work programme after 2 years

[joeski]

Has he made his ESA claim yet?

 

yes he posted the forms today.

[antone]

yes he posted the forms today.

 

He will probably still have to attend WP appointments, but it will be on a different basis from the way it was when he was on JSA. ESA claimants can't be mandated to apply for jobs or participate in "work experience" or other compulsory workfare schemes.

 

It might smooth things over if your friend attends the appointment next Tuesday, but an appointment is only mandatory if specific wording is used in the letter, and the letter must be sent by post or handed to him - email, texts, phone calls and so on cannot be used to mandate attendance.

 

WP providers are not very good at dealing with people who switch from JSA to ESA. They appear not to know what the rules are.

[joeski]

He will probably still have to attend WP appointments, but it will be on a different basis from the way it was when he was on JSA. ESA claimants can't be mandated to apply for jobs or participate in "work experience" or other compulsory workfare schemes.

 

It might smooth things over if your friend attends the appointment next Tuesday, but an appointment is only mandatory if specific wording is used in the letter, and the letter must be sent by post or handed to him - email, texts, phone calls and so on cannot be used to mandate attendance.

 

WP providers are not very good at dealing with people who switch from JSA to ESA. They appear not to know what the rules are.

 

this letter was missing the part about it been mandatory and ive told him he should go to explain the situation but in his current state i don't know if he'll go or not, his doctor has given him some tablets to start with to see if they help. how long will it take before he hears back from the jobcentre about his ESA claim?

[antone]

this letter was missing the part about it been mandatory and ive told him he should go to explain the situation but in his current state i don't know if he'll go or not, his doctor has given him some tablets to start with to see if they help. how long will it take before he hears back from the jobcentre about his ESA claim?

 

It could take two or three weeks to hear about his ESA claim. If he doesn't go to a WP appointment then he should at least document the date and time and his reasons for not going, for his own reference.

[sillygirl1]

I would go along and show them the evidence that he is on ESA, I presume he hasn't had an assessment yet so he won't be assigned to a work related adviser.

 

Let them know politely and firmly that due to medical condition you are NOT engaging with them and will need your time for recovery, and that the stresses they place upon you are unacceptable.

 

Put that in writing and copy in your GP, local MP and the top person at the centre you attend. I know somebody who did this and still got letters asking them to attend twice a week, despite having three hospital appointments each week - their local MP managed to get the centre to stop sending the letters out - apparently they have no control over the letters as they are not sent out locally (some of mine came from an office in Somerset, and I am in south-west London).

 

This whole system has bitten the government on its collective bottom as they did not concentrate on the people who really need help and assumed everyone was a lazy scrounger.

 

I've got work until the end of this month, and hopefully up until June, plus I have some self-employed work coming through regularly now so I will go self employed when my contract ends - that is until I get another job. I am doing completely different office work to what the Provider wanted me to do, and in fact removed all the skills I am using out of my CV!

[Mr.P]

what about if you go onto ESA like my friend, will he still have to attend the WP (ingeus)? he received another appointment from them for next tuesday, the only difference is this one is missing the part about it been mandatory, does that mean it is still mandatory though? :/

 

Well..... If the letter was sent out after the claim for JSA was closed and before the ESA paperwork was submitted, making the appointment mandatory is pretty pointless - Ingeus should be aware that there is (at the time of issuing the letter) nothing they could do to ensure compliance. It could be a fishing trip to find out if they could claim an outcome payment for "helping" your friend off JSA.

 

As the letter is purely an invite without any element of mandation, it is up to him if he wishes to attend - If he elects to stay at home, I'd suggest sending a short note of rejection, something along the lines of:

As my JSA claim ceased on , I am under no obligation to attend your premises on . As I am otherwise occupied on the day in question, I will not be attending.

No need to mention switching to ESA at this stage.

 

WP providers are not very good at dealing with people who switch from JSA to ESA. They appear not to know what the rules are.

 

WP providers are not very good at dealing with any claimant - They seem to make up their own rules as they go along and ignore official DWP issued guidance as a matter of routine. Two recent examples spring to mind: Bogus "Job Seeker's Direction" from Working Links, benefit doubt raised for not providing photo ID (yet it wasn't requested in any mandation letter).

[joeski]

I would go along and show them the evidence that he is on ESA, I presume he hasn't had an assessment yet so he won't be assigned to a work related adviser.

 

Let them know politely and firmly that due to medical condition you are NOT engaging with them and will need your time for recovery, and that the stresses they place upon you are unacceptable.

 

Put that in writing and copy in your GP, local MP and the top person at the centre you attend. I know somebody who did this and still got letters asking them to attend twice a week, despite having three hospital appointments each week - their local MP managed to get the centre to stop sending the letters out - apparently they have no control over the letters as they are not sent out locally (some of mine came from an office in Somerset, and I am in south-west London).

 

This whole system has bitten the government on its collective bottom as they did not concentrate on the people who really need help and assumed everyone was a lazy scrounger.

 

I've got work until the end of this month, and hopefully up until June, plus I have some self-employed work coming through regularly now so I will go self employed when my contract ends - that is until I get another job. I am doing completely different office work to what the Provider wanted me to do, and in fact removed all the skills I am using out of my CV!

 

he hasn't had an assessment yet and from what ive heard you have to wait 13 weeks for one but i don't know if heard right? i'll tell him but he gets so nervous about going to ingeus he often just goes along with what they are saying.

 

the whole system is an absolute joke, the sick disabled and unemployed get treated worse than criminals imo and it seems to be all about how many sanctions can be imposed each month to keep figures down

[joeski]

Well..... If the letter was sent out after the claim for JSA was closed and before the ESA paperwork was submitted, making the appointment mandatory is pretty pointless - Ingeus should be aware that there is (at the time of issuing the letter) nothing they could do to ensure compliance. It could be a fishing trip to find out if they could claim an outcome payment for "helping" your friend off JSA.

 

As the letter is purely an invite without any element of mandation, it is up to him if he wishes to attend - If he elects to stay at home, I'd suggest sending a short note of rejection, something along the lines of:

No need to mention switching to ESA at this stage.

 

 

 

WP providers are not very good at dealing with any claimant - They seem to make up their own rules as they go along and ignore official DWP issued guidance as a matter of routine. Two recent examples spring to mind: Bogus "Job Seeker's Direction" from Working Links, benefit doubt raised for not providing photo ID (yet it wasn't requested in any mandation letter).

 

i'll let him know but won't ingeus still try to raise a sanction doubt? :/

[Charlotte_Henderson]

does my new claim mean i go back to the start as a new customer or not?

 

As far as i know, you have to be signed off JSA 12 weeks, before you are classed as a new customer so to speak. or this is what i was told....

 

We'd all be signing on the sick for afew weeks, if it mean't when we went back, we'd of got rid of all the WP and Post WP rubbish.

[antone]

i'll let him know but won't ingeus still try to raise a sanction doubt? :/

 

Eh, they might send off a referral, yes. There's not much anyone can do about that, and it doesn't mean a sanction is automatic.

[antone]

As far as i know, you have to be signed off JSA 12 weeks, before you are classed as a new customer so to speak. or this is what i was told....

 

We'd all be signing on the sick for afew weeks, if it mean't when we went back, we'd of got rid of all the WP and Post WP rubbish.

 

In general, this is true - a new claim for JSA made within 12 (or is it 13?) weeks is called a "linking claim" and is, in effect, treated as an extension of the previous claim.

 

However, once a Work Programme referral has been made, it is effective for two years. So anyone who's been sent on the WP and reclaims within that time will find themselves back at Ingeus or wherever.

[hatsanman]

right here,s one for a pc boffin out there. ive been trying for a week now to login to mu uj account and all im getting is a message application error so can anyone help and tell me why this is happening and how to put it right (please )

[jasta11]

I'm no pc tech myself - hope someone can help you. In the meantime, take a screen shot of the 'error' message and keep it. Might come in handy to cover yourself if you ever forget to apply for jobs on there. The advisers are all aware of the unreliability of the site anyway.

[RebeccaPidgeon]

right here,s one for a pc boffin out there. ive been trying for a week now to login to mu uj account and all im getting is a message application error so can anyone help and tell me why this is happening and how to put it right (please )

The error could be due to several factors.... more than likely a conflict is creating the error. Depending on your computer system, I suggest that you visit the Control Panels, and perform a Systems Update. Then download and install other Browsers (such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari), and then try to access your Universal Job Match account.

[hatsanman]

The error could be due to several factors.... more than likely a conflict is creating the error. Depending on your computer system, I suggest that you visit the Control Panels, and perform a Systems Update. Then download and install other Browsers (such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari), and then try to access your Universal Job Match account.

many thanks for that i will try and do that now

[Mr.P]

I've been trying for a week now to login to mu uj account and all im getting is a message application error so can anyone help and tell me why this is happening and how to put it right (please )

 

Anything like the attached screen shot ?

 

If it is, then you probably have your browser set to reject cookies from the UJM web site - How you enable your browser to accept cookies is dependent on which one you are using (i.e. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome).

 

If I were you, I'd count it as a blessing and print out screen shots each day to attach to your job search diary - When challenged over the use of UJM, offer the screen shots up and say "this is the error I am getting - How do you suggest I get round it on my computer ?"

Put the onus on the JCP advisor to provide the answer

[hatsanman]

Anything like the attached screen shot ?

 

If it is, then you probably have your browser set to reject cookies from the UJM web site - How you enable your browser to accept cookies is dependent on which one you are using (i.e. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome).

 

If I were you, I'd count it as a blessing and print out screen shots each day to attach to your job search diary - When challenged over the use of UJM, offer the screen shots up and say "this is the error I am getting - How do you suggest I get round it on my computer ?"

Put the onus on the JCP advisor to provide the answer

thats exactly what im getting everytime. i use internet explorer so what am i doing wrongg ? any help wouyld be apreciated very much. im lucky at the mo as been on esa for 3 months so dont have to go to the jokecentre or answer to them and their ways

[Mr.P]

thats exactly what im getting everytime. i use internet explorer so what am i doing wrongg ?

 

I don't use MS Windows (unless someone pays me to, and it has to be good money), so I'd suggest having a look at: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/how-to-manage-cookies-in-internet-explorer-9

[hatsanman]

I don't use MS Windows (unless someone pays me to, and it has to be good money), so I'd suggest having a look at: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/how-to-manage-cookies-in-internet-explorer-9

hi mr p and many thanks for your help. tried allowing cookies and still got same stupid error message. contacted dwp and they were as much help as a chocky teapot

[blagmania]

happy days

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/16/dwp-jobs-website-universal-jobsmatch

[physicsgraduate]

happy days

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/16/dwp-jobs-website-universal-jobsmatch

 

The biggest frauds are the people who are running it. I gave that shenanigans up after they used it to stitch me up last year and try to kick me off benefits. Now I'm about to get kicked off ESA, while the question of 'do I maybe have early signs of MS?' prevails. Working Tax Credits here I come. FTLOM

 

I reckon some of the jobs I applied for on there were fraud. I'm being made to give out my details to every possible con man under the sun to keep a roof over my head. One time I was asked to design something, best design gets the job, never heard back. Wasted a couple of nights on it I could have spent more productively. Crowd sourcing I think they call it in the art world.

 

Screw the JC, they ruined my summer last year. I'll never forgive them for that.

[Jmulv]

Got my first PWP support interview tomorrow, what can I expect? I'm worried they'll just get unnecessarily hard for no reason and send me on courses, anyone have any info?

[jasta11]

Show them you're already doing everything you can to find work - that's the best way to avoid any further things being put upon you, though they'll probably 'up' your JS agreement a bit and want you to apply for a few more jobs.

 

What they're looking for now is the areas where they think you're still lacking, ie not being very literate, not having confidence, needing help with CV's, etc Any failings in these might result in you being sent for little refresher courses, so try and show them you're on the ball, are organised and are doing LOTS to find work.

 

Hopefully you'll get a decent advisor too, which is half the battle. Good luck.

[Chester6]

Unfortunately PWP tends to rationalise rudeness and bullying as acceptable and even when you show them you've done as agreed they try to treat you like dirt and they will try to force you to allow UJM access. They won probably send you on a fortnight course to do with cvs, interviews and money because someone you don't know doesn't know how to manage money

They may try to berate you over your spending habits and appearance and try to lie that being unemployed is your fault

[Mr.P]

They may try to berate you over your spending habits

 

I have a simple policy - Never, ever discuss finances with anyone. The only exception is a qualified and certified financial advisor or a bank manager. WP minions and JCP advisers have little, if any knowledge of money matters and have no rights to give advice on how you spend your money.