GL24, no longer valid?

[osdset]

At least that's what JCP told me today when I asked for one, but they are still available to download. Does anyone know score on this?

[estellyn]

Because you now need a mandatory reconsideration, there is a new form called SSCS1, which goes direct to Tribunal Service following the mandatory reconsideration:

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-of-appeal-against-a-decision-of-the-department-for-work-and-pensions-sscs1

 

 

Though GL24 is still valid for decisions prior to 28th October 2013.

Edited December 14, 2013 by estellyn

[**Margaret**]

:osdset:

 

Presume you need to appeal the sanction. Can't believe that Jobcentre adviser doesn't understand the sanctions process. Or praps it suits her not to!

 

Anyway, since 28 October there's been a new procedure for appeals against a Work n Pensions decision. For sanctions it involves a specific request to your benefit delivery centre for a reconsideration. If the decision maker refuses to revise, you'll receive a mandatory reconsideration notice, which needs to be sent directly to the Tribunals Service with an SSCS1 form. Requests for reconsideration can be via phone or in writing, there isn't an official form. I'd suggest in writing!

 

https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit/decisions-made-on-after-28-october-2013

 

Best wishes, Margaret.

[osdset]

estellyn/Starryeyes52 thanks.

 

Starryeyes52,

 

Yes will be asking for a reconsideration when I get the notification through that I've been sanctioned. The WP liaison person insists that it's down to Seetec to get the sanction lifted, due process and all that. I'm confident that unless JCP have a big stick and are willing to use it, Seetec will drag this out for as long as possible.

[**Margaret**]

:Clarification:

 

Neither Atos nor Work Programme Providers can sanction or terminate entitlement to benefits. And the 'WP liaison person' in question should know better. Either it suits her not to know. Or she simply hasn't been trained properly; a scenario that appears to suit the current Government's agenda. Atos make recommendations about capability for work, Work Programme Providers refer claimants to Jobcentreplus for possible failure to participate in a work focused interview/undertake work related activity without good cause. Probably true to say that some decision makers are influenced by erroneous information from Atos/Work Programme Providers. But final decisions about entitlement are the responsibility of Jobcentreplus decision makers, not Atos or providers, and certainly not Seetec who've no authority whatsoever to impose or lift a sanction.

 

And on the topic of training, or lack thereof, for Work n Pensions personnel;

 

'You can't appeal'

 

'We've stopped doing appeals'

 

'There's only reconsiderations now'

 

'We don't do GL24s any more'

 

'I'll send a GL24, probably take about a week'

 

Are all statements that I've heard personally or anecdotally from Jobcentre Advisers or Jobcentreplus Contact Centres during the last month or so. Whether by accident or design, most of them are half truths that are less than informative to an already stressed claimant who's just had a claim for benefit disallowed. And there's further confusion cos some offices are using up pre 28 October stationary, rather than the new format decision letters which refer to mandatory reconsideration for appealable decisions.

 

Lots more reading at;

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/appeals-process-changes-for-dwp-benefits-and-child-maintenance

 

Enjoy , or not, Margaret.

[osdset]

The most galling thing for me lately is the attitude I've found at JCP, it's almost as though the claimant is regarded as not being part of the equation, discussions are held and decisions made that exclude the person effected, input by the claimant is discouraged. I find myself treated like a petulant schoolboy who should keep his comments to himself.

 

Any indication on my part that I am up to speed with current DWP legislation is met with hostility, the inference is that I am trying to tell them how to do their jobs. The reaction I got at JCP yesterday when I told the counter staff I had lodged a complaint directly with Mr P Fisher who is the Regional Director for JCP East London, was incredulity followed by a grilling session to ascertain just how a mere claimant had obtained the e mail address of the head honcho for the area.

 

 

I explained that as I am an active poster on many welfare rights sites, I have access to a wide range of information shared by other like minded individuals, and that the list of the e mail addresses of every single JCP Regional Director in the country was hardly a state secret. This revelation seemed to confirm the suspicion that I must be a threat to national security, or at the very least a member of the activist group Anonymous

[**Margaret**]

:Oh Those Pesky Claimants:

 

Having successfully kept out of Jobcentres for thirty plus years I've not experienced that particular brand of persecution but I've had the, 'how do you know that?' from other parts of DWATO. Well err ...... I can read, and Government's current shenanigans are giving me lots of practice with everything from provider guidance n the Tatos handbook to case law n legislation.

 

Margaret.

[osdset]

:Oh Those Pesky Claimants:

 

Having successfully kept out of Jobcentres for thirty plus years I've not experienced that particular brand of persecution but I've had the, 'how do you know that?' from other parts of DWATO. Well err ...... I can read, and Government's current shenanigans are giving me lots of practice with everything from provider guidance n the Tatos handbook to case law n legislation.

 

Margaret.

 

I would happily not cross JCP's threshold again, unfortunately ESA WRAG claimants still have to deal with JCP on occasion.

[estellyn]

The most galling thing for me lately is the attitude I've found at JCP, it's almost as though the claimant is regarded as not being part of the equation, discussions are held and decisions made that exclude the person effected, input by the claimant is discouraged. I find myself treated like a petulant schoolboy who should keep his comments to himself.

 

Any indication on my part that I am up to speed with current DWP legislation is met with hostility, the inference is that I am trying to tell them how to do their jobs. The reaction I got at JCP yesterday when I told the counter staff I had lodged a complaint directly with Mr P Fisher who is the Regional Director for JCP East London, was incredulity followed by a grilling session to ascertain just how a mere claimant had obtained the e mail address of the head honcho for the area.

 

 

I explained that as I am an active poster on many welfare rights sites, I have access to a wide range of information shared by other like minded individuals, and that the list of the e mail addresses of every single JCP Regional Director in the country was hardly a state secret. This revelation seemed to confirm the suspicion that I must be a threat to national security, or at the very least a member of the activist group Anonymous

 

 

I've never had this problem, but then I suspect my file is flagged as an ex DWP employee. know that saying I'm a former appeals rep scares the xxxx out of whoever I happen to be dealing with.

 

 

As an ex processor, dealing with the claim of someone who knows their stuff and makes complaints when things go wrong (not everyone does), made me nervous, but would make colleagues hostile - I suppose everyone reacts differently. It's just fear for their jobs.