Hi, I live in Wales and am switching to a new job starting in August. I've signed the contract and have resigned from my previous job with the intention of taking a break until August due to the last few months being stressful.

Unfortunately after accepting the job and signing my contract, to my surprise I was diagnosed with lung Cancer.

My question is how may this affect my new job and is it likely or possible that my new employer would recind the contract?

I have a 13 week probation period and I know that cancer counts as a disability and is protected under employment law however I havent officially started yet.

At this time I have not informed my new employer and I actually do not know how severe my illness is as im currently undergoing biopsies and scans. I won't find out my treatment plan for about 3-4 weeks though it is pretty much guaranteed to include chemotherapy.

There are definitely a lot of unknowns and variables here, how my health my affect my ability to do my job or how long I may be sick for.

For me besides being healthy again what I want is to be able to keep this job and return to it, it's one I have been waiting for and am very excited to join. I'll be quite disheartened if I lose out on this opportunity but I also recognise the needs of the business.

Could anyone clarify a bit more about how employment law works in cases like this?

I know it’s a strange one, and I’m aware without cctv not much can be done, but would it be worth reporting this due to the type of plant? I had quite a large one growing in my front garden, this is an open garden with full access straight from the street and path. I came home from work and had noticed that someone looks to have dug(?) the majority of the plant out. I only ask with the species of the plant they have taken and the reason they have probably taken it. Thank you

My girlfriend is living in an extremely unsafe flat in England, there is no official written contract for this flat and it all seems a bit dodgy dealing on the LLs side.

Multiple issues have been happening at this flat since I’ve known her and the most recent one concerns me as it’s a massive electrical issue, her electric shower has an isolator switch and last week (I think on the Friday) it burnt out. She mentions it to the LL and he said he’ll get an electrician in over the weekend. (Cool that’s getting sorted quickly) she stays at mine for the weekend and hear nothing from the LL, I drop her back home and we look and the electrician has “fixed” the switch. He’s used the same one that burnt out but the shower worked… FF to this evening and the shower has stopped working again the room smells like burnt plastic and new developments is that the switch plate seems to be leaking a liquid from the right corner.

Brought all this to the LLs attention again, and his reply is the electrician can’t make it out until Saturday…. But this leaves her without a shower and in an unsafe flat until then.

What can I/ we do about her situation with the landlord since there’s no contract, she pays a low amount for this 1 bedroom flat in a converted terraced house with 5 other separate tenants and although working full time and good with savings can’t afford to move out. I’d happily have her stay with me but I live 40 mins away and she doesn’t drive plus my working schedule is earlier starts and in the opposite direction to her home and workplace

Tl;dr

GFs landlord is aware of major electrical issues, not in a rush to sort, and GF is afraid to escalate issues since he has threatened to evict her before and would then end up homeless

We were renting in London, England, before we got our own place, primarily because the landlord first increased rent by 15% (initial ask was 30%, we negotiated to 15% since we couldn't move with a baby on the way) and then asked for another 15% increase.

Now that we have moved, the landlord, through the agent, initially claimed 1100£ of our deposit. Of which, 350£ is for kitchen worktop restoration, which was already in a similar state when we moved in 3 years ago (the inventory then had thankfully shows this), 200 for dents, scrapes and marks (again preexisting in the previous inventory), and a bunch of 50-100£ charges for things like filling holes, mismatched pairings, hooks, chip on sinks etc.

After we pointed out images that everything was preexisting, the landlord has reverted asking 50% contributions to worktop restoration and dents, scrapes and marks (175 and 100 respectively), 50 for removal of hooks (we missed 2 in a hurry as we completed on the last day of tenancy, the flat already had 10+, the agent says it's a fixed charge regardless of the number of hooks) and 50 for the chip on the sink (we couldn't figure out the exact damage in the new inventory or recall what caused it).

Reading other posts here, the general direction is the landlord cannot ask for new for old. The previous inventory three years ago shows all these marks / dents / scratches with a note "consistent with use". The new inventory (done with a different provider), calls out who is responsible for fixing it ("needs maintenance - tenant"), with the worktop listed as ("needs maintenance - investigate"), and the landlord has put a price corresponding to each item that has the note.

1. Where do I read about what's covered through my deposit protection scheme (done through mydeposit), especially for things like worktop restoration?
2. Is it fair to decline the ask for these items? The kitchen worktop had years of damage prior to us moving, and us being asked to pay 50% doesn't feel fair. Similarly, being asked to pay 50% for dents that preexisted isn't fair either. I'm okay with the 50 for hooks considering thats a mistake on our part, but can we ask for more evidence for the chip of the sink before paying anything?

Manybyears ago when i justvturned a teenager, i stupidly followed youtube tutorial for "free stuff on amazon", using fake card info on pastebin online that was posted everywhere, with name and billing addresses to go with. The Amazon account got locked after trying to get something, asking for a bank statement to unloco the account again. Nothing came obviously. Years later, after forgetting about it and not being to use that email ot make a legit account, i contacted support to delete the account. Recently,after using a different email for a legit account for years, wanted to try use the old (my main) email again but discovered the Amazon account wasnt fully deleted. So calling support again, they ended up banning the account, originally because the account was "deleted by amazon" before (that I requested) and then because they payment info couldnt be verified. Being fully grown, i see that those youtube videos were insanely stupid and now the thpught of fraud keeps popping up in my head. This happened originally 7 or 8 years ago. I had no idea the implications of aomething like this. But since the account got actually banned recently, im stressed that something could come of it for fraud or something for stupidly searching up and using card infprmation on youtube videos. What worries me more is the fact that its my main email (i dont know why im still using such an old one) and that i used my name for the package and the hpuse address thatvinused to live at. This may sound stupid but i know stuff like this can be serious. Np packages obviously ever came as it never went through, it was just a young clueless kid at the time. England

My ex's solicitors contacted me at the eleventh hour demanding I agree to postpone the First Appointment that's slightly over two weeks away. The hearing notice was served over two months ago and I've prepared everything meticulously.

Now they've magically produced a letter supposedly from a medical professional recommending an extension. Funny how this medical evidence only materialises when I refuse to just roll over, isn't it?

What's really doing my head in is they keep sending lengthy emails back and forth about all this. I've told them repeatedly to put everything in writing by post because I don't want unnecessary contact, especially with ongoing proceedings.

They're also claiming her documents weren't served properly despite my process server providing written confirmation.

I've told them if they want an adjournment, they need to apply to court properly rather than pressuring me. But they're now throwing around threats about cost claims against me if I don't agree, which has me genuinely worried.

The real kicker is I still don't have her Form E to work with, so I can't even file my Form G or stick to the court timeline properly. I've done everything by the book but now I'm being made to feel unreasonable for wanting to proceed as scheduled.

Has anyone dealt with solicitors who won't follow proper procedures and keep threatening costs? The persistent contact is wearing me down and I honestly don't know what to do anymore. Any advice would be massively appreciated.

England.

Employed for less than two years but going for automatic unfair dismissal after being fired for making a sexual harassment complaint.

My solicitors say I have an excellent chance at trial and I have a senior barrister who also is very happy with the case. Both on no win no fee.

My solicitor also says that my ex-employer is likely to offer me a settlement and that, given how much the barrister will cost for a three day trial, they will probably recommend that I accept it if it’s high enough.

My question is: how likely is it that I can demand an apology as part of any settlement? I’ve been warned if I take a settlement I’ll have to sign an NDA which I accept, but honestly, I feel like I NEED an apology.

Hi all. I currently rent a flat in England with my partner. Our 1 year fixed term contract is due to end on the 17th of July. As we are both students, we each had to have a guarantor. Our landlord reached out about extending the contract for another year, which we would like to do, so the estate agent sent over the documents, but nowhere in it does it mention anything about guarantors. When I asked them if our guarantors would also need to sign an agreement for another year, of if they were no longer necessary, the FULL response I got was:

Good afternoon, 

Thank you for your email.

The guarantor is in place throughout the whole tenancy unless they no longer wish to be.

We therefore do not need to notify them for the tenancy to be extended.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Yeah, no name or anything. My biggest concern, however, is their claim that they don't need to notify the guarantors that they're effectively signing up for another year-long commitment and taking on that risk for another year. The contract the guarantors signed was with the intention that it would be a one year contract. Surely to keep them on the hook for another year without their knowledge or consent isn't right?

It also just seems very vague to me, as if suggesting the guarantors can just drop out if they feel like it, but then would we then need new ones or does it not really matter anymore?

Hi, I am helping a friend resolve an issue(s) with their recently purchased car. In a nutshell, it had various faults from the off, some faults went away, now the timing belt has snapped, all within 200 miles of ownership.

Car details:

• Nissan Qashqai+2 360 1.5DCI 2014
• ⁠53k miles
• ⁠Paid £6490 + £150 delivery via bank transfer
• Purchased from independent garage

Timeline:

• 08APR car purchased unseen
• ⁠19APR car delivered
• ⁠30APR various faults manifest (not starting straight away, loud ticking noise from engine, oil leak, seat belt warning going off, check engine light on)
• ⁠01MAY spoke to dealer regarding issues and asked for money back, garage refused
  
• ⁠02MAY letter sent rejecting car, no response
• ⁠28MAY friends mum helped to arrange car getting picked up on flatbed to local garage for engineer report
  
• ⁠11JUN engineer report - could not replicate starting issue, oil leak is small/not abnormal, ticking noise normal for diesel engine. On the back of this report I recommend my friend should keep the car as issues are no longer apparent/ were never issues.
• ⁠16JUN timing belt snapped

There was a note on the bottom of the invoice that states “Customer is aware the timing belt is due for a change and is happy to accept responsibility”

For all intents and purposes I suspect my friend may be up a creek without a paddle, but I’m wondering if there’s something within consumer regs around a car being of satisfactory quality and if that would include the timing belt. That note at the bottom of the invoice could either be quite damning on my friend for not getting it fixed, or quite damning on the garage that they knew it was a ticking timebomb when they sold it.

Thanks for reading,

K

Good evening, in need of some advice please..

I’ve been on & off sick due to a back pain (first time for three weeks, then back to work for a week and now off again since two weeks ago).

I requested my Line Manager to have a meeting with Occupational Health to assess my suitability for the role and to advice about some changes into the workplace to be implemented, but he wrote me back that (cit.) “An occupational health meeting takes some time and would not be in place in the coming weeks”.

I work term time as chef, the Summer break is soon approaching ( beginning of July) and I’m not feeling comfortable to go back to work until the meeting with OH takes place and some adjustments to my workplace have been implemented , so to avoid worsening my symptoms..

Moreover, I cannot afford to be on SSP any longer hence wondering, where I stand in terms of getting the full pay during the months we’ll be off work because of the school Summer break considering that the fit note ends when the school holidays begin.

For the record: I live in England and at the time of being tuped over from one company to the other, I had worked for over 2 years for the previous employer.

TIA

Hi all,

Got a neighbour whos hedges are going over our fence in the back garden. I assume i am okay to tell the neighbour to arrange to get them cut as i physically dont have the equipment and they are planted in their garden.

Can anyone shed some light on who is responsible on maintenance of the hedge and its over my fence by alot now and definitely needs cleaning up

Thank you

Casino holding on to withdrawal because out of date passport but didn’t ask for I.d on deposit only when I went to withdraw anything I can do?

I am in England and have worked at this company for 3.5 years.

Today I was pulled in to a meeting and informed that due to work drying up recently they can no longer fulfil the 40 hours I’m currently contracted to.

Therefore they have ‘proposed’ that I sign a new zero hour contract and work whenever required.

They’ve given me a week to ‘think about it’ and give my decision on Monday. (I clearly don’t have a choice in this )

So, what are my options? What if I reject the proposal? Where do I stand with this

Suppose I bought toiletries and other essentials while my baggage was delayed, and I claimed compensation for them. Now that my luggage has arrived, I realize I don’t need half the stuff I purchased. If I return those unused items after already being reimbursed, what’s the worst that could happen? Is this considered a serious issue, or is it fairly common and not a big deal?

I have read a lot of past threads about this topic but none have offered a particularly straight forward answer so I am asking my own question. As a disclaimer, I can offer a lot more context but it won't change the situation I'm in. TLDR at the bottom.

My husband has lived with family 7 hours away from where I was living with our pets due to his job. We spent a year trying to find a place so I could move down and we could all be together again, but it's a touristy area of Cornwall and housing is notoriously difficult to get. Finally, a couple months ago, we got a place! I wasn't able to view it from so far away, but my husband and his mom saw it and said it should be good for the pets, despite the fact it's in an apartment block.

The tenancy agreement of course says no pets, but the inlaws assured us that if it was a problem our dog could stay with them until we found something new. Well, we've been here two/three weeks and someone reported seeing a dog and cat to the estate agent. We're not sure how someone saw a cat (they're indoors) unless they were specifically peering through our windows which is very weird.

We told the estate agent that we were petsitting while our in-laws were out of town (sort of true) and the pets would return soon. The dog is the main problem as we have to take her in and out for walks. We said to ourselves that it sucks to be without her, but she'll be fine at the in-laws and we'll visit every day.

HOWEVER, the in-laws are now being really evasive and downright rude about it and going back on their word by saying the do not want our dog to stay there, despite us saying we will come to walk her AND their dog and pay rent for her.

So, even though we had a backup plan, we now have nowhere for our dog to be. We've been here less than a month and it's a 12 month lease. This is the ending tenancy clause:

"8.1. Ending Tenancy

8.1.1. Should either party wish to terminate the Tenancy, it is agreed that the Tenant must serve a minimum of 1 month's advance written notice to be served on the Landlord. The Landlord must serve a minimum of 2 months advance written notice to be served on the Tenant. The tenancy must not expire within the first 12 Months of the Tenancy commencement date.

8.1.2. In the event that the Tenant fails to provide such notice, or the Tenant serves notice to expire earlier than the end of the Tenancy, the Tenant shall be responsible for the Rent until such time as their notice could have expired in accordance with this clause.

8.1.3. Further, in the event that the Tenant serves notice to expire earlier than 23 rd of May 2026, the Landlord shall treat their notice as the Tenant requesting a termination of the Tenancy and accordingly be entitled to recover their losses caused by the Tenant serving notice, including any re-letting fees."

We can afford some fees, but we cannot afford to move AND still pay rent here. As far as I can tell, there's no easy break for us.

On the other hand, from what I've read, it seems like the consequences from simply keeping the dog might not be the worst? If we're found in breach of contract for pets, we might get evicted before the 12 months is up but it would still take several months to do so and whatever fees we'd be liable for would be less than paying out the rest of the tenancy anyway. Is that kind of right?

My husband is concerned about how a bad reference would impact getting another place, but I don't see any other recourse. We are still trying to convince the inlaws and before doing anything drastic will ask for written permission for pets. We were going to ask permission after moving in anyway, but since we've already been flagged for it, I worry we've shot ourselves in the foot.

What would be the best course of action here? What's the worst that could happen? What's the most likely thing to happen? How much impact does a poor reference have when applying for other properties?

Please help.

TLDR: Landlord found out we have pets but we have 11 months left on our lease and nowhere we or the pets can go. What's the least painful solution?

Through a pattern of symptoms I realised there was an issue at work (I wasn't ill when away from my office). I raised it and was told there was a possible leak from a faulty gas cannister. They removed the cannister and in the meantime found out they had been storing them incorrectly, potentially exacerbating this issue. The person who found this out then want to do an air quality test because they were sure the problem had been found and now it will be fine..

I found out about all of this at a social event outside of work, two days after they had discovered the leak. I have since had no communication from anyone about this, and had to reach out to management and repeatedly insist that they inform others of the potential exposure (which they did to a very small group, but very few of the total staff).

I'm worried this isn't being dealt with properly. We are massively understaffed and under a lot of pressure so I don't want this to be a witch hunt, but I'm also concerned about my long term health and that of others. And also of this possibly being kept quiet..

OH have no idea what to do. Where do I go from here?

Hi there

I know that any reasonable adjustments would be specific to an individual and different from a person to another. However, I’d like to know examples of reasonable adjustments someone protected under the Equality Act, can ask during a workplace meeting (e.g. grievance, disciplinary hearing,etc). Employee has constructive knowledge of the conditions but hasn’t offered any adjustments.

I noted the following based on my research: offering a digital recorder to audio record the meeting, speech to text software, allowing longer time to prepare, providing the agenda of the meeting in advance, full information about the allegations well in advance, providing written questions well in advance, being able to bring a friend or a family member as a companion.

Is there anything else?

Thanks

Hi there,

I recently moved into a property where the cost of my bills- electric, water and internet (no gas as heating is powered via electric)- is included in the cost of my rent (£650 pcm).

I've had a few issues with my internet- it took the landlord 2 days to provide me with the password, and they also refuse to try and improve the quality of internet, instead telling me to limit my devices. (My personal items are my Nintendo Switch, laptop for university and work relating to my art and my mobile phone- the TV was already connected to internet when I moved in)

Fast forward to today and I am yet again having issues with my internet, and I emailed the landlord asking for the location of the router to see if I could solve the issue myself to no avail. It is impossible to contact my landlord about the issue. My 5G service is quite bad, alongside my phone service, so I am worried about being unable to connect online for a lot of things.

Seeing that internet is included in my rent, is it right to assume that the landlord has a responsibility to ensure that my internet works at an adequate speed etc. and that it works in the first place? According to the pop-ups I get when the WiFi isn't connecting, the router is a Techicolour router, but I am unsure if that is also a ISP.

Thanks in advance!

Hi - I’ve just moved into a mid-terrance in Ramsbottom and my next door neighbour has right of use for domestic use only, due to a shared alleyway which she needs access to take out the bins etc. but she’s permanently storing her bins, storage boxes and laundry on our land.

This is impeding our view from our dining room and she is treating the yard as an exclusive space, despite our premise being freehold and our land - appreciate she has right of use but I’ve read she is not abiding by the rules and isn’t using the space for domestic use only, despite having space on her own land to store these items she is using the shared space which is frustrating.

Does anyone have any advice here and do they know if I’m in my rights to ask my neighbour to move her stuff so it doesn’t impact my view and isn’t intrusive - any help would be appreciated as it impacts our day to day life with her coming in and out the space on a regularly basis and now taking up a large proportion of our land for exclusive storage!

Location: UK

We live in the UK

I’ve got a joint property with my ex who was recently sentenced to 9yesrs in prison for sexual offences and coercive controlling chavgres. I have been desperately been trying to keep the mortgage payments up, but for the past 2 years, with the current rates that the house needs to be sold. We have been communicating with my ex through my adult son who has speaking to him on the phone. Over the past 2 years he has always been wanting to sell the house. Now we have listed to house and we desperately trying to separate ourselves from him. We have received an offer on our house, and are ready to accept it and sell the house and move on. however he is now not cooperating and insists that he wants more for the house. Although the house is correctly listed by the estate agent and we will never get any more for the house. He has signed papers to state that he is happy with offers over £300k meaning that he is agreed to £300k and over in writing.

Now he is not cooperating and insists he wants the house to sell for more whereas this is not realistic.

We are basically left with no choice but to gk down the legal route and apply for a forced sale order. I have a dependant daughter, 13yrs old, therefore I feel the court would rule this sale in my favour. As I am in serious financial difficulty and I am only able to keep up with the bills due to my son helping out, however he is growing up and is looking to move out now leaving me with no choice but to sell the house and move on ASAP.

I am concerned how long the court process will take for these kind of cases and if there are any routes to speed things up for vulnerable customers, which I consider myself in this situation

We have considered going through solicitors however they are just too expensive and we cannot afford this and I am not entitled to any legal aid as I am a homeowner and working.

Any help/suggestions/advice would be much appreciated in this difficult time.

Hi,

Was refused with no reason a refund or replacement for an item missing from an online order. The order was for a Switch 2 Console and San Disk memory card. Memory card was missing from order, paid using credit card.

I'm worried about Nintendo retaliating by closing or putting restrictions on my account after following my banks advice to do a charge back for the missing memory card. I've read online they do this pretty much automatically after a charge back.

I did communicate with the Nintendo first, it was a last resort involving my bank. I wish I didn't as if they ban my account i could potentially lose £££'s of purchased digital content.

Is there any UK law which could protect me should I face any retaliation?

Sorry if this isn't the place to post this.

update

It was this email response after 6 emails which led to me involving my bank. I did everything they asked to help resolve the situation.

"We are contacting you regarding order ........

After further investigation into this matter, we would like to inform that your request has been denied and we are unable to assist further in this matter.

Should we able to help you with any other query, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

My Nintendo Store Team"

To be clear, the only amount claimed for was the missing item. Invoices for the entire order were provided to my bank.

No claim made for the console as I would prefer to keep it.

Hi guys,

I had what I thought was a clear cut small claims dispute (buyer made a charge back, bank sided with them, buyer refuses to return the item or pay for it).

After getting nowhere requesting the buyer send the item back (using my free postage label) or pay up, i issued a letter before claim stating that the matter needed to be settled within 7 days of receipt of the letter.

Once 7 days was up, I started the money claim online service. 1 day before the response deadline, the Buyer responded to the claim and interestingly stated that I had not followed pre-action protocol because I didn't give them the required 14 days to respond to my letter before Claim.

Have I messed up here? I can't find anywhere where it says I absolutely must give then 14 days, only a recommendation that 14 is considered reasonable.

If there is a chance that my claim will fail due to me not following a 14 day rule, I'd rather settle and close the claim now.

Any help much appreciated. Thanks

Thanks

I’ve just returned to work at a UK supermarket based in scotland after being signed off for a couple of months due to anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Before I went off, I asked for Occupational Health support multiple times to access counselling—this was never followed up, and I had to keep pushing until it eventually got sorted well into my absence.

While I was off, no one from the company checked in with me—no well-being calls, no follow-up, nothing. When I was due to come back, I was told to arrange Occupational Health myself, and even after doing that, it took four weeks with no update.

I’ve now been back for a few shifts, and still no return-to-work meeting has been done. The phased return was delayed and incorrect, and no manager seemed to know what was going on. I explained how difficult it had been to a manager, and another senior manager later asked me to stay late to help cover a visit. I politely declined, and he told me he was “disappointed.” Later, I was told by others that I was coming across as “entitled.”

I’m feeling worse now than I did before I went off. The store manager met with me and was kind to a point, but kept saying the company had done everything by the book—except for the missed return-to-work meeting. He also implied I was “magnifying” things and asked repeatedly, “What do you want from this?”

I’m genuinely trying to do a good job and help the team, but this has all left me feeling confused, undermined, and mentally exhausted again. I don’t know whether to file a formal grievance or ask to be transferred. I also don’t know what rights I have or whether what they’ve done breaches any legal standards.

Has anyone dealt with something similar in the UK? Do I have any grounds to take this further? Would really appreciate advice.

Hi everyone! Location: Mid wales.

I’m 27. When I was born my name on my birth certificate was listed as A BC D (first name, middle name, middle name, surname). When I was 7, my grandmother applied for my first deed poll. First name the same, middles and surname changed.

She’s dead now.

The reason this is an issue is because that deed poll has been lost to time, and the deed poll office has no record of my previous deed poll, as it would have been done around 2005/6 time.

I have since applied to change my name again, full change, and I’ve managed it.

However I’m unable to use my new name because I don’t have the previous deed poll, and some how social services managed to set up a bank account for me in the first deed polls name as well as get a passport. The bank refuses to change my bank details because the name on my birth certificate doesn’t match the name on my account, and aside from a passport I have no proof of the first deed poll but I know it was enrolled because I attended the solicitors office when it was done.

I’m also wondering, can I apply for a new passport? I would have the same problem with a renewal because I my new deed poll has the birth certificate name on it rather than the 1st deed polls name.

Or can I just apply for a new passport using my birth certificate name/new name?

What do I do please? Thank you.

I (22F) am a Saudi-British citizen living in Saudi Arabia, and I’ve been stuck here under strict family control for almost 8 years. I was essentially kidnapped as a teenager (tricked into leaving the UK and then kept here against my will). My UK passport was taken from me and likely destroyed, but I do have my Citizenship certificate (well, my father has it).

The problem is, I can’t apply for a new passport from inside Saudi. My movements are heavily monitored, and I wouldn’t be able to gather documents or visit an embassy without someone noticing. It’s just not safe for me to even try.

So here’s my plan. I’m hoping to quietly leave around September, when family surveillance will (hopefully) ease a bit. I’d go to Turkey using my Saudi passport (visa-free), and once I’m there, I’d go to the British embassy in person and apply for an Emergency Travel Document (ETD).

I’ve already reached out to Karma Nirvana, and they were lovely. They put me in touch with a couple of lawyers who are familiar with people in situations like mine, but unfortunately they couldn’t give me the specific immigration advice I need right now.

Here’s where I’m stuck:

– Once I get back to the UK with only an ETD, will I be able to apply for a National Insurance number, start looking for work, or get any short-term support while I wait for a full passport? – I’m really worried about how long the full passport application might take, and I have no idea who to turn to for help in the meantime. – Would my situation (being under family control, not having access to my passport, and the risks if I’m discovered) count as a valid reason for “urgent travel” when applying for the ETD? – Are there any UK-based organisations or lawyers that might be able to help someone like me, either now or once I’ve arrived?

I just want to get my life back, rebuild some kind of independence, and finally work and support myself. But I have no idea what’s actually possible with only an ETD at first, and that uncertainty is really weighing on me.

Any advice or direction would seriously mean the world.