JSA Sanction and conversion to UC?

hasteyninja wrote:Can i request this thread to be deleted by the mods? I'll be sure to stick around the site and contribute anything i can in future.

hasteyninja wrote:Today I had my fortnightly meeting with my work coach. He has been trying his hardest since around week 3 to sanction me, intimidate, and borderline bully. He is honestly making me ill.

Never shows any interest in actually offering me vacancies or whats available, just straight to pure scrutiny about my job search and has sanctioned me once already for not doing enough in 1 particular week, though from what I read I actually had a case to challenge the decision but didn't know any better at the time, alas, here I am. The first sanction was a few months ago and have since cut my losses there, however his incessant interrogation has come to head today where he photocopied my job search evidence and said he'll be sending it off to a decision maker. My job search consists of a journal dated with what i applied for, where i applied, job site used, any ref numbers included etc. and a list of screenshotted emails to back it up, i apply average 5-7 jobs a week. This isn't good enough for him, and he insists it's just "a list of jobs" Since forever he's been trying to push me to show more, but never specifically can tell me with a straight answer what he's looking for, except that he wants some kind of application tracker, application contents, CV data sent per application etc. to the point where he proposed a CC variation just 2 weeks ago to request that kind of information about my applications which I refused in the name of data protection, fought with a statement and won the outcome of.

Off the back of this is today, 2 weeks later, where he has taken my job search evidence to send off to a DM since he says it's not adequate and again "just a list of jobs", but I am giving him emails of submitted application confirmations and a journal with ref numbers, when I tell him this it goes in one ear and out the other.

I asked if it was a sanction and how it will affect benefits, he says my benefit will be suspended until a decision is made, I pleaded with him to no avail, the man is cold as ice. I can't afford this - I am at my wits end, I should NOT be sanctioned, as far as i'm aware I provide adequate evidence as listed above but maybe I'm wrong? I feel like he is out for blood since I overcame his CC variation porposal 2 weeks ago, I feel like an agenda is being played here and I will end up on UC. The reason I think that is since when I asked if I'll be sanctioned he told me if the decision goes against me, my benefit will be suspended and I'll be steered towards UC. I don't really understand this but judging by the latest post here, there seems to be a game JC staff are playing to thrust JSA claimants onto UC by doing this, I suspect if his DM pal puts the decision against me, then I expect my claim to be immediately closed and told to sign up for UC like the other guy on this forum.

I've asked to speak with his work coach team leader since I'm desperate to avoid this whole thing and receive my benefit and I've been wanting to submit a complaint about him in general for a while, but she has been busy to this point. Citezen's Advice is all booked up and I'm at a loss of what to do here, someone kindly pointed me towards this forum so I'm hoping for anything to help me through this.

Anyone got any advice out there?

I'm new here btw.

Non Deficere wrote:For those who find themselves in a similar situation, I would suggest the following action:

Follow the steps here (this is one of my favourite organisations):

http://edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/?page_id=52

It is most important when your benefit is suspended immediately.

Request your personal information via a Subject Access Request (SAR), which is free.
You don’t have to use the DWP online service, you can simply write a letter to request the information you need.

Online request:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-your-personal-information-from-the-department-for-work-and-pensions

Example letter can be found here:
https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-of-access/

In Oneman’s case the SAR provided proof that the JCP official was dishonest.
https://respectfulbenefits.forumotion.com/t3250-jsa-sanction-information-2-updates

I think a Judicial Review is required, because of the unjust procedure currently in place.

hasteyninja wrote:

Non Deficere wrote:For those who find themselves in a similar situation, I would suggest the following action:

Follow the steps here (this is one of my favourite organisations):

http://edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/?page_id=52

It is most important when your benefit is suspended immediately.

Request your personal information via a Subject Access Request (SAR), which is free.
You don’t have to use the DWP online service, you can simply write a letter to request the information you need.

Online request:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-your-personal-information-from-the-department-for-work-and-pensions

Example letter can be found here:
https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-of-access/

In Oneman’s case the SAR provided proof that the JCP official was dishonest.
https://respectfulbenefits.forumotion.com/t3250-jsa-sanction-information-2-updates

I think a Judicial Review is required, because of the unjust procedure currently in place.

This is great, N-D!

Thanks, Pintel. I'm not sure.

Just a little update, I received a text today which has left me a little baffled now from the DWP, nothing is ever straight-forward with them!

"We've changed your JSA because of a sanction. Your Jobseeker's Allowance has been disallowed from 9/1/19-22/1/19 because you were not actively seeking employment. Your payment has not changed and will continue to be paid into your account."

What? So am I sanctioned or not? I'm about to phone them for clarification but thought someone might be able to decipher this contradictory nonsense here first. Very confused.

Pintel wrote:Welcome to the forum @hasteyninja.  

One point thouI thought the Work-Roaches weren't allowed to copy any job search? So could you ask for this material to be destroyed/deleted by the JCP?

"where he photocopied my job search evidence and said he'll be sending it off to a decision maker".

Pintel wrote:Welcome to the forum @hasteyninja.  

One point thouI thought the Work-Roaches weren't allowed to copy any job search? So could you ask for this material to be destroyed/deleted by the JCP?

"where he photocopied my job search evidence and said he'll be sending it off to a decision maker".

hasteyninja wrote:Not exactly.

I phoned the dwp and spoke to a nice woman who went through what I said above about the confusing text, she was as confused as I was when looking at things her end. She confirmed that the sanction was overruled and decided in my favour, but she said for whatever reason there still remained a suspension on my claim or something... So she put me on hold and tried to find out more. When she returned she said I should expect my payment since everything seems to point to that the sanction was unjust and that I (The customer) showed good reason and steps for finding work during the sanction period in question as presented by my "work coach". She confirmed that he (the work coach) contacted me to let me know of the decision and that my claim wouldn't be affected, all true.

She said that either the sanction status that remains may just take a few days to be removed from the system or that someone at the actual benefit office which I forget where she mentioned is based, has left the suspension status to my claim up either via a miscommunication or for a reason she doesn't know. She said she put a note on the system and to expect a call from someone at that office to go over what's going on and for further clarification. I was told I would get a call before 5pm.

Well I didn't receive any call so I have absolutely no idea what's going on. I will phone back tomorrow I guess and go through the motions once again, I'm honestly dumb-founded and don't know whether they're up to something or if they're really just that poorly organised. The text alone set off alarm bells, the wording is incredibly lacking in clarity and the two paragraphs directly contradict each other. I still have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to somehow by lumped into UC, but maybe I'm speculating too much at this point.

I'll update tomorrow,

Cheers.

hasteyninja wrote:Received a call this morning from a lady at the benefit office saying she was asked to call me. She said the sanction has now been lifted and a payment has been issued as normal. I asked her to confirm that my claim is no longer suspended and she simply said "yes, sorry about that".

So I guess things are resolved for now.

Thanks all of you for the support, and hopefully this thread can help anyone who finds themselves in a similar spot.

Non Deficere wrote:

hasteyninja wrote:Received a call this morning from a lady at the benefit office saying she was asked to call me. She said the sanction has now been lifted and a payment has been issued as normal. I asked her to confirm that my claim is no longer suspended and she simply said "yes, sorry about that".

So I guess things are resolved for now.

Thanks all of you for the support, and hopefully this thread can help anyone who finds themselves in a similar spot.

 Great news!

Thanks for sharing your story.

You may wish to make a complaint if you discover maladministration within your SAR.

hasteyninja wrote:

Non Deficere wrote:

hasteyninja wrote:Received a call this morning from a lady at the benefit office saying she was asked to call me. She said the sanction has now been lifted and a payment has been issued as normal. I asked her to confirm that my claim is no longer suspended and she simply said "yes, sorry about that".

So I guess things are resolved for now.

Thanks all of you for the support, and hopefully this thread can help anyone who finds themselves in a similar spot.

 Great news!

Thanks for sharing your story.

You may wish to make a complaint if you discover maladministration within your SAR.

I might look into this in future, I'm sure my WC will be continuing to give me grief, that's two attempts in a row now back to back.

Thanks.

hasteyninja wrote:Your knowledge and experience is hugely appreciated. For the average person like me though, I don't know the first thing about a SAR request or the implications that might go with it; how best to use it as a complaint procedure or whether I'd be pushing buttons to get me into more bother than I bargained for with the JCP staff - finding myself in hot water without the know-how to back it up.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm treading carefully unless pushed because I don't feel experienced enough with this stuff to deal with it with my full integrity, that's why I found solace here, it's people like you that instil significant confidence about my position or others out there in a similar boat, and while I didn't have to use anything you provided (for now) just knowing that advice is there is huge. I'd love to be of help to others, I'm just waiting to see what his next move is before I decide anything, I just want to protect my ability to eat first and foremost.

As I said in the first post, I was trying to complain to my WC's manager after the latest debacle post-meeting but she wasn't around, i asked for her details, phone no. and name, on the phone I got her email address, turns out it was the wrong one and there was another dwp employee with the same name half way across the country . To her credit she was trying to help me find the right person but after news of the sanction removal I decided to halt the complaint for now - I wouldn't know where to start with the legislative facts, I just really wanted to give her a piece of my mind about the guy and the way he's been treating my case.

Will he back off a bit? Probably not, you'd think he would when his superiors at the DWP are telling him my job search evidence is fine, but I'll continue just now as is and see what next fortnight has in store for me, I will use that time to read up on all of your links to try to better understand the procedures and my rights, as well as job-seeking of course!.

Non Deficere wrote:Request your personal information via a Subject Access Request (SAR), which is free.
You don’t have to use the DWP online service, you can simply write a letter to request the information you need.