Income Support question.

Anubis_2

If IS claims are stopping after April 30th you definitely need to do it now.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Contacted the number given by the link & the lady I spoke to said she couldn't answer my query because they only deal with DLA issues.

She gave me the free phone number for the benefits advice line. I telephoned them & the lady who I spoke to wasn't particularly friendly. She was pretty unhelpful to. All she said was it's up to the Income Support decision maker to decide whether or not it is appropriate to arrange a work focused interview.

Top & bottom of it is I never really got anywhere. She couldn't tell me the criteria they work on either.

LadyMorticia

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Contacted the number given by the link & the lady I spoke to said she couldn't answer my query because they only deal with DLA issues.

She gave me the free phone number for the benefits advice line. I telephoned them & the lady who I spoke to wasn't particularly friendly. She was pretty unhelpful to. All she said was it's up to the Income Support decision maker to decide whether or not it is appropriate to arrange a work focused interview.

Top & bottom of it is I never really got anywhere. She couldn't tell me the criteria they work on either.

I hate unhelpful and unfriendly advisers.

Have you tried Welfare Rights?

the_devil_made_me_do_it

No haven't sought advice from anywhere else. May consider contacting someone like welfare rights. I think I have until the 27th April to get the forms in.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I decided to claim for IS. However, I asked for it to be backdated as I was unaware I was entitled to claim.

Got a letter this morning telling me my claim couldn't be backdated. When I phoned the department dealing with my claim, I was told that ignorance of the rules was not accepted as a reason for my claim to be backdated. So, basically, because I wasn't aware that I was entitled to IS, then they couldn't backdate it.

Does anyone know what are the reasons a claim can be backdated? Seems an impossible situation.

Richie-from-the-Boro

As far as I'm aware backdating an entitlement for up to a maximum of three months is available from the date of your claim, and yes the ignorance of the rules is disregarded, you are snookered there.

To prove continuous good cause is not easy, you really need the help of CAB or whoever, proving to the DM's satisfaction that you could not reasonably have been expected to know about that specific entitlement is never an easy route. I don't have a current prescribed list of exceptions.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

It is an impossible situation richie. However, thanks for the input.

I think I'm not going to dispute this as I'm just not well enough to deal with it to be honest.

Took me all my time just to put the claim in.

Richie-from-the-Boro

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

It is an impossible situation richie. However, thanks for the input.

I think I'm not going to dispute this as I'm just not well enough to deal with it to be honest.

Took me all my time just to put the claim in.

Maybe you should, what I was getting at is its one of those that without a welfri its very difficult to get anywhere.

You know its really about recognising the limits of your ability / inability, and some times the simple 'strength to fight on' but that's my point.

You decision to fight / not fight could / should be decided by whether to can get professional help. It is also the case that they [CAB or whoever] take most of the work and most of the stress away from you the individual.