We like to think that every time someone has sought advice from us, we made a difference and helped our client resolve their problems. Shown below are just a few examples of how we have helped our clients in the year ending March 2011.

Welfare Benefits
Mr T has a serious health problem which means that he is unable to work. He therefore contacted the Bureau for information on benefits. He had been living on savings and had very little money left.He had been refused contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) but with our support, he was successful in claiming income-related ESA which was backdated. This award allowed him to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, both of which were backdated, as well as free prescriptions and dental care.

Mr G was suffering from pancreatic cancer and advised our Macmillan caseworker that he was in a lot of pain. She therefore arranged a home visit as he did not feel well enough to come to the Bureau. A full assessment of his income was carried out and it was apparent that his disability benefits needed to be reassessed as his condition had deteriorated significantly since his original claim for Disability Living Allowance (DLA). As a result of the work done for him the client was awarded the high rate care component of DLA thus increasing his income by £52.45 pw. Entitlement to this benefit meant that other household benefits were increased as he and his wife were now due extra disability additions in their Pension Credit calculation resulting in an extra £137.35 pw, a total gain of £189.80 pw. Additionally the client received backdated benefits of £1,269.70 as we requested that the award start from the date he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Finance
Miss L has learning difficulties and applied for a personal loan, which she could afford to repay. However, with the insurance etc which was added on to the loan she became unable to repay and was therefore
persuaded by the bank to take out a further loan. The first instance was repeated and then our client had three loans which were totally out of her ability to repay. The bank lender in question had not offered our client any alternative to further loans and had clearly not taken the trouble to explain matters as clearly as they should to someone in her circumstances. A formal complaint was made to the bank, which resulted in a repayment to our client of over £3,000.

Ms A had been sold a £15,000 loan nine months after she had become permanently unfit for work in January 2006. The lender was fully aware of her circumstances and yet went ahead with the sale and added
Payment Protection Insurance. After making a formal complaint to the bank concerned and getting no satisfactory response, we put in a complaint via the Financial Ombudsman Service regarding mis-selling. As a result the Bank in question offered repayment amounting to £18,500, which was accepted by our client. This repayment meant that her debts are reduced to a level that she can now apply for a Debt Relief Order, which we are currently processing.

Employment
Mrs F, suffering from terminal cancer, sought advice through the Macmillan project as she had just received a P45 from her work with no covering letter. She told us that her employer had not contacted her prior to sending it nor had she given in her notice. She was advised as to her employment rights but told us that she did not want a long drawn out battle to get her job back; equally she did not feel that she had been treated fairly. She was advised to communicate with her employer to discuss how the issue of the P45 arose. Mrs F then felt able to talk to her employer and was immediately reinstated as a result. This meant that she is able to enjoy the remaining months of her life doing what she wanted to do, working alongside her colleagues and friends.

You can read more about the Bureau's work in our Annual Report, available by clicking here.