I Caught My Break! in Scottish Meanderings

That title refers to my last entry but one where I detailed how life in general was really doing me in, due in part to the horrible benefits process I’d had to go through which completely stressed me out and where it looked like I was going to be done out of 2 years’ money which I was entitled to.

In a nutshell, the benefit I was on - Employment Support Allowance (ESA) - was stopped in September last year and I had to appeal to get it reinstated which meant amassing evidence for a Tribunal hearing and answering probing questions for half an hour. I was successful in doing that and was awarded what they call the work-related component for 24 months but because I had applied for Universal Credit (UC) in the interim, apparently that screwed everything up and I was told that I would only get backdated ESA from September until January when I had started the Universal Credit claim. As UC looked to be very much less from what I could make out - and it was possible I may not be eligible for any at all - I was furious.

And the whole thing took a tremendous toll on my health.

As ever when I’m stressed the wee wheelies of my brain churn away in the background trying to sort whatever situation it is out and I had decided to contact my MP for support and had an appointment with them next Friday afternoon. Meanwhile I was still trying to find out how much UC I would be entitled to but kept being asked for more and more evidence of capital then the other day a huge badass questionnaire came through the door to be completed. I was already annoyed that I would have to miss the possibility of getting to my writing group this month on Tuesday evening because I had an appointment re Universal Credit at the JobCentre the next day (last month driving out to the group had made me ill for days afterwards) so that was the last straw.

When you apply for UC you get a site you can log into and on there it lists the activities you’ve committed to doing for your next appointment or the tasks they’ve asked you to do (such as providing bank statements). There’s a section where you can contact and leave messages for the person you have appointments with which is dead handy. So I decided to try and find out for definite that this whole cock up was, in fact, correct and fired off a message to my work coach yesterday.

I got a reply this morning confirming that yes, what I’d been told was true and asking for one specific detail about the ESA. My heart sank but while I was replying with the answer to the question asked, another message came through 2 minutes later saying sorry - he’d just checked again and could see on his screen that my case ‘had been reinstated properly on the older system so I will close your UC claim today.’

The problem with that was that I had no idea what it meant and hardly dared to hope it was what I thought it was i.e. that I was home and dry! And because he’d closed the claim so quickly I no longer had access to the UC portal so couldn’t ask him! Cue several tense hours. At 4.50 p.m. (they shut at 5!) I managed to get hold of someone at the JobCentre who confirmed that yes my ESA will be paid for 24 months and no I don’t have to fill in the questionnaire or attend any further appointments and yes they will write to me to confirm that.

Couldn't be happier. Totally made my week.

So basically all that drivel means that I can stop stressing about paying my mortgage until September 2020 when I’ll have to go through the whole sorry process again. But at least I can breathe until then!

And remember I wrote that I’d received a tax refund in January which was EXACTLY the amount I’d spent on Christmas last year? Almost to the last penny. Well the amount I’m getting in ESA is EXACTLY the amount of my monthly mortgage payment - to the last penny!

Cue Twilight Zone music.