First time claming Universal Credit - am I up to date regarding my rights?

[moodygirl86]

Happy to help. Being unemployed and dealing with the red tape involved is no fun, but I hope it does help others to know they're not alone in dealing with it.

[moodygirl86]

(BUMPING WITH AN UPDATE)

 

I found work in February but the organisation made cutbacks so had to leave in September. I moved cities and am now signing on at a different Jobcentre. Every time I go there, I speak to someone different. They all lie to you and say your jobsearch *has* to be presented in your Jobsmatch account, but they do back off when you quote the bits from the Toolkit that contradict this. Not only that, but the "Your work search" section of the paperwork they give you when you first claim specifically says:

 

Recording your job search

 

You also need to keep a record of what you do each week, so you can discuss this when we meet. The best way to record what you've done is to write it down online or on Universal Jobsmatch (http://www.gov.uk/jobsearch). You can also use our "My work plan" template, or keep your records on paper or in a diary.

 

 

So as per the underlined bits, even the literature given to claimants seems to acknowledge that it's optional to record your jobsearch on Jobsmatch, and that a paper based record is still perfectly acceptable. Do they think we're so stupid we haven't noticed that? But all it says is that Jobsmatch is the "best" way. Highly debatable of course, but "best" is still the operative word.

 

What gets me is they have no shame about bull****ting you. I know if I was doing that to clients in a job - even if I was forced to do it by bosses - I'd at least have the grace to be very embarrassed indeed if the client caught me out in that lie. I think they're all robots at this particular JCP because they don't even disagree with you, they just carry on like you haven't spoken. I hope I never have to complain to a manager because I have a feeling it's the manager who's training them to come out with these scripted responses.

[Mr.P]

You also need to keep a record of what you do each week, so you can discuss this when we meet. The best way to record what you've done is to write it down online or on Universal Jobsmatch.

 

All well and good doing it online, but what happens when:

 

• JCP staff can not access the portal you choose to use...
  
• If using the UJM site and if they can't access it due to technical difficulties.
  
• The internet fails in your particular part of the world and you have no access.
  
• The online database suffers from a failure and your information is corrupted or deleted.
  

Important data that could lead to financial difficulties should never be entrusted to online storage. Paper based records are quick, easy, and not prone to failure. Even if ink gets smudged, it can be shown that an attempt was used, not so easy with digital data.

 

The other advantage of paper based records is that they take time, effort, and expense to copy.

[moodygirl86]

Not to mention that if I really did fit the stereotype of some skiver who needs spying on 24/7, logically I also wouldn't bother neatly writing down what I had done in such vivid detail.

 

The coaches at this JCP aren't very helpful either. I started a (short-lived) restaurant job earlier this week after attending an interview the JCP had told me to attend despite having no experience in that sector at all. It wasn't only the threat of having my UC stopped that made me attend, I also genuinely wanted to try it out to see if I liked it as it was something new. Unfortunately, despite the promise of training, they threw me in at the deep end and expected me to be able to serve customers at the till while simultaneously getting their life story from them, and still completing the transaction in under 10 seconds. (One of those trendy American restaurants where it's not enough to be polite and friendly to the customers, you also have to act like a cheerleader on acid). I couldn't seem to do anything right, and on Thursday I was let go as I wasn't quite the right fit.

 

To be honest, I was mainly relieved as it was a very exhausting job, physically and mentally. All my previous experience is in call centres and offices, where I find it easier to stay calm under pressure because you're on the phone and at least if someone's rude to you, it's easier to fake being cool if they can't see you. So when I attended the Jobcentre on Friday, the coach I saw was reading the notes the contact centre had put on when making the appointment, including the explanation of why this job had ended. And what was the first thing she said? She's got a waitress job she wants me to apply for! FFS. I told her I wasn't refusing to apply, but I had no experience or aptitude for it, they require you to be an excellent multitasker (at which I'm mediocre) and if she keeps sending me for waitressing jobs, the same thing will happen. It might look good on her getting me into work quickly, but if it's a job I only last three days at, that's not very helpful to me, is it? I said "My experience mainly consists of admin, call centre-based customer service and sales; surely you must have jobs like that I can apply for?" She replied "OK, have you thought about being a barmaid?" I swear it went in one ear and out the other!

 

They've also asked me to bring my login details for my Reed and CV Library accounts. They can go eat ****-flavoured cake.

[Mr.P]

They've also asked me to bring my login details for my Reed and CV Library accounts. They can go eat ****-flavoured cake.

 

Print off a copy of the terms & conditions and highlight the section about sharing user name & passwords. The first rule of internet security is one does not share login details with anyone. Ask the JCP adviser about DWP policy regarding IT security on their internal computers.

[moodygirl86]

I said that, and she said it was so she could see what my CV looked like. I actually had a paper copy on me, which she refused to read. I asked why an electronic version was more valid, and she couldn't answer that one; just said I could go and she'd see me when I next attend (Monday 28th).

 

I'm fortunate to be quite naturally forthright and not easily bullied, but it just makes me so angry that they're lying to people who may or may not be aware of their rights. The fact she wouldn't accept the paper version is just proof that they only want to monitor and control you, and they're more interested in that than genuinely helping jobseekers.

 

More to the point, the fact she ignored my experience tells me she doesn't want me to find long term work as then I'd be out of her clutches and it's one less person on the dole. They probably think if everyone found work, they'd be unemployed. Well, not my [edited] problem.

 

Ain't that their attitude to us?

Edited November 19, 2016 by honeybee13
Paras and language.

[honeybee13]

Hello MG.

 

I've edited some paragraphs into your post to make it easier to read. If you could possibly put in a bit more spacing, it would help the advisers here.

 

HB

[sillygirl1]

You can do a printout of what jobs you have applied for on Reed and CV Library, I kept forestalling the Job Centre on this, one week I was told I had applied for too many jobs and the next time 'why aren't you applying for x job' when I had no skills or exprience for said job...they were quite upset when I proved I already had applied for y and z jobs they came up with via the online links I had. I kept showing them the info I had printed out and they said I should give them my login info. I said it was not necessary as they could call me and I would email the printout to date to them should they need immediate info on my jobsearch activities.

 

This was a while ago now and I found work by myself, by re-writing my cv and putting in my specialist payroll skills.

 

They still seem to think people are 'work shy' and not able to use a computerised system or have 'relevant skills' and try and put you on courses you could deliver better than their providers!

 

Keep up the good work of frustrating them when you can!

[moodygirl86]

I just forward my coach the automated confirmation email you get when you've applied, and I only do that if it's one they've matched me to (the only ones they actually check). I have to go to the library to use a printer so I can't really afford to print off half a rainforest. Technically you can give your jobsearch evidence verbally if you want to; it's just most of us don't because most people don't have that sort of photographic memory.

 

What I find interesting about this Jobcentre is, all the members of staff I've spoken to have the Same. Robotic. Manner. When I was on the dole in Birmingham, no two members of DWP staff I met at that office were the same. You got nice ones, nasty ones, sympathetic ones and bored ones. Here, they all use the same technique of ignoring anything you've said that they don't want to hear. It's frustrating.

[moodygirl86]

Went for today's appointment and the coach was nearly 15 minutes late seeing me because she was in a meeting with her manager. I'd have known that without being told as she started nagging me again about using Jobmatch to record my jobsearch activity. She asked for my paper record which I gave her, then she asked me the question when she was halfway through.

 

 

COACH: "Don't you use Universal Jobmatch to record this? You don't have to write it all down."

 

ME: "Writing it down is the easiest way of helping me remember everything I've done, and apart from that the UJ diary has a character limit and it crashes and loses everything when I hit the return key."

 

COACH: "That's fine but everybody has to record their jobsearch in their Jobmatch account. It's the way forward, as I've explained before."

 

ME: "And as I've explained before, that's not what the regulations say. You can record your jobsearch however you choose, and this is the literature I was given at the start of the claim that says you can write it down on paper if you want to. It does say Jobmatch is the best way, but even this acknowledges it's not the only way." (I then showed her the bit I mean.)

 

HER: "That's fine for now but it's checked by the District and it could look like you're not really jobhunting; and it means we can't get in touch to send you job alerts." (I call BS).

 

ME: "If you've got a job you think I should go for, you can email me."

 

HER: "Coaches can't send emails." (Well, coaches have sent me emails with jobs before so she's clearly telling a lie.

 

ME: "Coaches have before."

 

HER: "Was that on Jobseekers' or Universal Credit?" (What difference does that make?)

 

ME (truthfully): "Both."

 

HER: "It's discouraged."

 

ME: "Yes, discouraged. Not forbidden."

 

 

She backed down then, saying it was fine for now but the rules were going to change soon. I'm seeing her again next Monday so I'll ask for a manager if she starts up again. Mind you, it's obvious the manager she was with must have been giving her a hard time and telling her to be tougher on claimants.

 

I phoned up the call centre when I got home to check she hasn't referred me for any unfair sanctions or put anything negative on my notes. The bloke I spoke to said he used to claim himself so he's familiar with the tactics they used, and he refused to allow access to Jobmatch for the same reason. He also assured me they can't legally have you sanctioned behind your back - there are no doubts on my claim and if there were, she would have had to tell me verbally when I was there, which is reassuring.