I was targeted by DWP staff after the Christmas holiday period for not having made enough effort over this period to look for work.

1. HR departments would have been on holiday so would not have been able to respond to my enquiries even if there were any jobs being advertised.

2. There were no jobs advertised in this period.

3. I did apply after the main Christmas week for jobs abroad as they were the only ones advertised.

4. My Personal advisor (DWP) queried my applying overseas. I explained I needed to fulfil the Jobseekers agreement. She then took a long time to scrutinise my logbook/ diary, went to a colleague to discuss my logbook, returned & claimed I had not made enough effort to look for work.

5. This was compounded by fact that I was not required to sign on 4 weeks over Xmas & New Year so could not be advised there might be a problem

6. To date the Decision makers have had my case for over TWO weeks and have not yet made a decision nor asked for any further information.

7. If they do find against me I will of course appeal but this should never have gone to decisions makers in the first place.

8. It is the fault of my Personal advisor, she did not have to refer this given the time of year and I do believe it is malicious.

I was targeted by DWP staff after the Christmas holiday period for not having made enough effort over this period to look for work.

1. HR departments would have been on holiday so would not have been able to respond to my enquiries even if there were any jobs being advertised.

2. There were no jobs advertised in this period.

3. I did apply after the main Christmas week for jobs abroad as they were the only ones advertised.

4. My Personal advisor (DWP) queried my applying overseas. I explained I needed to fulfil the Jobseekers agreement. She then took a long time to scrutinise my logbook/ diary, went to a colleague to discuss my logbook, returned & claimed I had not made enough effort to look for work.

5. This was compounded by fact that I was not required to sign on 4 weeks over Xmas & New Year so could not be advised there might be a problem

6. To date the Decision makers have had my case for over TWO weeks and have not yet made a decision nor asked for any further information.

7. If they do find against me I will of course appeal but this should never have gone to decisions makers in the first place.

8. It is the fault of my Personal advisor, she did not have to refer this given the time of year and I do believe it is malicious.

I suggest that, when you receive an Official Letter from the Decision Makers, that you appeal as you suggest. However, there are a number of jobs portals available (ignoring the banal and malignant Universal Job Match) which, once you have registered, and upload a CV, can apply for jobs 24-7, 365 days a year except when the website is down.

It is possible that the JCP Clerk did not refer your case to a Decision Maker, or raise a Sanction Doubt.... some staff offer misinformation to candidates (such as suggesting that it is mandatory to sign up to Universal Job Match when it is not) simply to introduce a "State of Fear" amongst candidates.

Have moved you to the Employment and minimum wage problems section.

Hi benTen,

it was a problem we all faced over Xmas - hitting your job application targets. Most people probably did - especially if they had Internet access.

We all know that if you don't hit the agreed number of weekly job applications they will sanction you - so you made yourself a target I'm afraid - they won't let that go by without taking action.

Appeal by all means, and good luck.

PS - the misinformation around the 'universal job match site' is prevalent - I was told I had to register and I had to give access to my job advisor - both of which are untrue - but I did it to keep them from sanctioning me.

Reply to Rebecca :She has referred it to the Decision makers as I got the letter stating this had been done and my benefit has been suspended for the period in question. Two weeks later I'm still waiting.My current benefit for last two weeks should have gone in today and I was told I had met the requirements. You are correct about the Universal Job Match site. They automatically include this in the Job Seekers agreement as if it is mandatory which it isn't & they dont like it when you inform them that you know it isn't and that they shouldn't be lying to claimants. I know I shouldn't provoke them but it still isn't right and they need to be stopped from this kind of behaviour. Wouldn't it be nice if they actually did their job and helped jobseekers find a suitable job. Thanks for your input.

Reply to Lorraine: Yes I perhaps should have forseen this but did not believe they could be so stupid and petty. If i'm still unemployed next Xmas I will apply for something even on Xmas day!!! Still waiting to hear from the Decision makers ( now over two weeks) in meantime have not been paid benefit for those 2 weeks. I should have received this fortnights benefit (sorry JSA) TODAY as Im sure it should be paid in to the P.O. card account 2 days after signing and I was told that I had met the requirements this time so it should be there. Wonder if its not there tomorrow whether I can sue for breach of contract. (Any solicitors out there reading this let me know). Thanks for your input.

Hi benTEN,

I hope you get your money. Breach of contract id an interesting notion - I'd love to see the face of a job advisor if you ran that past them. But you'd be on a hiding to nothing.... and more sanctions.

When I signed on again (after many years) I was wholly bemused by the system that is in place, especially the 30 minutes plus interview I get every time I sign on - a waste of time which always concludes with a depressing "let's have a look at the dir.gov.jobs website anyway" - and so another five minutes plodding through the worst jobsite on the web looking at jobs I had already viewed earlier in the week.

Hopefully you'll get the money you are due.

Signing on - what an eyeopener!