Ingeus

[Mr.P]

kosebamse: Wait for the sanction letter from the JCP and then go through the reconsideration/appeal process. Point out that you had notified Ingeus in good time of a change of address and that you can not be held liable for their negligence. At the same time, lodge a formal complaint with the DWP regarding the incompetence of Ingeus in respect of failing to follow correct procedure and maintain accurate records.

 

As for part time education - You should be notifying the JCP as it comes under the heading of a "change of circumstances" and materially affects the hours you are available to look for work. Should Ingeus try to mandate and then sanction for an activity that would conflict with course work, the JCP will already have the information on record - All Ingeus needs to know is when you are available, so a letter stating when you are (un)available should suffice.

 

If they are wanting learning agreements and/or other documentation, I'd start to suspect they may be trying to claim ESF grants for something they did not do. You could ask on what grounds they require any learning agreements and how collecting personal information about yourself complies with the Data Protection Act in view of the fact you have not signed any DPA consent forms.

[joeski]

i swear ingeus means ignorance in another language haha xD

[Chester6]

At my local one the staff change often so they seem to find it easier getting themselves jobs then their supposed 'clients'

[Paulo83]

Another letter this morning and another doubt raised about my claim. This time it was for an appointment I did attend (job search) but my advisor had left before the appointment for whatever reason. Seems to be just an oversight where my advisor has forgotten to go back and record my attendance.

 

I will fill the in good reason letter and post it off tomorrow.

 

This is twice in the last few weeks where they have raised a doubt when they shouldn't have. Ingeus is a joke.

[Mr.P]

This is twice in the last few weeks where they have raised a doubt when they shouldn't have. Ingeus is a joke.

 

Time to send the DWP a formal complaint stating that these two benefit doubts are vexatious and clearly demonstrates that Ingeus has no real process in place to verify a claimant's attendance. These nugatory doubts serve no purpose other than to increase animosity towards the provider and waste valuable time of DWP staff.

 

May also prove worthwhile sending a copy to your local MP.

[Paulo83]

Time to send the DWP a formal complaint stating that these two benefit doubts are vexatious and clearly demonstrates that Ingeus has no real process in place to verify a claimant's attendance. These nugatory doubts serve no purpose other than to increase animosity towards the provider and waste valuable time of DWP staff.

 

May also prove worthwhile sending a copy to your local MP.

 

It's something I will certainly consider. To be honest, I'm expecting another letter through in the next few days saying that the doubt no longer exists, but the fact is, it should never have been raised in the first place.

 

Funny you should say that, as Ingeus and my local MP share the same building!

[jasta11]

 

Funny you should say that, as Ingeus and my local MP share the same building!

 

..let's hope they don't share the same records-keeping system!

 

Mr P - I consider myself an educated guy but had never heard that word 'nugatory' before - I admit I looked it up. It's a beauty and I shall start using it a lot from now on. Much obliged I'll try it on the advisor next time I attend the JC.

[katiejackson]

Hi everyone, I've just received a letter asking me to come back to Ingeus (the joy) after an 8 week stint at HIT training, who were much nicer than Ingeus. I even got a Customer Service skills certificate out of HIT which is far more useful than anything Ingeus could ever offer.

I had only been with Ingeus for about 5 weeks prior to being sent of to HIT for 8 weeks, and now I'm back at Ingeus on Monday.

 

What is going to happen now? Will they ask me to come in more often? I didn't sign the consent forms on my first day so I'm going to make it as hard as possible for them to put me on any useless courses as I'm pretty proficient in English and interview skills already.

 

I need to get out of there ASAP!

Edited September 19, 2013 by katiejackson

[kosebamse]

So I've got sanction (I should've received the money yesterday) as per the posts above about my missing the first appointment but still haven't received the letter about being sanctioned?! Had the Ingeus manager not pointed this out to me, I wouldn't have known I was getting sanctioned.

[ninagomes]

I have been with Ingeus now for 2 weeks. In that time I have been made to attend 4 appointments. Going to Ingeus is similar to walking into a room full of double glazing salesmen. They are pushy, aggressive in their attitude with their payment at the forefront of their minds. Forever is the threat of sanctions to be held over your head. I am now booked onto a course for three days, then actually have to attend on the Friday, so in one week will be there for 4 days, and obviously this again is mandatory, I even have to attend on my day when I have to go to the job centre.

 

Ingeus do not have any thought to the person in front of them, it is all about them. They don't want to know you, or about you or what work is suitable, its about any work to get their commission. Their sales pitch is often flawed with subtle errors, and there is an underlying aggression and patronising attitude, I leave there feeling like I am nothing. An example of this, 'do you know how to write an envelope?' and do you know what speculate means? My task is to complete 150 envelopes ready to send out speculative letters. Yet there was a job advertised in the office that was of interest yet I was not allowed to pursue this, just get on with my 150 envelopes. Oh and my letter, this will be drafted next Friday, when I have to write this letter, stating my availability which will say 30 hours, even though the man knows I have 3 children and cant commit to 30 hours. At the moment I feel that once the letters have been drafted, I should take them home and then write on the bottom, 'Ingeus wrote this on behalf of the DWP' , I don't want to waste anyones time, but actually I am looking for work in school hours due to having 3 children.'

 

The thought of going in today with a group of people for a motivational course actually makes me feel sick, it is Ingeus that are making me feel ill and I cant emphasise enough what a despicable company they are.

[ninagomes]

That is just want they want Katie Jackson, to make life as difficult as possible, you then get a job, they get paid and your personal adviser gets his commission. I cant take it much more either, but to be fair I don't see the answer.......its just a case of soldering on.

[Chester6]

They want you at their beck and call

I am glad I am done

it was a pain when they want you in for a stupid half hour appointment and then kill time for 2 hours in time when they claim you could look around shops for vacancies, I could do this in about 15-20 minutes yet they didn't listen to me

[Mr.P]

'do you know how to write an envelope?' and do you know what speculate means?

 

Sure I do. Now the question is.... Can you* spell them for me or do you need to go and get a dictionary ?

 

*] The "you" here is the imaginary "adviser".

 

The attitude of these snake oil salesmen is precisely the reason I recommend everyone records the meetings and demand copies of all documents at every opportunity. A red pen is a valuable weapon to be used to correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

 

A4e used to be fond of saying "we will treat you how we ourselves expect to be treated" - O.K. "You want to patronise and insult me, I reserve the right to reciprocate. Do you even know what 'patronise' means ?".

[Paulo83]

Sure I do. Now the question is.... Can you* spell them for me or do you need to go and get a dictionary ?

 

*] The "you" here is the imaginary "adviser".

 

The attitude of these snake oil salesmen is precisely the reason I recommend everyone records the meetings and demand copies of all documents at every opportunity. A red pen is a valuable weapon to be used to correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

 

A4e used to be fond of saying "we will treat you how we ourselves expect to be treated" - O.K. "You want to patronise and insult me, I reserve the right to reciprocate. Do you even know what 'patronise' means ?".

 

My advisor was reworking my CV a couple of months ago thinking they were something special, then I pointed out a simple grammatical error. Using "where" instead of "were". I could see them shifting awkwardly, whilst I felt about 7 feet tall in my chair.

[Paulo83]

Hi everyone, I've just received a letter asking me to come back to Ingeus (the joy) after an 8 week stint at HIT training, who were much nicer than Ingeus. I even got a Customer Service skills certificate out of HIT which is far more useful than anything Ingeus could ever offer.

I had only been with Ingeus for about 5 weeks prior to being sent of to HIT for 8 weeks, and now I'm back at Ingeus on Monday.

 

What is going to happen now? Will they ask me to come in more often? I didn't sign the consent forms on my first day so I'm going to make it as hard as possible for them to put me on any useless courses as I'm pretty proficient in English and interview skills already.

 

I need to get out of there ASAP!

 

I ended up being in there almost three days every week when I first started. Certainly two days at least. I started questioning the effectiveness of what I was being assigned to do, and showed I wasn't happy with it, and things suddenly changed to once a week.

 

I would guess they would put you on the standard workshops as so-called "motivational tools" and then have you send out a ridiculous and unreasonable amount of speculative letters and CVs. At the same time, having one-to-one advisor appointments to work on your CV and cover letter etc.

 

Just make sure you keep a record of everything, because if you read through my recent posts, they have tried to screw me over twice very recently. Firstly by raising a doubt over a non-mandatory activity I didn't attend (didn't follow DWP guidelines, so the doubt was dropped) and very recently, saying I didn't attend a job search appointment even though I did. (waiting the outcome of this).

 

And with that, I wish you good luck in getting away from here ASAP!

[antone]

My advisor was reworking my CV a couple of months ago thinking they were something special, then I pointed out a simple grammatical error. Using "where" instead of "were". I could see them shifting awkwardly, whilst I felt about 7 feet tall in my chair.

 

Yeah, we hear a lot of that sort of nonsense on the forum. Or should that be "we here a lot of that sort of nonsense"?

 

The problem seems to be fundamental - a lot of advisers assume they must be cleverer than you because they have a job and you don't. Now, under the "any port in a storm" philosophy, I suppose I'd be prepared to take a job working for A4e or whoever. But I'd be awful at it because I wouldn't be happy to treat folks that way.

[Mr.P]

My advisor was reworking my CV a couple of months ago thinking they were something special

 

On my first one to one appointment, my "adviser" promised to produce a CV for me by the next meeting - Having already seen some of their publications, my reaction was: Hell will freeze over before I let you anywhere near my CV, and as you know nothing about my employment history, that day is a long way off.

[jasta11]

Antone's comment is spot on. Advisors see things in black and white; they have a job so they must be more able than you in all respects. We're all unemployed because we're totally ignorant, uneducated, lazy and can't run our lives without 'help'.

 

With my CV, one of Ingeus' 'improvements' was simply to reverse the order of my qualifications and job skills as they appeared. Of course, when I moved to another adviser she said 'Oh, you should never have your qualifications last on a CV, a professional would never do that'. I said 'Really? Well your colleague at the next desk did that so why don't you go over and tell her she's doing her job wrong'. Moment of fluster as she realised she'd put her foot in it.

 

I just let them change my CV however they wanted - I never used any of their versions.

 

Still doesn't beat the adviser at A4e who did an ex-shipyard worker's CV which had to state his skills were 'welding and brazing'...the adviser put 'welding and braising'. Nice combination; metalwork and cookery I pointed out her error and she denied she'd got it wrong..then checked it. Red face.

[kosebamse]

Do we have to provide WP provdiers with our job seeking activity log?

[joeski]

also ingeus advisors always try to turn the blame onto job seekers for mistakes they have made, its not our fault they are too ignorant to pick up the phone and call people to check if they are free before making appointments.

[RebeccaPidgeon]

Do we have to provide WP provdiers with our job seeking activity log?

Although it is sufficient for you to specify details of the Date, Organiation and Jobs that you have applied for (and/or newspaper adverts that you have referenced, agencies which have contacted), there is no requirement for you to disclose any confidential names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses. At most, you simply provide reference to such a document that you have either written down or printed.

 

Infact - just use the same job log which you present to Job Centre Plus when you sign on.

[Paulo83]

On my first one to one appointment, my "adviser" promised to produce a CV for me by the next meeting - Having already seen some of their publications, my reaction was: Hell will freeze over before I let you anywhere near my CV, and as you know nothing about my employment history, that day is a long way off.

 

I can't help but notice their presentation slides are riddled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

[kosebamse]

Thanks, Rebecca. One more question. Is it necessary to provide WP advisors with my CV at all? As far as I understand, I don't have to agree with them storing a copy of my CV on their system (which I'm being persuaded to consistently as well as asked to provide the email address)? During my last appointment, the advisor in the MAN letter typed 'kosebamse will upload CV to the system.' I've never either agreed to that or signed anything that would be in line with that sentence!

[Nystagmite]

They want you at their beck and call

I am glad I am done

it was a pain when they want you in for a stupid half hour appointment and then kill time for 2 hours in time when they claim you could look around shops for vacancies, I could do this in about 15-20 minutes yet they didn't listen to me

 

Given the amount of empty shops now, there's no way it's going to take you two hours. For it to take me two hours, I'd also have to go to another city / town.

[RebeccaPidgeon]

Thanks, Rebecca. One more question. Is it necessary to provide WP advisors with my CV at all? As far as I understand, I don't have to agree with them storing a copy of my CV on their system (which I'm being persuaded to consistently as well as asked to provide the email address)? During my last appointment, the advisor in the MAN letter typed 'kosebamse will upload CV to the system.' I've never either agreed to that or signed anything that would be in line with that sentence!

If you have previously provided your email address, you can invoke your rights under the Data Protection Act to restrict any contact other than through written correspondence.

 

It is sufficient for you to provide, for cursory examination, a copy of a printed CV - however, you can invoke your rights not to provide a copy through email.

Edited September 21, 2013 by RebeccaPidgeon
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