CHARGING FOR SERVICES.

I'll keep this short.

For me, at least, it is and has been worth every single penny for all the years I have been subscribing.

If someone hadn't recommended it to me, I would have probably been one of the many thousands of people who don't bother claiming because of the stress.

Although as a retiree, I don't depend on B&W as much as I used to, I am happy to continue subscribing and dropping in on the forum from time to time to offer any advice or encouragement if I am able.

Regards,

Phrank.

I understand the heartache of needing to pay for advice. Its awful when we're really skint.

However, as i understand it this is a voluntary organisation not funded by some govt scheme/charity grant. There will be significant costs to running the site, insurance & goodness knows what else. That funding has to come from somewhere. In addition these are people giving many many hours of their time, the work that's gone into all the guides etc is staggering. They are the best guides out there & the forum support is second to none in my experience.

I tried to get some hands on help from the CAB, just because i find the whole process so upsetting, & i thought some face to face support would be better. But the CAB & another free service were not nearly as knowledgeable as B&W. In fact i was commended for what i'd already done, i actually knew more about it than they did - because i'd read the B&W guides.
In my experience its rare that the system is understood as well as these guys understand it.

So personally, despite being as Sally described, on legacy contribution based benefits & therefore no other income but not eligible for other freebies like people on the means tested benefits - so despite having no more income than them - & yet less money, i feel it is more than worth it.

I attribute my success in claiming what is fair & right, over a period of 10yrs on ESA & PIP, directly to B&W guides & forum support. So the subscription fee is a drop in the ocean compared to the 1st class help i've received. B&W is worth its weight in gold, i'm pretty sure i'd have had a complete breakdown during the processes if i didnt have the support here, i trust what they say completely & the peace of mind it gives me is frankly worth 10 times the price i pay per year!

So again i'd say.... who will fund the costs B&W face, if we dont contribute? It'd be lovely if it was all free, charity funded or a grant or something, but that just isnt the case. So I'd see losing B&W as it is now, as catastrophic to be honest. I trust they are not making an undue profit from the service they provide, indeed i imagine it only just covers things, I'm very happy to pay.

In addition if you maintain your membership year on year you get a discount. its a very fair price.

Sorry that was a bit waffly, but i cant thank them enough or rate them highly enough.

Hello,

I'm in the Contributions Based trap.
I haven't worked for 8 years now and wonder why I'm still in this category.
I can't get the cheap internet or water rates or anything.
There is a tonne I miss out on.

Yesterday I did a "Move to UC" calculator and was shocked to find out that because I'm on Contribution based, I'll lose out on UC!

Is there any remedy for this situation?

Cheers