Diary of a benefit claimant.

Here is a link to a page about the journal. There are two short videos available within the page.

www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/already-claimed/if-you-have-an-online-account/

Thank you.
That'll be worth a look.

MissAdventure I have been following this thread with mounting despair for all that is going on with you. Lots of us are gunning for you - perhaps to shoot the DWP.

Your comments have always made me smile. I know you have had a tough few years. Such a brave lady. Good Luck next week.

If you need anything else looking up anytime, please say when it arises. It may be much easier for me to find as I am using a laptop computer with a 13 inch screen with an external attached USB full size keyboard.

Good luck MissA. We're all behind you. When you take on the DWP, and they ask " you and whose army?"' tell 'em "gangsta grannetters". That'll scare 'em.

StarDreamer

If you need anything else looking up anytime, please say when it arises. It may be much easier for me to find as I am using a laptop computer with a 13 inch screen with an external attached USB full size keyboard.

Golly.
That's a big 'un.

>Snicker<

MissA I have been following your 'diary' with interest, getting more annoyed on your behalf as you describe all the hoops you are expected to jump through

Just wanted to wish you good luck

Ah, I do thank you all.
It was really just to demonstrate that the idea of benefits being given out easily is misplaced.

I really haven't had any bad treatment from the dwp: they are just following their guidelines, I'm sure.

It was also to show how easy it is to find yourself in absolute poverty very quickly, and despite having been muddling along ok before the coin spins and things change

ixion

StarDreamer

If you need anything else looking up anytime, please say when it arises. It may be much easier for me to find as I am using a laptop computer with a 13 inch screen with an external attached USB full size keyboard.

Golly.
That's a big 'un.

Indeed.

It is one of these.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/270129320

It has a cable with an ordinary USB connector permanently attached to it.

With Windows 10 one just plugs it into a USB port on the computer, there is a short noise from the computer, and it is ready to use.

I received the keyboard as part of my grocery order, delivered by Tesco. I paid for it using some of my Tesco clubcard vouchers.

I set up the Microsoft mousekeys facilty and that is very good once one gets used to pressing keyboard keys rather than the trackpad of a laptop computer or an external mouse unit.

I use the mousekeys for clicks and mousedowns for drag and drop and the trackpad for the movement itself.

Mousekeys make things like a right click easier and I can do drag and drop more easily.

I think there might have been double entendre in there SD.

Does everything you buy come from Tesco?

I have some positive updates, but I'm too exhausted to put them all here, for now.
I will, though, over the next few days.

The new work coach is very pleasant and empathetic.

We seem to have got on the right wavelength now.

He realises I'm not on the make, and I accept that he seems to be acting in my best interests, and not out to "get me".

There is more, but that can wait for now.

Excellent. Here if you need anything looked for on the web.
.

Thank you.

Good news!

Happy fir you to hear that something positive is happening. Good news and not before time!

Glad all went well for you.

MissA I have so much sympathy for the predicament you find yourself in and I’m grateful that you’ve shared your difficulties to give Gransnetters an insight into how the systems supposed to serve us so often set people up to fail. Most people I’ve come across at the DWP/JobCentres are kindly souls doing their best in a highly stressful job, until burn-out takes them and they leave to stack shelves for the same money and fewer pressures.

So glad that things are moving along in the right direction.

From 20/05/2022 at 17.12 by Cabbie

"MissA, when you get better, you just report a change of circumstances and stay on UC, and have to look for work. You don’t have to apply all over again."

Um, maybe I'm not sure what page I'm on.

That sounds better MissAdventure fingers crossed.

Good news, MissA ?

Very aware, Miss A, that the long Bank Holiday break will be upon us shortly and that means office closures and the like.

Here's hoping everyone is on top of your game and that your Diary will have positive news to share with us before the shutdown!?

I really hope so. When’s your next telephone appointment MissA?

I do have some positive news.
I have had a payment!!

All swallowed up by my bank charges, but it's a start.

It seems everything has been cancelled - child benefit, too.

So, I have to reapply for that, and apply for council tax relief, which is such a small amount that I havent bothered before.

This is causing some issues, as nobody seems to believe I didnt claim it.

Also, I have a PIP telephone assessment coming up, have almost the same form to fill in for universal credit, which would allow me a higher rate.

It's all a bit overwhelming, really.

I have been trying to do some of it, then slept for around 17 hours as I felt poorly. I have also seen my gp, and there is still the mystery of why I feel so rotten, apart from my liver having 30 percent function.

PIP is supposed to be based now on how you are affected, rather than having a named illness, but it is the assessment that I am dreading.