oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Jun 20, 2023 6:17:01 GMT
Hi Everyone a quick update:
Spoke to my work coach from the jobcentre yesterday and surprisingly he never mentioned about my lack of engagement with the people from FEDCAP, all he said to me was that there was no point talking to me at the moment because I'm waiting to get a tribunal date, got the feeling he was fed up with having to chat with me as we don't actually have anything to discuss as I don't actually have to look for work at the moment according to the jobcentre so not sure why I'm on the restart scheme,
Anyway still waiting for a response to my reasons why I'm lacking to engage (their words not mine) also I understand that if they do sanction my claim it will either be reduced or stopped altogether in which case there won't be enough to cover the payments of my car insurance or the short fall of our rent as that's what the bulk of my UC covers, so what I would like to know is can I appeal against a sanction and if that fails can we apply for some sort of emergency payments and for the short fall of the rent can we apply for the discretionary housing payment scheme, we tried to a few years ago but they said that we were getting to much money and can afford to pay the short fall ourselves,
But since then our short fall has increased by over double what it use to be so I'm wondering if we would qualify for it even without the sanction anyway any advice on this would be very much appreciated.
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Post by terminator on Jun 20, 2023 8:28:16 GMT
Always appeal a sanction and if the appeal is won they have to pay back any money they stopped whilst the claimant appealed the sanction. Even if the appeal is unsuccessful you can apply for payments which I believe are between 40 and 60 percent of the money normally received.
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oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Jun 22, 2023 12:37:53 GMT
Hi terminator and everyone else,
Yes I will certainly be appealing the sanction that I'm still waiting to hear about, I have received today an email from my local jobcentre asking me if the restart scheme are aware of the reasons for missing the appointment with them, because it turns out they are only asking me why I missed a face to face appointment with the restart scheme back in April, because I misunderstood the original email and thought it said that I had to give reasons for not engaging with the restart scheme,
It Wasn't that at all it was just one appointment which I gave the reasons for, and talking of the restart scheme from FEDCAP I've heard from them today and they have completely changed their attitude with me, they are happy to do the bare minimal with me over the phone and online courses only, they have also asked for my latest sick note which is something they haven't asked for in quite a while,
Anyway not sure how long it will stay like that probably not very long it all depends on the jobcentre and what they decide to do whether to sanction me or not, anyway will update when I know more.
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oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Aug 21, 2023 17:03:25 GMT
Hi Everyone well it's been a strange old time of late, I've spoken to my new work adviser at FEDCAP and hes actually a really nice bloke and totally gets my unique situation, and is doing everything he can to convince the jobcentre that I should be phone assessment only, and talking of the jobcentre I hardly hear from my work coach these days and he cancels the phone appointments more than actually phoning me, but he did admit that he only has to phone me if he feels like it as I'm not seen as a priority until after my tribunal hearing depending on which way the tribunal will rule of course, and they are hoping the tribunal will be all sorted by September, also I'm still waiting on whether I will get sanctioned or not for the missed appointment with FEDCAP back in April they still haven't decided on that either,
Also about a month ago our pay as you go electric meter ran out of credit so we topped it up with 30 pounds but the electric didn't switch back on well to cut a long story short the top up failed to reach the meter that's what they told us when we spoke to them about it so we were without electricity for 3 days, and despite our provider seeing the top up on our account they never manually added the money to the meter until I threatened to drag them through the courts for failing to even acknowledge that there was a problem with the meter, as we had spent two days on the phone telling them that despite us putting the top up numbers into the meter manually nothing was happening, and they had given us the numbers themselves, anyway in the end they sent an engineer round and he said that the meter is out of date and needs to be replaced so he booked us in with the team that replaces old meters which is happening on the 29th of this month, anyway he spoke to someone and pressed some buttons and it all fired back into life and as a way of an apology they put forty pounds on the meter,
Also I've changed my internet and phone provider but that it didn't go as planned either as the phone line didn't switch over to the new provider so we haven't had a phone for about a week, and had to have a visit from an openreach engineer who had to manually switch us over to our new provider at the main exchange as that's where the fault was,
Anyway I'm suppose to be chatting with my work coach from the jobcentre tomorrow but we will see if he actually bothers to phone or not.
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Post by philbadfactor on Aug 22, 2023 7:44:48 GMT
Hello oldrocker. Did you go with the Vodaphone deal in the end ? I'm quite pleased with mine so far. No drop in advertised speed as I was half expecting and £12 a month so quite pleased. Also you don't mention who your electric provider is ? It's not EON by any chance is it ? I had massive trouble with them over my meter readings.
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oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Aug 22, 2023 10:44:29 GMT
Hi philbadfactor no I tried to sign up to Vodafone but failed the credit report at the end of the sign up process so went with Now Broadband instead, and our electricity provider is OVO formally known as SSE,
Quick Update:
Three things have happened today
1st is my work couch didn't phone me this morning as the appointment has been cancelled no surprise there if I'm honest with you,
2nd is I had an email from the DWP saying I need to sign into my journal as they have important information for me to read, so I sign in and see they have made a decision about whether they are going to sanction me or not for failing to attend the face to face appointment with FEDCAP back in April, and to my surprise no they are not sanctioning me this time which is good,
3rd which was the biggest surprise is I have received a letter from the DWP about my PIP saying that I failed to attend a face to face health assessment on the 7th of August and did not contact them to rearrange the appointment for another day, well this was a genuine shock as I didn't know I had to attend this appointment as I never received anything no letter or email informing me of this appointment, and the last thing I received from them about my PIP was a letter back in April 2023 stating that my PIP had been extended until April 2024, but this extension letter did say if they decide to assess me before then they will let me know, well I guess they decided to assess me sooner than April 2024 but they never told me about it so now I have to explain why I missed the appointment, and the form has to be in with any supporting evidence by the 16th of September otherwise they might decide to cancel my PIP payments altogether,
Anyway That's where I'm up to in my on going struggles with the DWP oh and still no date for my tribunal hearing.
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Post by terminator on Aug 22, 2023 11:17:15 GMT
Just send the DWP a request for proof of postage and proof of receipt! They might be able to prove they posted it but there is no way they can prove you received it as it wouldn't have being signed for. I did this to the DWP in the late 90's and they still tried to claim that postage is proof of receipt so I told them if they have proof of receipt they would give it to me but as they had no proof of receipt then they had to send the letter again with a new appointment date. I later found out, in an SAR, that the letter had gone to the same address in a different part of the country as the letter had being returned to them with a not known at this address written on the front of the envelope. Letters do go missing in the post or they are not sent out as the mass mailing system that prints out the letters somehow runs out of paper and the letter to be printed is missed off as the next letter in the bundle, when the paper in the printer runs out, might not get posted because whoever fills the printer just starts the printer from the letter after the one that was due to be printed next, occasionally a person might get two letters for the same appointment when this happens.
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oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Aug 23, 2023 17:27:10 GMT
Hi Terminator just wondering how I go about asking them this, do I put it on the form they sent out or email them or god forbid I have to phone them as I hate talking on the phone it gives me anxiety, anyway any advice on this would be very much appreciated, also would it be worth talking to someone from my local Citizens Advice Centre or not.
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Post by terminator on Aug 23, 2023 18:10:51 GMT
You can request it by phone letter or email, as they used to say on a football program when they did a competition proof of postage was not proof of receipt. The same is true when comes to any item posted. If they want proof then they should send the letters signed for then they would have the proof that it was received.
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oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Aug 29, 2023 14:27:07 GMT
Just a quick update basically 2 things have happened one is I haven't heard from DWP yet no surprise there I guess, but I have decided to send of the reply form anyway explaining why I didn't attend the health consultation that I knew nothing about I will also be asking them for another appointment at the same time, but the biggest surprise was this morning opening some letters and there was the letter about my appointment the one from the 7th of August the appointment letter has finally turned up, and it was actually a phone appointment at 9 in the morning, I wrongly assumed it was face to face as the letter kept saying please explain why failed to attend your health consultation appointment, anyway not sure whats going to happen as I can't prove I never heard the phone ring due to still being asleep anyway if they disallow the PIP award I'm not going to fight the decision as I can't prove anything but will let you know what happens when I hear from them.
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Post by gordo on Aug 29, 2023 17:32:36 GMT
Hi oldrocker. Maybe you could tell them you only just got their letter, and obviously, it wasn't your fault it was late!
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Post by philbadfactor on Aug 30, 2023 13:55:50 GMT
sept 2nd 2022 .......... Hi everyone just a quick update about my tribunal case, Well yesterday I received an email from HMC Tribunal and they inform me that the DWP have responded and sent them the counter paperwork, they have also said it will be several months until I get a court date so I'm to just wait until I hear from them they also said that I should also have a copy of the DWP paperwork by now as well, but I don't it may turn up in the next few days but if it doesn't then I'm not sure who to tell about it so that I do receive the paperwork, Anyway that's what's going on with me and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Aug 22nd 2023 Could it be time to start thinking there won't be a tribunal they are keeping you in a type of purgetory. Maybe everyones just waiting for a new government I just don't know. I went back through this thread as I'm fillinga WC50 myself at the moment
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oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Aug 30, 2023 16:24:44 GMT
Hi Gordo I have filled in the form and sent it off stating I never knew about the assessment as I never received the letter for the appointment so not my fault that I didn't attend the health assessment, anyway will see what they say and take it from there,
And I think you might be right Philbadfactor because it's been dragging on quit a while now and still no sign of an end, also I haven't been sent a new appointment to talk to my work coach from the jobcentre, they told my work adviser at FEDCAP they are hoping that my tribunal hearing will be sorted and done by September, but I'm getting the feeling it won't be sorted by then either.
Update: Was talking with my work adviser from FEDCAP yesterday and he told me 2 things the first being that the DWP told them my tribunal hearing will be done and sorted by the 3rd of September, even though my wife pointed out to me that the 3rd is on Sunday so not taking that seriously unless they send me the date through,
And 2nd is my exit phone call will be on the 14th of September as I have done my 12 months with the restart scheme, what the jobcentre will do with me after that I have no idea especially if my tribunal hearing still hasn't happened.
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Post by philbadfactor on Sept 4, 2023 9:28:15 GMT
They've given dates before though for your tribunal so let's see. I just can't believe it's dragged on for so long, it has to be some kind of deliberate policy unless it's just they haven't got the capacity to deal with the extra claims that resulted from Covid.
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oldrocker
Junior Member
Hope springs eternal Baldrick
Posts: 79
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Post by oldrocker on Sept 8, 2023 14:31:30 GMT
Hi Philbadfactor yes you are right they have given dates before and nothing has happened just like the 3rd of September it came and went as normal mate, but I do agree with you about the capacity to deal with all the back log from the pandemic so are struggling to get through the cases, anyway I will update when and if I ever get a hearing date and of course the outcome,
Although my letter about my PIP doesn't say they have or will suspend it well they decide if my reasons for failing to attend my health assessment are good enough, BUT what I'm wondering is can they suspend it well they make their decision about my PIP and if they do does this decision effect my wife's carers allowance or not, I know that if it gets disallowed and stops altogether then her carers allowance will be stopped as well but I couldn't find anything about if it gets suspended though.
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