ARGH!

Unfortunately it seems you don't just get one person dealing with things which is why you have to explain over and over again (although these days surely it must all be on a computer file!). I do sympathise, although I also feel for the poor woman on the receiving end! If I find myself getting angry I usually ask to speak to a supervisor rather than take it out on the operator.

I know, sunseeker and I don't normally at all say anything and am very nice to people on the phone. It does annoy me though phoning government offices to be kept on the phone for 20 minutes when there are so many unemployed. I wasn't too bad, probably more upset and frustrated than angry really. It can get me down trying to sort things out when I feel so awful all the time. Anyway, done now. I will apologise when I take in my evidence. I know it won't be the lady I spoke to but maybe it can go on screen.

Sunsseeker I so agree, we answer the same questions over and over again, surely there must be a record of our replies to the endless questions somewhere. I thought computerisatioin was going to make things easier for everyone. I appreciate we have to be asked our date of birth, just to make sure we are the right person, but apart from that, please just consult the records.

I think you'll find that the majority of government systems don't 'talk' to one another . So every new dept has to ask the same questions.

In an ideal world , they would all link and that would also put paid to a lot of benefit fraud that takes place because the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

I appreciate your frustration Ruby but I doubt shouting would get you as far as being nice would. In a lot of cases it's the system that's the problem not the operators.

rubylady For a start, forget BG. You've done all you can and if they can't do their job properly, their loss, they can hardly cut you off, can they?
Now the council. I'm afraid needs must when the devil drives.Make an appointment to see your local MP. Lay it on thick Re your disabilities and how this is affecting your health.

Thanks petra but I am just going to pay for a toilet downstairs out of my inheritance left by my dad. The problem will be that I can't take it with me when I leave, which is a bit off as the housing association, who also won't pay to have one installed, will win a toilet for nothing.

N&G I know, I don't usually shout at people. But I was hanging on for dear life for a wee, incontinence plus water tablets do not make a good equation. Twenty minutes was a long time to wait. Surely they should have a system of answering a call within a certain time limit?

I completely sympathise, rubylady. I think it's deliberate policy in the hope that you will give up and then they can stop or reduce a benefit or two.
Do check that the housing association won't penalise you in any way for improving their property with a toilet. Ridiculous, I know, but better to be on the safe side.
You're probably right to think it's worth paying for it yourself to avoid the hassles.

Have you looked at a Saniflo toilet ruby they are ideal for small places and cheaper to install. The downside is that they are quite noisy, but if it is mostly used during the day that shouldn't be a problem.

We have just jumped through all the hoops for council tax support, 2 months of bank statements, audited accounts, my last 2 payslips etc etc.

After several letters requesting more info, and apologising for "forgetting" to take photo copies of some documents while we were actually there, we finally got a letter confirming that we have been awarded it!

Now, what am I going to do with that 54p a week that we have been allowed?

Don't spend it all at once Phoenix. Save for a rainy day.

rubylady I have pm'd you.

I would, stansgran but I don't think it would be enough to buy an umbrella!

petra Yes that's exactly what they can do . If you fail to answer any questions however many times you have done before they just stop your benefit and then it is up to you to go through hoops to get it reinstated . Happened to my DDIL 6 times last year because they kept sending letters asking for information to the wrong address . She has 4 children , one with cerebral palsy in a wheel chair and all her benefits stopped . She worked P/t on Min wage so lived on £80 weekly for 6 weeks one time . She became depressed and eventually had to give up work because of it .

petra was meaning British Gas.

The benefits shambles system seems designed to victimise people in the hope they will stop claiming.

Thanks FARNORTH I realise after re reading !

I will find the blooming letter they want, it's in here somewhere! Trouble is, through looking, I have come across all my dad's hospital documentation, photos and old cards from ED and my DGC. They don't know the upset that comes with looking for their needed information, although I do understand that they need evidence that my little hard working lazy son is not working etc.

F77ms That is terrible, what they did to your DDIL, sounds like she had a really rough time while trying to bring up her lovely family. I hope that she is feeling better now.

As a SW I got so sick of the hoops that people had to go through and the toll it took on their emotions. The system fails to understand that finding all these documents and reliving their problems is not an emotional-neutral activity.

I resigned after 25 years and took up a new career - this was triggered by being forced to get a bereaved mother to fill in some forms for SSD when I had advised them that this would be too traumatic for her - they refused to take this into account and she had to go through the hoops in relation to another of her children who was disabled. I sat with her while she wept and wept, as I knew she would. How dare they put her through that.

Where we used to live we had an excellent MP with an excellent back up team. They revelled in this sort of thing! If I didn't get anywhere And had got to the jumping up and down stage I'd email his office and copy it to the relevant council department. Sorted! The chump we've got here though is useless and does nothing but write back with a standard platitude. What's your MP like? It's worth a shot.

This money has to come from somewhere and it mainly comes from tax payers so its good to see "all the hoops that people had to go through", because if that didn't happen their would be no incentive to earn, and we just would not last as a society.

I'm guessing you've never had to do any hoop jumping, or known anyone who has, Gononsuch?
Nice to hear you're happy about it, tho.

It's not so much the hoop jumping, it's dealing with having a cervical biopsy done for the second time and now awaiting the results with dread, painful, heavy periods, not being able to breathe properly and my mobility being so bad that it is nearly two weeks since I last went through my front door. Multiple heart conditions awaiting surgery. And that is just a tiny bit of what I have going on. If it was just finding a letter and all the roses around my door were in full bloom and perfectly scented, then I would be the happiest bunny alive, I'm sure but some of us do actually claim legitimately and are so honest it hurts. But thank you for paying your taxes, it means I can eat and stay warm while my health deteriorates.

Message above for Gononsuch

Thank you Luckygirl, it must have been difficult for you to sit there and see people crack under the strain that is put on people. I gave up my job in nursing because of the red tape and the hierarchy of senior positions. It was awful. All I wanted to do was care for people and it was like being on a ward with a dictator, not what I signed up for nor expected.

I hate that genuine caring people like you, ruby and you luckygirl are put under so much pressure that they leave their professions and only the hard-skinned mini-dictators survive to claim their full pensions. I do feel for the professionals who're required to lie and bend the rules to save money and meet targets. It's not what they signed up for and I think the vast majority of people who claim are honest.

On the occasions I had empathic SWs the forms mum needed to complete weren't been nearly so much of a problem. I still didn't get anywhere and with our last big hassle (continuing care) it took help from certain people on GN to give me the knowledge and courage to fight on when I was being sent round in circles - and a letter from nice Mr Bacon MP. (We still didn't get the full entitlement but mum was running out of time)