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Shame on you Lewisham Council
Comments
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Being ignored by you lot does wonders for your mental health as well. Thanks for nothing scope wont be coming here again
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Sorry @SeanRyan, our Benefits Advisors are under huge demand at the moment and I'm sorry they've not been able to respond to this.
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I am so sorry for the delay in getting back to you, and also for the difficulties you are experiencing in accessing the services you need.
I'm sure I won't be the first to tell you that unfortunately the provision for specialist benefits advice has been pretty much decimated over the past two governments, hence there are now waiting times for most services - I do not say this to excuse wait you experienced at your local council, but only to explain it.
As regards now being excluded from the advice centre - you have two courses of action (1) ask to speak to a manager to be re-admitted/make a complaint (2) deal with the matter yourself.
It sounds to me like you have already started on (2) as you state that your Mandatory Reconsideration has gone in late - so I presume this was done by you after you were excluded from the service? If so, I recommend going through the Citizens Advice web pages on reconsideration and appeals, which has loads of really useful and straightforward information:-
As regards (1) I think you make a legitimate point that your behaviour is a symptom of your illness, but as advisers we deal with a very great many mentally ill people and cannot accept abuse from them simply because of the poorly resourced conditions we find ourselves in - so if you do get re-admitted please bear this in mind.
Hope this helps - if you are carrying on with the challenge yourself and would like some more specific pointers please let us know.
Kind regards,
Mary
The Benefits Training Co: -
Banned from using all services in Lewisham includes citizens advice.
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@SeanRyan First of all you need to make written complaint to Lewisham Council - write to the Chief Executive. If Lewisham Council won't lift the ban, you can appeal to the Local Government Ombudsman - lgo.org.uk
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Hi @SeanRyan, please call or go personally straight to Local Law Centre.
They suppose to help you. -
I have just got a call from pip telling me because the form came back late I have to make a new claim. Is this right? As for complaining this is Lewisham they don't care. I am sick of it all and would be better off dead. Another one to add to the list. I cannot do this anymore. Waiting is killing me
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Hi @SeanRyan I am sorry to hear you are still struggling, please know that you are a valued member of our community and you are not better off dead.
If you don't feel you can keep yourself safe right now, seek immediate help.
- go to any hospital A&E department (sometimes known as the emergency department)
- call 999 and ask for an ambulance if you can't get to A&E
- ask someone else to contact 999 for you or take you to A&E immediately
If you need some support right now, but don't want to go to A&E, here are some other options for you to try:
- contact the Samaritans on freephone 116 123, they're open 24 hours and are there to listen
- contact your GP for an emergency appointment or the out of hours team
- call NHS 111 (England) or NHS Direct 0845 46 47 (Wales)
- contact your local crisis team
- click the yellow 'I need urgent help' button at the top of the MIND website for more options
- see our page on helping yourself cope right now, and on crisis services.
Scope
Senior online community officer -
@SeanRyan
You would have to complain to Lewisham first before you could go to the Local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsmen services can be very helpful. -
Hi SeanRyan,
If you fail to send a PIP form back by the deadline they can refuse your claim. You have the option of requesting a mandatory reconsideration, but this would only be a reconsideration into "good cause" for sending the form back late. If they accepted this, the case would be sent to a medical provider for a consultation before the decision is made. Unfortunately this will delay you getting a decision on your entitlement. You could also make a new claim, or you could dispute the first claim and make a new claim, just to try to protect your date of entitlement in case the first claim doesn't go your way.
LeeThe Benefits Training Co:
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