my friend cancelled his JSA claim today and has appointment booked with his ingeus advisor tomorrow, he has asked me if he can still get sanctioned for not attending as he is switching from JSA to ESA? sorry to keep going on but he keeps asking me.

Hi this is my second thread here, I'm currently on JSA and have been building a port folio to become a graphic designer and have built a very promising android mobile app that I am very proud of, I discussed this with my advisor thoroughly and was still stuck on the work programme as opposed to new enterprise allowance, which cannot be appealed it seems, I have no skills or grades and very poor credit, and the work programme seems unable or unwilling to help me, and everyone else I turn to for support or advice say I must be an SME to qualify for there support or go it alone (poor credit hinders this option) I wondered if anyone here knew the ins and outs for instance if I published my app can I continue to receive JSA and inform them of any monies (if any) I make from it as a freemium app, or do I have to be self employed? And the same would go for being a graphic designer? Any advice would be appreciated as lately while developing my portfolio I have been accused of benefit fraud and am currently fighting my corner (find out soon from a decision maker on that one) but I believe it was the work programme who tipped the job centre that I was building a portfolio even though it was them who advise me to do it :S so I am reluctant at best to tell them anything they don't need to know thanks again for any and all help

hello, as a member of the above ESA group my time on the Work Programme (which I started while on JSA, fwiw) ends this month. To that end the JC have written to call me in for a 'post WP support interview', however I have been told that for people in my position this shouldn't happen. This is apparently because the WP doesn't end after two years if on ESA. Can anyone confirm the correct position here? The DWP claim that the WP ends after two years (i started in April 2012) regardless of what benefit you are on or were on when you were referred. FWIW also the WP has proven no help at all and I am not particularly comfortabnle dealing with the JC again. I am undergoing a mental health assessment process and would rather avoid all this as much as possible. Thank you.

Hello everyone, this may be long so please bear with me. I'm currently claiming JSA an have been assigned to the work programme (Sarina Russo). My first appointment went quiet well, although my advisor was off sick,his stand in was quite nice to me, however, it really annoyed me when he told me that I should be in employment and the fact that even though there are around 50 people going after one job - there is no reason why I shouldn't get the job and he wants to find out why. While this is kind of a compliment, him saying that insinuates that he thinks the problem lies with me and not the fact that I have around 50-1 chance of getting the job. I have worked in the past (just over a year ago) and done well in interviews but of course convincing him of this is another matter as it can't simply be that someone else got the job through luck (or bad luck on my part). All this stress, lack of work and finger pointing has kick started my depression that I have suffered with most my life and am considering going on the sick as I'm crying out the blue, feel and have thoughts like people with depression do (I will spare you the details). This is on top of the fact that I may end up homeless. My parents are moving from the midlands to yorkshire in the next month or so, I either go with them or stay and be homeless (as I live with them). While this is a no-brainer, I have zero idea where I would stand with my advisor and the WP if I mentioned this as I dont want them to think I'm not looking for work or am not willing to work here as hey, if I found a well paid job I'd stay and get a place of my own but this is looking very unlikely as I've been unemployed for just over a year - I've even done courses while being unemployed to make myself more employable but... nothing, so I have some questions I hope are answerable. 1. If I went on the sick, what happens to my WP claim if I moved during being on the sick? 2. How can I make my advisor see that it's hard getting past the application stage, never mind get an interview, never mind get the job when so many other people are after it as well without him thinking I'm rude and sanctioning me or sending me on stupid interview technique courses? 3. What should I say to my advisor about moving and that I may not be here much longer? I don't want him thinking I don't deserve my JSA because I am moving, therefor not looking for work, when moving would increase my employment chance as we are moving to a city with more job opportunities. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi, I've finished the Work Programme and would like to find out if all of us Post Work Programme people have to do a Customer Compliance Interview showing our passport, utility bills, tenancy agreement, 6 months worth of bank statements. I have read the CC guidance to see what it is all about and would like to get info about what to watch out for, what they asked apart from changes of circumstances and if it resulted in a sanction or anything unpleasant or if it went fine. All I have coming into my bank account is my HB and JSA and reported changes of circumstances immediately but I know that they have some tricks up their sleeve. Saw a post saying they closed the OP's JSA claim on hearing she is ill telling her she has to claim ESA instead. I can see it will end in calling the manager again as these advisers misbehave too much. Please reply tonight if you have the time. Thank you.

ive just had a discussion with someone who is also on the WP and he claims that it is possible that there could be hidden cameras and microphones in places like WP providers centres and jobcentres that not even the staff who work there know about. he said there could be someone sitting upstairs monitoring everyone and not even the staff here may know about it, the building where ingeus the provider we attend is located does have lots of empty floors :/ could this be happening or is this person just trying to spook people?

Ingeus are a private company. (Part of the mighty Deloitte Group of accountants.) This makes me wonder if I can sue them for non-performance. I was told I had to attend various workshops on different topics, this was made mandatory. The workshops were all run by the same person, who is laughably incompetent. He makes numerous mistakes of fact, he gets confused which event he is running and either him or the company often get the invite list wrong, with attendees getting repeat workshops but not the first workshop in the sequence. To top this, he tells lies about himself and his background (he claims various achievements, which on checking, have turned out to be false) and is in every way grossly incompetent. The 'workshops' on the usual topics like interview skills and team building, are utterly useless. Ingeus also run the usual selection process for candidate pool assessment. During this session the selector behaved in a plainly racist manner towards one candidate and generally treated everyone else like dirt. The process itself was laughably fabricated to produce a given result. (Everyone selected apart from those who did not have ID evidence.) The ID evidence demand was itself confused and contained possibly illegal elements. All of this makes me wonder if I can't take them to court under, for example, a Small Claim. After all, they are a private company are they not? They have wasted many hours of my time on these farcical activities, time which would have been far more profitably spent doing my own job searching activities. What do you CAG experts think about this, might I be able to get a CCJ against them for compensation for inadequate and useless service provision? Might I differently be able to argue that their restraint of me in these pointless workshops and other activities amounted to undue restraint or even kidnapping?

I have a 0 hours contact where I perform 8 hours or less per week for a business, it's a good rate of pay but not enough to cover the £71.50 per week every week. I don't claim any other benefits and most weeks I get £10 in JSA if I don't get extra hours and I've been doing this current job for several months. OK so it's a 0 hours contract but it's work, I enjoy it and it keeps my hand in so to speak, I also volunteer several days a week. I'm actively looking for alternative work and any casual jobs that come up I go on them but as I've not secured anything permanent in the past 15 months so I've just been put onto the Work Programme with Maximus and subcontractors. I've never been so demoralised in my life as when I went to the first interview. It was awful, they slagged off everything they could and kept mentioning sanctions. Theyt added every time they couldn't actually make a sanction, that was someone elses fault, but rest assured they could recommend it for anything they see fit so do as you are told, although in my case it's hardly a major threat. I had to tell them about my current employment. This was earlier in the week. The day after the interview someone from the subcontractors called my manager and started asking all sorts of questions. It was really embarrassing and then she insisted on talking to me and had nothing of importance to say. Then couple of days ago I received a letter from Maximus congratulating me on my new job? I don't have a new job I'm still on the 0 hours contract. It stinks of Maximus or their subcontractors trying to falsely claim tax payers money for finding me a position when they haven't or an adviser trying to bump up their numbers of people into work. I did not sign a Data Protection Waiver although they kept putting on plenty of pressure (mentioning sanctions they don't have anything to do with but they can tell JCP I'm not complying with something else in order to ensure I get a sanction). I did sign a sharing information document (big mistake) for which I'd now like to withdraw consent. I'm not sure how to go about this and do I make a complaint directly to Maximus or to the subcontractor? I don't want them falsely claiming money for something they haven't done.

I had been on Work Programme since last April, then my JSA ended last month as I went abroad. Now my JSA has been reinstated but I have no news from the Jobcentre whether I should go back to the WP provider. Tomorrow I have an interview for a job (wish me luck!). 1) If I get this job, do I still have to share information with my old WP provider? In other words if he calls me, do I have to give details and can he legally 'harass' my new employer? 2) Can/should I request a letter to withhold or withdraw consent from the Work Programme provider? Is it necessary or is it overkill? Thank you all in advance.

I am currently in the ESA support group and am not due another review until next year. Prior to applying for and getting ESA I was on JSA and had been on the work programme for a few months. I have recieved a letter from my WP provider saying that as I have been on the work programme now for a maximum of 2 years I am now being referred back to the Job Centre and they are writing an Exit Report for me. I am a little confused as I believed my participation on the work programme was suspended while I was in the Support Group of ESA? Also does this mean that should I find myself back on JSA next year that I will be immediately placed on the new "tough" JCP regime to get those not helped by the work programme back to work? This sounds inappropriate for someone like myself who has been very unwell the past few years? Perhaps as I am on ESA Support that if I do return to JSA next year I will be regarded as a new claiment?

I noticed that Amelia Gentleman, a reporter for the Guardian has been asking for people's experience on work programme on Twitter. Here is her tweet which contains her email address. As this is not a verified account here is a link to her Guardian profile. http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/ameliagentleman

when i signed for the first time at Ingeus the other day they took my job search diary off me, i got told its to check if i have done enough. does this mean they'll contact every the employer of every job i apply for and write on the diary? :S

I'm 14 months into my Work Programme referral and I'm wondering what happens afterwards. I'm pretty sure I remember being told that the referral was for 24 months (Ixion). I'm a 54 year old male and I've had lots of interviews and been diligent about going into their offices a couple of times a week, work diary properly typed out and verifiable. But now I'm nervous about what happens afterwards? Do I go on to a mandatory work scheme? Does anyone know? Any guidance greatly appreciated-

...or face sanctions. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-programme-memo-082.pdf This is not good news. Too ill to work means you're too ill to work. Being made to work for your benefits WILL tip people over the edge. More news here as well... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9683811/Prepare-for-work-or-lose-your-benefits-long-term-sick-are-told.html

So I went for an interview today at EOS set up by my adviser, I was told the job was a customer service position, when I get there he starts telling us about the job and turns out that it's merchandising for some company where you go and stay in a travel lodge for 5 days a week working 12 hour days filling unopened supermarket shelves. :/ We all have a quick interview and he pretty much offers me a job, told me he also offered 1 other dude a job but no one else (I was last) then I go out and wait to collect my bus fair and get chatting to this other girl who was in interviewing before me and she tells me he offered her a job too? wtf? I really dont want to work away from home for 5 days a week, I have trouble sleeping as it is and never get enough sleep in strange beds, I think that + 12 hour days + my WPW syndrome would probably kill me. So what will happen when I turn the job down? will my adviser try to sanction me or something? I have to see him tomorrow at 4 another thing is the contract is only for 16 hours, he said there's more hours most weeks but I have been stung by people saying that before. Please help I'm worrying a bit.

Has anyone else received this letter from the DWP? It seems a good idea to participate and tell them of my bad experience. But I was wondering if anyone has had the interview and knows what kind of questions they ask. What kind of answers are asked for - is it multiple choice or otherwise? do they focus on technical details or personal satisfaction? Any advice or information would be most welcome.