Post by Patrick Torsney on Jan 31, 2011 13:14:51 GMT 1
It is sad to say that if the legal aid reform proposals come into force in their current form, it is highly unlikely that anyone in the position of the couple below will be able to get the professional help they need to sort problems like these out
Mr and Mrs G, both have learning and other disabilities
They contacted Gloucester Law Centre because they could not understand why they were having to pay so much rent when their income was very low, causing them severe financial hardship
A legal advisor at the Law Centre discovered that their landlord, a housing association, had misunderstood information received from the housing benefit section and had credited too little rent to their account, and was then asking them to pay additional rent
We sorted this out for them so that their rent account went into credit. We also checked their benefit entitlement and discovered that Mr G’s incapacity benefit had not been paid to him for over a year because of an “oversight” by the DWP
Mr G, who is blind, received several thousand pounds in arrears, but without our help this may never have been picked up. Mr and Mrs G had a Social Services support worker but she had not picked up either problem. She explained that she had telephoned the DWP to query the couple’s benefit income but after being assured that all was in order she took no further action
Mr and Mrs G, both have learning and other disabilities
They contacted Gloucester Law Centre because they could not understand why they were having to pay so much rent when their income was very low, causing them severe financial hardship
A legal advisor at the Law Centre discovered that their landlord, a housing association, had misunderstood information received from the housing benefit section and had credited too little rent to their account, and was then asking them to pay additional rent
We sorted this out for them so that their rent account went into credit. We also checked their benefit entitlement and discovered that Mr G’s incapacity benefit had not been paid to him for over a year because of an “oversight” by the DWP
Mr G, who is blind, received several thousand pounds in arrears, but without our help this may never have been picked up. Mr and Mrs G had a Social Services support worker but she had not picked up either problem. She explained that she had telephoned the DWP to query the couple’s benefit income but after being assured that all was in order she took no further action