JSD to participate in a public phone work search interview

Following ABC's good news:

https://respectfulbenefits.forumotion.com/t4570-broken-phone-and-availability-on-jsa#13386

Information to help those who may be required to particiapte in a work search review via a public phone call

It is possible, but unlikely that a JSA claimant may receive a JSD to contact the Jobcentre via a public phone.

Introduction

34901 A sanction can only be imposed on a claimant’s JSA where a claimant refuses or fails without good reason to carry out a JSD which was reasonable having regard to the claimant’s individual circumstances1.
1. direction is reasonable giving full consideration to all the claimant’s individual circumstances including any restrictions or limitations agreed on their JSAg (Claimant Commitment) (also see DMG 34903 and 34904) and 2. direction meets the criteria at DMG 34905, i.e. it
2.1 assists the claimant to find employment and/or
2.2 improves the claimant's prospects of being employed and
3. claimant can show good reason for the failure or refusal to comply (also see DMG 34911 and DMG 34200 et seq for further guidance on good reason). Reasonable in the claimant’s circumstances.
34903 A JSD has to be reasonable and appropriate for the claimant in their circumstances.
Example 1
Fraser lives in a remote village and conducts his work search review with his advisor fortnightly by public telephone using a free phone number. He does not have a mobile phone and so uses the post office telephone in the village to make contact with his advisor as arranged. Fraser has shown an interest in working in the care sector and his advisor wants to set up an interview to discuss Fraser attending a Jobs Fair to gain knowledge of roles available and the skills/qualifications required before his next regular scheduled phone interview. A direction requiring him to use the public telephone at a specific time would not be reasonable as the phone could be in use. A reasonable JSD would be to direct Fraser to use a public telephone within a specific time band, for example on Tuesday 10.1.17 between the hours of 9am and 1pm, to contact his advisor to discuss the feasibility of him being able to attend the Jobs Fair.
Example 2
The advisor wants Veronica to open an email account and provide an email address to enable employers to be able to contact her directly and for her to be able to make job applications via email and have access to job vacancies that are only advertised online.

The advisor considers Veronica is restricting her work search by not having an email account and her current methods of searching for work are proving unsuccessful. Veronica has raised objections to opening an email account as she does not want her personal details held on a public computer system due to security fears. Veronica is 55 years old, lives alone in rented accommodation and does not own her own computer or a mobile phone. She is, however, computer literate and uses a computer regularly at her local library, her place of voluntary work and at the Jobcentre to search for job vacancies. She then uses non-personalised resources to apply for any identified suitable vacancies (post/telephone). She has been unemployed for 7 years. Veronica has some previous experience of working in retail, administration and catering and is fully computer literate, although she says she is not confident in using emails to apply for jobs and has concerns about security and cyber theft. She has continuously shown she has met the work search requirements on her JSAg and demonstrated sufficient evidence of job search each week without an email address but has not been successful in securing employment.JSA claimants are expected to do all that is reasonably expected of them to actively seek employment and DWP would expect them to look for work through as many different sources as possible. The rationale for having claimants create an email account is that, depending on the area of business, this is the means by which many employers communicate in a ‘digital age’ and modern labour market and how they would normally expect prospective job applicants to up load their CV to apply for vacancies. Furthermore, an email address is usually necessary to register with employment agencies and to create an account on such job sites to gain access to more vacancies that are only advertised online. The advisor considers using a JSD to mandate Veronica to set up an email account. The direction would be linked to action to assist Veronica to find work and would improve her prospects of being employed and therefore would meet that criteria. It could open up avenues to pursue more suitable advertised job vacancies and have direct contact via email with prospective employers. However, consideration also has to be given to whether the direction would be personalised and appropriate to Veronica at this point in time and whether it is reasonable in her circumstances. Veronica has genuine fears and concerns regarding online security and these need to be fully explored and support offered to her to overcome those barriers before issuing a JSD. In particular, expert support could be offered to Veronica to explain what is required of her and the security in place to protect her personal details and any email account she may set up or by requiring her to attend a digital workshop or training course to try and overcome her personal barriers to using email. The advisor asks Veronica to attend an interview to discuss the options and sit with a computer expert who will demonstrate how emails work, how to set an account up and explain about security and data protection.

Restrictions
34904 Any restrictions or limitations the claimant has agreed on their availability for work must be considered as well as whether they will benefit from completing a particular action.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936079/dmgch34.pdf

"34901 A sanction can only be imposed on a claimant’s JSA where a claimant refuses or fails without good reason to carry out a JSD which was reasonable having regard to the claimant’s individual circumstances1.
1. direction is reasonable giving full consideration to all the claimant’s individual circumstances including any restrictions or limitations agreed on their JSAg (Claimant Commitment) (also see DMG 34903 and 34904) and 2. direction meets the criteria at DMG 34905, i.e. it"

Thanks so much for the above info Welfare Champ as will be very useful  for me and i guess many others.Hard to find things which state  "giving full consideration to all the claimant’s individual circumstances including any restrictions or limitations agreed on their JSAg (Claimant Commitment) "