Re: Restart program

by Absolut Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:47 am

Found this for London123:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/864594/response/2064659/attach/html/4/UC%20BSZ44%20Med%20Evide%20after%20WCA%20decision%20accessible%20version%20v30.1.pdf.html

The work capability assessment (WCA) outcome decision determines:
• the labour market regime they are allocated to;
• if they are entitled to an additional amount of benefit for having LCWRA;
• if they are entitled to work allowance.

Claimants do not need to provide medical evidence following the WCA for the condition it was undertaken, if the condition has not changed substantially.

If a claimant reports a new condition or existing condition has deteriorated, they will be required to provide medical evidence. When that is provided, they will be referred for a new WCA.

If a claimant who has been found fit for work reports a new condition they will be required to provide medical evidence. When provided, they join the health journey at day 1

If the claimant disagrees with their WCA decision, they can request an explanation of the decision and also a mandatory reconsideration using their online account or by telephoning the service centre.

by Pintel Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:46 pm

On a side ️ track here. According to the FOI 2022/07933 (dated 15/Feb/2022). The Restart Scheme ends on the 28/June/2024, "for new referrals only". So correct me if I am wrong here 🤨, the Retread scheme started in 2021 and cost £2.9 Billion pounds . And will end completely in June 2025( to deal with the jun 2024 starters). This is nearly a running cost of a £ Billion pounds a year ️, if the Provider's don't get any extra results... Nice work if you can get it

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/822481/response/1974740/attach/html/3/Response%20FOI2022%2007933.pdf.html

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/restart_scheme_end_date_2#incoming-1974740

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/822481/response/1974740/attach/html/3/Response%20FOI2022%2007933.pdf.html

by Absolut Tue Jul 19, 2022 6:54 am

Pintel wrote:So correct me if I am wrong here 🤨, the Retread scheme started in 2021 and cost £2.9 Billion pounds . And will end completely in June 2025( to deal with the jun 2024 starters). This is nearly a running cost of a £ Billion pounds a year ️, if the Provider's don't get any extra results... Nice work if you can get it

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/ba9d897e-3c20-40ac-a1a2-16d586f55295?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Awarded date
26 April 2021

Contract start date
26 April 2021

Contract end date
29 June 2026

Total value of contract

£2,579,590,114

This contract was awarded to 8 suppliers.

It's £580 million per year from £2.9 billion, not £1 billion per year.

2.5 divided by 5 = £500 million per year.

2.9 divided by 5 = £580 million per year.

580 divided by 8 = 72.5 million per year per contractor.

by london123 Tue Jul 19, 2022 12:21 pm

have another restart face-to-face Fortnightly Review on Thursday even though im not looking for work, due to my sick note, but my legs playing up. and i have a 15 min walk from the bus station, do you think they will pay for a taxi there and back around £30 if not im not going

by Absolut Tue Jul 19, 2022 2:17 pm

london123 wrote:have another restart face-to-face Fortnightly Review on Thursday even though im not looking for work, due to my sick note, but my legs playing up. and i have a 15 min walk from the bus station, do you think they will pay for a taxi there and back around £30 if not im not going

They are highly unlikely to pay for a taxi.

You are allowed to cancel and re-arrange appointments, even ones they have put on a UC Mandatory Activity Notification. You might have to remind them that even if you are considered to be fit for work your disabilities do not disappear. Maximus is under a Public Sector Equality Duty to offer alternative modes of access to Restart such as telephone calls, when you are unable to walk. If they continue to refuse to comply with the EA 2010 you are within your rights to sue Maximus for disability discrimination.

by Pintel Wed Jul 20, 2022 3:59 pm

Absolut wrote:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/ba9d897e-3c20-40ac-a1a2-16d586f55295?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Awarded date
26 April 2021

Contract start date
26 April 2021

Contract end date
29 June 2026

Total value of contract

£2,579,590,114

This contract was awarded to 8 suppliers.

It's £580 million per year from £2.9 billion, not £1 billion per year.

2.5 divided by 5 = £500 million per year.

2.9 divided by 5 = £580 million per year.

580 divided by 8 = 72.5 million per year per contractor.the posting

#Absolut, thanks       Maybe it's me here but in the FOI:   FOI2022/07933 15 February 2022

"The Restart Scheme ends on 28 June 2024 for new referrals only. Once a participant starts on the scheme, they have 12 months to work with the provider to move towards sustainable employment. Therefore, the scheme will remain in place until those who have been referred up to the end of June 2024 have completed it. "

🤨 So is it

28/June/2024
Or
29/Jun/2026...

Do they need 2x Year's and a day to 'Shred' the evidence....

by Absolut Thu Jul 21, 2022 9:41 am

According to the contract it's June 2026 for the provider. For claimants it's no new referrals to Restart from June 2024 according to the FOI. Who knows what really goes on behind closed doors.

by mandy tori Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:12 pm

i have been searching for the past hour, have found nothing definitive to answer the following:

"is it possible to be on the restart scheme more than once?"

neither JCP staff nor provider staff would answer and the above question applies to all scenarios not only jsa to uc migrating (closing a claim then reclaiming at a later date etc etc)

i am thinking it isn't possible they could double dip claimants hence they won't clarify it. thats just speculation however..

by Pintel Thu Jul 21, 2022 7:23 pm

I'd take one course/scheme at a time #MT Basketball

While I understand your concern, it used to be there was a minimum 6x month break between any 'training' courses etc. Not sure if still applies with the UC

.

by fordcortina1970 Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:11 am

Hello, I've just signed up to this forum, you may remember me from Unemployment GB. I've been unemployed for over 25 years. I more or less went straight from school to the dole queue. I have had 3 jobs in the last 26 years all of which have lasted a total of eight months. 2 months working as a checkout operator in 1996, 1 month working in telesales in 1997, and 5 months litter picking in 2007 that last job was through the probation service. So I have been unemployed for 25 out of the last 26 years well since I was 18 years of age. So you can imagine the reaction of these Restart people when i walked in on my first appointment and told them my work history, well the lack of it now i'm touching 45. After chatting to them i think they do not know what to do with someone like me, they give me telephone appointments and maybe just turn up once a month in person. Action plans etc have gone out the window, the guy I spoke to on my first appointment now realizes that it is a complete waste of time putting someone like me on this Restart scheme. They are just ticking boxes. BTW i'm on JSA.

by fordcortina1970 Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:46 pm

jobberpw wrote:Driving lessons would be ideal Pintel, increase your chances of work and make life easier for you in other ways; and as such, that idea being perfectly logical, it won't wash with roach shop.But i can promise you they will have an abundance of forklift truck driving courses...i dont know why Then again the fork lift truck driving courses are in line with their one to one tailored help.

I've been banging on about driving lessons since the New Deal era. I will keep banging on about them. I'm like a stuck record.

by Ignatius Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:55 am

Couldn't agree more about the driving licence issue, fordcortina. On every course/scheme I've been sent on, lack of a driving licence is very common amongst the participants. Maybe the likes of Reed, Serco and the other big providers need to move into the driving instructor business - them funding driving lessons would be no problem then. Still, I suppose I stop should making my lack of a driving licence a barrier given that my Claimant Commitment requires me to have knowledge of bus timetables - this is in a semi rural area with no buses to many of the industrial estates, retail parks etc.

by Ignatius Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:50 pm

If Restart is about providers working in a co-operative manner with participants, with meetings/courses to be voluntary in the first instance, does anyone know a timescale for when a provider is justified in issuing a MAN? For example, if you don't attend an appointment, can they go straight to mandation if they reschedule the appointment? I couldn't find anything in the guidance which clarified this.

by Ignatius Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:23 pm

Also, does anyone know how much notice a provider needs to give of an appointment or is there no such requirement?

by Pintel Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:39 pm

Ignatius wrote:Also, does anyone know how much notice a provider needs to give of an appointment or is there no such requirement?

Good question #Ignatius. These Provider's seem to think Claimant's have no life outside their office doors

. Like we are some WWII pilot during the Battle of Britain, ready to scramble at a moment's notice

...

by Ignatius Wed Aug 24, 2022 8:20 pm

I can't decide if my appointments keep getting rearranged as part of pysch ops to get my signature on the forms, or whether they are just inept. They're certainly a whole new level of nasty compared to the Work Programme who pulled a face when I wouldn't sign the forms but were otherwise fine with me and my 'difficult' ways.

by oneman Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:24 pm

Do not sign any paperwork on the restart, especially the work log book. They must record any mandation in the logbook and if you have not signed one then you can't be mandated or sanctioned. I got sanctioned for a few weeks and then it was droped in my favour. That was back in Jan this year. I have not heard from them since and the programme finished in Oct.

They are not making money off me.

Ps. That should read action plan not logbook.

by oneman Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:40 pm

mandy tori wrote:i have been searching for the past hour, have found nothing definitive to answer the following:

"is it possible to be on the restart scheme more than once?"

i am thinking it isn't possible they could double dip claimants hence they won't clarify it. thats just speculation however..

This is my 5th year on the work programme/ restart. Over the many years.
They can put you on the restart programme as many times as they like but they have to justify why they need to do this. They are ignoring this point now and are going straight to the three way conversation. This is where I got caught out because I thought that I could not refuse the appointment. This was not true.

by The Catwoman Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:47 pm

Ignatius wrote:I can't decide if my appointments keep getting rearranged as part of pysch ops to get my signature on the forms, or whether they are just inept. They're certainly a whole new level of nasty compared to the Work Programme who pulled a face when I wouldn't sign the forms but were otherwise fine with me and my 'difficult' ways.

What do you do at these helpful

appointments?

by Ignatius Wed Aug 24, 2022 10:43 pm

Oneman, what is a 'Work Log Book'? Is it like an Action Plan? Worry not, no forms will be signed.

As to what happens at these helpful appointments - mine are taking on a distinctly pantomine feel. Provider wheels out yet another advisor to ostensibly go through the whole initial appointment again. I decline to sign the forms. All paperwork taken off me. Provider tells me I MUST sign and makes up a new Restart rule in futilie attempt to get my signature. I quote the FOI about not signing. Provider says they will have to tell the Jobcentre. I tell them I'm still not signing. Appointment ends. I get a bit twitchy the night before giro day in case I haven't been paid. I've been on Restart for 6weeks now - they've yet to suggest even 1 job I could apply for or do anything remotely constructive that I could take to an employer.

by oneman Wed Aug 24, 2022 10:47 pm

Sorry Just seen your post Ignatius. I updated my post at 10:22.

by fordcortina1970 Wed Aug 24, 2022 11:06 pm

oneman wrote:Do not sign any paperwork on the restart, especially the work log book. They must record any mandation in the logbook and if you have not signed one then you can't be mandated or sanctioned. I got sanctioned for a few weeks and then it was droped in my favour. That was back in Jan this year. I have not heard from them since and the programme finished in Oct.
They are not making money off me.

Ps. That should read action plan not logbook.

Work Log Book? My Restart provider has never said anything about this to me. Well after my first appointment with them in May this year and telling them that I have worked for only 8 months in the last 26 years and my longest job picking litter only lasted 5 months and having no driving licence and being more or less on the dole since i was 18 and now touching 45 any talk of action plans have never been spoken about since nor has a work log been spoken about. I just have telephone appointments now and I keep telling them I need a full UK driving licence to make this "Reject" more employable. I can feel the provider on the phone getting more and more worn down with me banging on about driving licences and I will keep going on about them on the phone or in person. I know i'm getting parked or going to be very soon.

by oneman Wed Aug 24, 2022 11:11 pm

Ignatius wrote:Also, does anyone know how much notice a provider needs to give of an appointment or is there no such requirement?

The only thing from the restart scheme providers guidance (8.59), that I remember is the time has to be reasonable. You can dictate that they must provide all appointments by post and they must take the timing for post into account. You can also request that appointments be rearranged and they only have to consider this request. Either way a lot of time can be waisted doing things back and forth by post. I
Used to leave everything till the day before the appointment and ask to rearrange by email then ask for a reply by post only. Weeks of fun to be had doing this. Very Happy

by oneman Wed Aug 24, 2022 11:21 pm

fordcortina1970 wrote:
oneman wrote:Do not sign any paperwork on the restart, especially the work log book. They must record any mandation in the logbook and if you have not signed one then you can't be mandated or sanctioned. I got sanctioned for a few weeks and then it was droped in my favour. That was back in Jan this year. I have not heard from them since and the programme finished in Oct.
They are not making money off me.

Ps. That should read action plan not logbook.

Work Log Book? My Restart provider has never said anything about this to me. Well after my first appointment with them in May this year and telling them that I have worked for only 8 months in the last 26 years and my longest job picking litter only lasted 5 months and having no driving licence and being more or less on the dole since i was 18 and now touching 45 any talk of action plans have never been spoken about since nor has a work log been spoken about. I just have telephone appointments now and I keep telling them I need a full UK driving licence to make this "Reject" more employable. I can feel the provider on the phone getting more and more worn down with me banging on about driving licences and I will keep going on about them on the phone or in person. I know i'm getting parked or going to be very soon.

Please read the ps at the bottom of my post regarding log book.

The restart programme must speak to you by phone at least once every 2 weeks and you must have a face to face appointment once every 4 weeks.
This is in their contract with DWP and you. If they do not do this then they have broken the contract and disciplinary action should be taken against them. I would also suggest that this voids your contract with them?

by Ignatius Wed Aug 24, 2022 11:49 pm

Thanks for clearing up the log book confusion, One-man. Don't forget the imminent Royal Mail strikes when it comes to insisting on everything by post.

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