We’ve had a payment blocker put on our account.
We reported £3500 less in capital for our last assessment period because we paid extra on our mortgage and had to buy a new dishwasher.
This instigated a payment blocker. We were supposed to receive our benefits on 27 Feb and an appointment to show further evidence was booked for today.
My wife attended as I am housebound.
I downloaded all the bank statements in digital format for the period requested. I then put them on my wife’s phone so she could show the DWP at her meeting or email the files to them.
My wife doesn’t normally deal with our finances and has a deep fear of technology and IT. She was out of her depth. The officer who was conducting the meeting was not helpful at all and said digital format was not acceptable.
Why didn’t they tell us that before hand?
My wife came out of that meeting in floods of tears, she was so upset and embarrassed. The level of intrusiveness was too much and she felt like a criminal. A really horrible experience.
We now have another appointment scheduled for 20th March to attend again with paper format for all our bank accounts and savings. And still no income.
Just a warning for others really. If you get called in for this type of meeting make sure you have paperwork and not digital files.
This has been the most stressful thing we’ve ever had to do. After working full time for 35 years and never ever claiming a penny in benefits, this how we are treated. I am absolutely fuming with the whole situation.
