× Search rightsnet
Search options

Where

Benefit

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

From

to

Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Other benefit issues  →  Thread

Checking help needed

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

Message from Judy Scott:

I am looking for an expert welfare rights advisor or advisors to check a series of draft benefit guides that I am writing and self-publishing. This will be paid work. Rate to be agreed.

These short guides are addressed to people who are in receipt of benefits. The guides are about getting paid for service user involvement, on how to follow benefit conditions and importantly how to prevent misunderstandings with Jobcentre Plus or DWP.

Service user involvement if you haven’t heard about it, is a Dept for Health scheme that requires health and social care agencies to invite people who use their services to help monitor services and develop new services in many ways. The Dept for Health recommends that people are paid for their time and are reimbursed expenses. Service user involvement consultations / meetings are usually occasional, for a few hours at a time.

DH was not aware that people who are in receipt of state benefits must comply with benefit conditions when they introduced this scheme. Many organisations that recruit people for involvement have not offered advice or support to people they have involved. As a result people who are in receipt of benefits who have been paid for involvement have as a result inadvertently breached benefit conditions or have been misunderstood to have recovered and have had their benefits stopped.

My first guide is about to be published on Amazon as a print on demand version and an e-book and in a couple of weeks in an Easy Read version: ‘Employment and Support Allowance and getting paid for service user involvement’

Further guides will be for each different key benefit as follows: New style Employment and Support Allowance contribution-based, Universal Credit, Carer’s Allowance, new style Jobseekers Allowance, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance / Income Support, State Pension and Pension Credit. Other benefits will be covered in each guide.

You may specialise in just one of these benefits or may be expert in all of these benefits. The guides are ONLY about earning and benefit conditions and about preventing misunderstandings about capacity for work, mobility and care needs. The guides are not about making a claim or other aspects of benefit rules. It would be helpful if you have some knowledge of the actual Jobcentre practices as well as the legislation.

If you would like to talk this through with me please send me an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we can arrange a time for a call.

Thank you ... Judy Scott

Judy Scott
forum member

Judy Scott Consultancy

Send message

Total Posts: 53

Joined: 18 June 2010

Revised Request: The booklets are about paid part-time work during a claim to benefits

As no replies so far am still looking for a checker please. This would be paid at a rate to be agreed. I described the booklets as about paid service user involvement but in essence it is knowledge of paid part-time work during a claim to benefits that I need. Please drop me an email if you might be interested and able to help. We can talk it through. Judy Scott .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)