Dear Reader,
We’ll be publishing our normal newsletter next week, when Easter is well and truly over. But, in the meantime, we’re asking for your help in making life a little bit more bearable for new benefits claimants – and maybe even for those who are more experienced.
We’re even offering cash prizes for your words of wisdom.
Because here at Benefits and Work we pride ourselves on publishing the best guides available on claiming employment and support allowance, personal independence payment and disability living allowance. But we know there’s an awful lot more to surviving life on benefits than simply making a claim or lodging an appeal.
So we want you to tell us, if you were advising someone who was new to having to get by on benefits, what advice would you give?
You may be a benefits claimant yourself or you may be someone who advises claimants.
And it might be a practical tip about money or claiming or it might be advice about how to deal with the emotional effects of being on benefits.
For example, have you found ways to make your money stretch further?
Do you arrange your finances differently, maybe using one account to get your benefits paid into and a different one to meet your outgoings?
Have you found practical ways to earn a little extra cash legally, by doing permitted work from home, for instance?
Do you always record telephone calls from the DWP and, if so, how do you do it?
Do you have ways of dealing with bullying tactics by Work Programme providers?
How do you cope with the endless stream of claimant-hating headlines?
What do you tell neighbours about your circumstances?
Have you found ways to make new friendships online with other people in a similar situation?
Do you have your own ways of fighting back against all the negativity about claimants?
Is there something you really wish you’d known when you first started claiming benefits?
Whatever tips you’ve got to offer to other claimants, we’d love to read them and pass them on.
We’re offering a prize of £35 for the tip we like the best and £15 each for two runners up.
You can enter as many tips as you like. They can be short and pithy or long and detailed. Simply send each one in a separate email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
with ‘Benefits Tip’ in the subject line.
We’ll publish the winners in the newsletter next week, but the identity of all entrants will be kept confidential.
We may also publish your tips on the site or in other publications. By sending us your tips you agree to allow Benefits and Work Publishing to alter, amend and publish your contributions at any time and in any way that we choose, but always ensuring your anonymity.
And finally, as a thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, if you’re not already a member you can save £2.00 on your subscription by entering the following coupon code when you subscribe:
6846
But don’t delay, this offer ends at midnight on Thursday.
Good luck,
Steve Donnison, Sangeeta Enright and Karen Sharpe
The Office Team
Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd
Company registration No. 5962666
