u/Bleepblorp44

I'm self-employed (sole trader, low annual turnover, also currently on ESA working under Permitted Work rules) and applied to AtW in Sept 2024.

I called 4 weeks ago, was told they were up to August 2024 applications, so I thought I'd call today to see where things were.

Turns out I would have had a call in Jan this year but because I'd requested email contact only, and there was a security issue with email contact my case was back in a pile on hold!

(I can speak on the phone, I have ASD with a side-order of Dyspraxia & Auditory Processing Disorder, my ability to process information over the phone and then deal with it is sub-optimal.)

The staff member I spoke to was great. He went through the email as Reasonable Adjustment form with me so now I'm back in the queue for actual processing, and should be called in the next couple of weeks.

So! If you're also self-employed and have been in the slow queue, and have asked for email as reasonable adjustment, it may be worth getting in touch with them to see if you need to make a specific request for email contact.

For quite a while now I keep smelling cigarette smoke when I’m at home, and at the studio space I rent.

It’s completely feasible that there’s a smoker downwind, and the smell is drifting through to me, but it’s so persistent! But also, not constant.

It’s really unpleasant and quite annoying, particularly as it’s invisible so I can’t confirm with someone else that it’s even there.

How the hell do you confirm a smell is real or accept it’s a phantom?!