That's me just back from being at the Glasgow Lourdes, also known as the disability assessment centre.

That's me just back from being at the Glasgow Lourdes, also known as the disability assessment centre. According to the UK Government you go in ill or disabled and come out miraculously cured. If that was actually the case I would have no complaint whatsoever. What usually happens however is you remain ill, and probably more so, as you have had the income you need to exist taken away for no reason other than they require to remove half the attendees from benefits so that the company contracted to do the assessments can get its bonus. And then you require to go to tribunal to get the money you are actually entitled to back and in the meantime have to live on air and water alone. I have yet to see what positive this actually achieves apart from a big needless bureaucratic jungle (jobs for the boys) which results in the weakest and most vulnerable in society ending up in misery and on the breadline. Perhaps Ruth Davidson and Theresa May can actually tell me (as Nicola Sturgeon asked Ruth to do on Sunday). #FreeScotland #Dignity #Lourdes #Bonus #UKGovt #TheYESmovement #MAYhem #NicolaSturgeon

Which do you prefer Project Fear v Project Fear plus Project Hate

I have voted Remain. I believe strongly that something like the EU needs to exist and for Scotland to be a member. But the EU is far from perfect. 

Scotland is currently a sub-nation as long as it is in the UK

As long as we are a sub-nation within the UK Scotland is most definitely better of IN rather than out. 

Neither campaign inspired, both campaigns were #ProjectFear, but we did have a new development i.e. #ProjectHate from the #VoteLeave campaign and their more extreme bedfellows. 

Project Hate of Vote Leave actually made me definitely vote Remain

The Project Hate of Vote Leave actually made me definitely vote Remain when initially I was decidedly lukewarm in doing that, wondering whether to just abstain and not bother. 

I started off about 55% Remain and ended up according to an online questionnaire 81% Remain. So the leave campaign was very successful in making me go for the opposite of what they wanted.

What a difference in atmosphere between EuroRef and indyref

I am stuck between the atmosphere for this referendum in comparison to the last one that occurred in Scotland. 

It was also most definitely nothing like a General Election which the television commentators were comparing it to in England. There was nothing happening and nobody at the polling station. It seems just a mid summer overcast Thursday night in summer.

I have seen 3 Vote Leave stalls and one Vote Remain poster on one window. 

This compares with 15 Yes posters still displayed on peoples windows from the Scottish Independence Referendum almost 2 years ago.

I have also become increasingly concerned as the campaigns have gone on about the xenophobic rhetoric coming from the Vote Leavers. If people do generally feel that this relates to them and their lives then I am even more sure than I was that Scotland will most definitely be better of outside the UK but still in Europe.

WELFARE BILL currently going through the UK Houses of Parliament

I have caught some of today's debate on the welfare bill in the House of Commons debate. I am one of the people who will be adversely affected by the proposed changes as I receive Employment and Support Allowance and am in the work related activity group. I receive approximately £5000 per year ESA. Under the UK Government's proposals this will be reduced by £1500 per year. This is scary as all ready I cannot balance the books and frequently my house is cold and saving money is always on my mind with every decision. I did not ask to be long term sick and never wanted to claim this benefit. Thank goodness the SNP MPs including my own MP in Glasgow North East, Anne McLaughlin are fighting this bill as I am in quite a good position in comparison to many who will be affected even although it will put me in more financial strife that I don't know how I am going to stand long term.

Who is going to stand up for Scotland?

Who is going to stand up for Scotland after the UK General Election 2015?

Wind of Change

A wind of change is blowing through Scotland... Every day it blows stronger and stronger. The movement for change is now unstoppable!

Westminster party leaders made a solemn vow on more powers. Now they must listen to the people and deliver on that promise. 

I don't think there should be a time limit on justice. With Friends like Friends Life who needs enemies?

Well it seems that #compensation for my mis-sold #endowment mortgage policies is not for the likes of me.

The #FinancialOmbudsman agrees they were mis-sold, but I did not apply for compensation within the required time. I knew that I hadn’t applied within the required time, and I had good reasons for not doing so (one being I didn’t know anything about it due to circumstances beyond my control) but unlike the UK Government who created this problem by lax financial regulation, and produced and enforced the compensation rules I don’t think there should be a time limit on justice.

My reasons for believing I was mis-sold these policies were as follows…

1. I was a first time buyer and had no previous investments.
2. At the point of sale I was a single person with no dependents and had no need for life cover.  
3. I was not prepared to accept any risks with the repayment of the mortgage.
4. Other options for repaying my mortgage we not fully discussed - This was the only method mentioned. 
5. I would have chosen a repayment mortgage if correctly advised as it is quite clear given the information I now have that this was the most suitable at the time, and now. 
6.  The term of either of the endowment policies is not the same as the mortgage as can clearly be seen from the dates quoted.
7. I was told that the endowment policies would repay the mortgage loan and that I would also get a lump sum in addition to this although the amount of the lump sum would vary according to the value of the investments. This has obviously proved not to be the case. 
8. I was advised to start an endowment more that 6 months prior to taking out a mortgage. In my case this occurred for the initial one about 10 years before the mortgage, and in the case of the second one within a year of taking out the mortgage. I understood from previous advice on this subject that I should only ever have had 1 policy – I should never have been sold 2 to cover the same mortgage. 
9. I do not feel that the advisor discussed what kind of risks I was prepared to take with my mortgage and I was not advised that there was a likelihood of a shortfall so that I would have to find other money to cover the mortgage. As it is when I was made redundant I used the majority of the enhanced payoff (enhanced because I was ill due to company negligence and inaction) to pay the majority of the mortgage off.

So there was never any argument with the policies being mis-sold. They most definitely were, clearly and inescapably.

The Financial Ombudsman did not accept my illnesses at the time (i.e. work related stress, #anxiety, #depression, #ME/ #CFS and #fybromyalgia ) as a good enough reason for my non application within the required time. I do have the letters from Friends Provident (now Friends Life) which mention the compensation offer and the date by which it had to be applied for. However I did not see this because…

1. The application for an appeal regarding my incapacity benefit was made on my behalf by someone else, as I was not capable of dealing with it. I just wanted to hide away and not deal with anything, and couldn’t have dealt with it anyway even if I had wanted to. I was told that this was happening and it was done for me. 
2. I required to be represented by someone else in the actual tribunal and shook as I felt I was on trial. 
3. The tribunal was successful as were nearly all of the others for incapacity benefit for the understandable reason that I was actually ill!

 

Therefore compensation is available for all but ill people for mis-sold endowment mortgages.

This experience has only lost me about £20000 and I am still paying for one of the flaming policies (it earned a £1 last year in addition to the money I paid in). This may not be much to someone on a MPs wage but to me it is now an unimaginable amount of money to have lost, given that it looks as it will be quite a while until I can work again, if indeed I ever can.

With friends like #FriendsProvident (#FriendsLife) who needs enemies? 

With Friends like Friends Life who needs enemies?

Why have the Financial Ombudsman if, due to the rules they are required to follow, they are incapable of rectifying blatant and confirmed wrong doing? What is it they are actually for, except to be window dressing to placate those worried about a monetary system which is corrupt and as usual heavily weighted in favour of the big corporation.

This is just yet another item in a long line of disasters in my life over the last 10 years or so. This certainly comes high up the list of financial ones particularly as I am currently living (existing) on just over £100 Employment and Support Allowance with no immediate change in circumstances imminent (except of course if I get miraculously cured, and therefore lose my miserly weekly benefit, when I next go for a medical on the behest of the DWP as seems to happen on an almost annual basis as standard).

 http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
 http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Ombudsman_Service
 http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/how-to-take-a-complaint-to-the-financial-ombudsman-service
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20858236

Minefields and Crystal Balls. Och its the DWP/ATOS again. Argh!!!!

I don't often speak about my current personal circumstances but on this occasion it just has to be done.

I have a long term illness called ME or CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) with fybromyalgia, with the added complications of some other issues too which I shall not go into for brevity.

Minefield

Realising I was ill in 2011 I was loathed to get into to the minefield of the UK Benefits system again having been ill all ready between 2005 to 2008. I therefore stayed on Job Seekers Allowance hoping I would get better in the meantime but couldn't cope with the constant harassment of attending unexpected appointments and applying for jobs that I knew that because of my illness I would not be able to do anyway.

Crystal Balls

I was just thinking that today's issue with the ‪#‎DWP‬ is similar to the time my ‪#‎JSA‬ (Job Seekers Allowance) payments were sanctioned for not attending an appointment with my advisor at Parkhead Job Centre. The only issue on that occasion was the fact the letter advising me of aforesaid appointment arrived after aforesaid appointment. So in order to have kept my JSA I would've needed a crystal ball or multiple crystal balls, and the ability to read it/them too of course!

 This is not my experience and nor anyone elses experience who actually lives in the real world.

So currently due to illness I have to suffer the UK sickness benefits system once again, which is enough to make you feel worse before you start, if you or any of the people you know have actually been involved in it. I don't know what world some politicians stay in, or the one constantly portrayed by the mainstream broadcasters i.e. that there are millions of people on these benefits who are actually not ill at all, and are therefore diddling the system. This is not my experience and nor anyone elses experience who actually lives in the real world.

Being on ESA isn't a lifestyle choice anyone with half a brain would chose if they were able to avoid it.

Being on Employment and Support Allowance is not a lifestyle choice anyone with half a brain would chose if they were able to avoid it. Every single year I have been refused it, except oddly this one, and then had to go to tribunal always getting it once the evidence was actually considered and not just dismissed.

This was despite having a long term condition, which caused me additional expenses, which the benefit is actually for.

Therefore with severely limited energy I avoided applying for #DLA or #DisabilityLivingAllowance after my first abortive attempt when despite my evidence being credible my application was refused. This was despite having a long term condition, which caused me additional expenses, which the benefit is actually for.

So this year I decided I would tackle PIP (Personal Independence Payment) the new replacement to DLA which I applied for in March. I am still waiting to be assessed.

Firstly ATOS contacted me to tell me to be patient (well I should have gotten this benefit about 8 years ago so I am that!).

I was contacted in October. After properly looking up where I was exactly to go to be assessed for ‪#‎PIP‬ - I thought it was a ‪#‎Falkirk‬ postcode but it was actually a Business Park outside ‪#‎Stirling‬. How do ‪#‎ATOS‬ expect someone with a disability or long term illness to get there? Is this a cynical ploy to stop folk from ‪#‎Glasgow‬ getting PIP?

However on contacting ATOS, despite this being standard procedure to send people from Glasgow to Stirling for assessments, they stated that in my case they would arrange for one actually in the city I lived.

In my case they would arrange for one actually in the city I lived.

I then waited with bated breath and was not disappointed when a letter from them popped through my letterbox when I was asleep again. Well no surprise there?

A letter arrived from the ‪#‎DWP‬ today advising my ‪#‎PIP‬ (Personal Independence Payment, the new replacement to ‪#‎DLA‬ or ‪#‎DisabilityLivingAllowance‬) application has been unsuccessful. Why? Because the reason I gave for my lack of attendence at my assessment on 31st October 2014 with ‪#‎ATOS‬ at Salus in ‪#‎Glasgow‬ was unsatisfactory. Yet I gave no reason as ATOS themselves cancelled the appointment! You could not make it up!!!!
 
I have to wait for months and months for this crap! You wouldn't need to need the money (which I most definitely do). To think I paid my taxes diligently for years and years when I was working (unlike Gideon and his rich pals) expecting that the Welfare State would be there when I needed it and this is what I end up with!