FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Benefits

You may be able to have your PIP increased if your condition has changed. This will depend on your current award and the level of care you now need. You should contact our advice line to discuss with an adviser before doing this, as there could be implications to your current PIP entitlement.

There is a minimum 5 week waiting period before your first Universal Credit payment, this is because your income is assessed monthly, starting from the day you made the claim. This is known as the assessment period and once this has ended your first payment will be issued within 7 days. Contact our advice line to discuss help available while waiting for your first payment.

For us to provide the best advice possible, we would need to know details of all your circumstances. When contacting us to discuss this you will need to provide details of who lives in your household including information of employment such as working hours and earnings and amount of any child care costs if you have them. Details of any benefits currently in receipt such as what they are and amount you receive. Information on your housing status and figures of any rates, rent or other payments made for this. Without this you may have to get back in touch at another time.

Employment

There is no statutory right to time off for medical appointments, unless this is for antenatal appointments for pregnant employees. You should check your contract as there may be a contractual right, otherwise the employer can request you take this time unpaid or use annual leave to cover the time off. They may also request you make appointments outside of normal working hours.

If you have been receiving Statutory Maternity Pay only then this will not have to be repaid should you choose not to return to work. Alternatively, if you also received Contractual Maternity Pay this may have to be repaid to your employer and will depend on the terms and conditions in your contract of employment. You will still have to give your employer the correct notice period, and this can be done during your maternity leave period, meaning you do not have to go into work.

All employees are entitled to receive an itemised pay slip and these must contain information on amount of wage before deductions, net wage amounts, individual amounts of any deductions for pensions, trade unions, tax paid and NI paid. If your employer has not provided these, you should first try speaking to them to resolve the issue. If after this you have still not received a pay slip you should get in touch with one of our advisers to discuss further action and whether there is any underlying reasons for not receiving payslips.

Debt

If you haven’t made any form of repayment, you haven’t contacted the creditor and they haven’t secured a CCJ against you for the debt in question within the limitation period of 6 years in NI for unsecured loans, then this would generally mean the debt is statute barred. This means they can no longer recoup the money through the courts. When the limitation period begins can vary depending on any written agreement and you should speak to one of our specialist debt advisers for further advice.

You can request a copy of your credit report from each of these three credit reference agencies; Experian, Equifax and Callcredit. You have a statutory right to get access to these for a fee of £2 each. Once you receive your reports, these should be checked for any mistakes as this could be impacting your credit rating. Get in touch with one of our specialist debt advisers if you find any mistakes or need help requesting your reports.

If you have went as guarantor on a loan, this means you have agreed to make repayments if the person who took out the loan fails to do so. You are bound by the terms of the guarantee you have given. Your obligations and whether the guarantee is enforceable will depend on the terms of the agreement you have signed. You should speak to one of our specialist debt advisers for further help with this.

Consumer

There is no automatic right to a refund if you change your mind about something you have bought and the item is not faulty. Whether you can get a refund and/or an exchange will depend on the shops own returns policy. You should check your receipt for this, call into your local branch or it may be on the shop’s website.

If your car was damaged while at their garage, you should negotiate for them to pay for the repair of the damage. The minimum they must offer you is the cost of the repair and you should point out any damage as soon as possible. If the garage refuses to cover the costs, you may be able to claim on an insurance policy however this could end your no claims bonus. Contact us to discuss further options if the garage is refusing to pay and you do not want to claim on your insurance.

Your provider must give at least 30 days’ notice of any price increase to your contract and you have a legal right to cancel within this time frame without having to pay any cancellation fee. However, you will not be able to cancel without a fee if you signed up to the contract before 23 January 2014 or you were told at the start of the contract that there would be a price increase, for example if you have an 18-month contract but were given 6 months at a discounted rate.

Housing

A tenancy agreement is a legally binding contract and can only be ended early if the contract includes a break clause, your landlord agrees to the tenancy ending early or the landlord is in breach of the contract. If none of these apply, you will still be bound by the tenancy agreement and liable to pay rent for the outstanding period and you should contact one of our advisers to discuss in further detail.

If you are the child of the tenant who has died, you can succeed their tenancy providing you have lived with them for the past 12 months up to the date of death. However, in some circumstances the landlord can refuse to allow you to take on the tenancy, for example if the tenant had already inherited the property from someone else. If you need further details on this you should get in touch with our advisers.

If you paid a security deposit on or after 1 April 2013 then your landlord had a legal responsibility to protect this with an authorised scheme run by one of three companies approved by Department for Communities. You should have received information on which scheme was used within 28 days of paying the deposit. If your landlord is refusing to return your deposit then you should follow your schemes dispute procedures. Alternatively, if your landlord hasn’t protected your deposit you should speak to one of our advisers to discuss further action you can take.

Relationships

After separation you and your partner should decide where the children will stay, this may mean living with one parent most of the time. Things to consider before deciding this would be who has the most time to care for the children, the children’s routines and possible future changes. If you need help to make these arrangements you could seek help from mediation before deciding to take court action. Get in touch if you need further advice on this.

If the tenancy is in your ex partners name, they are responsible for paying the rent but if they move out you may be able to take over paying the rent. This will depend on the tenancy agreement. You could discuss having the tenancy transferred into your name if the landlord agrees. You can contact one of our advisers to discuss your rights in further detail and other options open to you.

If you are not married when registering a birth, the mother can register the birth alone, however the father’s details cannot be recorded unless he is also there to sign the registration or a declaration of paternity is produced by the mother – this also ensures the unmarried father acquires parental responsibility for children born on or after 15 April 2002.

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