Income support/Incapacity Benefit help plz

pinkchix

thanks to anyone that can give me any help or advice and apologies beforehand for long post.

I have been receiving IS for the past 10 years.
My bf who doesnt work has just moved in with me and my kids so no longer entitled to IS as Im not a single parent anymore. Was told by local office that bf would have to claim for both of us and kids and we would both have to be actively looking for work,I explained that I cannot work as I suffer from Narcolepsy and Cataplexy, so then advised to apply for IB. Filled in IB form over the phone and when the question about medical certificates came up I explained to the lady that I have never had a medical certificate from doc as Ive not worked in 10 years to be signed off. Lady said that this was 'waivable' in my circumstances as long as I handed in a letter from my specialist confirming my condiotions. Form arrived for me to sign and i enclosed said letter and sent back to local office.
Today I received a call from them sayin that they had received notification of my change of circumstances and as of today my IS has stopped but they now want medical certificate for my IB.(fair enough I thought maybe the lady could only suggest they waive this and someone further up has said no)
I phoned my GP to get an appointment to get medical certs, my docs on holiday and only does half days during school holidays so earliest appointment is 23August!
I phone IB to explain this and ask wot happens now as they are going to leave me with no money from now til then? Told there is nothing they can do til certs are received, I asked if they could hold my claim for IB off til then and restart my IS untill this is sorted to be told under no circumstances would they do this.
I said wot I was told first time round and this was not a fault on my part so can they help me out in anyway?
Lady said 'All I can say is get yourself an emergency appointment at ur GP to get certs sooner!
Told her my GP surgery emergency appointments are like gold dust and u need to be dying to get one.'well then theres nothin I can do untill you hand certs in.
So they are going to leave me and my 2 kids with no money until IB is claimed and sorted!!!

I am going round in circles thiking about this and its gettin me upset which affects my claim.

feistymiss

i have been receiving income support with incapacity benefit for 8 years now

i dont have enough national insurance contributions but i have a top up on my income support

my boyfriend joined me a few months back, we are now married, but he had not been working, or claiming any benefit for himself

the local jobcentre told us that either of us could claim, it would make no difference to the outcome of the claim or the amount we received

as i have mental health issues and i knew it would be difficult to deal with things alone, but aware that if i changed the claim to my husband making the claim, i would possibly lose my right to DLA or to incapacity benefit, or at least have more hassle trying to deal with things, the benefit agency dont make this clear, in fact we were told to claim in his name, and we then had a letter which unsettled us, so i went back the following day to reinstate the claim back to my own claim (for both of us), as i had claimed for longer and he would have been possibly dealt with as a new claim

they were a bit iffy, but as we are in a rural area, they did reinstate, via faxing the office, as opposed to us having to deal with ppl that were unknown/anonymous/or over the phone - and they couldnt very well declare the staff didnt know us, when the total staff were only about 10 persons !

this means i still claim, and i receive an amount for my husband on my claim - does make things difficult when you are used to what you are entitled to, and suddenly money becomes an income for you both

at the time we werent married and all my home and financial outgoings were in my name which would make things difficult perhaps for when paying or if there was a delay in receiving benefits

we had a few hic cups, weeks - where we had no money - but we overheard in the jobcentre someone else asking for a food voucher, which we also applied for, and this definitely kept us going until our money was reinstated

i feel it is a complete nightmare trying to deal with the benefit agencies, with the majority of staff conflicting you with their information but we tried to remain calm and to make sure we kept asking for vital information, to get copies, or signatures, dates, information in writing, whilst we were there

now our local jobcentre no longer deals in person with claimants and things have to be conducted over the phone, which is another worry, you may use the jobcentre phone, but these phone lines take a long time to get through which is very frustrating

pinkchix

thanks feisty
at least I know for sure now that it is possible to get IB even if u dont have enough contributions, as I dont.
I will be making sure I always write down the name of anyone I talk to from now on like I should have from the start but stupidly put my trust in these ppl to tell me the truth and help keep things straight for me.
It is so annoying having to constantly do everything over the phone as my jobcentre dont deal with enquiries and such in person anymore either.
Im feel so let down and upset by all this
Its not as if I want to be on benefits but unfortunatley as it stands I have no choice at this time.
I hate being treated and labelled as a 'young mum on the dole' if u know wot i mean
and to top it off I look younger than I am so that doesnt help lol

Minimoo_2

Can you receive IB without not paying enough national insurance contributions?. I get IS with the disability premium at the moment and didn't think it was possible.

stazi

IB is a contributory benefit which means you have to have paid enough National Insurance contributions in relevant tax years to qualify.
IB is explained in the IB guide here-
http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_012319.pdf

diddlydum

If you've not worked for ten years I doubt you will be entitled to receive IB, but you will be entitled to receive income support on the grounds of incapability. But quite often the DWP will make you apply for IB, and then treat that application as one for IS if you're not eligible on NI contributions grounds. They'd rather pay a contribuitory benefit ahead of a means-tested benefit like IS.

The problem is that for the claim to be processed you need the evidence, and they won't pay until you have the evidence. The only option I can think of is making an application for a hardship loan if you are without money, but I don't know how much joy you will have with that.

Also, if you're claiming Child Tax Credits, make sure you've told HMRC that your partner has moved in, otherwise you could end up receiving an overpayment and wrecking your claim for the whole year. HMRC tax credit helpline is 0845 300 3900.