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This is fantastic – congratulations on a great job.

Benefits & Work is putting on a free 40-minute webinar or anyone applying for Personal Independence Payments during the lockdown: "FREE PIP CHANGES WEBINARS It is extremely difficult to work out what is happening to your benefits during the current emergency. Changes to PIP claims, assessments...

Oh, I hope she's retiring because she feels it's time, rather than because she's unwell – we have so much to thank her for.

It might be worth looking up de Quervain's tendinitis, which is what my sore, swollen thumb joint turned out to be. My experience was that splint suitability is quite individual, and you might have to try more than one. I ended up with a hard plastic one that's mainly designed to keep the wrist...

Same here – energy starts dropping gradually at about 3pm, and by 4pm I've got nothing. Some days I need to sleep for half an hour, other days it's just rest physically and flatline mentally. I come round again at about seven, and have my best energy for the day. When I was working as a...

That's a severe hygiene failure that could put your health at risk. It's worth an email to your local authority's food safety team, CC'd to the company, underlining that you're dependent on these deliveries and therefore have no option but to store and eat these meals, whether they're safe for...

Yes, of course, they're all means tested – but few single people who've lived on benefits for any length of time have enough savings even to be affected by the lower floor (£6k) of the capital rules. Even if you do, it can sometimes be ignored if you need to use it for specific purposes. On...

I only know about 'old-style' ESA, I haven't any experience with UC or the new style ESA. Basic for single adult aged over 25: £74.35 Support group: £39.20 Enhanced disability premium*: £17.10 Severe disability premium**: £66.95 Plus housing and...

WTAF?! :jawdrop: Their home page shows they have a Twitter account. If you don't get a refund fast, it'd actually be worth joining Twitter to let the world know (you can always delete the account later). I've found that complaining on social media in a public post can be quite effective for...

I've had a call from the warden on my independent living estate this morning, saying that she would refer me to the NHS Volunteer Responders service if I wanted. I've got some food in the freezer at the moment, so I haven't requested it yet – but it's really good that I don't have to bother my...

H. pylori is one of the obvious possibilities to rule out. The breath test I did wasn't entirely conclusive, but as my appointment happened to be an early morning one and I hadn't eaten for 14 hours anyway, they offered to do an upper endoscopy whilst I was there. Only took about five minutes...

I'd definitely speak to your doctor again, and ask for a referral if necessary. The only similar thing I've experienced is waking suddenly in the middle of the night, with my stomach jolting hard as if I'm about to be sick and my whole body shaking. It used to happen almost every night, but I...

I've been thinking about this too, but I'm not sure it's the right moment. The news agenda's swamped, hundreds of people are dying each day, and far too many professionals are struggling to provide care with dangerously inadequate resources and protection. We can't really get into the story, and...

When you pour out a glassful to take your meds, it's worth squeezing as much of the air out of the bottle as possible so that the remaining water almost reaches the top. Helps preserve the fizz – though by the time you get to the last 500ml, the bottle might be so squashed it won't stand up...

Thanks for this, @Simbindi – I didn't see it when I logged on earlier.

Might it be fairer, then, to allow people who're unable to carry much to apply for delivery priority? It can be hard to make sense of it in a way that doesn't exclude people unnecessarily – lots of older people don't have PIP awards either, but they genuinely can't walk far or carry a week's...

I use Tesco's delivery service, and they've said they intend to prioritise people on the government's list for delivery slots (so I've got no chance!). A friend who's both a Tesco member and definitely on the extremely vulnerable list hasn't yet heard from them, so I suspect they're still trying...

Yes, these are so much easier than the PIP form!

I've always typed mine too, as I can't write much by hand. I write 'See page X' in each box, then add a numbered sheet containing my answer to the question. As long as you put your NI number on each sheet and sign and date it, they're fine with this. The PIP form comes as a booklet, so each...

I agree – though emphasising that I could never predict accurately when I'd be fit to do some work without adverse consequences, or for how long I'd be able to keep it up, was probably the most important one for me. It's hard to argue that that's not a pretty significant barrier! In my case...