The Good. No one is under any illusion as to how I feel about dealing with the Department of Works and Pensions who are responsible for managing the benefits system, my frustrations and wrath have been plastered all over this blog on more than one occasion. We were told that the next stage, after they acknowledge our change of circumstances would be that we would have to account for where our money had gone since we sold our last house and buying this one. In our case that was a period of 7 years!! I have to admit I have been in a bit of a panic about it, mainly because I had no idea how we were going to do it.
We had a call from the benefits office where our 3rd attempt at registering our change of circumstances has been FINALLY acknowledged to say they had it and would be in assessing the application. No time scale given. We got another call last week and I expected them to say we were moving into the next stage ie accounting for the last 7 years spending, when she said "we've assessed your application, registered your change of circumstances and there's nothing else you need to do". Well it's not often I'm left speechless as most of you will attest to, but I was speechless. I stood there with my mouth open when Mark told me. When I got over the shock, both of the news and being rendered speechless, I just felt huge relief, that's it now, we don't have to fight the system any longer. It takes affect immediately, it's only an extra £5.00 per week but it allows us to apply to help with housing costs which will go towards paying the mortgage, that reduction goes straight to utilities bills so now I know we can keep our heads above water. It is a real load off.
The Bad. The surgeon in Birmingham got the information about the fixture in Marks back last October. We knew it would be a while before it actually happened because of the general waiting lists in the NHS, we weren't prepared for the news we got today though.
The last two weeks Mark has been ringing to find out what's happening and so far we've not been able to get any information. Mr Flints secretary has had problems getting the Theatre Mgr to get back with a date when the tools would be ready along with theatre time and a bed. The call today told us the Theatre Mgr said he can get the tools from two different places - that's it. Not that he's ordered them and allocated Theatre time, just that he can get them. It turns out we're NOT EVEN ON A WAITING LIST!! Mr Flints secretary is going to talk to him about getting us on the operating list which we thought we were already on. Mark is so frustrated, his pain levels continue to slowly get worse and now we find we're no further on.
The downright ugly. The cat had diarrhea last week and chose my bed!!
January 21, 2013
January 10, 2013
Well it's taken nearly all day but this is what I've finally found out ...... someone who shall remain nameless and not responsible for their actions or the distress they've created, sent a memo from the Dept of Work and Pensions to our local council to say Marks benefit has been terminated, they then write to us and tell us our council tax rebates have been cancelled. I ring the council office and say as far as I am aware nothing has been cancelled ...... they tell me according to their records Marks benefit is terminated as from December 17th and therefore it voids the council tax rebate, that's all they can tell me.
I ring our local Job Centre Plus who are our first port of call with anything benefit related, explain the situation, they look at their records and tell me the same thing, his benefit has been terminated, no further explanation. If we want to find out any more they will email the processing department at the Dept of Works and Pensions and someone will ring me back.
Amazingly they did so, an hour ago, to say to me that the benefit had not been terminated, the next payment will go in as normal and there was no good reason why anyone should be telling me any different. I should ring them back and tell them to check the internal system and they would see that was the case. It struck me at this point that not one of these different departments was going to talk to each other, I had to do their communications for them!!
I ring the local council back again and tell them the benefit hasn't been cancelled and they should check on their internal system and it would confirm their actions were incorrect. The person I'm speaking too doesn't have the authority to view this system and has to get someone else to do it, they'll ring me back. An hour later they do. They tell me my information is correct, the benefit hasn't been terminated and they shouldn't have sent out their letter. They'll correct their mistake straight away. I ask can I have the name of the person who sent the memo and I'm told I can't, it's automatically generated.
So in short, I'm dealing with a government department for Marks benefit that doesn't have a physical address, is manned by un named people, who are not accountable for any of their actions and who I cannot ring because they don't provide a telephone number. If I want to speak to someone I have to ring my local job centre, they send an email to said dept and someone may or may not ring me back.
I despair at what this country is coming too.
I ring our local Job Centre Plus who are our first port of call with anything benefit related, explain the situation, they look at their records and tell me the same thing, his benefit has been terminated, no further explanation. If we want to find out any more they will email the processing department at the Dept of Works and Pensions and someone will ring me back.
Amazingly they did so, an hour ago, to say to me that the benefit had not been terminated, the next payment will go in as normal and there was no good reason why anyone should be telling me any different. I should ring them back and tell them to check the internal system and they would see that was the case. It struck me at this point that not one of these different departments was going to talk to each other, I had to do their communications for them!!
I ring the local council back again and tell them the benefit hasn't been cancelled and they should check on their internal system and it would confirm their actions were incorrect. The person I'm speaking too doesn't have the authority to view this system and has to get someone else to do it, they'll ring me back. An hour later they do. They tell me my information is correct, the benefit hasn't been terminated and they shouldn't have sent out their letter. They'll correct their mistake straight away. I ask can I have the name of the person who sent the memo and I'm told I can't, it's automatically generated.
So in short, I'm dealing with a government department for Marks benefit that doesn't have a physical address, is manned by un named people, who are not accountable for any of their actions and who I cannot ring because they don't provide a telephone number. If I want to speak to someone I have to ring my local job centre, they send an email to said dept and someone may or may not ring me back.
I despair at what this country is coming too.
I better tell you about Mark now hadn't I, he's in bed again today, in too much pain to get up. He was going to go out with a friend today, however, about 9ish last night he suddenly shouted me and said he had to get out of his wheelchair and into bed, he was in agony. The weird thing is, it comes on so suddenly and for no apparent reason that we can work out. So another night of no sleep and morphine every couple of hours. He spoke to the consultants secretary, or rather her stand in because the secretary is off ill, and we're waiting for a call back with some sort of time slot for his operation. Hoping it won't be more than another couple of months.
The other day was a farce .....
Mark got up with about the normal amount of pain and decided to go out to his friends who owns a garage. He likes it there as you can all imagine and it keeps him stimulated (read awake!!) because there's stuff going on. Anyway, I got him in his car, disassembled his wheelchair and packed it in the boot. Mark turned the key ..... A BIG FAT NOTHING!! Blue language coming from inside the car, I got wheelchair out of the boot, put it back together, got Mark out of the car, he made me find tools so between us we could take the fixture on top of the battery and see what was going on, found a loose connection .... between us put it all back together again (him getting frustrated because I'm a rubbish mechanic (but the best one he has on hand!). During this I can smell Mark and it's not good, took him back inside, found carers had dressed him with a dirty bum and dirty underpants, (me swearing now) so I undress him, wash him, dress him again ....... sounds easy when I write it like that doesn't it?? Feed him lunch, put him back in his car, take wheelchair apart, pack it into boot again and see him off. Knackered then, spent the rest of the day with my head in a book denying the rest of the world existed!!
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