Sorry I missed your replies there, Sparkles. I'm not a legal guru by any means, but I'll have a look into this since my friend's Hardship Allowance is repayable and he shouldn't be making repayments if the DWP weren't allowed to sanction him in the first place.

I'll just provide an update on how things panned out, in case it may help others in a similar situation. I was advised to take the step prior to launching an appeal, which is to ask for a reconsideration of the sanction via letter. I sent an initial letter around August 13th outlining my friend's battle with depression and how it has affected his day to day life, including his ability to sleep and make appointments on time, and how this relates to his sanction. Then, on August 15th, he received a letter concerning a second sanction for the same period due to another missed appointment. I then placed another letter in on the same day asking for them to reconsider this decision too while summarising what was said in the initial letter. On Monday, I called up to see if there was a response. They declined to reconsider the sanction as they stated he should've had put steps in place to make sure he was able to attend interviews, as well as the fact that the reasons stated appeared to have no impact on his ability to make DWP-based appointments. On the same day, he attended an appointment concerning claiming Hardship Allowance for the period of sanction. He outlined his depression as his reason for hardship and the advisor classified him as 'at risk', meaning he was able to receive hardship allowance at a rate of 40% less than his benefit entitlement which was backdated to the beginning of his sanction, eliminating the 14 day waiting period. He's decided not to launch an appeal against his sanction as the money he receives from hardship will be enough to see him through. He wasn't asked for any evidence from his GP as it was stated in all documents that initial appointments were upcoming. Not sure if that will be helpful to anyone, but I thought it'd help just to post an update.

I'll do that first thing tomorrow. Does it matter that I've not informed them of my change of address? It was one of those things that completely slipped my mind. Also, should I ask for a manager or whatever the fines service equivalent is?

Sorry, forgot to cover that. I contacted the Magistrates Court today to explain the situation (that deductions had continued and I believed that they were for the fines as before, and about my move) and they stated they were completely unable to recall the debt from Collectica. However, I'm sure I know someone who's previously had a debt recovered from their predecessor Phillips. I'm more or less unsure where to go from there. They offered me a telephone number for Civil Legal Services, but when I contacted them the advisor said they were unable to help and unsure as to why I was given their number in the first place.

Hello, I've had a letter come through today from Collectica which states I owe £755 from fines dating back two years ago. The total amount still outstanding to the courts is £455, so the rest are bailiff fees. These were initially being taken out of my benefits (I've been on Jobseeker's Allowance for some time now) but I signed off for two weeks to attend a work trial. When I signed back on, there were similar deductions being taken off which I assumed were the fines again (I owed no other money out). I then had to move at the end of June abruptly. Today's letter is the first contact I've had from the courts or Collectica for some time. I wasn't aware the courts were looking at taking enforcement action and they say it's been sent on since the beginning of July. They've also said that, despite my move, they've sent out all the relevant documents and have met their obligations legally. I'm staying with a friend and his family while I sort myself out after a couple of years of severe depression due to my mother's illness and subsequent passing. Things were pretty much looking up until this happened and I'm really unsure about what to do. I've not contacted Collectica yet as I'm scared it'll make things worse, and I'm worried if I tell them about this letter or the fact there are bailiffs, I'll be out. Obviously I'll need to explain this to them though. I'm not going to say I'm not at fault though - I should've managed my affairs better and had this sorted a long time ago.

Hello, I'm in the process of dealing with a friend's JSA claim and possible claim for Hardship Allowance. My friend suffers from pretty bad depression and, although he has informed the DWP about this since it started nearly two months ago, has struggled to keep both appointments with his GP concerning treatment and with the Work Programme he was assigned to. This has essentially arisen from the passing of a family member which he mentioned around a month and a half ago when he failed to attend an initial Work Programme meeting, which they were fine with. They scheduled a follow-up appointment via post which he failed to attend as he received the letter after the scheduled appointment time. He submitted a letter for this and they were again fine with this overall. But they made another appointment for the Work Programme on July 26th which he failed to attend (one of the coexistent symptoms is insomnia, so he woke up late). While waiting for someone to get in contact with him concerning rearranging the appointment again, he received a letter stating he was to be sanctioned for four weeks starting from August 1st. As the letter arrived Friday he was unable to do anything about it immediately and this has caused him a great deal of stress, which is why I've agreed to help him sort everything out. So, here's where the questions come. Firstly, after reading the relevant parts of Chapter 35 of the Decision Maker's guide online, I've pieced together that he should be able to claim Hardship Allowance following an initial 14 day period, so for the final two weeks of his sanction. This would involve filling in form JSA10 from the Jobcentre which he is going to collect tomorrow. However, I've read on another post here that people sanctioned due to the Work Programme are unable to claim Hardship Allowance at all. Is this correct? The letter doesn't state that the sanction is due to this, but it's pretty much assumed since the Work Programme was the only appointment he missed. Secondly, I am also planning on launching an appeal for the sanction on his behalf. I'm unsure how much of his depression has been noted by the DWP but I know he has disclosed this information on the previous two occasions mentioned and they have been fine with this. I've downloaded form GL24, with the aim of completing it and handing it directly to the Jobcentre tomorrow. It mentioned I can request a Statement of Reasons to outline why the sanction was imposed, but that limits the time to appeal down to just 14 days from when the request is received. Is it worth requesting a Statement of Reasons before launching the appeal? Also, how long does it take to receive this? And can they provide information behind the reasoning of the sanction over the phone? This is all a little new to me. I've had one sanction myself before but I successfully appealed it straight away and there was no noticeable impact on my own benefits (aside from a slightly higher phonebill from having to nag them constantly, hehe). Thanks again for reading this and for any/all help provided in advance. Chris (PS. I feel obligated to mention that MachoShirts is actually an anagram of my name. I just realised the name sounds a little bit yob-ish.)