HI, Hope someone can help out with this problem.

My sister is claiming JSA and has been told she must attend a skills conditionality course, mon-fri 10 til 4, lasting 18 weeks.

She has been told this course is mandatory because she is long term unemployed.

She has been to the first interview with a group of other claimants and was told to fill in all the forms etc, and given a run through of what training she will be given, but the problem is she is blind in one eye and only has awareness of light and contrast in the other, she is unable to read or write legibly

one of the attending advisors filled in the forms and asked her to make a mark as a signature.

my sister is looking for work although restricted, she does voluntary work at a local animal sanctuary at weekends and at a nearby allotment 2 days a week, that is run by the rnib

I have seen some legislation that some diabled claimants could only be put on the course voluntary but it also states that long tern unemployed is mandatory.

She uses the county community transport service to get around but they will not take her out of county, which this course is.

her work coach/advisor seems fairly uninterested in helping and has explained she will be sanctioned.

she receives PIP at enhanced rate for both sections

Please can anybody point me in the right direction

many thanks

Might be worth making a complaint about this in writing to DWP head office. If you visit Gov.uk, you will find a link to the complaints page. mib might also be able to assist with this. Some skills courses can be mandated, but the provider has to make reasonable adjustments under the Equalities act . If the provider and Job Centre are not providing the assistance required, then there is reason to complain.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

If your Sister is receiving PIP enhanced, the question why has she not claimed ESA or Universal Credit, where she can have a health assessment to find out whether she is entitled to be treated as not able to work or is restricted ? Many people receiving ESA or UC limited capability for work, still work with a health condition.

The silly thing is that she would need a Doctors fit note for ESA or UC, if she wanted to have such an assessment. This would presumably stop her work at the animal sanctuary and allotment.

thank you for your reply,

The point of claiming ESA is the doctor states " you are not ill, therefore a sick certificate, is not appropriate.

Yes you are correct she would have to give up her jobs, but these form a big part of her independence, so she would only part with them if she had paid work, maybe of a similar nature.

I have just spoken to her and the universal credit part has never been spoken about with her advisor and we are not really instep with what its all about.

She had the interview on Wednesday last with the training people and is expected to start tomorrow, she said she was given a leaflet and note about it, so I am going to pop round to read it for her.

The main thing will be working out how to get there for her, because its out of county.

many thanks again

thought I should add, she is 57 and lost her sight in an accident at work in 2012

She has many many years of experience, as a licensee and employer herself, so retraining with new skills will probably be fruitless.

Remember that if there is no public transport option that enables someone with limited sight to use these, then the course provider would have to pay for a taxi each way.

Get a quote for a taxi both ways for each day and submit the details to both the course provider and Job Centre.

I would really suggest that you do make a complaint to DWP in writing and get them to justify the course being mandatory in writing. Also raise the issue of transport and the daily cost.

thank you

I am with my sister now and she is in a dreadful state, the letter she was given is about sanctions and loss of benefits.

She has agreed I can go through a complaint with them.

I shall do the taxi cost quote straight away.

it stuns me how they can pick on the vulnerable like this, she has been on work courses before, which were held locally and for 2 weeks, 3 days a week but she did not benefit from it as they were unable to supply the speech recognition software for a computer or teach her how to use any.

the activities they have outlined for her are : critical thinking ?, conflict management, leadership, practical team building, communication and working as part of a team

apologies I do realise I am ranting