hi, im 60 years old and i am on jsa, and have health issues, (can not stand for long periods) my adviser knows this ,but now she says its time for me to move forwards, and she will find me a work placement ,when asked how many hours, she said ,most likely 30 hours a week. my work sheet states looking for work 16 hours a week max.but shes going to find me a placement for 30 hours ? if i walk out of the placement will i be sanctioned.

I wanted to know what the new rules are with regards to withdrawing consent for the WP to share your info/contact people on your behalf/claim their fat payment for my hard work when I get a job .. as I am sure I read it had changed since last year, also coincidentally each time I attend a review meeting I get loads of spammy job/credit emails in the weeks after which seems a little timely!! Am getting increasingly fed up with the WP provider, by and large I have had a year of having to attend weekly job clubs with slow computers and the like but since I hit the year mark it seems to have ramped up big time, I have a good work history with good companies and a degree and the minute my latest advisor saw it his eyes lit up and I have been pestered left right and centre. I was upped to two job clubs a week and also appointments/training sessions/interview techniques etc on one or more additional days a week and it was getting silly and made me ill so I had two weeks off with stress symptoms. I then had more blinking appointments and changes to my job clubs and was told a few weeks back at 1pm on a Monday that I was to stay after job club that day for extra sessions looking into agencies and applying for more jobs for 2 hours each day that week (mysteriously my letter had 'got lost in the post' telling me this), I kicked up a bit of a stink as I am a single parent and said I had to pick my son up from school at 3 so those times were unsuitable, so with a bit of looking at bus timetables he relented to sessions from 1-2.30 each afternoon that week which was still pushing it as am reliant on public transport which is never the best, I attended the first and then had enough, got upset (I am on antidepressants and suffering severe anxiety at the moment relating to a thyroid condition I have just been diagnosed with) and I decided to get another doctors note for 2 weeks. During this two weeks I had a letter from them saying I had to come in during that time and I politely told him NO, the day my sick period ended there arrived a letter saying I had to attend a review appointment in 2 days time and I just knew he was going to mess me about, sure enough on the Friday afternoon at the appt he says I need to up my attendance to daily sessions of 4 hours, which means dropping my son at school, a 45 min bus journey there, then getting back in just enough time to pick him up, I protested that I had a PC at home and why did I need to do all this on their premises and he said I might 'get distracted' at home (as opposed to their noisy office of course!!), that I had appts to arrange and so on which were being neglected due to them calling me in all the time willy nilly saying they are mandatory and have to attend, and he said as I was a jobseeker I should jobseek during those hours, I have no prob doing this, my JSA agreement says 5 jobs a week and they say 10 which I do easily and have never not done, he is also pressurising me to do full time work/get a better off calculation for FT work, which my JSA flexibilities say I don't have to pursue due to being a lone parent, there is no mention of any beneficial training, and any suggestions for that or clothing for interviews have been shot down in flames, its just flaming jobsearching in their offices every day, presumably so I can't attend any interviews without them knowing and that I get fed up with the arrangement. Its not as if I am not trying to get a job, I have had about 6 interviews in the last few months but none successful, am really fed up with the situation with the WP and its making me feel worse, we are reviewing the situation tomorrow after my session and I know he is prob going to suggest the same again next week when I have 2 inset days at my sons school, I really just resent the fact that they think they can pressure me like this and assume I have no plans for the week or anything else to do, and then get a nice big payment for MY efforts at the end of it all so want to know what my rights are, unfortunately at the beginning I signed all their docs as I was being too blinking nice!! PS. Sorry this is a bit of a rant having looked at it, but felt good to vent!!

I have to start at 9am and end at 5pm, but the bus doesn't arrive near the shop til 9..46am and last bus is around 4pm. I have never been to this town before, and don't know the bus routes. I have been suffering from travel sickness and have been to the doctor about my diareah(sorry, but the doctor said that was normal to go to the bathroom every few minutes). I have an appointment on Monday to pick up travel money and have to be there by 2pm. From March to June of this year I was volunteering at a charity in my home town. I am wondering if I should apply to a charity shop in town? But this woman (who was dressed like she was going out to a party) said that SEETEC only ran a few shops. Can I refuse this placement due to it being in a part of the county where I've never been? There is no way I am able to get to the placement in time, I'll be late. And according to the letter if I am late it can effect my benefits.

Hi I really need some help with what's happening with the jobcentre. Every time I go in there its awful and I dread it and always think what next So now I have been put on community work placement for 26 to 30 weeks! I finished the work programme in June 2013 so was put on post work programme when I went back to the jobcentre. In February I did mandatory work activity for 4 weeks. I was left alone for about a month then put on daily signing for 13 weeks, when I said to my advisor I thought this only applied to people who finished the work programme after April 2014 she said it applies to everyone now. Finished that and then about 2 weeks later I was put on a retail course. Just finished that and the first appointment I had at the jobcentre she says she's putting me CWP Can she do this? Fist I thought she couldn't because I finished the work programme before April and after reading what I can it seems you get placed on either daily signings or CWP not both If anyone could give me any information that would be great Thanks

I've been told by the Jobcentre that I must attend a community work placement. However, I've just had a quick look through the Provider's Guidance for the scheme, and on p.5 I noticed the following paragraph: 1.14 JSA claimants referred to CWP will have agreed a Claimant Commitment (CC) with JCP which outlines what jobseeking actions a claimant must carry out in order to give them the best chance of getting into work.(my underscore for emphasis and clarity) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/314475/community-work-placements-provider-guidance.pdf However, I only have the old style JsAg and have never been asked to complete a Claimant Commitment. So I'm curious if anyone knows if this would be sufficient to render me ineligible for a Community Work Placement referral? Or, is it essentially inconsequential and, if I brought it to anyone's attention - be that JCP or the provider - would they then simply make me create a CC so that I would then qualify for the scheme anyway? Thanks in advance. Zohar

Yes hello to all and I do hope you can help I have just been put on a job placement from the jobcentre plus for 30 weeks but I heard if you are on disability living allowance you don't have to do the job placement I get job seekers allowance so please help as I don't know the ins and outs of jobcentre plus thank you

Six weeks ago my partners advisor tried to refer her to the CWP, she refused. This advisor and his pal sat at the desk next to him, both victimised my partner and tried to force her onto the CWP in a dirty underhanded way. We have put in a big complaint under the equality act, and my partner also recorded the one conversation showing she was being ganged up on. You may remember I asked about the recording. The DWP, as yet, havnt answered the complaint. My partner also included a consciencious objection. The CO is being dealth with by a DWP manager in Bracknell. So it looks like the CO isnt even going to be considered as part of the whole complaint. But the problem is that the DWP has now tried to refer my partner three times in six weeks. We have already had one sanction equiry form which we replied to, and had a reply back saying it is being upheld. But today we have received a second sanction equiry form relating to the second time they tried to refer my partner. The first saction upheld letter was dated the 14th July, received 17th which said that the sanction was being enforced for the period of 1st to 28th of July, so we were informed of the sanction two weeks after it started. I have checked my bank account and the payment for 4th July was for the full amount, only the 17th paymeny was hit. So this is a procedurral error (i think). But to explain my question with a dodgy example. I go to Tescos and a staff member offers me a tin of Tescos baked beans, I refuse saying I dont like them, so I receive a sanction. Two weeks later the same staff member tries to offer me the same tin of baked beans, again I refuse so now I get a second sanction. My arguement is that if its the same tin of baked beans (CWP Initial Referal), offered three times over six weeks. Can they actually sanction me multiple times for turning down the same tin of beans (CWP Initial Referal) ? Despite the fact that my partner stated in a six page letter why she wouldnt do the CWP. Surely it must be three completely different tins of baked beans, tescos, heinz and branston, for three sanctions to be imposed ? They have refused to take into account my partners illness, her doctors cert with part time hours, the JSA agreement clearly showing less than 20 hours a week, the fact that she is a carer for her mother which the DWP knows about, the fact that the info for the CWP clearly states 30 hours a week with 4-10 hrs structured jobsearch a week which would put her at least 14 hrs over the part time hours that she is down for doing. We have also looked at the Community Payback info, and it seems that the termanology for the CWP and Community Payback are very similar in what work the person is going to be doing. It seems that offenders and claimants would be working together. My partner also stated that under health and safety she didnt want to be doing work with offenders. We obviously need to appeal the first sanction. But we are concerned about how to deal with the second saction enquiry, as the answer is going to be exactly the same as the first. So we need to gain some good advice about how to proceed. Plus does anyone know why its now called a sanction enquiry form ? Before it was a sanction doubt. If possible can you also advise on legal action, or possibily commercial liens, as the only way to get through theses peoples heads is with legal action against the individuals rather than the DWP as a whole. As Im thinking that there is a big loop called the complaints resolution team, that protects the rest. Thanks Phillip

Nice... http://www.asda.jobs/stores/starting-the-journey/work-placements/about-work-placements/

Any objective opinions on the following scenariowould be appreciated. 1. Conscriptedonto the work programme without choice or as much as a by your leave. 2. Pressuredinto participating in a work placement. Again, no choice offered, but thethreat of sanction if I failed to participate. 3. Thisis the main point, the legality of which I question: The work placement provider was asub-contractor set up by my work programme provider. Either the placement provider orthe programme provider bid for council contracts to repair, maintain orregenerate council properties/land etc. Jobseekers on the work programmewere then coerced, browbeaten, intimidated and threatened with sanctions, ifthey refused to “volunteer” to carry out the work, fulfil the contract forwhich the placement provider and/or the programme provider bid and were gettingpaid. There was not even pretence atpassing the experience off as preparation for gainful employment. It was puregraft and manual slog. A half decent building contractor would have used a JCBto dig and shift quantities we were expected to move by hand.