Jobseeker's agreement after 26 weeks

[mancman16]

Afternoon all,ive just had my 26 week interview at my local jobcentre,i was informed that i had to make a new agreement with them,when they told me that the terms of the agreement i was shocked that i had to accept ''No restrictions on type of work and national minimum wage applies''. I told the woman that i could'nt really agree to something i dont agree with and was told i had to accept this or my benefits would stop. My benefits stoped last week, thought she would know that but she did'nt.The big issue in all this is the fact that i have four c/card bill's being paid out on ppi's and the monthly cost is 2000 per month,she said that if i did'nt sign and agree to this agreement that they would cancel my jsa and i would not get my ABI1 forms signed and that would void my insurance claims which really would send me under.Ive had to go to the financial ombudsman to get the snakes at the insurance companys to pay out on these policy's so you can imagine my horror when realisation kicked in and i had to sign the agreement.I feel ive been shafted by the jobcentre cos they know how much i need the ABI1 forms signing by them.The woman stoped short of offering me a ****e job at that moment in time due the steam coming out of my ear's and the clenching of teeth and screwed up face it was really hard not to loose my rag so i just left,do i have any law's on my side i'e' human

rights, surely the fact that they would be forcing me me into real financial meltdown by not filling in the ABI1 forms could finish me and my family?I paid alot of money over many years for the ppi's and feel it would be very unfare of them to use this against me.....any comments would be a great help....cheer's

[andydd]

Afternoon all,ive just had my 26 week interview at my local jobcentre,i was informed that i had to make a new agreement with them,when they told me that the terms of the agreement i was shocked that i had to accept ''No restrictions on type of work and national minimum wage applies''. I told the woman that i could'nt really agree to something i dont agree with and was told i had to accept this or my benefits would stop. My benefits stoped last week, thought she would know that but she did'nt.The big issue in all this is the fact that i have four c/card bill's being paid out on ppi's and the monthly cost is 2000 per month,she said that if i did'nt sign and agree to this agreement that they would cancel my jsa and i would not get my ABI1 forms signed and that would void my insurance claims which really would send me under.Ive had to go to the financial ombudsman to get the snakes at the insurance companys to pay out on these policy's so you can imagine my horror when realisation kicked in and i had to sign the agreement.I feel ive been shafted by the jobcentre cos they know how much i need the ABI1 forms signing by them.The woman stoped short of offering me a ****e job at that moment in time due the steam coming out of my ear's and the clenching of teeth and screwed up face it was really hard not to loose my rag so i just left,do i have any law's on my side i'e' human

rights, surely the fact that they would be forcing me me into real financial meltdown by not filling in the ABI1 forms could finish me and my family?I paid alot of money over many years for the ppi's and feel it would be very unfare of them to use this against me.....any comments would be a great help....cheer's

 

I didnt have anything like that when I reached my 26 week mark, just quickly went through my job prefrences again and sorted out an IT college course I could start, luckily I started a 3 month contract job soon after but thats now ended so back to sign on tommoz.

 

What is your list of job preferences like at the mo ?

 

Andy

[mancman16]

I didnt have anything like that when I reached my 26 week mark, just quickly went through my job prefrences again and sorted out an IT college course I could start, luckily I started a 3 month contract job soon after but thats now ended so back to sign on tommoz.

 

What is your list of job preferences like at the mo ?

 

Andy

 

 

I've listed [1] builder's labourer

[2] driver

[3]production operative

 

I now know that they cant force me to take a tempory job,but they may well try to foist one on me for the min wage,but if i take it i cant meet the bill's that the ppi's cover so im stuck....ive got an interview on the 31/03/10 so finger's crossed for that, if i get the job i shall be uncrossing my fingers and showing a couple of em to the job centre...onward's and upward's...

[privatehudson]

From what little I know of that side of the process you are usually only permitted to restrict the type of work you are looking for, or the wage you are willing to accept for a defined period from the start of your claim. I thought this was 13 weeks to be honest but that might have changed since I was last in a similar position which was nearly 10 years ago.

 

Hopefully some members with more experience may be able to advise you on whether there is any legal recourse to continuing to restrict the wages part of the JSAG if you would be put into a financial black hole. If not the staff at the jobcentre might be able to advise you of this, even if it means speaking to a supervisor. This may be via appealing the decision and asking a decision maker to review it but I'm not sure if that's a viable route.

 

Rules are pretty black and white and pretty generic so don't meet every circumstance. When I had to review my agreement I had no major outgoings at the time so it was no problem for me, especially since I was already looking at minimum wage jobs anyway. The advisers do not make the rules and have to inform you of them regardless of whether they personally think its fair.

 

One thing I would say however is that if you do wish to pursue an appeal or continue claiming JSA you will want to resolve this JSAG issue ASAP. Leaving the interview without resolving the agreement could have consequences for the claim.

[ErikaPNP]

You do have to have a current JSAg to be entitled to JSA. After 26 weeks of JSA a person is generally expected to extend your jobsearch to include jobs they may not have applied for when the restriction was in place with the previous JSAg, and work which is below the person's preferred earnings.

 

That said, nothing in the world of benefits is ever straightforward.

 

The DWP's guidance on JSAg's is here. Look for 21810, which takes you straight to JSAg's.

[45002]

Just a tip on opening adobe files,opening large adobe files in your browser slows it down

 

Right click on this link http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch21.pdf

 

and "Save as" or "Save" to your desktop as the above file is 212 pages.

 

Once you saved to your desktop,open it up with adobe and on the top right your see a search box,type in 21810 and hit Enter and that will take you to want your looking for.

 

Hope you can understand me

[mancman16]

thank's for your thought's peep's,ive got some reading to do hav'nt i..

[andydd]

Ive just signed back on 'rapid reclaim' after a contract job and essentially Ive started where I left off so in essence Im at the 29 week mark but had no hassle asking me to change my job agreement to accept minumum wage or anything in fact we agreed to remove my 3rd 'choice', Database Assistant as its IT Support Im after and I have no real database skills.

 

Andy

[darthjack]

Ive just signed back on 'rapid reclaim' after a contract job and essentially Ive started where I left off so in essence Im at the 29 week mark but had no hassle asking me to change my job agreement to accept minumum wage or anything in fact we agreed to remove my 3rd 'choice', Database Assistant as its IT Support Im after and I have no real database skills.

 

Andy

After having my 6 month interview, i was made another apointment for a months later. I then started a temporary job that only lasted 4 weeks, so cancelled the second interview. When I made my rapid reclaim, I was told to use one of the phones in the jobcentre to make another appointment, to be told that I didn't need to as it's a fresh claim. A few weeks later the local jobcentre sent my girlfriend a letter for a work related inteview. So my girlfriend phoned job seekers direct and was to that is was a mistake as the claim has to be 26 consecutive weeks and to phone the local jobcentre to cancel. Days later my girlfriend was phoned by the jobcentre to ask why she had cancelled, so she told them the same thing, but was given another interview date, as she has "got away with missing the last interview as I was working". My girlfiend said that she didn't agree with them but would attend the interview. 10 mins later the phone rang again from the Job centre saying there was not need to drag her in and cancelled the work related interview.

Since my rapid reclaim I have looked at as a fresh claim.

[mancman16]

Hi all ive got a strange one as usual,im asking the jobcentre to fill in ABI1 forms for my credit cards,they wont fill em in when they are due and it makes the payments late to the card accounts.This causes the companys to bombard me with letters and phone calls,ive explained the job centres attidue to them but it cuts no ice.Why wont they fill them in when they are due?

They say that they will only fill them in on my signing day[every two weeks]even though they have me signing every week?Im not in receipt of any payments from them as they ran out in march and i cant claim anything else cos my partner works 24hrs a week.The constant calls and letters is driving me mad and i cant see why they wont fill the forms in when they are due. Can i insist that they comply with the insurance companys requirments?Ive paid a lot of money out on these policy's over the years to avoid the stress that these loons at the jobcentre now place me in.....

[Ravi99]

Hi all, I am also in a similar situation in relation to the ABI1 form.... At the time I took out my mortgage protection policy many years ago I never knew that I had to get such a form filled up by the Job Centre each month for the insurance company to pay me!! I am on a contribution based JSA and won't be entitled to Income based JSA after 6 months as I have a little bit of savings over and above what is required to be entitled to Income based JSA...So just wondering if the Job Centre will still provide me with the ABI form monthly (so I can send it to the insurance company) even though they are not paying me any allowance/benefit after the 6 months - is there anything like a "voluntary sign-on" with the Job Centre so I can get this ABI form after the 6 months? Would greatly appreciate any feedback if any of you have been in a similar situation previously... Many thanks

[mancman16]

Hi Ravi99 when your 6 month's of jsa run's out they still make you sign on so you can still get your ABI1 form filled in when you go.Good luck i hope your jcp office is better than mine.

[Ravi99]

Hi Mancman16, Thank you very much for the information - yes I am hoping my local JCP will be a bit more considerate than your local branch!! My plan is if they force me to accept anyjob at the interview with minimum wage etc and sign an agreement I will just have to refuse signing it. I will then make a complain to the insurance company that I am not willing to accept anyjob etc as this is not the reason I took out PPI. If that fails then I will just have to take the matter up with the financial services Ombudsman and see what happens. Honestly had I known about this ABI1 form filling business I would never have taken out a PPI policy as it is such a "trap". I am confident I will find a job in the field I specialised for many years, so I will not accept any job just so that the insurance company can get out of paying what they agreed to after 6 months.... Good luck Mancman and thanks for the information.

[mancman16]

Hi Mancman16, Thank you very much for the information - yes I am hoping my local JCP will be a bit more considerate than your local branch!! My plan is if they force me to accept anyjob at the interview with minimum wage etc and sign an agreement I will just have to refuse signing it. I will then make a complain to the insurance company that I am not willing to accept anyjob etc as this is not the reason I took out PPI. If that fails then I will just have to take the matter up with the financial services Ombudsman and see what happens. Honestly had I known about this ABI1 form filling business I would never have taken out a PPI policy as it is such a "trap". I am confident I will find a job in the field I specialised for many years, so I will not accept any job just so that the insurance company can get out of paying what they agreed to after 6 months.... Good luck Mancman and thanks for the information.

 

 

Hi Rav99 Just be careful mate,if you refuse to sign the ''Agreement''they will stop your claim and then they wont sign your ABI1 form,sign it but next to it write that you've signed it under ''Duress'' .How can it be an agreement if you dont agree with it?.The fact that you've signed it under duress mean's it becomes worthless.The insurance company will just refuse to pay out with out the abi1 forms,they can make you apply for the rubbish job's just agree with them and go and fail the intreview...also they cannot force you to take tempory job's....all the above is only what i have experienced my self and im no expert,if im wrong im sure the vast knowledge of other forum members will put you wright...goodluck

[Ravi99]

Hi Mancman16, Thanks again for the valuable information and tips, that's excellent...I will certainly keep them in mind for my interview.... Many thanks