Carers UK Forum

what a way to start a new week...
Well for me it started last Friday , i got a letter informing me that my carers allowance has been stopped , due to several weeks of non care for my mum . i must return this slip with dates , days etc.

I phoned the number provided on the letter , and explained to the woman that they are wrong , no periods of care has been missed.
She informed me to ignore and bin the letter and she will correct the system and my money will be paid through for Monday as normal.
I checked my bank at midnight and no money , when i woke up at 8:30am i checked and still no money , so i contacted the Carers allowance unit.
And the guy there said it is because i have not sent the paperwork back in...
I explained i only got that on Friday 8th and i phoned them same day , he said as yes it shows on your records you made contact.
but you should not have been told your money would be in for Monday as normal , as it takes 3 working days for re called payments to be paid back into your account.

He then said it is because your mum has been in hospital , NO she has not ... it is my dad who is currently in hospital and has been since January 7th.
he said ah that is where the mix up is coming from , i will contact the department now and inform them that it is your father in hospital and not your mother.

will this have a knock on effect of my IS payment which is due this Wednesday ?
as i have bills due this week .
and then to top it off , mum notices the gas timer has blanked causing the hot water boiler to stay on and the heating stuck on.

One day a government department will get somehting right! They dont realise they are messing with peoples lives

aye well things went from bad to worse in a funny kind of way.

I got a phone call from the carers allowance unit , and the woman explained to me ALL that is needed is mum contact the number she is about to give me , explain that it is her husband in hospital and not her , and they will sort it.
Mum called and was confronted by an extremely rude call centre staff member , who was not interested in the slightest . in fact her words to mum were "" i wont talk to you about that , i do not deal with that good bye "" .
i called the carers unit again and they told me to call the number back and demand to speak to a manager , mum called waited 20 mins on hold and the woman said let me see if i can help before you speak to a manager.
the woman said thank you for letting them know it was not her in hospital , she will now email an other department that deal with Attendance Allowance and they will see if you are entitled to the payments again or not , if they decide you are allowed them then we will send a letter out confirming the amount . once you have that then your son needs to phone carers allowance unit back up so they will then up date the system and allow the re payment of CA back to your son.

............
as for the heating problem we waited all day and no one showed up to sort it. so the house is melting point burning money. we have turned most of the heaters to frost setting so they should not heat up. but the one in mums bedroom and my bedroom are on and 2 down stairs are on to keep some heat in the house , as its only 1c out side.

I really don't understand this. The system is accessible on computers and they should be able to update everything easily, not rely on you to do all the chasing at your own expense.

And as for the rudeness, I can honestly say it was never a part of the training - it just came naturally to some of the staff I worked with.

Lord, that was nearly 20 years ago...!

When you speak to the DWP, BEFORE you start talking to them, ask for their name, and write it down. If they start being rude, just stop the conversation and ask to speak to their supervisor. It's OK to stop in the middle of a conversation. My friend works for DWP and they do try to give a good service, despite what you might think. They all have standards of service etc. It's a good idea to write down the name, date, and time of everyone you ever speak to, then if there is a problem they can be traced.

actually if they were doing the job they were paid for , you should not need to ask for a name. they should give it straight away.

and 90% of the time you find the rude members of staff are not the ones who are recording the conversation ...
As i had an experience last year where i had an extremely rude member of staff that started warning me i better watch my tone of voice or they will close my case and i wont be getting money from anywhere. low and behold there was no trace of said call and i provided the other person with a name , and was contacted 3 days later told that there was no one of that name working in that call centre.

That's awful James.

not sure what to do ..

CAB are as useful as a snowball in hell , but i have known that for years now.

and MSE i am sick of asking for help and instead all you get are replies from people who clearly have no money problems and they crap gold , and just see fit to poke fun at you and there answer to everything is "" GET A JOB "".


We have still not had a letter from DWP about mums AA money and it is now Saturday.
mum told me she was told on the phone she would get a letter on Wednesday, but was not told which Wednesday.

I got my Income support top up payment on Wednesday as normal , but i am guessing i wont get the next one on the 27th , and it looks like i still wont get any money for CA as i am supposed to get a payment on Monday.

and mum is basically giving up , she said to me the other day "" still no letter , looks like we've had it then , things just get better and better for us "" so i wished her and dad all the best as i will move out and go live on the streets as she could at least support her self and dad with what little money would be coming in if they ever sorted it.
she said dont talk so bloody stupid , you know its you that keeps me going i would not be able to manage without you ,i really dont know what i would do without you.

i cant speak to family members as my 2 sisters 3 brothers dont care about me , they dont think of me as a brother .. because i was born so late they all had there own lives and families to care about when i was born so had no time for me .
as i am now 29 , i have had it my whole life so i now have the attitude of "" thats fine i wont waste my time with any of you then ""

getting back on track though , i have been told not to phone the carers allowance unit as they cant offer me any more help , if i phoned them again they would put me on the system and i would be denied payment again as mum is not getting AA.
and mum is not phoning the AA number again as being spoke to like something just been stepped on then having to wait in a 20 min cue was to much for her and now understands why i get so wound up when i have to phone.
she is phoning on Tuesday as dad is being discharged and allowed to come home.

If i was an immigrant i would be treated so much better .
instead i am a British citizen living in my own country and being treated like scum , dirt.

<snip> If i was an immigrant i would be treated so much better .
instead i am a British citizen living in my own country and being treated like scum , dirt.

James, I sympathise with all you've been put through and believe that you should ge a lot more help a lot more easily.

OTOH you're wrong about immigrants having it any easier than you.

from first hand experience i do not believe i am wrong.

I have seen it for my self and been wrongly signed of when i used to claim JSA before being a carer. and the local hotel has members of staff who brag they get thousands in benefits and send the money back home.

i dont class them all the same , but i am against those who see the UK as an escape goat get everything they can and send it back home.