Red Tape II

I was a bit nervous about filling in the BF85A form and getting it wrong so I rang the DWP to ask about it. (twice!). They reminded me of another layer of red-tape. In 2005 I was out of the country for 4 months and did not pay National Insurance. As a result I do not, and apparently cannot ever qualify for Incapacity Benefit or Disability Living Allowance because my claim dates from a period when I did not have two years of consecutive NI contributions. (Note that I can and have topped up my NI contributions for the purposes of State Pension, but it cannot alter my situation vis-a-vis IB or DLA.)

So all I get is Income Support on the basis of incapacity. Trouble is I'm sure I recall getting a letter saying that I was now in receipt of the lower level of DLA at some point. I haven't found it yet. Should I be trawling through my files to make sure, or just accept that they are giving me accurate information over the phone (when we know that the point of the form is to check their records because they do not trust them)?

My instinct in dealing with Government departments is never to volunteer information; always wait to be asked directly for it, and then supply it with alacrity. This is because volunteering information usually causes problems. (Though keep in mind "Changes that you must tell us about"!). In which case the BF85A becomes a relatively straight-forward exercise - I don't get any of the benefits they ask about and have no "changes you must tell us about" to tell them about.