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wishface

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Everything posted by wishface

  1. Had the appointment with the psychologist this morning. But Im through with the DWP. I cannot deal with them anymore. They couldn't even refund my busfare ffs (so how i'm even meant to get in on friday I don't know, even though they said i could collect it then, though presumably the same nonsense will happen then aswell).
  2. How can the claimant determine when he will be able to look for work again? If you say i think i'll be ok for my next signing time aren't they going to think 'yeah right', especially as it's christmas. If all they are going to do is ask you to come in when you say you might be well again then this solves nothing. Also, as the money is being paid in early to accomdodate the bank holidays, what happens if i say i'm ill on the friday (instead of tomorrow), can they recall the payment? The payment goes in on the 21st (wednesday) to clear the following week, as normal, so if i ring up friday morning, when i'm next due to sign, aren't they just going to again think 'yeah right' and recall/stop the payment? What is a work psychologist anyway?
  3. A form isn't going to show up for weeks after being posted/sent back at this time of year, so they are certainly going to think 'he's having a laugh'. What guarantee is there that the reason you provide will be accepted? Heck of a gamble to take on the basis that it's your word against theirs? Won't they just insist you come in at the first available opportunity after the regular signing date (ie the 23rd), say the 28th, and therefore all that will be acheived is delaying the inevitable? Surely they don't completely excuse someone from signing until their next due date? Are these forms online? Thanks for the response, but i'm going to need to know all the facts 100% clearly before i commit to this course of action no matter how i feel given that the consequence could mean losing my benefit.
  4. How do you declare a period of sickness? Won't you need something to back that up? Presumably they'd want me to come in on the 2nd of January instead of the 23rd (and then on the 6th, which would be my next time). That doesn't seem a better solution, and I have no doubts they'll just decide I'm faking it and sanction me.
  5. I'm guessing the answer is no, but does anyone know what systems in place exist at the dwp for people that just can't cope with signing on anymore. I'm reallys truggling with depression and stress right now; I have two appointments with the JC next week, on monday I have to see a 'work psychologist' (whatever that is, probably another peddler of the Work Programme), and I have to sign on friday (the day before christmas, when of course there will be loads of people hiring). I can't face it. I'm struggling to cope with this time of year as it is, I don't get on with the winter (especially in a freezing cold house). I can't get a doctor's appointment anytime soon either. Is there anything I can do to get the JC to back off for now, or is that wishful thinking? Thanks.
  6. My signing time, over christmas, will fall on the 23rd, which is a friday. I believe the JC is open then (it doesn't say otherwise). Is this normal practise, this close the christmas? It'd be nice to not have to go in and take a break.
  7. I've been to these 'refuse' sites, but I'm not convinced. Not because I'm against them - far from it. I just cannot see these letters and the whole refusal on the basis the 'work programme' isn't counted as a proper employment scheme. That seems like a very trivial technicality that, in this right wing anti-#scrounger' era, will get you precisely nowhere. Good luck to anyone trying this, but it's far more likely the JC will just sanction you and you will have to pay a hell of a cost and fight hard to remove it. I'm also not sure what they are trying to argue; as I said it just sounds like a technicality. Unfortunately I find these sites not particularly laid out well, and for people like me this info needs to be made as clear and direct as possible, and the authors need to know the law 110% because if they don't claimants are going to get annihilated. I'm not trying to be negative, but the reality is harsh. I would very much like to have a discussion about this because if there's a legal way to extricate myself from this preocess -whenever it happens - I want to know. The last time I was sent to such a place I couldn't cope. I ended up getting an assessment at the local community mental health team and signed off. I've said to my GP ever since that having to go through all that sort of crap again will do me no favours. Sadly GP's don't understand the welfare experience and the system doesn't care for your health - especially if ATOS declare you fit.
  8. Noone that is classed as disabled is being found unfit for work, regardless. There is no attempt made to accomodate people's needs or problems. This is what concerns me most about the Work Programme. My experience with similar schemes tells me that nothing ever changes with the DWP. People will be forced into group sessions, which I really can't deal with, for 'inductions' or 'workshops' or whatever other nonsense these privateers dream up to make more money. When I was on ESA I made the effort to contact back to work groups on my own and was able to be seen by them in ways that were suitable to me. They weren't able to help (partly due to funding constrants that have only gotten worse so that these WP privateers are the only ones able to get funding), but at least i was able to meet with them in mutually acceptable conditions at times of my choosing, one to one. The WP won't be like that.
  9. That's assuming they accept the conditions as more than minor/trivial. Becuase of course if they were I wouldn't have failed the ATOS medical, now would I!
  10. What happens if you feel so bloody stressed you just can't handle all this being told what to do and where to go and made to do all this nonsense? Sanction, i suppose.
  11. Can anyone confirm if you must be signing for 12 months, if over 25, before you can be referred to the Work programme? Thanks.
  12. It has been rescheduled and is now for tomorrow 9am. Unfortunately I'm really anxious about it. What can I expect? What horrors await? Everytime I have to go to sign on I just brace myself for the worst, anticipating them stopping my money. I keep a log, but there's no work and I find it a real struggle.
  13. As I said, they know that I rely on the bus service. So yes there obviously restrictions since I can't travel otherwise can I! If i was in work it would be exactly the same thing. Why do you assume otherwise? If an employer suddenly decided, for some inexcplicable reason, I had to be somehwere I couldn't get to at a specific time I couldn't make then he'd be disappointed. And if i was offered a job, which is what you are really trying to ask, that I couldn't attend for the same reasons then I wouldn't accept it.
  14. I'm not asking the system be changed for one person at all.
  15. Why are you making excuses for a broken system? This is all the more reason for them to properly arrange appointments with clients. Just booking appointments arbitarily regardless of whether you live 10 miles or 10 minutes walk away is clearly going to cause problems. I don't really care how many people they have to see, that's their problem. What I care about, and what they are charged (and paid) with doing is dealing with clients properly. If that means swapping appointments around to make it better for all concerned then yes, that's the best way of doing it. The best thing all round however is to consult with the client and book an appointment that is convenient for them. Until then they sign as normal. Using excuses such as 'well if you had a job..' is just fatuous and patronising.
  16. I'm suggesting they book appointments that are in accordance with people's needs. I don't see any reason to be snide. it's totally ridiciulous to just expect someone to stand around for 3 hours.
  17. That's great (i use library facilities all the time). Then what? Sit and stare at the pigeosn for 2 hours? That would send me mental.
  18. Of course I can get hold of a bus timetable - in the same way that the staff booking these appointments could do the same. I'm not sure what part of limited bus service in a rural area is causing the problem here. If i can't get to certain places at certain times what can i reasonably be expected to do? Pay through the nose for a taxi? Fly? This is just ridiculous. The whole system is designed to work against you with advisers that don't listen, don't understand and seem incapable of grasping simple facts. This has nothing to do with my work history nor any consideration of what i'd do if it was a real job (it wouldn't make any difference, apart from the fact i'd be paid a proper wage and not the pittance that comprises JSA, if there's no means to get to a given appointment there's nothing i can do about it). (edited)
  19. They would know full well it was going to be a problem because it's on my file where I live and that I rely on buses. Honestly, these peopel are just hopeless. How can it be beyond the wit of man, when booking an appointment for someone (without any consultation thereof), to check these things? There's only one bus service gets me to the jobcentre and if it doesn't run when they want me to attend then I can't attend (unless i turn up 3 hours earlier and sit on the park bench with nothing to do for that time which is bloody absurd). I'd love to reclaim ESA but that would mean persuading my GP again, whichisnt likely, as well as going through the medical again. I'm sure they'd book me in for that right away, so i'd be back on jobseekers within a month.
  20. I wasn't given a letter I was told and given an appointment card (presumably in case I forget). They didnt' ask me what would be a convenient time. There is no support locally for these issues. I have no desire to see the DA since they are a) not a doctor and b) i have to still claim benefits and c) dealing with the jobcentre at all is a complete nightmare.
  21. Signed on, week 12. After the usual nonsense of being put forward for unsuitable jobs I'm given a special appointment for a fortnight's time. In place of my normal signing time of 9-15am, which I can attend, i'm given - without any say so - 2-20pm. Buses might not run then (i coudln't say for sure at the time). This seems to be completely beyond the jobcentre's understanding.Then they give me the choice of attending next wednesday and I had a minor panic attack. The thought of attending that place more than once a fortnight is beyond my anxiety threshold. I watched myself just refuse refuse refuse the appointment - calmly and politely (as much as one can). I went into anxiety autopilot after which i explained to the advisor that i had been claiming esa due to anxiety/stress (and, i believe, asperger's - or at least symptoms like those suffered by such people) and my medical failed, etc. To be fair the advisor did seem sympathetic, but, as I said to her, anxiety is anxiety; it's not something that can be turned on and off - that's why it's anxiety. I find it really really difficult to cope whn routines are changed on a moment's notice as well as something as straightforward (to everyone else i'm sure) as catching a bus and attending the JC. You might as well ask me to fly a plane or climb everest.Having since looked at the local bus timetable that time will be impossible. The buses run a small and limited service and aren't part of the main local operator's network. I don't really know waht I'm to do at this point. Maybe I should go back to the GP and have a fresh look at ESA (the claim ended in October and i failed the medical and subsequent appeals/tribunal, as iv'e menitoed before, iirc).
  22. Yeah right. I don't have a personal adviser at all. In fact they've had to put my appointment from 9am to 9-15, which forces me to wander around town for half an hour with nothing to do. This is because they've had some people quit or something, even though there were the same people there as there were before and they had enoughs taff then as well so I don't understand it. Instead I had to udnergo a military operation between two security guards coordinating over radio just so i could go upstairs where 3 other advisers were waiting, just the same as the people downstairs whom i saw before without any of this nonsense and be seen by one of them for some inexplicable reason. If this is the change in question then it's a shallow waste of time.
  23. I had one of these interviews (although nothing really came of it and there was no discussion of the JSAg) at 6 weeks. Nothing's changed since then.
  24. What is the current state of the 13th week JSA condition where you have to sign on weekly? My next signing is next friday, the 27th, which will be week 12. Do you have to go in from the 13th week? As someone with asperger-like problems I find this really difficult to deal with, though of course I suppose there's no way of avoiding it.
  25. I think you've misunderstood the question. What i'm asking is: will the payment be issued a day earlier (thursday in this case) in time to clear on the usual day (wednesday) because of the bank holiday.
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