Where does all the money go?
I haven’t blogged in a while, though I’ve been meaning to. I’ve been meaning to write about the unexpected expenditures that make a big...
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Nov 12, 20186 min read
PIP appeal – overprepared fraud?
I had a PIP appeal today. I’ve been waiting for it for ten months. I don’t think it went well. There are some points in my favour: the...
Oct 23, 20183 min read
Missed telephone appointment – might I be sanctioned?
Some moments of sick apprehension today. I remembered, some time after the appointment time, that today was the day for my monthly UC...
Oct 18, 20182 min read
Some good news – I think
I’ve received some good news. My UC journal today had an letter added to it saying that they have decided that I have limited capability...
Sep 27, 20182 min read
Money matters
DWP-UC has apparently now told DWP-ESA to stop paying me. I have received, in three separate envelopes that arrived on the same day, a...
Sep 20, 20183 min read
UC update
My telephone appointment last week went fine. All the Work Coach wanted was to ask if I had received, completed and sent off the form for...
Aug 31, 20183 min read
Why am I the mediator for ESA and UC?
Having phoned ESA a couple of days ago, today I phoned UC to tell them that ESA had told me that they needed to send a form to ESA to say...
Aug 20, 20183 min read
Universal Credit standard shenanigans
After getting a letter from ESA last week, this week I logged on to my UC journal and found that I had – at last – got an award...
Aug 15, 20182 min read
What they don’t tell you about council tax
Applying for council tax support is nearly as much hassle as Universal Credit. They too want my most recent bank statements, and they...
Jul 26, 20185 min read
What they don’t tell you about the JobCentre
Yesterday I had three (!) JobCentre meetings. • One to show my housing details – the one that in my last blog I’d had to ask my housing...
May 25, 20183 min read
Work is not a health outcome
A couple of days ago I saw this tweet on Twitter: “Work as a health outcome is a fundamental principle for us. There must be a shared...
Dec 30, 20173 min read
Back in the benefits cycle
I got a brown envelope today, except it was white. The ‘Personal Independence Payment’ just showing in the address window gave the game...
Mar 10, 20172 min read
Chronically sick people don’t matter to the Conservative party
I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted by six years of chronic illness and seven years of Tory rule. It seems like every time I go on Twitter – and...
Feb 27, 20174 min read
Governments have no right to be ignorant
The government still doesn’t know what its talking about. But this time it’s almost seven years on from when it gained power, and its...
Aug 19, 20132 min read
Conflicting Policies
Just as nature takes millions of years to regain diversity after a mass extinction, so neighbourhoods take years, even decades, to build...
Aug 17, 20134 min read
Conservatives have ignored their history on disability benefit reform
A new disability benefit should reflect the policy intent that the important factor is not the medical condition but the effect that it...
Dec 12, 20122 min read
Benefits and the Budget
George Osborne has decided that benefits will be up-rated at 1% for the next three years. Previously, they would have been uprated in...
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