Citizens Advice Bureau.

A few days after my meeting with Debbie Jackson and Occupational Health my partner and I booked in to the local drop in centre of Pudsey’s CAB. Again looking for some advice on my options, and who I needed to speak to. I was still unprepared to accept that my illness now meant that I was physically disabled (although my body bore the bruises, cuts and scrapes showing that my mobility issues were now becoming a more dangerous adventure).

Arriving at the offices (an old church near the Worlds End pub) I filled out the necessary forms and took a seat. It was obvious that there was going to be a wait, but was it going to be worth it this time?  Short answer, no.

After waiting more than 2 and a half hours we were called through to a side office were I asked a series of quite serious financial questions. I was asked “have I visited the CAB website?” and was the given print outs from the website (which had been lifted from various other websites). I then asked about the best way to go about claiming for disability benefit as I had no experience of what to expect. There was an offer by them to fill out the form (I did hope that my partner and I articulated ourselves in such a way that it made clear we were both able to fill out forms, despite how incredibly repetitive they are), which we politely declined. I was then advised that the best people to speak to would be the bank (The not-so-helpful bank) which I had already done, and there wasn’t anything else that could be done by the CAB. The sinking feeling returned and I left thinking that if anything was going to get done, it was going to have to be done on my own.

Hilariously, 3 days after meeting with the CAB I received a feedback letter, asking to rate the advice I had received. “What bloody advice!” It went in the recycling along the other “helpful” printouts.