Sadly with the cuts to legal aid there are a not so many about anymore.that's a really good idea MrSki. i used one a long while ago, and they were brilliant. i'd completely forgotten about them as a resource.
This is where you really would benefit from a specialist advisor. Especially with UC replacing JSA. Have you got a local law centre? They might be able to help.
It won't be a firm but a dedicated law centre. Similar to CA but with lawyers working there Pro Bono.Okay so how do i find this.
Google has showed me the same firms who let me down so badly with the non mol and failed eviction
i think that's ^ the one i used, but there is brixton advice centre still running if you're in that area.Details
www.lawcentres.org.uk
if you're not, there's a search box on the right to find your nearest law centre.
e2a cross posted with mr ski - yep , they're disappearing when they're most needed.
i would offer to send a govt shielding box that i never used, but i'm not sure if it's even in date or whether i'd inflict the spam on another human being :hmm;
seriously though.. are you able to access foodbanks/pay as you feel places/soup kitchens if you need to? i went to the Sunday Dining Club aka our local church for a bit when i wasn't doing well with money or cooking...
There will be a health questionnaire, answer it honestly, don't play it down. At worst, you'll be asked to look for work, at best you'll have to do limited or no work related activity, it will take them a while to decide. Can you get a fit note (aka a sick note) from your GP to be getting on with so you don't have to look for work at first?
when it comes together, it's glorious.I fucking love this place
Oh Im glad you're up late Puddy_Tat ! Thank you
That's whats underlying my confusion here.
Im told (on this thread) that PIP and UC don't talk to each other. Good, okay.
But if I tell UC I'm not 100% well, will that make them just shunt me over to PIP and say I'm not eligible for UC because I'm not well enough to work?
Yes xx
It's not just off-putting, it's actually debilitating.
First off, it really triggers my PTSD to talk about it at all, then I have anxiety and panic attacks, Every time Ive tired to do this Ive need up getting worse. So I just avoid doing it.
But then also Im trying so hard to fix and mend, and having to prove and eeosmtrayte how unwell I am is deeply at odds with trying to get better.
I know. This is good advice and Ive heard it before, and its good to be reminded because I must must must remember it. It goes against my very grain though, to be mired in the can't stuff.
Theres no perfect solution to this. If they just do appointments, then someone (many) will have to cut short complex conversations . And yes, I expect CAB, like everything else, is stretched very thin right now.
I wonder what the cover incidence is in CAB offices? Are they even seeing anyone right now>?
New Style ESA is essentially about maintaining your NI contributions. If you have worked and paid NI for the past two years, it is worth going for because receipt of the benefit essentially counts as ongoing NI contributions which are important for pension contributions etc. Whatever you get given in ESA will be taken out of your UC.
The Turn2Us benefits calculator is excellent - you anonymously input your circumstances and it spits out how much you can get to the penny, all broken down by benefit etc.
Universal Credit is the faster application of the two (about fifteen minutes for the initial online application). With PiP forms, more is more, always follow up with a ‘but’ (eg ‘I can dress myself but due to fatigue, I have to lie down for four hours after’ or whatever).
UC won't shunt you off to PIP - they are completely unrelated.
Universal credit is an unemployment benefit, and there are three groups:
- The support group, where your disabilities or health conditions are too severe for you to realistically go to work at all. You get a slightly higher amount of universal credit and don't have to look for work
- WRAG - The work related activity group, where your disabilities or health conditions make work, or at least full time work, difficult. You don't get any extra money, but you don't get as much pressure to apply for work
- Everyone else.
When you first apply via the online form, obviously you're automatically in the everyone else group. If you tick that you have a disability or health condition that limits your capacity for work, they will then ask you to submit a fit note from your doctor. You'll need to contact your GP about that - GPs do it all the time and it's very straightforward. After that they'll send you a paper form to complete and send in, and might call you in for a face to face assessment.
It's a long process, but you get universal credit all the way through it, at the "everyone else" rate. And if they decide you're not disabled enough to be put in the WRAG group or the support group, you simply stay in the everyone else group. You don't lose out on any money by telling them about your health.
So don't worry about what you say about your health condition on the online form. It really doesn't mean much at all. You should tell them you have a health condition so you can get the ball rolling for applying to be in WRAG or the support group, but at this stage that's all you need to do. Do that, get the form submitted, then worry about the next steps.
PIP is personal independence payment. It's got zero to do with employment or unemployment. Lots of disabled people in full time work get it - David Blunkett, for example, obviously worked full time, but he got it (it was called DLA then, but it's the same thing). What it's about is if you need someone to help you at home, like with getting dressed, cooking meals, communicating with people, and so on, or help getting around.
Being told you're ineligible for UC and shunted over to PIP isn't a thing that would happen, they're two completely different benefits.Oh Im glad you're up late Puddy_Tat ! Thank you
That's whats underlying my confusion here.
Im told (on this thread) that PIP and UC don't talk to each other. Good, okay.
But if I tell UC I'm not 100% well, will that make them just shunt me over to PIP and say I'm not eligible for UC because I'm not well enough to work?
Yes xx
It's not just off-putting, it's actually debilitating.
First off, it really triggers my PTSD to talk about it at all, then I have anxiety and panic attacks, Every time Ive tired to do this Ive need up getting worse. So I just avoid doing it.
But then also Im trying so hard to fix and mend, and having to prove and eeosmtrayte how unwell I am is deeply at odds with trying to get better.
I know. This is good advice and Ive heard it before, and its good to be reminded because I must must must remember it. It goes against my very grain though, to be mired in the can't stuff.
Theres no perfect solution to this. If they just do appointments, then someone (many) will have to cut short complex conversations . And yes, I expect CAB, like everything else, is stretched very thin right now.
I wonder what the cover incidence is in CAB offices? Are they even seeing anyone right now>?
StepchangeIt is Hertfordshire