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Job centre messing me around cant get anywhere what to do?

I have being trying to sort this out not for 10 weeks and im not getting anywhere no matter what i do.

It all started when they sanctiond my esa for failing to attend a work focused interview, i was told by various members of this forum that if you were in recipt of high rate care DLA then you where exempt from the pathways process. i rang work directions and asked them about this and they told me you are correct your exempt but can attend on a volentary basic if you wish, which i choose not too.

2 weeks later i get paid and there is £50 missing i ring them up and they tell me you have been sanctiond for failing to attend. i told the lady i was told i did not have to attend becuase i recive high rate care dla. she asked who told me this i told her work directions she rang the lady at work directions who confirmed to her on the phone that she did infact tell me i did not have to attend and the beacause this benifit is relativley new there was still some confusin with the ruling.

she said ok thats fine but you do infact need to attend and i will need to book you a new interview i said thats fine. she said the sanction will be removed when you attend the next interview.

4 weeks later i attend the interview and they send some fax to say iv attended and to remove the sanction. as far as im concernd everything is on the rite track

2 weeks later i get paid and money is £50 down again.

i ring up the jobcenter and explain she says "there is a sanction on your account sir you did not attend a work focused interview"

i said i have already been through all of this and explained my reasons for not attending i have since re attended and was told the sanction would be removed.

she said thers not records of that on the system. i will send a email and will phone you back within 3 hours.

3 hours later no phone call

the next day i ring back up. i get the same there is a sanction on your account because you failed to attended nonsense. i explain all over again and again they say they will leave a note on the system and somebody will ring me back

surprise suprise no body rings back!

i phone yet again and say look i keep being told i will be rang back about this and nobody doing anything about it! this time they say you need a letter from work directions saying you attended because we have no records :mad:

i go into work directions explain to them and they tell me we sent a fax telling them you attended and to remove your sanction. work directions then phone them to see whats going . shes speaks to them and tells them i did attend and i was then told the sanction would be removed and all would be fine.

next time i get paid the sanction is gone but the payments from the last 4 times i was paid £50 less are still missing.

i ring up the job center and say when will i recived the arreas payments she said there is not any arreas payments as your santion was removed last week which you have been payed for.

turns out instead of removed the sanction the 1st time i attended the interview they have done it from the 2nd time which is 8 weeks apart!

more phone calls later i get them to agree the sanction should have been removed from a much earlier date and that they would send the arrears payment out to me and it will be in my bank in 3 working days.

3 working days later guess what no money :mad:

phoned them up yestaday and they said who ever told you that you would recived the payment in 3 working days was giving false information! :mad:
and that all they can do is send a email to the processing department and ask them to look into it and they will ring you back at a later date

at this point im absolutly fuming mad they are taking the !!!! i asked to speak to a manager who said dont worry sir we will have them do an internet bank transfer which will be in your bank account tomorow by 1pm

1pm has gone and no money :mad:

seriosly im so angry now what on earth am i supposed to do to get anywhere
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Comments

  • pinkpinkuk
    pinkpinkuk Posts: 165 Forumite
    I don't have any particular expertise in this area but I have had a similar problem with JSA (my claim was stopped for 'failure to attend an appointment' they didn't even tell me about until 2 days after the 'appointment'.)

    After a lot of complaining, diligently recording names of people I spoke to and times I spoke to them it has eventually been sorted out yesterday, 3 weeks after the 'appointment'. In my case I roped in the manager of my local JobCentre to chase up my payments with me as the JobCentrePlus call centre was simply abysmal when I rang them direct. I hope you get a positive outcome like I did.
    Aiming to be debt free AND a qualified lawyer by 30!
    * Overdraft: £1,700 * Credit Card:
    [STRIKE]£1,550[/STRIKE] £1,534 * Uni fees: [STRIKE]£945[/STRIKE] £300 * Wonga:[STRIKE]£290[/STRIKE] * ILEX: £635 *
  • cit_k
    cit_k Posts: 24,812 Forumite
    Get your mp to complain on your behalf...
    [greenhighlight]but it matters when the most senior politician in the land is happy to use language and examples that are simply not true.
    [/greenhighlight][redtitle]
    The impact of this is to stigmatise people on benefits,
    and we should be deeply worried about that
    [/redtitle](house of lords debate, talking about Cameron)
  • Fran
    Fran Posts: 11,280 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    Ask their complaints procedure and make a complaint.
    Torgwen.......... :) ...........
  • Oldernotwiser
    Oldernotwiser Posts: 37,425 Forumite
    cit_k wrote: »
    Get your mp to complain on your behalf...

    I know many MPs don't do a lot of work but if every claimant whose money is late or who had an administrative error on their claim contacted them, the work of government would grind to a halt.
  • NASA_2
    NASA_2 Posts: 5,571 Forumite
    Arrears payments arent priority.
  • someone in our area chained himself to the railings outside the jobcentre when he was continually having to phone them..............and it was all sorted within an hour
  • cit_k
    cit_k Posts: 24,812 Forumite
    I know many MPs don't do a lot of work but if every claimant whose money is late or who had an administrative error on their claim contacted them, the work of government would grind to a halt.

    Before that happened, some serious questions would be raised in parliament as to why so many claimaints were asking their mp's for help - and why the system was failing so badly.
    [greenhighlight]but it matters when the most senior politician in the land is happy to use language and examples that are simply not true.
    [/greenhighlight][redtitle]
    The impact of this is to stigmatise people on benefits,
    and we should be deeply worried about that
    [/redtitle](house of lords debate, talking about Cameron)
  • thorsoak
    thorsoak Posts: 7,166 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm sorry - but I do not really understand this problem.

    When I was in work, I had to actually attend my place of employment in order to be paid my salary.

    when my OH was made redundant,back in the 1970s, he had to attend the Job Centre as it then was in order to receive his unemployment benefit for the week/fortnight.

    Do you mean to say that now it is not mandatory that one attends before receiving such benefits?
  • DUTR
    DUTR Posts: 12,958 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    thorsoak wrote: »
    I'm sorry - but I do not really understand this problem.

    When I was in work, I had to actually attend my place of employment in order to be paid my salary.

    when my OH was made redundant,back in the 1970s, he had to attend the Job Centre as it then was in order to receive his unemployment benefit for the week/fortnight.

    Do you mean to say that now it is not mandatory that one attends before receiving such benefits?

    You are correct in your thoughts, had the OP attended in the 1st place , chances are he would not be in the dilema he is in now, good luck to him getting in sorted, just hope one day he has a conscience to get off this handouts roundabout it does not seem a nice place to be.
  • Fran
    Fran Posts: 11,280 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    thorsoak wrote: »
    Do you mean to say that now it is not mandatory that one attends before receiving such benefits?
    DUTR wrote: »
    You are correct in your thoughts, had the OP attended in the 1st place , chances are he would not be in the dilema he is in now, good luck to him getting in sorted, just hope one day he has a conscience to get off this handouts roundabout it does not seem a nice place to be.

    The OP says in their first post that they checked on here and then double checked with Work Directions and was misinformed. So I think you are being harsh.

    OP - I would get on to their complaints system and go a level above the ones you have already had dealings with (maybe area office). Also it would help to put it in writing to them.
    Torgwen.......... :) ...........
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