A 6 month ban from job seekers.

Fenrir

Hello everybody.

My situation is this. I have been signing on for 11 months now, due to losing my job.

I have proven to the job centre on many occasions that I have been attending interviews, searching for jobs and such. They attempted to send me on the '13 week work course' around 4 months ago. I planned on going, but sadly a death in the family conflicted with the start date. I contacted them, they said it was fine, a week later I was signed off and banned for 2 weeks.

A similar thing happened shortly after for my second time...as luck would have it, it was a friend this time. I was banned for 4 weeks.

Now this is my problem. I was told to attend my 13 week course 2 weeks ago. I attended for a whole week, then managed to get another interview. I informed the JC and the placement that I would be late that day. I arrived and was told to go home for the rest of the day. I did, and then when I arrived the next day I was told I was removed from the course and my benefits were stopped for 6 months.

I cant live on nothing, so is there anything else I am entitled to? I have been informed by a friend theres a such thing as 'hard times payments' when you have no other options. Is this true?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Leon R.

DCFC79

Did you get the names of the person you spoke on the occaisons and date and time, did the person you spoke actually make a note of you not being able to attend the 13 week course

smithysaver

your'll have to apply for hardship payments, expect this to be lower than your JSA. By claiming this you can still get Housing Benifit and Council Tax benifit. Ask for the froms at the jobcentre.

busy_mom_2

Fenrir wrote: »

Hello everybody.


I have proven to the job centre on many occasions that I have been attending interviews, searching for jobs and such. They attempted to send me on the '13 week work course' around 4 months ago. I planned on going, but sadly a death in the family conflicted with the start date. I contacted them, they said it was fine, a week later I was signed off and banned for 2 weeks.

You are presumably talking about new deal, you had the oppourtunity to complete a form with your reasons, I can only presume the death either wasn't immediately at the same time as you were due to start the course or you have already declared domestic emergencies?

A similar thing happened shortly after for my second time...as luck would have it, it was a friend this time. I was banned for 4 weeks.


Again same as last reason, you only get so many domestic emergencies and you seem to have a few.

Now this is my problem. I was told to attend my 13 week course 2 weeks ago. I attended for a whole week, then managed to get another interview. I informed the JC and the placement that I would be late that day. I arrived and was told to go home for the rest of the day. I did, and then when I arrived the next day I was told I was removed from the course and my benefits were stopped for 6 months.

You aren't just removed form the course for only having 1 day off you need to total 5 days absense before being dismissed so what else aren't you telling us?

I cant live on nothing, so is there anything else I am entitled to? I have been informed by a friend theres a such thing as 'hard times payments' when you have no other options. Is this true?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Leon R.

You need to speak to your adviser you may be eligble for hardship but depends on whether you are a single person, ask to be referred back to the course provided you attend this will override any new deal sanctions

han694

Hi, they did that to me as i handed in a sick note a week before i started and was told it was ok... But the doctor had to give me another sick note for a futher two weeks. They took me off and i was no longer getting any payments. I took this to court and won my case! if you have prove or can i would seek help... If you do take them and you won after that they will try and be funny with you! It has happened to me

Bamber19

han694 wrote: »

Hi, they did that to me as i handed in a sick note a week before i started and was told it was ok... But the doctor had to give me another sick note for a futher two weeks. They took me off and i was no longer getting any payments. I took this to court and won my case! if you have prove or can i would seek help... If you do take them and you won after that they will try and be funny with you! It has happened to me

Are you sure that's exactly how it happened? I only ask as from that it sounds like you were unavailable for work (due to illness) for 3 weeks (at least.) If you are unavailable for more than 2 weeks they'd be quite right to stop your JSA and suggest applying for ESA/Incap (depending when it was) Doesn't sound like they done anything wrong.

Widelats

If your adviser is worth their salt in terms of giving a hoot about YOU they will refer you back to the centre, this makes your benefits safe.

However, if you really don't want to go on this 13 week course then hardship payments forms are at the JC, they are a bit less than JSA.

busy_mom_2

Widelats wrote: »

If your adviser is worth their salt in terms of giving a hoot about YOU they will refer you back to the centre, this makes your benefits safe.

However, if you really don't want to go on this 13 week course then hardship payments forms are at the JC, they are a bit less than JSA.

The adviser has to refer the person back to their course, nought to do with salt or hoot!!!
The only way his benefits are safe is if he complies with the rules and regs for claiming it
Refuse again without good cause and another 26 week sanction, we go on and on.....
Only exception to this would be if the provider refused to have them.
The op obviously had his benefits sanctioned and is not giving the full story.
Hardship is usually a 40% reduction so a litlle more than 'a bit less'

jamespir

SueSueSue wrote: »

Maybe the Advisors have realised that all these coincidental family emergencies are in fact someone spinning anything they can to sit on their !!!! at home and scrounge.

such a helpful comment lets hope no one in your family dies you wouldnt bother going to theyre funeral i take it

busy_mom_2

jamespir wrote: »

such a helpful comment lets hope no one in your family dies you wouldnt bother going to theyre funeral i take it

People are allowed 4 domestic emergencies, he mentioned 2 so must have used the other 4, 6 in such a short space of time.....:rolleyes:
People know in advance of funerals so had he told his adviser she would of rearranged the course.
Same rules with work are we all allowed endless days off and get paid?

oldmotherreilly

Can you tell us a little bit more about your situation Fenrir? The JCP can only stop your money once your claim has been 'disallowed' by a Decision Maker, so a decision to sanction (ie disallow) benefit cannot be made on the day that you went back to the course. Was your course a New Deal course? It sounds like it may be because the sanctions for this are 2 weeks, 4 weeks and then each subsequent sanction would be for 6 months. The process should be that the provider would send a form called SL2, together with an ND11 if you were taken off the course to your advisor at the JCP; they would then refer it to a Decision Maker who would then normally contact you to ask you for your comments on the reasons the provider has given for exiting you from the course. From experience, this is a decision that is never made on the same day, so if it was the provider that told you that your benefit was stopped, I would ignore this and speak to your advisor at JCP.