To phone the Job Centre or not that is question?

[Greer8472]

I am getting quite sick and tired of this.

 

According to my first sanction which runs from 24th Aug to 22nd Nov I thought I would not be paid. Not to mention the other two which has been slapped on to me that runs after this one where I could not even agrue my case. Can someone tell me why the hell I have been paid £65.45 today? What is also strange this payment has come from another branch Barry St Edmonds. The branch where I actually signed on is Ipswich.

[antone]

Although I'm not familiar with the Suffolk area (when I worked for JCP my offices covered a part of central Scotland and also some of London) the office in Bury St Edmunds is a Benefit Delivery Centre (BDC). These are the large offices, usually from 300-800 staff, where claims are processed and payments are issued. Each BDC has a number of associated Jobcentres, so presumably payments from Ipswich Jobcentre are processed and paid at Bury St Edmunds BDC.

 

It's not really possible to answer the question of why you've been without more information. It could simply be an error - perhaps the decision to sanction your claim wasn't communicated to the BDC in time. Or it could be a part payment, since you may still be owed money from a period where the sanction does not apply. When did you last receive a payment and what period was it intended to cover?

 

If you decide to phone, I would start with Bury St Edmonds if you're querying the payment, since that's the office that issued it. Their number will be on any letter they have sent you.

[Greer8472]

Thanks for clearing up the issue with Bury St Edmonds whopppss Barry lol

 

19th August £130.90 was the last payment from the job centre I have received before this one. The amount I have stated above was during my 1st sanction which runs from 24th Aug to 22nd Nov.

 

I am going to sit it out and see what happens. Don't worry this money I have received is going towards to find a job. I going to travel there and back 100miles to a job agency to register in hope. Not searching for job huh! job centre!!

[antone]

19th August £130.90 was the last payment from the job centre I have received before this one. The amount I have stated above was during my 1st sanction which runs from 24th Aug to 22nd Nov.

 

 

OK, this makes a bit more sense now.

 

When there's a "doubt" (as JCP so elegantly puts it) about your claim it will normally be suspended. This stops all payments, but doesn't actually change anything else about your claim. The matter is passed to a Decision Maker, and it can take some time (a few weeks, perhaps - it varies between offices) for the DM to actually adjudicate. Once the DM hands down a decision, the processors will input that decision onto the payment system.

 

So (stay with me on this ) in your case I suspect it has worked as follows:

 

 

• Your Benefit Week End day (or BWE, the day you sign on) is Thursday, and you were last paid on 19th August.
  
• So your Benefit Week Commencing (BWC) day is Friday - your benefit week runs from Friday to Thursday and you are paid in arrears
  
• When a sanction is imposed, it starts on the first BWC following the date from which the sanction was imposed
  
• In your case this would be Friday 27th August - that's the first day for which you are not due payment
  
• But you have only been paid up to the 19th August
  
• So when the DM reached a decision and passed it to the processing section at Bury St Edmunds, they would have removed the suspension and input a sanction on the system
  
• Removing the suspension would cause the payment system to release payment to you for the benefit week 20th-26th August, as you were not subject to sanction for that period
  
• Hence the payment for 7 days benefit of £65.45
  

I hope that makes some sense.

[Greer8472]

That makes perfect sence antone. Thanks for clearing that up or trying to make sence of what happened here.