JSA, New claim lost causing bank charges...can I claim against the job centre?

[sincil]

Hi, applied for jobseekers allowance and was told it would take 4 weeks, they lost my new claim and it took 7 weeks. they admitted losing original claim. can I claim back from them the bank charges i accrued due to their maladministration?

Have sent a letter requesting a refund. Can anyone help? Have looked on this site but not found any relevant threads.

[lookinforinfo]

Might not be as easy as you imagine. Had they refused your allowance

you would not have been able to claim at all. On top of that, if you have to take them to Court as a last resort, could they take away your allowance

for some reason, and if so, would it be worth going that far?

[mutzi]

Claim them from the bank

[sincil]

I did ask nicely at the bank and they said it was not thier fault lol.

I am currently claiming the last six years bank charges because they are illegal.

I now have a job and am off contributions based allowance so nothing to lose there.

Is it being greedy to get them back twice?

[ozzywizard]

Why would you want them back twice ? Just claim for what you are due too. If you are claiming them back from the bank then let it stay at that.

[sincil]

Well the money would be nice as i am skint and the job centre lost my claim so they are at fault here. The bank charges are illegal. I may not get either but why not persue both? It may not be morally right but where do i stand legally.

 

Has anyone taken on the job centre before? They seem to me to be very poorly run and could do with a shake up. The fact that they may be going privatised shouldnt be an excuse to run inefficiently.

 

I was led to believe this was a consumer ACTION forum???

[lookinforinfo]

How do you stand legally? If you get your charges back from one of them, to

pursue the other would be fraud, since you are knowingly attempting to

recover money that you know has alrady been paid.

 

It is up to you which one you reclaim the money from, but the bank is the

one from which you have the stronger chance of winning.

[alanfromderby]

Is it being greedy to get them back twice?

 

It is fraud.

 

Unfortunately JSA is administered by a government agency and is not subject to any contractual agreement with its "customers". This makes any claim for a refund of charges from the Job Centre would therefore be infinitely more difficult than from the bank....which of course should not have charged you anyway.

 

However, complaints against the Job Centre can be made to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman:

 

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman - home

 

Of course, you would have been expected to make an official complaint to the Job Centre first.

 

Any compensation claim would have to take into account whether you have claimed against the bank. If you have, then (as mentioned above) you would be liable to a fraud charge if you attempt to claim the fees back from the Job Centre.

[sincil]

Great thanks for that, being skint I was hoping to get some cash asap and the job centre do have some leaflet refferring to their maladministration and that if you write a complaint they have a fund to help you back to the situation you were in before their error. i was hoping i would get something from them soon as claiming back bank charges as we know can take some time.

 

I certainly dont want to commit fraud.

 

Now im kinda hoping they dont pay up then as my claim against lloyds tsb may get complicated (only at statement request stage so far)

 

Please if anyone has asked for refund due to maladministration by the job centre could they let me know?

 

Thanks.

[ukdickie31]

Hi

 

There is a way to get Charges back from the Jobcentre, through the complaints process, however it is called a 'compensation payment' and administered through the Special Payments scheme.

 

You would have to provide your bank statements for the period covered by the charges. Only charges solely and exclusively attributable to the 'error' would be considered.

 

You have to put this request in writing, stating request for compensation. It gets referred to a Special Payments team for their consideration.

[sincil]

Thanks ukdickie31

 

I knew i had read something like that somewhere, I have written a letter and enclosed copies of the relevant bank statements. Any idea how long it takes for a reply?

[ukdickie31]

From my experience, it takes about 2 weeks, though all the information has to be there. Any info missing would need to be written out for. This delays things.

 

My advice would be to collect your bank statements for the whole period when the charges were applied and then start listing in date order all your conversations / contacts with DWP. Be specific on names, sections etc who you spoke to, in particular the bit about the claim being lost, and this being admitted.

 

Address your letter to the Manager and be specific in the title.. "Request for Compensation.. " and enclose everything to support your claim.

[ukdickie31]

Thanks ukdickie31

 

I knew i had read something like that somewhere, I have written a letter and enclosed copies of the relevant bank statements. Any idea how long it takes for a reply?

 

 

 

.....So what happened ??

 

 

any news?

 

Dickie

[JonCris]

The job center can argue that they cannot be held liable for the unlawful actions of the bank. Your claim is against the bank no one else

[sincil]

Have not had a reply.

 

Will send letter and banks statements again , this time registered.

[sincil]

Just reading the other posts here, the job centre do have funds to recompense jobseekers who suffer financially from their maladministration. and I should think it is quicker than claiming back bank charges from the bank.

I am going to persue both and hope to get the money back asap. I am not bothered who I get it from.

And no I dont want to commit fraud.

I may make an odd error here and there too though.

[JonCris]

Good Luck!

[fairclaire]

i think you should keep these two issues seperate.

 

You are entitled to claim compensation for maladministration from JCP. What you will most likely recieve if you win is what you have lost (i.e bank charges incurred for the weeks your claim was delayed). If they have admitted they are at fault then you have a good chance of winning provided you can produce bank statements etc.

 

maybe then you could pursue the bank charges claim seperately.

[sincil]

Well, sent 2nd letter and the job centre have resolved the issue, they did not refund my bank charges but have given an acceptable goodwill offer.

 

They did this just before xmas so was very timely.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

sincil.

[JonCris]

I did ask nicely at the bank and they said it was not thier fault lol.

I am currently claiming the last six years bank charges because they are illegal.

I now have a job and am off contributions based allowance so nothing to lose there.

Is it being greedy to get them back twice?

 

If the jobcenters payment was only goodwill payment then you aren't claiming twice.

 

A goodwill payment has no status