JSA / Work Programme sanction

[Enka]

Hello.

 

I was unable to attend a scheduled appointment at Ingeus on the Work Programme due to sickness (specifically the Norovirus; vomiting, high fever, physical weakness and generally incapacitated). I called my advisor on the morning when I was ill and explained the situation, and he sent me another appointment letter out for another time.

 

A week after I got a notice from the JCP about a doubt against my claim due to missing an appointment. I filled in all the informatoin they requested, such as what I did, why I couldn't attend and so forth. Today I received a letter saying that my JSA will be stopped for 4 weeks because "you did not have sufficiently good reasons" for not attending.

 

I literally couldn't even get out of bed. I did everything I could do with regards to informing my advisor and explaining. I can't ring them as it's Saturday and I'm a little worried of what to do and if I can appeal again this? I'm not even sure what "sufficiently good reasons" means, tried searching Google for a list but nothing comes up. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Nystagmite]

Do you have a doctors note?

[postggj]

The adviser should have told you to fill out a DWP sick form to excuse you from signing for that day,

 

Wonder why you were not told this, sanction targets ???

 

Were you not given a form to appeal the sanction doubt before it was issued, again the adviser should have given you this form

 

You need to appeal the sanction because of this

[osdset]

WP staff will raise a doubt for any infringement valid or not. The fault lies squarely with the DM for agreeing the sanction. There seems to be a heck of a lot of this going on lately, sanctions being handed out like confetti.

[Enka]

Do you have a doctors note?

 

No. I did call the doctors the day before (I was ill for a few days) to get some sickness relief. I was told by the clinic to stay at home as it was contagious.

 

The adviser should have told you to fill out a DWP sick form to excuse you from signing for that day,

 

Wonder why you were not told this, sanction targets ???

 

Were you not given a form to appeal the sanction doubt before it was issued, again the adviser should have given you this form

 

You need to appeal the sanction because of this

 

It was not a signing day, just an appointment to fill out a couple of forms for the Breakthrough induction at Ingeus with my advisor there. I was not given or told to fill out any forms, other than the questions on the back of the sanction doubt letter. It had questions such as "What did you do to contact Ingeus?", "Why did you not attend your appointment?" etc. I filled this in and sent it back.

[postggj]

The work provider should have told you to contact the dwp adviser to be excused through sickness if he was aware of your sickness

[flumps1976]

Yes as squaddie posted the work program advisers should have advised to you to contact JCP or at least raised a WP07b to inform that you were unable to attend due to illness.

After that you would have completed for JSA28 to excuse you from the requirement t be actively seeking and available due to short term incapacity for a maximum of 14 calendar days this would have then been considered in the decision by DMA.

[Enka]

Thanks all for the advice. I'll file an appeal and see if I get anywhere. Hopefully I can get this straightened out, missing 1 appointment that I informed them off due to sickness and it costing me £280 is a bit rough.

[jasta11]

Hope you get it sorted; far too much of this sort of thing happening. Use the DWP guidance rules against Ingeus.

 

This may be a good time to start using your phone to record everything when dealing with Ingeus - you can't trust either their word or their paperwork.

[Charlotte_Henderson]

Ingeus are unbelievable!

[keiron rackham123]

it is impossible to get a doctors note because half the time you can't even get an appointment

[keiron rackham123]

same thing with me, except my babys health visitor rang and made a surprise appointment, rang them up re arranged still got sanctioned, this is what i do on the work programme, sit there for 45 mins doing nothing its useless i have a cv i have a covering letter i know how to fill out a application form. get in touch with your local MP thats what im currently doing.

[keiron rackham123]

I got sanctioned for a month on the work programme, my babies health visitor rang out of the blue saying she was coming, so i rang them strate away and re arranged the appointment only to get a letter saying i have been sanctioned, i've appealed and also got my local MP involved although i fear i will still lose, i don't understand what i am missing all i do is sit there and do nothing, i have a cv, a covering letter, know how to do application forms, had many better off calculations, i have a pc at home to do my jobsearch, anybody else think btcv (tcv) is a joke.

 

thankyou keiron rackham.

[keiron rackham123]

What i find the funniest on this work programme is my advisor has been on her jolly holidays for about 7 weeks altogether now, though the 2 years we are forced to do this we are not allowed just 1 day off lol. Obviously we are not allowed a life, surely this is immoral.

[keiron rackham123]

I love the wording they use, u have failed to take advantage of a work opportunity lol, really i have failed to take advantage of sitting in a room for 45 mins twiidling my thumbs, counting down the days til somebody finds a way to get off this or it shuts down, heres hoping.

[Conniff]

Keiron, stick to the one thread please.

[keiron rackham123]

sorry new to this

[Conniff]

sorry new to this

 

 

No worries, we all were at some time.

[Mr.P]

I got sanctioned for a month on the work programme, my babies health visitor rang out of the blue saying she was coming, so i rang them strate away and re arranged the appointment only to get a letter saying i have been sanctioned, i've appealed and also got my local MP involved although i fear i will still lose

 

A few questions:

 

 

• Are you the primary carer for this baby ? If so, you probably shouldn't be on this work programme.
  
• Is the JCP aware of your caring responsibilities ? If not, time to get a new JSAg drawn up with extra flexibility and restrictions included.
  
• Was the alleged WP appointment mandatory with all the correct wording about "if you do not attend, your benefits could be affected.." ? If the full text was missing, the appointment was an invite only and not subject to a sanction.
  
• Was the "appointment" made verbally, by email, or by text message ? If so, this would have breached DWP guidance as mandatory activities must be notified by letter.
  

 

 

You are not alone in thinking BTCV, A4e, Seetec, Ingeus, and the rest of the so-called Work Programme providers to be a waste of time and money. "Unfit for purpose and in breach of their contract in failing to provide tailored and personalised support" is a polite way of putting it.