Punished For Enquiring About aCourse?

[MakeToastNotWar]

i`ll try not to make this to long a read but heres some information before i explain my dilemma

4years ago i was in a horrendous accident and broke my pelvis and spine

after months of hospitalisation and plenty of pain i found out from my local gp that iv crushed nerves in my spine and was written off on incapacity benefit

 

as ya can imagine after 4 years of being in a black hole i decided i would enquire about 1 day getting back into work and gettin my life back together

 

rang my local joke shop (sorry i meant job center)

spoke with a Disability Employment Advisor i asked about help in obtaining a fork lift truck licence and was told in not very many words "you have no chance as we wont help fund that for you as i have no previous expreience in this work"

i think (ok well how are ppl sposed to obtain new skills then?)

 

after leaving it at that for a few weeks i decided to ring back and try chase this once again

after a few mins on the phone with the same empty headed disability employment advisor and a heated debate(lol)

she said not gonna help me at all and im on the sick and should remember that (she then slammed the phone down)

 

2weeks later i get a letter from the dwp/job center with "an invitation to office interview"

 

with the wording

we need to see you in order to discuss the benefit we are currently paying you because a query has arisen on your claim

 

so i went to the interview and as soon as i walked in the customer complience officer told me thers been an allegation made against me about my claim and entitlement to be on incapacity benefit

 

wouldnt tell me who made the claim (but foolishley he popped out and i saw who made the allegation against me the Disability Employment Advisor who id argued with a few weeks before)

 

now im sat in limbo stressed out wondering whats gonna happen to me now

does anybody know the procedure on what happens next

all the bloke told me was its gonna be looked into and a decision will be made (no time frame on that decision at all)

 

am i going to be punished foe mearley enquiring about possible training in the future?

 

sorry for the long read people but im so worried its not even funny

[freakyleaky]

They can't punish you for making enquirers into possible future employment. There is not a law in the land that would back up that theory.

I will flag this up for the rest of the site team to have a look at but I am certain you have nothing to worry about based on the information you have given.

[MakeToastNotWar]

thanks for the reply

im hoping your right as alli have done is enquired and it was bad enuff to be told from the disability employment advisor "we wont help you pursue this course as you have never worked in that job before so..and.being told im on the sick and should remember that (well that for me was just an insult)

yes im on this horrific benefit thru an accident that wasn`t my fault and i never wanted to be on benefits at all i was very happy being a working man paying my taxes

 

its soul destroying the way the benefits system is worked as it seems if you want to better yourself they just tread on you but if i wanted to mooch the state for the rest of my life im sure they would let that happen

 

sorry for the rant im scared/confused and angry at whats happening it just seems insane this is happening all because i enquired about retraining for the future

i guess they cant understand or comprehend the fact there actually are people out there who dont want to be on benefits and would love to better there lives

[seen this before]

what jobcentre plus normally did was say find a job for say a forklift driver then we'll pay for the training,of course no one did because they didn't have a licence to get the job in the first place.they wont pay.

 

what you have experienced is nothing new,the dea should not have hung up the phone this is not professional,what will happen is as is as happened here you will end up suffering the stress and anxiety.while there is no law as mentioned into making enquiries unfortunately certain internal policies tend to conflict also to many people make a point" i an not trying to dodge work" "i want to work" this is a result of guilt felt by unfair publicity as if the person is somehow at fault not the economic climate.

 

this letter has arrived because they think you may be fit for work,the best advice is keep out of there unless absolutely necessary your just adding more stress each time,the reality the whole situation boils down to their own doing and failures.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I can understand why you're not happy, this just sounds odd. Well done for wanting to help yourself and it's a shame you came across someone with a bad attitude.

 

Maybe someone in the know here will give you an opinion about whether you should complain or not.

 

My best, HB

[ErikaPNP]

Complain. Whether they are able to assist with this or not, people should be spoken to with decency, and what you describe is not decent - it's an appauling way to speak to another human being. Though she has a duty in his role to protect the public purse and report fraud where she has reason to believe a fraud is being committed, someone making an enquiry about the possibility of funding for training is not fraudulent. As a disability advisor, she has a role where she comes into contact with vulnerable people and should have the skills that are required for a good standard of communication. It doesn't appear that her skills reach a basic standard here.

 

Put the details in a letter and title it 'formal complaint'. Send it/take it to your local jobcentre, marked for the attention of the manager.

[flumps1976]

The person to address the complaint to is the Adviser Manager at the JCP that you have dealings with. As it is an advisory complaint that you have not a customer service complaint and the JCM will only pass the complain to the the Adviser Manager to deal with anyway.

With regards to the funding they can only help with the cost of FLT if you have previously held an FLT license and you have a firm job offer pending the renewal license.