I am assessed as unwell every 18 months, mental health problems (I'll
attempt to limit traditional internet abuse by not going into it
further).  I get Income Support and another £20 or so for my illness.
During an unrelated phone enquiry a woman at the DWP said, reading off
a VDU, that I've been entitled to Incapacity Benefit since 2000.  I'd
been led to believe I couldn't get this, due to no National Insurance
contributions or something like that.  I am sometimes having to either
fast or eat rubbish towards the end of the fortnight so if I can get a
little bit more I should.  Also I'd like to know where I'd stand as
far as getting a backdated cheque goes if I do change to this
benefit.  (How far can backdating go?  Somehow getting a few months or
so seems less unlikely than 8 years of the difference between what
I've received and what I could have received.)  I'm not greedy, I have
a very basic existence, and some items to cook with better etc would
be good.  I see TV adverts made by the government about one benefit or
another so I am a bit bugged that I don't seem to have had the right
information.

Thanks for any advice.

kplumm wrote:
> I am assessed as unwell every 18 months, mental health problems (I'll
> attempt to limit traditional internet abuse by not going into it
> further).  I get Income Support and another £20 or so for my illness.
> During an unrelated phone enquiry a woman at the DWP said, reading off
> a VDU, that I've been entitled to Incapacity Benefit since 2000.  I'd
> been led to believe I couldn't get this, due to no National Insurance
> contributions or something like that.  I am sometimes having to either
> fast or eat rubbish towards the end of the fortnight so if I can get a
> little bit more I should.  Also I'd like to know where I'd stand as
> far as getting a backdated cheque goes if I do change to this
> benefit.  (How far can backdating go?  Somehow getting a few months or
> so seems less unlikely than 8 years of the difference between what
> I've received and what I could have received.)  I'm not greedy, I have
> a very basic existence, and some items to cook with better etc would
> be good.  I see TV adverts made by the government about one benefit or
> another so I am a bit bugged that I don't seem to have had the right
> information.
> 
> Thanks for any advice.

Not much to go on but I'll assume you have been submitting med certs and 
claiming IB since 2000 but hevn't rec'd any as you had insufficient NI 
and the person you spokre to was refering to your credits only claim.

Unless your NI contribution record was updated since your claim was 
originally assessed and now you have become entitled you will not be 
entitled to IB.

As no one here can access your NI record  you are probably best asking 
the DWP what this person meant and not us!

Mike

No, I've never claimed or tried to claim IB, and haven't had to submit
medical certificates since 1997 or thereabouts.  I was on Severe
Disability Allowance for a while but without any real change in my
circumstances stopped being entitled to it, and have just been on IS
with the extra £20 since then.  I suppose here I'm really just after
what I might not be told by staff unless I ask a magic question.

On Jun 21, 8:11 pm, Mike 
wrote:
> kplumm wrote:
> > I am assessed as unwell every 18 months, mental health problems (I'll
> > attempt to limit traditional internet abuse by not going into it
> > further).  I get Income Support and another £20 or so for my illness.
> > During an unrelated phone enquiry a woman at the DWP said, reading off
> > a VDU, that I've been entitled to Incapacity Benefit since 2000.  I'd
> > been led to believe I couldn't get this, due to no National Insurance
> > contributions or something like that.  I am sometimes having to either
> > fast or eat rubbish towards the end of the fortnight so if I can get a
> > little bit more I should.  Also I'd like to know where I'd stand as
> > far as getting a backdated cheque goes if I do change to this
> > benefit.  (How far can backdating go?  Somehow getting a few months or
> > so seems less unlikely than 8 years of the difference between what
> > I've received and what I could have received.)  I'm not greedy, I have
> > a very basic existence, and some items to cook with better etc would
> > be good.  I see TV adverts made by the government about one benefit or
> > another so I am a bit bugged that I don't seem to have had the right
> > information.
>
> > Thanks for any advice.
>
> Not much to go on but I'll assume you have been submitting med certs and
> claiming IB since 2000 but hevn't rec'd any as you had insufficient NI
> and the person you spokre to was refering to your credits only claim.
>
> Unless your NI contribution record was updated since your claim was
> originally assessed and now you have become entitled you will not be
> entitled to IB.
>
> As no one here can access your NI record  you are probably best asking
> the DWP what this person meant and not us!
>
> Mike- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

On 21 Jun, 22:27, kplumm  wrote:
> No, I've never claimed or tried to claim IB, and haven't had to submit
> medical certificates since 1997 or thereabouts.  I was on Severe
> Disability Allowance for a while but without any real change in my
> circumstances stopped being entitled to it, and have just been on IS
> with the extra £20 since then.  I suppose here I'm really just after
> what I might not be told by staff unless I ask a magic question.
>
> On Jun 21, 8:11 pm, Mike 
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > kplumm wrote:
> > > I am assessed as unwell every 18 months, mental health problems (I'll
> > > attempt to limit traditional internet abuse by not going into it
> > > further).  I get Income Support and another £20 or so for my illness.
> > > During an unrelated phone enquiry a woman at the DWP said, reading off
> > > a VDU, that I've been entitled to Incapacity Benefit since 2000.  I'd
> > > been led to believe I couldn't get this, due to no National Insurance
> > > contributions or something like that.  I am sometimes having to either
> > > fast or eat rubbish towards the end of the fortnight so if I can get a
> > > little bit more I should.  Also I'd like to know where I'd stand as
> > > far as getting a backdated cheque goes if I do change to this
> > > benefit.  (How far can backdating go?  Somehow getting a few months or
> > > so seems less unlikely than 8 years of the difference between what
> > > I've received and what I could have received.)  I'm not greedy, I have
> > > a very basic existence, and some items to cook with better etc would
> > > be good.  I see TV adverts made by the government about one benefit or
> > > another so I am a bit bugged that I don't seem to have had the right
> > > information.
>
> > > Thanks for any advice.
>
> > Not much to go on but I'll assume you have been submitting med certs and
> > claiming IB since 2000 but hevn't rec'd any as you had insufficient NI
> > and the person you spokre to was refering to your credits only claim.
>
> > Unless your NI contribution record was updated since your claim was
> > originally assessed and now you have become entitled you will not be
> > entitled to IB.
>
> > As no one here can access your NI record  you are probably best asking
> > the DWP what this person meant and not us!
>
> > Mike- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

The onus is on you to claim - there are plenty of organisations (even
Eon, the gas and electricity supplier) that have people that can check
if you are receiving all the benefits you should be entitled to.
Plenty of government adverts, loads of leaflets, websites - but they
can't force you to claim.

Has anyone, at any time in the past few years, sat you down to do a
review of the benefits you are on?

Martin  <><

kplumm wrote:
> No, I've never claimed or tried to claim IB, and haven't had to submit
> medical certificates since 1997 or thereabouts.  I was on Severe
> Disability Allowance for a while but without any real change in my
> circumstances stopped being entitled to it, and have just been on IS
> with the extra £20 since then.  I suppose here I'm really just after
> what I might not be told by staff unless I ask a magic question.
> 

It's very unlikely someone casually looking at your SDA records would 
come to the conclusion that you are entitled to IB. It's based on NI and 
off the top of my head I can't remember the conditions however IIRC the 
IB would have been considered BEFORE the SDA so your NI record must have 
been deficient.

As I said in my eirlier reply your NI record could have been updated 
after the original decision however that would have triggered a review, 
but as with all things this could have been missed.  You could ask them 
to look at it again but doing this face to face or over the phone is 
pointless as the people you see will prob not have acess to the systems 
or been trained suffiently.  A letter asking them to look at your 
entitlement to IB from whenever you claimed would be best.

I suspect strongly the person you were talking to misread/misinterpreted 
the PSCS screen she was looking at.

Mike

mart2306@hotmail.com wrote:
> On 21 Jun, 22:27, kplumm  wrote:
>> No, I've never claimed or tried to claim IB, and haven't had to submit
>> medical certificates since 1997 or thereabouts.  I was on Severe
>> Disability Allowance for a while but without any real change in my
>> circumstances stopped being entitled to it, and have just been on IS
>> with the extra £20 since then.  I suppose here I'm really just after
>> what I might not be told by staff unless I ask a magic question.
>>
>> On Jun 21, 8:11 pm, Mike 
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> kplumm wrote:
>>>> I am assessed as unwell every 18 months, mental health problems (I'll
>>>> attempt to limit traditional internet abuse by not going into it
>>>> further).  I get Income Support and another £20 or so for my illness.
>>>> During an unrelated phone enquiry a woman at the DWP said, reading off
>>>> a VDU, that I've been entitled to Incapacity Benefit since 2000.  I'd
>>>> been led to believe I couldn't get this, due to no National Insurance
>>>> contributions or something like that.  I am sometimes having to either
>>>> fast or eat rubbish towards the end of the fortnight so if I can get a
>>>> little bit more I should.  Also I'd like to know where I'd stand as
>>>> far as getting a backdated cheque goes if I do change to this
>>>> benefit.  (How far can backdating go?  Somehow getting a few months or
>>>> so seems less unlikely than 8 years of the difference between what
>>>> I've received and what I could have received.)  I'm not greedy, I have
>>>> a very basic existence, and some items to cook with better etc would
>>>> be good.  I see TV adverts made by the government about one benefit or
>>>> another so I am a bit bugged that I don't seem to have had the right
>>>> information.
>>>> Thanks for any advice.
>>> Not much to go on but I'll assume you have been submitting med certs and
>>> claiming IB since 2000 but hevn't rec'd any as you had insufficient NI
>>> and the person you spokre to was refering to your credits only claim.
>>> Unless your NI contribution record was updated since your claim was
>>> originally assessed and now you have become entitled you will not be
>>> entitled to IB.
>>> As no one here can access your NI record  you are probably best asking
>>> the DWP what this person meant and not us!
>>> Mike- Hide quoted text -
>>> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>> - Show quoted text -
> 
> The onus is on you to claim - there are plenty of organisations (even
> Eon, the gas and electricity supplier) that have people that can check
> if you are receiving all the benefits you should be entitled to.
> Plenty of government adverts, loads of leaflets, websites - but they
> can't force you to claim.
> 
> Has anyone, at any time in the past few years, sat you down to do a
> review of the benefits you are on?
> 
> Martin  <><

Very few can tell you whether you have met the NI conditions and those 
that might would need the relevant P60s.

Mike

Go to your local Citizens Avice Bureau, and ask for a Benefit Check.

url:http://myreader.co.uk/msg/13973095.aspx