Is the Benefitsandwork.co.uk web site any good

luminated

Back to my original post and something which could help others.

Two of the main people who run this site (Benefits and Work) are Steve Donnison and Holiday Whitehead both of who seem to have written for the Chrons Organsisation on how to prepare and apply for DLA. The Chrons article was highly recommended by a benefits lady to who I spoke as it applies generally to many other illnesses. So it looks like I have found their advice free?

Heres the link to the Pdf:
http://www.nacc.org.uk/downloads/disability/AdultGuide.pdf

seven-day-weekend

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

There is free info available so its expensive when you consider that (though i did have membership but was kind of put off by some of the emails which came across as scaremongering)

I too think it is scaremongering.

If you put on the forms as much information as possible about how your disability affects you in day-to-day living, what help you need in day-to-day living (whether you get it or not and be truthful, then if you meet the criteria your claim will succeed.

(For example, if you would always need help travelling on public transport, but actually only get the help once a week,so therefore you do not travel the rest of the time, then you say you need help all the time, not once a week. Otherwise it looks as though you only need help once a week).

danaharrison

i go on benefits and work and it is ok. i wouldnt pay to join as u can read and search all the pages for free, u only pay if u want to post so go and have a seach to see if the questions u want to ask are already posted on there, i bet they r.

Sueinbirmingham

What you pay for is detailed guides to applying for benefits and appealing decisions. You can't see more than sample pages without paying so you're not accurate in saying that you can read and search all the pages for free. However, you can read the forum for free, and there's a lot of information if you search, just as there is on here. Do check the dates of any advice on either site, though, as things are changing fast where benefits are concerned. I think that the misconception that you don't get anything extra on benefits and work by paying is the main reason why people that don't join can't understand why people that have joined think that it was worth the money.

I thought that it was worth the equivalent sum to a textbook or self-help book I might buy for something else to get help with this. It cost me a similar amount to buy some materials to help me deal with my mental health problems. But if you're the sort of person that doesn't think it's worth paying for that sort of thing, then don't subscribe to benefits and work.

But you're wrong to say that you can read and search all the pages for free - you can only see a small amount of what's on there for free.

danaharrison

i stand corrected. but there is still plenty to read on there for free and personally wouldn't pay to access any forum, that is my personal opinion.

Sueinbirmingham

danaharrison wrote: »

i stand corrected. but there is still plenty to read on there for free and personally wouldn't pay to access any forum, that is my personal opinion.

It's not the forum you pay to access, it's the guides. It's rather like using a library and borrowing books for free and paying to borrow films. The two are different services provided by the same organisation.

I'm not saying you should feel obliged to pay for anything you don't want - of course you shouldn't buy what you don't want, that wouldn't be moneysaving - but I'm just saying that what you pay for isn't to read the forums, it's to have the guides, which are entirely different things.