Evidence of work search

For avoidance of any doubt, nothing has changed!

J3102 Evidence of work search includes

1. evidence from employers, employment agencies or other bodies that the claimant has contacted 2. the claimant’s activity on Universal Jobmatch 3. copies of letters or applications that the claimant has sent to employers online, by post or in person 4. the claimant's uncorroborated written evidence (claimants should keep a record of their job search and other efforts to find work) 5. the claimant's own verbal evidence, recorded by an officer of the Jobcentre Plus office.

J3103 Corroboration of the claimant’s evidence is not essential (see ADM Chapter A1). DMs should note that 1. claimants will not always be able to obtain corroborative evidence if they state that they have 1.1 “asked around” or 1.2 applied for jobs that are normally advertised and filled by word of mouth and 2. employers do not always reply to written enquiries

J3104 If the DM has reason to doubt whether a claimant has contacted certain employers or agencies those employers or agencies may be asked whether they 1. keep a record of enquiries by job seekers and 2. are able to confirm that a particular person approached them for employment. But such enquiries should only be necessary if the evidence before the DM is inconsistent or seems unlikely.

Proof

J3105 Before determining whether the claimant was meeting the work search requirement in any week the DM 1. must decide what the claimant did in that week to search for work and 2. may also have to decide what they did to search for work in previous weeks. The onus is on the claimant to show what steps have been taken1 . 1 UC, PIP & WaB (C&P) Regs, reg 38(2) & (3) & WR Act 12, s 23(3)

J3106 Determining whether claimants were meeting the work search requirement in any week requires a comparison between 1. what they in fact did to search for work in that week and 2. what the law required them to do.

J3107 Claimants must take the work search actions that give them the best prospects of securing work; it will not be enough just to spend time looking for a job. They must be doing so in an effective manner.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502453/admj3.pdf

In order to demonstrate that they are willing and able immediately to take up paid work, claimants should 1. be physically able to take up work within the appropriate timescale

2. be contactable (through mail, e-mail or phone) for interviews or work

3. be willing and able to give up any commitments which may interfere with their ability to start work

4. attend all interviews that have been offered to them

5. consider their appearance and behaviour to ensure this does not reduce their prospects of finding paid work

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502453/admj3.pdf

To reassure readers....

Availability disallowances are one of the most difficult labour market conditionality outcomes for JC officials to achieve unless a claimant states, "they are not available for work" or they get caught behaving in a manner that would make a reasonable person believe they were not "available for work".

JC officials do, however, get their underwear in a twist if a claimant states that they wish to withdraw contact by JCP staff by, email/phone or, they refuse to provide a telephone number/email address, so caution is required.

Reference:

unemploymentmovement.com/forum/job-centr...itch-me-up.html#5422

Jobcentre madness:

Tattooed woman told to put a bag over her head by the Jobcentre......

www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/du...&address=389x9196183

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8020254/Tattooed-woman-told-to-put-bag-over-head-by-Jobcentre.html

Unless the rules have recently changed, claimants risk a sanction for not accepting work via an employment agency (if DWP finds out).

UC claimants are not exempt from zero hour contracts.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269392/foi-3022-13.pdf
I will check this out.

Zero hours contracts
K3271 In UC, claimants can be required to apply for and take-up employment that is
based on a zero hours contract provided that the contract allows the claimant to
take-up further work with different employers that will take them to or above their
Conditionality Earnings Threshold.
Note 1: See ADM Chapter J3 (Work-related requirements) for guidance on
conditionality earnings threshold).
Note 2: UC is designed to be responsive to fluctuations in earnings. For people
who are working, financial support will be reduced at a consistent and predictable
rate and they will generally keep a higher proportion of their earnings. In weeks
where a claimant has lower or no income from their zero hours contract UC
payments will automatically increase.
K3272 A claimant cannot be required to apply for or take-up work that is based on a zero
hours contract if that employer prevents them from working for any other employer,
business or self-employment (i.e the zero hours contract contains an ‘exclusivity’
clause).
Note: From 26.5.15 a ban of exclusivity clauses came into force1
.
1 Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015
K3273 A zero hours contract is a contract of employment used in the UK which is not
defined in legislation and whilst meeting the terms of relevant legislation1
by
providing a written statement of the terms and conditions of employment, contains
provisions which create an "on call" arrangement between employer and employee.
It does not oblige the employer to provide work for the employee. The employee
agrees to be available for work as and when required, so that no particular number
of hours or times of work are specified. The employee is expected to be on call and
receives compensation only for hours worked.
1 Employment Rights Act 1996
K3274 UC claimants cannot be sanctioned for any failure where they
1. fail or refuse to apply for or accept if offered a zero hours contract vacancy or
2. leave a zero hours contract voluntarily or
3. are dismissed from a zero hours contract due to misconduct
where the contract includes an exclusivity clause however see Note at K3272 and
guidance at K3275
K3275 A UC claimant can still be mandated to apply for and take up a zero hours contract
and could still be sanctioned if without a good reason they
1. refuse or fail to apply for or accept if offered a zero hours contract
2. leave a zero hours contract voluntarily or
3. are dismissed from a zero hours contract due to misconduct.
Note: For guidance on good reason see ADM Chapter K2 (Good reason) and in
particular K2301 with regard to zero hours contracts.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/506243/admk3.pdf

Claimants may be sanctioned for refusing to apply for agency work offered by a JC official as well as certain mandatory scheme providers, subject to certain circumstances ; I have already posted on UM. I will have a look for it if, the information is essential.

MV, you can use the template posted in Jobseeker Help to challenge the content of your UCCC. I will provide help off-line if you need it.

I am sorry for writing in an old topic but I just wanted to ask, how much information about each job application do you guys give the work coach?

So far I been giving everything (job title, company, website used to apply for job, id). I was thinking, would giving just the job title and perhaps the company name be enough?

I used to give the vacancy title and where applied i.e. Admin' assistant applied for via Reed.co.uk. As long as you have the email receipt that you can print out in the event of any doubt arising, then I think that should be fine IMHO.

all i ever used was the es4 jp document i even printed a variant to it jcp was trying to upgrade it to a new type of form which i refused to use

the reference always points back to the es4jp document so thats what i use instead

the es4jp is within jobseeker help posts

however many jcp staff are refusing the use of the es4jp as they want there own supplied version used instead

I pretty much include the same info as Brutus and Caker, though I don't include full url of jobs applied for anymore, after it almost proved my undoing a few months back. A particularly nasty little shite decided to look at a few of the links provided and figured that some jobs I'd applied for were not "appropriate", putting in a doubt for not actively seeking work and suspending my claim.

Brutus wrote:
In addition I often carry with me some kind of general rejection or answering emails if challenged.

When I first moved to my current JCP my then assigned work roach asked for more "proof" I was applying for jobs, as I could be making up any old rubbish about jobs applied for. So at my next appointment I did just that, showing her a printout of emails received after applying for certain jobs. I then told her I didn't need to do this every week, but if challenged I'd send email proof to the decision maker. Since then, which was way back in March, I haven't been challenged once. I guess they put in my notes my jobsearch seems "legit". But I still keep all those email replies just in case!

I write the date, position applied for, company name, town and website address I applied through and closing date for applications, if any. All written on 2 sides of A4 paper. I used to fill in their little jobsearch booklets but they don't have them any more.

......gosh, I have been away from the JC for so long that I had no idea the workbooks were no longer in use.

Caker wrote:......gosh, I have been away from the JC for so long that I had no idea the workbooks were no longer in use.

They might be elsewhere, just not at my job centre.

i had this variant to fill out

Admin wrote:i had this variant to fill out

Wow, never had anything like that to fill out, mine were much more basic, thankfully!

With regard to that form (in Admin's post), I am not clear what the applied (tick) yes/no column (on the right) is for.

Surely if you had not applied for a particular job then you would not have filled in any of the other details, including 'date applied'. The column looks superfluous to me.

The form itself looks like one that would only be filled in if a doubt was being raised. However, I believe that this form may also be supplied routinely and that claimants would be told that they must fill it in each fortnight.  

It may be that the form is used in cases of a doubt being raised and that the column on the right is for a DWP worker to tick when/if the vacancy is verified as actually having been applied for / not applied for

I  made a copy of the work-search diary they used to give me at the Dole (2015), and I still use it today.