before they would accept the application.

Therefore I can believe homeless people would get short thrift from a local council either knowingly not providing the service they should have or ignorant due to high demand and low training/resources.

In that case then Shelter should definately be the first port of call for them, at least then they can legally point out to the council their responsibilities.

Crikey with all these public cuts etc etc I suppose this ludicrous situation is only going to get worst, if we are to see record house reposessions and go back into recession / depression council help could easily turn into an even bigger nightmare.

I do hope something positive happens for them tomorrow I really do

Kimitatsu

Jowo wrote: »

Crisis undertook a mystery shopping exercise last year and arranged for some people to present themselves as homeless to some London borough councils, all of whom the council had a statutory obligation to offer advice and accommodation. In virtually all instances, the council staff did not meet their legal obligations and did not process their homelessness application. In fact, their major strategy was to block the homeless people from getting past the receptionist and wrongly issue demands for further information and evidence before they would accept the application.

Therefore I can believe homeless people would get short thrift from a local council either knowingly not providing the service they should have or ignorant due to high demand and low training/resources.

I can easily believe this - I have the head of the LHA on speed dial some days and I have many times offered to meet him in front of a judge in the morning before they have suddenly realised their statutory duty :eek: OP insist on a homeless persons interview - it ahs to be within 48 hours from request at a place of their choosing, if its the park bench the LHA has to comply!

Tulip09

Just wanted to say good luck and shelter would be my first port of call. As for the council and social services after being put in that situation myself through a house fire- I know they have said to me that as a person who was homeless i would have to put my children into care on a temporary basis until i found myself acommodation, so i can well believe they have said that to other people.

UnderPressure

Any news on this? I do hope today holds some good news for them