claimant comitment changes

I recently got asigned a new work coach and it seems he is a bit of a jobs worth and is forcing me to adjust my claimant commitment despite my objections about 2 years ago i had a very good friend who was very savy with welfare related info help me start my claim and got my claim commitment just the way I wanted it as in low commitment
Now this guy is telling me that the claimant commitment is an ongoing process and it can be changed/modified any time they like even if i object.

He also has a problem with my restrictions on available hours I am only willing to work part time because of my health conditions and my available hours are 11.00 am till 05:00 pm and he is practically accusing me of making myself unavailable and making vague threats about how if I'm considered unavailable I could lose my entitlement to job seekers allowance and is telling me that the job centre can remove my restrictions if they want regardless of my opinion and health conditions.

He hasn't removed my restricted hours yet but says we will speak more about this next time we meet despite the fact i have told him my restrictions are health related because I have pretty sever breathing problems in the mornings due to smoking too much leading to lengthy coughing bouts that can be quite painful and also exacerbates my heart condition leading to heart palpitations or even angina as I struggle to breath and my who body overworked and under pressure and it can take me a couple of hours for my body to regulate itself.
I also have problems with depression and anxiety witch often lead me to many restless nights and often causes me to toss and turn when I try and go to bed and despite going to bed around 11:00 pm its not uncommon for me to still be tossing and turning till 03:00 AM.
I also have problems with public transport due to my anxiety and cant deal with rush hour on public transport when its too crowded i need space and room to breath or i get panicked and often have to get off the bus half way through a journey even at the best of times when my anxiety is playing up

Despite explaining all this to him he still wants to discuss changing my available hours to increase my chances of finding work i feel like he is ignoring my health issues and not willing to hear what i am saying on this matter.

he has also told me that I need to start taking screen shots of jobs I have applied for or to start taking photos on my phone in addition to my usual job search diary I provide and made suggestions about me loging on to there computers to so they can see how I am filling in my job search applications.
I objected to this and told him I wont be doing that as it sounded like an invasion of privacy. he muttered something about it helping me and then in the same breath told me it would allow them to see what jobs i have applied for to witch I replied that it all sounds allot more like he wants to police my job search than provide any help.
I asked him what possible benefit him knowing what jobs I have applied for could help increase my chances of getting a job any more than the same list of jobs presented to him via written format in my job diary, he quickly changed the subject and mumbled something about how i need to provide additional evidence in some manner in the future and said we would talk more about this at a later date.

Was wondering just what the DWP's official policy is on providing additional evidence of job search beyond the standard job search diary they provide. am I obligated to provide additional evidence or can I refuse ?

And lastly something that got me realy upset and agitated was his attempts to keep hold of my job diary when I asked for it back he said he needed it for clerical reasons I stated it was my personal property and I wanted it back to witch he objected saying it was job centre property as they has supplied it and I argued with him a bit saying they gave it to me they didn't loan it to me  and therefore it was my personal property eventually he yielded and instead said he was going to make a copy of it and I again objected and told him no I don't consent to him photo copying my personal documents.
It was at this point I got realy angry as he stood up and said I'm just going to take a copy of it anyway so I flipped my lid and went off shouting at him calling him a criminal and made accusations of him breaching the data protection laws (witch laws I don't know) and threatened to phone the police on him if he photo copied that document.
He immediately lost his nerve and changed his mind and told me ok he wasn't going to copy it and didn't want to cause me any more anxiety (more like he was worried he could end up prosecuted) but tells me this is something we will need to discuss at a later date

Lastly due to this I would like to start providing my job search evidence verbally in future to deny him the opportunity to get his filthy hands on my documents ever again I know there is a freedom of information act response that states I am allowed to do this so if someone can provide a link to that id appreciate it.

So those are the main issues I have and could use more information on.

1. Can they change my claimant commitment on a whim despite my objections when i had a perfectly acceptable CC.

2. Can they remove my restrictions on availability despite my health issues.

3. Can they close down my claim if I refuse to sign this new reworked CC via accusations of me being unavailable.

4. Do I have to provide additional evidence beyond the standard job search diary they provide.

5. What is the dwp policy on work coaches keeping my job diary's/copying them.

6. A link to the relevant FOI request stating my right to present my job search evidence verbally.

Any help anyone can offer on these issues would be most appreciated in the past I would have asked my mate to help out but sadly he got married last year and moved out of town and we are no longer in contact.
whole situation seems a little over the top the way this guy is acting trying to hold me to these new standards that no other work coach has ever held me to and his attitude towards me stinks, he comes across more like he is out to get me with a sanction for failing to jump through his every hoop and I wont stand for it.

Currently I have not signed his newly drafted claim commitment and I took advantage of the 14 day cooling off period (something I was aware of through my mate when we initially made my first CC) in order to get some advice on the situation I am due to go in again this Thursday on the 29th  and was hoping to have found some regulation that says he cant do this but I haven't found anything to help my case so far to stop him changing my CC was hoping someone here can offer me some advice to put this jobs worth in his place.

Thanks in advance for any feedback

I had a similar problem with a Work_coach @Barry.L. So here are some FOI for you to look at. I hope this helps until someone more knowledgeable comes along to answers you problems direct.  . And welcome to the forum...

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/454971/response/1105291/attach/7/Diagnosis%20of%20claimant%20capability%20and%20circumstances.pdf

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/525846/response/1256171/attach/3/Find%20a%20Job%20or%20other%20jobsites%20and%20Work%20Services%20Platform.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/301001/response/742479/attach/html/3/Work%20Search%20Reviews.pdf.html

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/321922/response/794551/attach/html/4/Annex%201%20Work%20Search%20Reviews%20KM.pdf.html

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/487416/response/1178355/attach/3/2520%20response.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/323296/response/804333/attach/3/FOI%201056%20and%20IR182.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/mandating_claimant_to_login_to_p#incoming-1395850

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/280481/response/714273/attach/24/LMI%20Claimant%20Commitment.pdf

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/am_i_mandated_to_give_print_outs

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/jobsearch_evidence_4

Thanks pintel some useful links there that help with some of my questions some of the more lengthy links on guidance are a bit beyond my understanding and difficult to absorb. Reading rule books has never been my thing and my time online is short but those foi's are spot on and helpful.

My appointment is tomorrow with this guy and I think I will have to go to the citizens advice first thing tomorrow and see if I can get help writing a letter out of some of that info so I can prevent him from changing my claim commitment if at all possible.

the things he has changed are not entirely unreasonable and some of it is stuff i am already doing like searching online 4 times a week but as he reminded me by signing and agreeing to the new claimant commitment and failing to adhere to these new conditions could leave me open to a sanction and im just thinking to myself why would i agree to more commitment if I don't have to especially if it could lead to me being sanctioned

my biggest concern is the section that states "I will discuss with my work coach and take action on any methods to improve my chances of finding work"

It comes across like him saying he will be advising me on ways to improve my chances of finding work and expects me to do what he advises me on. It seems like im basically agreeing to do what he tells me to and I cant understand why anyone would agree to such a condition on there claimant commitment.

"Now this guy is telling me that the claimant commitment is an ongoing process and it can be changed/modified any time they like even if i object."

Yes, I definitely agree in one that suits them, and not us. They change it to suit their ludicrous ideology without actually discussing us. Happened to me a few times.Worth a formal complaint if they're breaking the rules of their own CC guidance.

Thanks to Pintels FOI links will sort em out.

2. Can they remove my restrictions on availability despite my health issues.

Id say NO. Any employer would also have to take into account health conditions as well.  I would complain like hell to joke shop manager and escalate if need be to a district manager.

https://www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/new-to-universal-credit/health-conditions-or-disabilities/#targetText=Health%20conditions%20or%20disabilities,financial%20and%20work%2Drelated%20support.


Despite the info contained in the above link, they are still bound by other acts of law to comply with.  Employers take a completely different kind of view when interviewing prospective employees. They don't need reams of paperwork and crap to ascertain if X doesn't meet Y requirements of a job. Whatever JC-  think.

The Equality Act can also provide protection for certain illnesses
https://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5847

disability-or-health-condition
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/404227/uc-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition.pdf


Barry-L Lets us all know how you are doing with your concerns?

Reading Barry’s original post I have come to the conclusion that he is taking the p…

He claims that he told his coach basically that his smoking is killing him, that it takes a couple of hours of a morning for his bodily convulsions to recede enough to enable him to contemplate work.

He does not mention any medical evidence by doctors or professionals to support the effects of his condition on his ability to work, or any remedies to same.

In his second post he shows contempt for the time and effort expended by Pintel in trying to help him by stating some of them are too lengthy for him to be bothered with.

He claims that his biggest concern is a section that states "I will discuss with my work coach and take action on any methods to improve my chances of finding work" He says that “it comes across like him saying he will be advising me on ways to improve my chances of finding work and expects me to do what he advises me on. It seems like im basically agreeing to do what he tells me to and I can’t understand why anyone would agree to such a condition on there claimant commitment”. Nothing could be further from the truth. It seems to me that being given a guarantee in writing to discuss how to improve one’s prospects is what most claimants yearn and having a line in one’s CC guaranteeing discussion before acting would be welcomed and grabbed with both hands.

Committed Claimant wrote:Reading Barry’s original post I have come to the conclusion that he is taking the p…

He claims that he told his coach basically that his smoking is killing him, that it takes a couple of hours of a morning for his bodily convulsions to recede enough to enable him to contemplate work.

I don't see where Barry stated he is still smoking. As he said: "i have told him my restrictions are health related because I have pretty sever breathing problems in the mornings due to smoking too much". If he's still "smoking too much" then fair enough, but that isn't what I took from that paragraph, I came to the conclusion he meant from smoking too much in the past.

Committed Claimant wrote:In his second post he shows contempt for the time and effort expended by Pintel in trying to help him by stating some of them are too lengthy for him to be bothered with.

Again, you appear to be putting words in his mouth. To quote:

barry.L wrote:Thanks pintel some useful links there that help with some of my questions some of the more lengthy links on guidance are a bit beyond my understanding and difficult to absorb. Reading rule books has never been my thing and my time online is short but those foi's are spot on and helpful.

Where exactly is this "contempt"? Where does he say some are too lengthy for him to be bothered with? Some of the links being beyond his understanding and difficult to absorb is hardly showing contempt, is it?