How do we know this sort of thing isn't already happening anyway? I'm sure that anybody who phones up the DWP and says so-and-so looks very suspicious to me is liable to be investigated. I had a swarthy gentleman from my local jobcentre shadow me when I did a job for my brother. On what grounds was he doing that?

Because Benefits Legislation is regulated by Civil Law not Criminal Law, does that mean that if I end up being convicted for benefit fraud I won't have to worry about getting a criminal record??

Hello! I need feedback about the Benefit Appeal Tribunal and whether or not they are fair. Since the Jobcentre decision makers have already stuffed me by stopping my JSA for four months for not applying for one job handed to me, how can I be confident that the adjudicator/tress will be any more compassionate with me. She/he may be just out of public school and I may be the first normal pleb she/he's ever met! I have claimed that the sanction is excessive, so there must be an element of subjectiveness in any decision on this. I used to get amused when I watched Judge Judy tell unemployed people on TV to "Get a Job!!..", but when it's you and you've got £1000 of benefits riding on somebody's subjective judgement it isn't so funny anymore!

I don't know how many appeals are allowed before the tribunal, but I'm guessing it's like parking appeals; i.e. hardly any. They ought to shoot through them all in a couple of days:!:

No, I confused the "ought to's" with the "might try's" because of my mental condition which has been confirmed by my doctor in writing.

Go back to La La land!

I was sanctioned for not applying for one job I was given. So far I appealed the decision because the four month sanction was too great for a simple oversight which I attribute to my mental condition which I have supported by a doctor's letter. And I had porridge and marmite sandwiches for breakfast. i.e. it's irrelevant! The principle is justice should not be delayed unnecessarily. It's similar to being in Tesco and having to wait too long in the checkout line. They don't look in your basket to see what you've spent, do they! They just open a new till for you!

Why is Mary Whitehouse blanking out my expletives!!

Hello! I am appealing against stopping my JSA for four months. However, I don't know how long the appeal will take, as the person I spoke to at Hoxton jobcentre said it could be six months. That's obviously ridiculous, but not surprising since a lot of benefit rules seem to come out of Gulliver's Travels! The Jobcentre seems to be doing all it can to tie me in knots so I have no choice other than to run and catch the first ****ty job no-one else wants paying the minimum wage. The IMPORTANT POINT though is that this wasn't the intention when the original benefits legislation was framed. The idea was that I apply for jobs and update my CV etc. and get treated fairly in return.

My story is similar to yours. My jobcentre gave me a job sheet to apply for and I forgot. They made me confess by filling a form and then suspended me for four months! Previous to this I was only sanctioned once for two weeks, but that was in the good old days!