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Incapacity Benefit,104 week rule & income support riddle
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kittykat1977
Posts: 2 Newbie
Hello,
I'll try and keep this not very brief but factual otherwise I will go into a full rant of being shafted by the Tories.
31/10/10 - Signed off Incapacity Benefit after 2 years & prior to IB 12 years of full class 1 paid contributions.
NB - return to work was done on basis of 104 week linking rule as confirmed by DWP at time of sign off.
03/11 - Rang DWP to advise poorly and considering signing back on IB but advised unable to do so as 104 linking rule scrapped by Tory Govt. I was told would have to commence a new claim for IR ESA but would not be eligable due to tax credits run on.
NB - Have since been adv'd I could have claimed CESA until 6/4/11 as fullfilled first & second NI criteria. Was not given this information at time of call.
01/06/11 - Unable to continue working. Currently claiming tax child & working tax credits but no additional income as was self-employed.
01/06/11 - Checked internet & rang NI office who confirmed I met criteria 1 & 2 of NI Contributions for CESA based. Criteria 2 based on 2 out of last 3 tax years (10/11, 09/10, 08/09).
08/06/11 - Received letter from DWP advising unable to claim CESA as TORY GOVT changed criteria in Nov 2010 so only last 2 tax years are now taken into account. I have missed out by 2 weeks NI contributions.
08/06/11 - I was advised that if I had been claiming ESA until 31/10/10 instead of IB then I would have been able to re-claim as CESA. Someone who has claimed CESA for 1 day in the last benefits year has the right to relaim CESA and not IR ESA. But someone who has claimed IB is not allowed as the regulations stipulate only CESA and no other benefis.
08/06/11 - Beginning to feel completely shafted by Dim Dave & his champagne slurping chums.
08/06/11 - Also found out although no private properties round here will accept a single disabled mum of 1 (even with 2 guarentors & 6 months rent in advance!) and no council properties are to be seen where I live - I can not claim Housing Benefit as my ex (who is my daughters father) owns the property and I rent from him. I can not get IMS as the mortgage company will not recognise me and will pull the plug on Mortgage if they receive payments in my name.
He rents privatly so can't pay rent & mortgage and is the condtion of me staying here that I must meet interest on mortgage.
So round to my questions -
Q1 - As this is all in law/regulations and not a mistake by DWP does anyone have any experience of appealing this kind of thing, is it possible and are there any agencies who could take this on? It seems fundamentally unfair and unjust. I tried to return to work, it wasn't my fault I wasn't CESA as the migration hadn't started and now I am loosing £67-94 per week for the next year. Also as I was in 104 week period should I have not been kept abreast of changes and did DWP know when I signed off and should they have given me the information?
Q2 - my daughter will be 5 in October & I was considering going to college & claiming Income Support to facilitate the disabled premiums for Income Support and not have to go through the trauma of forms and interviews. Although I will initially be claiming as a lone parent will the disabled eliment afford me 'protection' when my daughter turns 5 (or when I am no longer eligable because of my daughter)? As I also receive a disabled premium will I move over to become a disabled or incapacitated person and be afforded ESA migration protection??
Q3 - are the Tory Govt going to re-introduce poor houses. I'm not bitter at all!
I do genuinly feel I have been tricked by evil Tory brigade and thier Daily Mail politics. I have worked all my life until I became ill and tried to return to work because of the Tory hysteria and not wanting to be the lowest of the low. In hinesight I was never well enough to do so.
I do not understand why there is so much secrecy and scull duggery by this government. I bet Mr Murdoch still gets his contract as the poorer get poorer & the ill/disabled just get ignored. God its the the 1980's all over again.
I'll try and keep this not very brief but factual otherwise I will go into a full rant of being shafted by the Tories.
31/10/10 - Signed off Incapacity Benefit after 2 years & prior to IB 12 years of full class 1 paid contributions.
NB - return to work was done on basis of 104 week linking rule as confirmed by DWP at time of sign off.
03/11 - Rang DWP to advise poorly and considering signing back on IB but advised unable to do so as 104 linking rule scrapped by Tory Govt. I was told would have to commence a new claim for IR ESA but would not be eligable due to tax credits run on.
NB - Have since been adv'd I could have claimed CESA until 6/4/11 as fullfilled first & second NI criteria. Was not given this information at time of call.
01/06/11 - Unable to continue working. Currently claiming tax child & working tax credits but no additional income as was self-employed.
01/06/11 - Checked internet & rang NI office who confirmed I met criteria 1 & 2 of NI Contributions for CESA based. Criteria 2 based on 2 out of last 3 tax years (10/11, 09/10, 08/09).
08/06/11 - Received letter from DWP advising unable to claim CESA as TORY GOVT changed criteria in Nov 2010 so only last 2 tax years are now taken into account. I have missed out by 2 weeks NI contributions.
08/06/11 - I was advised that if I had been claiming ESA until 31/10/10 instead of IB then I would have been able to re-claim as CESA. Someone who has claimed CESA for 1 day in the last benefits year has the right to relaim CESA and not IR ESA. But someone who has claimed IB is not allowed as the regulations stipulate only CESA and no other benefis.
08/06/11 - Beginning to feel completely shafted by Dim Dave & his champagne slurping chums.
08/06/11 - Also found out although no private properties round here will accept a single disabled mum of 1 (even with 2 guarentors & 6 months rent in advance!) and no council properties are to be seen where I live - I can not claim Housing Benefit as my ex (who is my daughters father) owns the property and I rent from him. I can not get IMS as the mortgage company will not recognise me and will pull the plug on Mortgage if they receive payments in my name.
He rents privatly so can't pay rent & mortgage and is the condtion of me staying here that I must meet interest on mortgage.
So round to my questions -
Q1 - As this is all in law/regulations and not a mistake by DWP does anyone have any experience of appealing this kind of thing, is it possible and are there any agencies who could take this on? It seems fundamentally unfair and unjust. I tried to return to work, it wasn't my fault I wasn't CESA as the migration hadn't started and now I am loosing £67-94 per week for the next year. Also as I was in 104 week period should I have not been kept abreast of changes and did DWP know when I signed off and should they have given me the information?
Q2 - my daughter will be 5 in October & I was considering going to college & claiming Income Support to facilitate the disabled premiums for Income Support and not have to go through the trauma of forms and interviews. Although I will initially be claiming as a lone parent will the disabled eliment afford me 'protection' when my daughter turns 5 (or when I am no longer eligable because of my daughter)? As I also receive a disabled premium will I move over to become a disabled or incapacitated person and be afforded ESA migration protection??
Q3 - are the Tory Govt going to re-introduce poor houses. I'm not bitter at all!
I do genuinly feel I have been tricked by evil Tory brigade and thier Daily Mail politics. I have worked all my life until I became ill and tried to return to work because of the Tory hysteria and not wanting to be the lowest of the low. In hinesight I was never well enough to do so.
I do not understand why there is so much secrecy and scull duggery by this government. I bet Mr Murdoch still gets his contract as the poorer get poorer & the ill/disabled just get ignored. God its the the 1980's all over again.
0
Comments
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sounds complicated...do you have a labour MP?maybe they could help?0
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yes it is complicated, guess I was hoping for a knight in shining armour to come to my rescue.
My MP is Tory and as I'm down South so are the rest.
I guess I'll just have to write the the MP who is responsible for Benefits/Welfare unless there is a saviour out there???????0 -
I can answer question one.
There is no point in trying to get any agencies to help you take the challenge on as everything was done quite legally and above board. Linking for IB claims (And IS based on IB) was done away with at the end of January and therefore everyone has to claim ESA no matter how small the break in entitlement.
Where IB was claimed and linked together the original tax years were used each time and therefore entitlement remained. However, IB cannot link to ESA, and ESA claims fall to be decided as a wholly new claim. The new claim is decided on the most recent income tax years and in a lot of cases these are not going to be satisfied because people were on benefit for periods of those years.
The sad fact is that people who didnt go back to work at all will retain their protection if they are moved over to ESA and then return to work. They will be able to use the linking provisions to return to work and then claim benefit again at their old rate when reapplying for ESA.
The only people losing out are those who are returning to work before being moved over to ESA because they can never link their IB claim to an ESA claim whereas transitional protection will apply to those who are moved over before returning to work.
OP, you are one of many, but this was probably done quite deliberately (Though it is possibly just an oversight like so many others). Lots of people are losing out to it and its one area where I have quite a bit of sympathy for claimants who are at least trying to get back to work.0 -
I don't suppose this helps but I believe the linking rule change was already due to be actioned by the labour government plus ESA ni based will be time limited to a year
anyway so come April 2014 those esa people who used to qualify for ib won't anyway unless you qualify for the income related bit0
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