Who's correct. Me or the DWP?

calcotti

General_Grant wrote: »

I think blueoceans1971 was referring to a PS (Post Script) in post #3 rather than having sent you a PM.

So he was - my mistake!

calcotti

This parliamentary briefing is also interesting in respect of the whole SDP and UC saga (but doesn’t explicitly answer the OP’s question).

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8494/CBP-8494.pdf

TELLIT01

blueoceans1971 wrote: »

I think your way off the mark with this one, and I did ask politely for people who know the system inside out, not people who kind of know.

No disrespect intended, but if you don't even know something simple like this, please do not comment any more, and leave it to others please.

Wow. A great way to go about getting people to help you. Nobody knows everything about every aspect of any benefit, but calcotti certainly knows more than most, and goes out of their way to find answers if they don't know. As you clearly believe you know better than everybody else what is the point of asking questions.


Many things to do with benefits may seem morally wrong, but that is irrelevant to the argument. Benefit law is the bottom line.

blueoceans1971

Right,

There seems to be a consensus now, that if only regarding myself, then I should get backdated sdp then. Is that correct?

You asked me why I didn't just go from joint income support to single income support. I wasn't allowed to in November 2018. I was forced to apply for universal credit by the dwp, as was my ex.

It was only 2 months later in January 2019. that they changed the rules allowing disabled couples like us who had split up, to continue on their legacy benefit, and not being forced onto universal credit.

If we had waited a further 2 months to split up, it's ironic, I wouldn't even be on today seeking advice, cos I would have single income support with sdp applied, and my ex would have the same.

I thought the whole point of the court ruling at the end of May, and the new law brought in on July, was to basically compensate, and re-instate sdp + transitional protection for any people who had the mis fortune to have cancelled down their benefit, and been forced to move over to universal credit prior to the changes last January.

There apparently 13,000 of us, according to this new story.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49079053

Have I just to basically ignore all the new laws brought in, news stories confirming this, and so on, and just go away. And accept the dwp once again F****ing up my claim start to finish.

I spent the nearly 10 months arguing the point that I actually received sdp in my last income support.

I sent in copies of my Income Support letters showing sdp both being applied to myself and my ex joint claim last January.

And then from January of last year, all the way through to October I had person after person telling me that I never received sdp in my previous claim, and then after speaking to about 5 different people, I eventually got a manager, who lo and behold, found my income support claim straight away, with all the information to hand.

!!!!!! the other people I spoke to had been looking at, I haven't got a clue. But this person at the sdp specialist team, Jan found it straight away, and admitted in the next sentence, the amount of people just like myself who were getting told the same wrong information, and she could'nt understand why so many of her colleagues didn't even know which screens to look up, to get the correct information.

That's what we're dealing with everytime. People who are most obviously reading off a script, and don't have any interest in doing anything but.

Anyway, I'm on a rant, sorry.

Am I entitled to backdated sdp, yes or no. I just want to know.

[Deleted User]

blueoceans1971 wrote: »

Hi there,

Hoping one of you educated lot will know the answer to this, ideally one of the moderators who know the system inside out.

I split up from my ex in November 2018, 15 months ago. We were on joint income support until then.

Both myself and my ex were both receiving joint sdp, as I was, and still am, receiving enhanced pip for both care/mobility, and my ex was, and still is receiving dla middle care/higher mobility as she has ms.

I realised at the time when we split up I was possibly saying goodbye to sdp, and its transitional protection, but as far as I've been led to believe, the law changed twice in the last year, first of all in January last year, where any couples, who were both disabled, and receiving sdp, would be able to continue on their legacy benefit, all be it a single claim for each person. And then in July 2019, Theresa May brought in a new law that meant anyone who had been wrongly guided towards universal credit before January of last year, would be re-compensated, and have their sdp applied, and back dated.

I believe this also covers couples who have separated, but were both disabled like me and my ex are. And receiving higher sdp each on our previous benefit.

Am I right in what I'm saying, or have I got this completely wrong?

Thanks in advance for your help with this, and could I possibly ask that people only comment, and give me advice that are 100% sure in what they are saying, and explaining.

This is quite complicated, and the last thing I need is some know it all, who actually doesn't have a clue what there talking about.

Only the best advice please. Thank you.

Just two things there are no moderators on MSE only BG's, secondly your final paragraph has put me off giving advice, 99% of the posters on here give their valuable help freely and often, and 99% of posters try and give the best advice possible.
Good luck in sorting your problem.

blueoceans1971

Is me recovering from suicide enough Venison?

Go away, and waste somebody elses's time.

Been to hell and back this last 15 months with all the bull I've been put through by the dwp.

People are allowed to sort the wheat from the chav. I've just explained what living hell I've been through with them.

If you don't have anything positive to say, and just want to lick, and high five the other members, thats fine with me.

But in future allow for people initially coming on feeling upset, irate, and !!!!ed off.

It's weird how interested you are in feeling angry on behalf of other people.

Is that how you go about life? Poor you.

As for the rest of the people who have commented, thank you very much for being human, and realising how upset I've been.

Unlike venison.

poppy12345

blueoceans1971 wrote: »

Is me recovering from suicide enough Venison?

Go away, and waste somebody elses's time.

Been to hell and back this last 15 months with all the bull I've been put through by the dwp.

People are allowed to sort the wheat from the chav. I've just explained what living hell I've been through with them.

If you don't have anything positive to say, and just want to lick, and high five the other members, thats fine with me.

But in future allow for people initially coming on feeling upset, irate, and !!!!ed off.

It's weird how interested you are in feeling angry on behalf of other people.

Is that how you go about life? Poor you.

As for the rest of the people who have commented, thank you very much for being human, and realising how upset I've been.

Unlike venison.

With your attitude in your 2nd comment and now this here, i'm very surprised people have continued to help you further. If you need help then please respect others and remember that a lot of people who spend their time helping others here, have a disability their self, yet still spend their time giving valuable advice.

calcotti

blueoceans1971 wrote: »

Right,

There seems to be a consensus now, that if only regarding myself, then I should get backdated sdp then. Is that correct?
As per my previous post I believe you to be entitled to an SDP compensation payment (it is not backdated SDP) if you continued to meet the qualifying conditions for SDP after you split and have not had a change of circumstances since. As I don’t know your full circumstances I don’t know if you actually qualify or not? SDP compensation payment would include a backdated amount and a monthly payment on top of your UC.

You asked me why I didn't just go from joint income support to single income support. I wasn't allowed to in November 2018. I was forced to apply for universal credit by the dwp, as was my ex.
I believe the DWP were wrong to advise you of this. As an IS claimant you should have able to remove your wife from your claim and continue as a single IS claimant (or indeed to remove your wife and add a different partner). This has nothing to do with whether or not you had an SDP in the award. Nor does it have anything to do with UC legislation..

It was only 2 months later in January 2019. that they changed the rules allowing disabled couples like us who had split up, to continue on their legacy benefit, and not being forced onto universal credit.

If we had waited a further 2 months to split up, it's ironic, I wouldn't even be on today seeking advice, cos I would have single income support with sdp applied, and my ex would have the same.
Even when the ‘SDP gateway’ was introduced your wife would not, in my opinion, have been able to claim IS because she was not previously an IS claimant (you were) and therefore would not have fallen within the class of person excluded from claiming UC (unless she had a Housing Benefit claim in her name which would have included SDP).

I thought the whole point of the court ruling at the end of May, and the new law brought in on July, was to basically compensate, and re-instate sdp + transitional protection for any people who had the mis fortune to have cancelled down their benefit, and been forced to move over to universal credit prior to the changes last January.
.In respect of your wife the point is that she was not previously a benefit claimant, she was included on a claim made by you (because that’s how Income Support works as highlighted in the CPAG article I quoted earlier. If you think that’s unfair I would agree but I don’t make the rules.

I sent in copies of my Income Support letters showing sdp both being applied to myself and my ex joint claim last January.
For reasons explained above it was not a joint claim, it was your claim with your wife taken into account on that claim.

I believe I more than ‘kind of know’ the rules but none of us claim to be infallible. The rules are complex. You are right that the DWP are getting lots of things wrong. It is because it’s complex that I have tried to explain my reasoning. Don’t think I can usefully add anything else.

blueoceans1971

Thank you Calcotti.

I was so irate when I came off from the DWP earlier. I apologise if I in anyway offended you. It was never my intentions.

It's just the fact that I have taken legal advice on this, all be it a year ago now, and before the legislation came into affect in July. Through various conversations I had with the DWP at the time, they kept re-inforcing the idea that this legislation would sort everything, and what stopped this legislation so long?

A combination of both brexit, and tory leadership contests.

It was only down to Theresa May doing the right thing just before she gave up office, and the legislation came into affect on 23 July.

It was around about then I phoned the dwp, who then informed me that as far as they were concerned, they couldn't find any trace of me from a previous income support claim as having sdp, and I was last paid sdp back in June 2015 when I was single.

I then sent in copies of all income support letters showing my sdp being paid to me, for both myself and my partner at the time, all the way up to, and including the 20 November 2018.

Me providing the proof at the end of July took until the end of October, nearly 13 weeks, and in that time I had person after person telling me I wasn't entitled, and there was no proof.

Then at the end of October, I spoke to Jan in the specialist sdp team, and lo and behold, she found it. Details exactly the way they should have been, in the first place a way back in November 2018,

And her confirming that I was going on to a list, and that my ex would also be backdated too at some point.

When I phoned the DWP this morning just to get an update, the last thing I expected to be told was that they had looked at my claim, and decided that due to the ceasing of a relationship, I wasn't entitled.

It took a good 10 minutes of chat, and me explaining stuff, being told at first I was wrong, and only after pleading with the girl on the phone, did she go and speak to a manager who confirmed that I was most probably correct in what I was saying.

This has now been escalated. And I should hear in the next 48 hours.

The good news for anyone out there waiting, is that strangely, they didn't start going through the list of 1000's until about 3 weeks ago, and according to the girl I spoke to today, they have all ready processed half the list, and the other half should be completed in the next 3 weeks, and then, and only then, are they going to get in touch with people, and arrange payment.

My life has been so hard this last 15 months. Humiliating at times....

There's a deep unfairness in the system at the moment, where 2 disabled people, 1 male (myself), and the other, a female (my ex), can be treated so differently.

My ex-partner, about £ 50 a month worse off than she should be.

Me, £ 1000 a month worse off than I should be up until Christmas there. 14 months of absolutely financial hell. What? Because I'm a Dad, and not a Mum. Wrong. So wrong.... In a world where we are trying, and I fully support equal rights for all, men are very much at the bottom of the bin as far as the DWP are concerned.

Will update when I get news.

I appreciate your humanity, and matureness when I came on first of all, quite upset. Thank you for letting me breathe, and more to the point, allowing me to be human, faults and all.

Have a chilled evening.

Cheers.

blueoceans1971

A human story.

People can be deep down, the happiest, outgoing, confident person you could ever meet, and then your luck enough to meet your female equivilent. Stunning, outgoing, clever, funny, everything you have ever wanted.

A couple of barriers though:

One has psoriatic arthritis that is active and progressive.
The other has ms, and struggles with fatigue, memory loss, and balance problems.

You try as hard as possible to get on with your own condition, and help your partner with hers.

The only problem being you have a 9 year old step-son, who has asd, and extremely high adhd (off the richter scale), and on top of that, you have at that time, my 3 year old son who seemed at that time, to be showing all the signs of asd/adhd, like his brother.

Me and my ex both knew deep down, that our son didn't have asd/adhd, and the only way to help him to grow up in a stable enviroment, and not affected by his older brother, was for us to split up.

We were so in love, but our children come first, and with one of the hardest decisions we'll ever both make in our lifetime, we called it a day.

The result

My son is excelling at life, whether it be in social groups, at nursery, with his family and friends, in every way.

And happily, for the both of us, my step-son has also settled down, now he has his Mum all to himself.

The knock on affect for the children has been there both more settled, both more happy, and both enjoying life more.

The downside.... I'm no longer with the girl I loved, and all because our various conditions were taking their toll.

We've watched couple after couple over the last 6/7 years split up, who had children with a condition like my step sons, the difference being, none of the children in any way have a condition as serious as my step son. When he left nursery, he was at the very top of a list for going to a special needs school, the nurseries words, not mine.

So when we're watching all these parents around us all calling it a day with their relationship due to the stress in bringing up their children, we're watching on, thinking, aye right, whatever....

Why?

Cos none of the other parents I'm talking about are not in any way disabled themselves.

Looking back now, both myself and ex have agreed it was for the best, regarding the boys, But for 6 years, with both our conditions, we tried so hard to bring up our children, while trying so hard to cope with our own conditions

Fling in the DWP into the mix, and it feels like all hell's broke loose.

And all because a severly disabled couple are trying, and succeeding in doing the right thing for their children.

The anger from family and friends was audible when we split up. Now there's not a single person that doesn't think we did the right thing, as they can see how different both our children are, happier, more settled, not affecting each other in the worse way.

Some of the people up above who have commented today. Please, in future, allow people to be human, and once again, I would like to both apologise, and say a big thank you to Calcotti for allowing me to vent, initially, and not judging me by it.

Know who that reminds me of? I'll let you all guess....