My friend may lose his new job because Didsbury Jobcentre have not made his final benefit payment

[Disheartenedtaxpayer]

My friend is unemployed but has accepted a job working away from home on a temporary contract.

 

Despite completing the appropriate paperwork, Didsbury Jobcentre in Manchester have not released his final Jobseekers' Allowance payment and have not returned his urgent phone calls.

 

He cannot return home to collect a giro payment if one is sent as he is working too far away. And the earliest he can receive a bank payment would be on Thursday, 16 July (over a week late).

 

Now he is unlikely to be able to continue in his new job as he has run out of money.

 

He has worked for this company before on a temporary basis and is distressed at the thought of having to let them down. He is also very angry about the slack standards in the Civil Service.

 

Can he sue the Employment Service? What recourse has he?

[antone]

There are several avenues to explore before he should even consider suing anyone. Firstly, calling the Jobcentre won't help - he needs to call the relevant Benefit Delivery Centre (BDC), as they are the ones who actually process and issue payments. They will have a telephony team whose job it is to answer phone calls. An explanation of the situation would help a lot, but a word of warning: yelling at the telephony staff is likely to be counterproductive

 

Depending on who he banks with, it may be possible to send a payment out to him well before Thursday. (Disclaimer: that's just general advice - I have no access to your friend's claim and so no idea whether or not it would be possible in his case. I'm just noting that it can be done in some cases.)

 

The Social Fund also considers Crisis Loan applications from people in these circumstances.

 

If he wants to complain, again, he should call the BDC and tell them this. There is a complaints procedure in place. If he still wants to sue, he should contact a lawyer who handles civil actions.