beaurocracy gone mad

Being UN-employed at the moment and with my PPI on my mortgage now run out i have approached the Job centre to try and get housing costs ....My mortgage lender sent his report in and i got a form Today asking for more info as i remortgaged 7 years ago and took out a extension for some essential repairs etc...they want the receipts for the repairs but it was 7 years ago they want to know why i replaced the heating system ..they want to now why i replaced the kitchen I done almost all the work myself ...i wish i was psychic and knew then what i know now .....Now if they pay my mortgage interest it will be £130 a month .....if they dont and my house gets repossessed they will gladly pay that a week to put me in B&B or 4 times that to pay my rent if i rented ..... I phoned them to ask how to fill the forms in and what information the wanted ..I spoke to 2 different advisers and neither knew ..they just told me to do my best..the whole form was designed on how NOT to help and not how to get to help .. Mind you i would much rather PAY MY OWN WAY and not rely on benefits

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

There are many people unfortunately in the same position, i dont know what the government are thinking of, how do they expect folk to manage, The forms, are like books !! & it says everything dosent it, when they dont even know how to fill them in !!

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

After my hubby died I rang DWP to see what I was entitled to as a widow. They got it wrong twice then said I'd be better going to the Citizens Advice as they knew all about it, much better than they did. Eh???

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

Oh Dear ..the proverbial has just hit the fan....I contacted my M.P about the lack of progress in my application to the benefits agency for help with my mortgage and he sent them a letter ....I think they are squirming a bit because of it as today I had a phone call from a very very nice lady ....
Basically i filled in forms and by return have had forms to try and find a reason WHY i should not get help..they came in damn quick, but then they drag their feet 6 weeks ....
It now turns out that the mistakes the benefits agency have made ahave been adding up for 17 months...firstly i was put on the wrong benefits when i first lost my job ...my mortgage and the associated PPI was not recorded so they never knew i was getting the PPI (they had a copy of my policy) ...My claim initially was lost TWICE I WAITED 7 WEEKS from first registering till getting any payment...When my wife started part time employment i should have had a form to record her hours I didn't ..They are now trying to find ways to dig them selves out ...they want all my wife's payslips ...we got them ..they are saying my PPI was undeclared Income ..they were told ....True it was more than my mortgage for a few months , but i thought ahead and saved it for this exact reason , so I have provision to pay it for a few months more ...They play with peoples lives ...they are untrained and dont know what they are doing as the system is so complicated ...
I was talking to a gent in the job centre last week ..he got his benefit sanction...why he was ill and missed an appointment ...he supplied a doctors letter and didn't get nowhere...and by the way his has cancer..that is how they treat people ....the word being ...scuse my profanity ...like SH#T

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

Steve matey, I am not surprised at any of this. For 37 years I was a co-founder on a neighbourhood Law Centre and can repeat some of your experiences (and worse) a thousand times over.

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

Looks like my MP has stirred something up ....I had a telephone call from the benefits people...they had looked into my claim and couldn't understand what had 'gone wrong' so today we took in another load of papers and forms .. when i phoned to confirm that we had supplied the appropriate paperwork i was told in and they where faxed to the main office within hours ..what a shock ...I was then told that THEY had made mistakes with my claim by putting me on income based JSA instead of contribution based when i first applied and would pay me any monies they deemed to owe me over the last 18 months...However knowing my luck they will say they have over paid me...one thing they have said is that they will not help me with my mortgage ....which i suspected ..so now we will have to wait and see ...

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

best of luck UK.

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

Steve matey, a little tip - because the DWP have now admitted their mistake and (may) have overpaid you, if they try to reclaim it, just tell them that 'OFFICIAL ERRORS' are not recoverable by virtue of: S. 71 Social Security Administration Act 1992. Good luck my friend!!!

Re: beaurocracy gone mad

Thanks uncle Joe ...that is a very interesting piece of advice...i will apply that if the facts will allow me as it is still very complicated ....I am still hoping to get a payment for this week ...the fact is now that the wife is now starting a second part time job this week ...what that means is i no longer qualify for JSA from this week ...unfortunately she does not get paid till DEC 7th so they expect me to run the house on £50 a week for the next 4 weeks ...One good thing though of no longer qualifying for JSA ...the Ba###ds can no longer threaten me with sanctions to my benefits...lol ...