Redundancy payment and Carer's allowance.

[Guest]

The VAT exemption only applies to wheelchair and stretcher users and does not include occasional or temporary wheelchair users:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPort ... e=document

I would be interested to see the source of this story, George, it would be difficult to justify the removal of VAT from incontinence products, specialised clothing, disability equipment and aids, etc. because a minority of severely disabled people who have difficulty accessing mainstream holidays are able to purchase an adapted, VAT exempt motorhome but with the Tories nothing would surprise me anymore .

[GeorgeT]

" would be interested to see the source of this story, George"
http://tinyurl.com/c4dottb

[Guest]

Thank you, George, I would have thought that HMRC had better things to do with their time, it will probably cost more to investigate than the amount of money which could be saved .

[bowlingbun]

I had a look at the link, noticed that the web page was entitled "They Work for You". Really?!?!

[GeorgeT]

My wife got a letter from the DHSS this morning.

They have stopped her carer's allowance. She will have to make a new claim!!!, they want to know how much she is paid!!!, they are saying she earns more then £100.00 a week!!! (she earns £70.00 a week). It appears they don`t know what they are doing at the DHSS.

Her letter to them was clear, it was simple, it could not have been more clear...She only asked them how she stood as regards being made redundent. She told them she did not have another job to go to after she was made redundent. They just didn`t read the letter!!!!!!!!.

Anyway, she phoned DHSS, she spoke to a lady who had trouble speaking english, my wife could not understand what she was saying!!!. She rang them back and spoke to a man, she could not get any sense out of him, he just kept saying it was standard procedure and according to the DHSS redundancy payments do get classed as earnings. He couldn`t tell her when she will get her carer's allowance back, it will all have to go to adjudication, after she has made a new claim!!!!!!!!!.

[Guest]

Your wife could try asking for a Decision Maker to give her a call back, with some exceptions the call centre staff are not very knowledgeable about and therefore not the best people to deal with more complex issues, alternatively your wife could ask to speak to a supervisor, they seem to know more than the call-handlers. But your best option at the moment is probably to get advice and assistance from a welfare rights adviser who will be well-versed in social security regulations and can deal directly with the DWP on your wife's behalf.

[bowlingbun]

When my son moved from one house to another, he was asked to complete a new claim, due to a "change fo circumstances". I queried this, and was told that it was standard procedure, basically just a routine check. I suspect that something similar is happening with the Carers Allowance. So don't worry unduly, just fill in the form, send it off (I always send things like this Special Delivery so there's no excuse for any delay and of course there's proof of receipt). A friend of mine was in charge of the telephony team for the local DWP office for a while. As I understand it, when you ring a benefit office now, the initial call is dealt with by a call handler, you only get put through if they can't manage to deal with it themselves. The person who answers the phone queries may not have access to all the information. Hope that helps reassure you.

[Guest]

It is not normal practice to require a new claim when a change of address is notified, a change of address is not in itself a notifiable change of circumstances effecting entitlement to benefit other than for housing and council tax benefit and local housing allowance purposes or if a claim for mortgage interest is in payment unless there have been other changes, for example moving in with a partner or leaving a partner. Do get advice from a welfare rights adviser, George, we are not benefits experts.

[GeorgeT]

"It is not normal practice to require a new claim when a change of address is notified"

According to the DHSS it is. ANY change in your circumstances must be reported to DHSS and a new claim must be submitted, it is "standard procedure" according to the DHSS.

"we are not benefits experts"

Is there such a person, seems common sense has left this planet, the DHSS couldn`t even answer a simple question put to them. We feel like we are talking to robots when we are talking to them.

Correction: My wife informs me she earns £84.00 a week and not £70.00 as I stated above.

[Guest]

I think that it is the use of language by the DWP or possibly the way in which I have explained it in which case I apologise which is causing the confusion. Whilst a change in address obviously has to be notified it is not a change of circumstances which automatically leads to a reassessment of benefit entitlement which was suggested in an earlier post unless certain other circumstances pertain which effect entitlement, I hope that explains it better.