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Showing posts from September, 2011

Parents who (don't) try: Three cases

On Thursday mornings before I set out for my stint at the local CAB my son often tells me, "Hope you don't get too many benefits cases." He knows how I detest having to deal with benefits clients who say, "I'm entitled to this. Do this for me. NOW." Today I was incensed that a client has had his benefits stopped. This man is a refugee from an African country. He has four young children. He was on unemployment benefits and housing benefits because of that. He decided that he needed to improve his English and signed up for a college course (ESOL Intensive) and did so well that he passed his exams before the end of his course. However as a result of the 15 hours he was studying, plus some mistake made by some civil servant (who turned this into 16 hours), he was deemed "unavailable for work" and therefore his JSA was stopped, leading to his Housing Benefits (which pays his rent) being stopped as well. Now his landlord is threatening eviction