MY GOD THEY ARE TERRIBLE.
I recived a ltter a few weeks ago saying about the change over from income support and incapacity benefit to ESA.That I would receive a call from the benefits agency soon.Well I didnt know they would call on a Saturday.So missed the call.So I called them back and a week later they rang me and said they would soon send out the questionaire.I thought a few days to a week it would arrive,nope it didnt so I phoned them,they said I have never had a telephone interview from a benefits agent,I argued the point that I had.Anyways they promised to send the questionaire out.Again it didnt arrive,more phone calls later still no questionaire I was then told it takes 3 weeks to recieve the form hello 5-6 weeks later still no form.Called them again they said your on a waiting list to be sent the form and you will not recieve it yet,grrrrrr that was yesterday,ohh look what has arrived this morning the ESA questionaire.
Yesterday I had a letter from ESA saying the income support for my child was going to stop and they would send my childs details to child tax credits automaticaly and I would get CTCs.It also stated I would loose my housing benefit and other things so again I called them back,it appears the only bit of the letter that applied to me was the change over to CTC.Why the hell send out such a full on letter like that and stress me out when they only ment the first few lines were for me.
Yup this is going to be a long one.
More phone calls to diffrent sections of the benefits agency yesterday and today.To cut a long story short they have told me if I didnt have any children I would be better off by £71-00 per week.That once my income support stops for my child and I move over to ESA and CTC I will be worst off by £20-00 to £70-00 per week.
I am thinking your saying between £20 to £70 per week worse off I am adding this up and I will loose proberly more like £70 per week.
Being on low rate DLA and having a child realy dont pay any more money to you.If your disabled dont have any children.Shocking realy.
It works out that if I went onto JSA and CTC I would be better off than I am or will be once the changes kick in.
When my child was born I was on Incapacity Benefit,so they cut her Income Support right down to £2-50 per week,yup that is the truth it was £250 per week yes I did say £2-50 per week.Now I get £10-00 per week Income Support for my child.While others on CTC get above £60-00 per week.
I did argue with the benefits agency over the years on why they cut my childs Income Support and should I apply for CTC they said no stay on Income Support or you will be much worse off if you do and by god they were right.
If I loose upto £70-00 per week due to the benefit changes I and my child will have to live on about £70-£80 per week and pay all my bills,food,clothing etc.
How can this be done to families already struggling?
I would be better off on JSA and CTC or even though I am so ill go out and find a job and fight to survive,I now see the struggles we are facing with the changes of benefits and how many of us are worse off than we were ever before.
And another lie I was told and I belive it to be a lie because I think the benefits agency is employing idiots,they say an automatic change over from Income Support to Child Tax Credits on the letters I have recieved.They also told me on the phone this was automatic I didnt need to fill in any forms.
Totaly untrue CTC told me today I MUST fill in a CTC form or loose benefits if I didnt fill one in,I should recieve one withing 15 days if I dont recieve a form I am to ring them back…
Just goes to show what a mess of the system realy is and that none of the diffrent benefits sections know what the other is doing,I was also told diffrent benefits are dealt with difrrent and if we wanted to learn something we need to phone the right agency for fuller details or you could loose benefits.
Well done Cameron you realy realy have messed the system up and plunged many into debt leaving people helpless to fight back…