Ingeus

[chuks]

Jasta 11 and Hi think about and all that have contributed.... loads in my community are very thank full as information reaching them from this site for the few day we found this sit have made a huge difference in our thinking and the state of confusion we found ourself. Thanks everybody.

[Tj rodgers]

So after being on post work programme support since last september i signed on today to be told by my advisor that people at my stage of my jsa claim are now expected to attened weekley signings - anybody know if thats correct?

[chuks]

Be careful. Double agents are missleading people now. Careful and do research by your self and act on it. Get info here and research on it

[honeybee13]

Be careful. Double agents are missleading people now. Careful and do research by your self and act on it. Get info here and research on it

 

Hello chuks.

 

What do you mean by double agents please?

 

HB

[chuks]

Not genuine contributors.

[Tj rodgers]

I do know how to use this site that is why i came here to ask the question

[chuks]

Meaning contributors who only want to misslead to suit the organisation who they work for or affiliated. Just saying people should resesrch also and find information rather than just take anything thrown at them

[Tj rodgers]

Go and B*tch about this site else where ive been coming here for 18 months and always found everybody helpfull

[chuks]

Better go and do resarch . Good luck m8 by

[Tj rodgers]

If anybody has any info it would much appreciated thanks

[honeybee13]

Meaning contributors who only want to misslead to suit the organisation who they work for or affiliated. Just saying people should resesrch also and find information rather than just take anything thrown at them

 

I'm not aware of people doing that here, but I stand to be corrected. If you have specific examples, please PM me or someone else on the site team.

 

HB

[Mr.P]

So after being on post work programme support since last September i signed on today to be told by my advisor that people at my stage of my jsa claim are now expected to attended weekly signings - anybody know if that's correct?

 

In a genuine attempt to answer your question: As part of the post WP regime, you can be required to sign on weekly, or even daily at the whim of an adviser - That said, a weekly signing schedule has been within the remit of JCP from day one of your claim.

[Lapsed Workaholic]

So after being on post work programme support since last september i signed on today to be told by my advisor that people at my stage of my jsa claim are now expected to attened weekley signings - anybody know if thats correct?

Hello TJ

If I recall we’ve exchanged views and experiences on Post WP Support in the past. Our situation was not very different.

 

I came off WP about two months before you and so far nobody has told me, or even suggested, that I should ‘sign on’ weekly.

Did they make it clear to you that you would actually be ‘signing on’ every week? Or, do they mean that you need to attend interviews or whatever at the Jobcentre every week?

I believe that the Jobseeker’s Allowance is based on a weekly payment but the actual ‘signing on’ is fortnightly.

The whole sanctioning process, rough as it is, is also, I believe, based on the fortnightly ‘signing on’ arrangements.

If claimants ‘sign on’ every week, I would expect there to be no objection to the JSA being paid every week. I would also suggest that the basis on which the whole sanction and penalty procedures are presently administered would be thrown out of any semblance of consistency.

If increased attendance is expected then that is by agreement between the ‘Work Coach’ or whatever they are called now, and the claimant and is the sort of activity that requires the claimant to be mandated. Have you been properly mandated and given reasons for having to attend weekly? Have you been given the opportunity to appeal against this additional imposition?

[essexmat]

I would also suggest speaking to your JCP coach (or whatever they are called this week) and say that if you were to sign on weekly that is 2 additional fares to JCP you need to find from your benefit money. Remember, your JSA is there because "the DWP has deemed this the amount payable for you to live on" So any additional expense to you means you are out of pocket - also, if your original agreement is to sign on every fortnight and it is now weekly you want a new JSAag or Client Commitment or whatever it is called this week and paying to travel 2 out of the 4 weeks

[Tj rodgers]

Hello TJ

If I recall we’ve exchanged views and experiences on Post WP Support in the past. Our situation was not very different.

 

I came off WP about two months before you and so far nobody has told me, or even suggested, that I should ‘sign on’ weekly.

Did they make it clear to you that you would actually be ‘signing on’ every week? Or, do they mean that you need to attend interviews or whatever at the Jobcentre every week?

I believe that the Jobseeker’s Allowance is based on a weekly payment but the actual ‘signing on’ is fortnightly.

The whole sanctioning process, rough as it is, is also, I believe, based on the fortnightly ‘signing on’ arrangements.

If claimants ‘sign on’ every week, I would expect there to be no objection to the JSA being paid every week. I would also suggest that the basis on which the whole sanction and penalty procedures are presently administered would be thrown out of any semblance of consistency.

If increased attendance is expected then that is by agreement between the ‘Work Coach’ or whatever they are called now, and the claimant and is the sort of activity that requires the claimant to be mandated. Have you been properly mandated and given reasons for having to attend weekly? Have you been given the opportunity to appeal against this additional imposition?

No i mean weekley appointments but they did make me sign the same document that u sign when you go to your usual fortnightly signing to prove that i did turn up - they had booked me an appointment that i had last week on my non signing week which it was told was one of the case load appointments and wouldnt happen again for a while but the advisor i saw when i signed yesterday said that appointment was an "Intervention Meeting" and people who are at the stage where i am at are now required to attend weekley

[Tj rodgers]

Hello TJ

If I recall we’ve exchanged views and experiences on Post WP Support in the past. Our situation was not very different.

 

I came off WP about two months before you and so far nobody has told me, or even suggested, that I should ‘sign on’ weekly.

Did they make it clear to you that you would actually be ‘signing on’ every week? Or, do they mean that you need to attend interviews or whatever at the Jobcentre every week?

I believe that the Jobseeker’s Allowance is based on a weekly payment but the actual ‘signing on’ is fortnightly.

The whole sanctioning process, rough as it is, is also, I believe, based on the fortnightly ‘signing on’ arrangements.

If claimants ‘sign on’ every week, I would expect there to be no objection to the JSA being paid every week. I would also suggest that the basis on which the whole sanction and penalty procedures are presently administered would be thrown out of any semblance of consistency.

If increased attendance is expected then that is by agreement between the ‘Work Coach’ or whatever they are called now, and the claimant and is the sort of activity that requires the claimant to be mandated. Have you been properly mandated and given reasons for having to attend weekly? Have you been given the opportunity to appeal against this additional imposition?

 

Also while i was there i heard the staff asking each other if for example "joe Bloggs turned up for his intervention" - god knows what these interventions meen?

[Tj rodgers]

I would also suggest speaking to your JCP coach (or whatever they are called this week) and say that if you were to sign on weekly that is 2 additional fares to JCP you need to find from your benefit money. Remember, your JSA is there because "the DWP has deemed this the amount payable for you to live on" So any additional expense to you means you are out of pocket - also, if your original agreement is to sign on every fortnight and it is now weekly you want a new JSAag or Client Commitment or whatever it is called this week and paying to travel 2 out of the 4 weeks

Yea she told me to bring in my ticket and they pay travel costs for the week i dnt usually sign on - also they no longer give a fixed signing on time now - everytime i go in they book me a time for the next signing on date so its the same day but not the same time every fortnight

[Lapsed Workaholic]

Thanks for clearing that up TJ.

 

So, it’s weekly attendance and not weekly signing on.

 

Four points may now be worth addressing, to do with administrative procedure;

 

 

1. Was a full explanation of what this ‘Intervention’ means given and what is the ultimate expected objective?
   
2. Has this been discussed with you and was your agreement sought before it started?
   
3. Is this activity mandatory, will failure to comply result in automatic penalty or sanction?
   
4. If it mandatory then the proper procedure should have been to inform you in writing and the letter informing you should have explained the reasons for, and the expected beneficial result, of the activity. Was it done that way in this case?
   

Whatever the answer to the above I believe that this additional activity has changed your Jobseeker’s Agreement or Claimant Commitment. As such the rules covering changes should apply, the most important one of which, in this case, would be that there should be agreement.

[jasta11]

Regarding changing the signing time every week, they're told to do this in their guidance - supposedly it's to keep claimants alert and used to being in the 'real' word (ie stopping us lying in bed all day). Being the cynical type, I have a feeling that it's also to make things difficult for those who are working on the fiddle and claiming.

 

The DWP go on about 'building a rapport between the customer and their adviser' so surely a regular day and regular time would be far better? I gave up trying to understand the DWP mentality a long, long time ago.

[essexmat]

I was told during my time signing on that they regularly change dates and times as it is 'blatantly obvious' people are working cash in hand so if their signing days and times are the same they can regulalry work - if they are changed it can make it difficult for them. Not that I am condoning working and claiming JSA of course, after all, £71.40pw is more than enough to live off these days with gas and electric, food, water rates, council tax however minimal, fares on buses and trains and so on - can't see how anyone cannot live off that lovely amount especially when Joe Bloggs aged 25 has done not a days work in his life and gets £71.40 and Joe Bloggs brother has worked 20 years and paid a fortune in NI and tax and gets, erm, £71.40 - it is a fair system

[fletch70]

I don't see how anyone can condone people working while on JSA. It does everyone a disservice because they can use it for more control and as an excuse for even tougher measures. Who has noticed that we have moved back to a notion of the deserving and undeserving poor . The next step will be the workhouse for the "undeserving" poor . A totally regressive step that takes us back to the mid 1800's

[Lapsed Workaholic]

I would not feign righteous indignation at anyone who engages in a bit of work to supplement a paltry income of £71.40 per week. On the other hand I would condemn most vehemently employers who pay such low wages that their employees have to still rely on benefits and food banks to survive.

 

As far as needing an excuse to exert more control and tougher measures is concerned. It is estimated that the current measures have contributed directly to around 1,500 deaths this past year, how much tougher can they make it?

[sillygirl1]

If it was 'blatantly obvious' that somebody was receiving substantial amounts of cash in hand from work done whilst on JSA surely it is within the JCA employee's remit to launch an investigation into the person they suspect of working whilst claiming benefit... if not then they are spouting the rhetoric the Conservative party like to peddle about the 'unworthy benefit scroungers'.

 

If Universal Credit does work and become the new 'passport to benefits of any and every kind' then they will have created again another class of people to 'target'.

[Tj rodgers]

Thanks for clearing that up TJ.

 

So, it’s weekly attendance and not weekly signing on.

 

Four points may now be worth addressing, to do with administrative procedure;

 

 

1. Was a full explanation of what this ‘Intervention’ means given and what is the ultimate expected objective?
   
2. Has this been discussed with you and was your agreement sought before it started?
   
3. Is this activity mandatory, will failure to comply result in automatic penalty or sanction?
   
4. If it mandatory then the proper procedure should have been to inform you in writing and the letter informing you should have explained the reasons for, and the expected beneficial result, of the activity. Was it done that way in this case?
   

Whatever the answer to the above I believe that this additional activity has changed your Jobseeker’s Agreement or Claimant Commitment. As such the rules covering changes should apply, the most important one of which, in this case, would be that there should be agreement.

 

No i was told by my advisor a fortnight ago that he had messae on the computer flag up that he had to make an appointment for me to see him then he wrote it on a little green jcp appointment card an stapled it to my white Book then i had my appointment last week an he just said it was to spend more time with me to see how im getting on than just the usual 5 mins on signing day - hes a nice advisor hes on first name terms with me an he seems more friendly-i think its to do with him having a hearing disability and that i used to always make him feel relaxed when he first started there i was one of the first people he saw an let him take his time signin me on -anyway then i had my appointment last week which still lasted 5 mins with him anyway then when i signed on this week he wasnt in so i saw a woman an she said i was too early to see her an i said i sign on at 9.30 then she said the time changes each time now an she had a look and said yes your advisor ian has booked you in at 9.30 the first time i came back from post work programme at the large jcp in town coz then they let people go to the small local jcp offices go bk to our local offices for pwps - an she shown me he had wrote my signing times at the back of my book which were like 9.30 ,, 9.40 . 9.15 so i had been goin in for like 9.20 thinkin they were all the same an he hadnt said anything coz i was always there around the right time but this week he had booked me to sign at 10.20 for some reason so she kicked off when i came in nearly an hour early - so maybe she was just sayin i had to come every week to be awkward and booked me an extra appointment for next week maybe it is just a one off thing like my advisor made out it to be but then she got her knicks in a twist coz she was havin to see all his people aswel as her own with him being off work and then i roll in an hour early an push her over the edge

[Mr.P]

I would not feign righteous indignation at anyone who engages in a bit of work to supplement a paltry income of £71.40 per week. On the other hand I would condemn most vehemently employers who pay such low wages that their employees have to still rely on benefits and food banks to survive.

 

Didn't we have a thread on this subject earlier in the year ?

If I recall correctly, it turned nasty and eventually got closed down....