Flexible new deal stages and signing off to reclaim

donnajunkie

codwidow wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by donnajunkie
in my induction on thursday. they claimed it was starting to be successful. they said last month they got 38 people into work. of course the true picture was obvious later on when they said they have a 1000 people on their books. so 38 out of 1000 is good according to them.
when i had my getting to know you meeting with my advisor the following happened. she said to the person at the next desk. that person didnt turn up last week. the person replied by saying they had a bereavement. my advisors reaction was oh well i've already sanctioned him. she then carried on with what she was doing with me. she didnt care at all.


Surely she shouldnt be discussing customers personal situations in front of other customers, isnt this a breach of data protection ?

she didnt name the person. she pointed to a name on a piece of paper that was out of my view. i agree though it was still out of order. while it probably is true that she did sanction them, i actually wouldnt be surprised either if it was tactic to make sure new starters like myself do as they are told because obviously i was thinking, oh crap what might she do to me.

shelly

coupes wrote: »

Could you elaborate on this please? Also, if you have signed off did they tell you how long you will be sanctioned for etc?

donnajunkie wrote: »

i dont think they can be sanctioned if they signed off. the question is how long do they have to be signed off to avoid being refered straight back. there is some confusion regarding this. some say 13 weeks and some say 26 weeks.

Sorry coupes, I don't want to go into my reasons for signing off. Let's just say it wasn't questioned at all so maybe it's a regular thing that an unemployed person goes to their first meeting and signs off the same/next day?
I don't know how long I am sanctioned for, I didn't care to ask. It was mentioned that if I claimed my NI credits again in the future I would be referred back to A4E again but no time scale was mentioned.

donnajunkie

shelly wrote: »

Sorry coupes, I don't want to go into my reasons for signing off. Let's just say it wasn't questioned at all so maybe it's a regular thing that an unemployed person goes to their first meeting and signs off the same/next day?
I don't know how long I am sanctioned for, I didn't care to ask. It was mentioned that if I claimed my NI credits again in the future I would be referred back to A4E again but no time scale was mentioned.

people get sanctioned when they are signing on and not fulfilling the requirements. in relation to fnd this could be something like refusing to do a work placement. you cant get sanctioned if you are not claiming. if you sign off you are not claiming so cant be sanctioned. they cant take benefit off you that you arent getting.

shelly

donnajunkie wrote: »

people get sanctioned when they are signing on and not fulfilling the requirements. in relation to fnd this could be something like refusing to do a work placement. you cant get sanctioned if you are not claiming. if you sign off you are not claiming so cant be sanctioned. they cant take benefit off you that you arent getting.

Sorry, I used the wrong word. Instead of using the word sanctioned I should have just said 'I don't know how long I can't sign on again for before being referred to A4E again'

speedfreek1000

As soon as you're referred to the FND you are theirs for the 12 month duration of it.

There is no reset to stage or anything else until the full 12 months from start has finished.

If you sign on again within this 12 month period you will automatically be passed straight back to the FND for pick up.

That's the way I understand it any way.

If you get sanctioned you would first get a letter from the FND telling you that you were being put forward for sanction to a DWP Decision Maker. You would then receive a letter from the DWP asking for your response to the allegation. Then a decision.

2 weeks 1/st
4 weeks 2nd
26 weeks variable (i.e until you comply) there after.

Parva

donnajunkie wrote: »

old new deal.
left alone until a few months before or even after the 18 month mark. you then see an advisor at the job centre for a short while who then refers you to an outside provider. you will then do 4 days a week work placement and 1 day in a centre. this course will last either 13 weeks or 26 weeks.

Sorry, I should've got to this sooner but work got in the way. I'm afraid that you're wrong on this completely, certainly for West Yorkshire (which includes a small town called Leeds). Your advice is generally very good but I think that you should research more before you making sweeping statements on something that you obviously know little about. I bow to your knowledge on the other options that exist but please don't profess to know how the 'old new deal' works.

As soon as you approach the 18 month mark you are summoned to a meeting with your new personal advisor. The first thing he / she does is to book you onto what is called a 'Gateway to work' course. They aim to get you on this ASAP but I would expect 4 weeks maximum and in the meantime you will likely have to see your advisor weekly (bus fares are refunded for the week that you wasn't due to sign on).

This course lasts for 2 weeks and is basically an intensive job searching period where you attend from 9am - 4.30pm (or some minor variant) and they will help you compile a CV, set a target amount of applications that you must do in a day and have team-building exercises.

At no point in this two week course are you put onto work-experience. Once this two week course has passed you then get put onto the 13 week course. This is where you may end up on work experience!

Just wanted to clear that up.

laser

Mr_Falling_Star wrote: »

I am with Vader here, I have posted things on here to try and help but all you get is whinging

For the meantime I am out of here

Sorry to loose you Fallingstar,

Have I missed some argy bargy that's been going on?

laser

Anybody out there actually work for JCP?

last night I was told by somebody who works for JCP that there's a magazine JCP employees can get called "Touch Base". Apparently there's been a lot of discussion about the legality of forcing jobseekers to work for less than minimum wage to repay their benefits or as in the case of those that don't get benefits, being forced to work for nothing just to be able to keep signing on.

Certain JCP staff are very unhappy with this and think that it's only a matter of time before there's a major court case or a frontline JCP employee is seriously injured/killed!!

coupes

shelly wrote: »

Sorry coupes, I don't want to go into my reasons for signing off. Let's just say it wasn't questioned at all so maybe it's a regular thing that an unemployed person goes to their first meeting and signs off the same/next day?
I don't know how long I am sanctioned for, I didn't care to ask. It was mentioned that if I claimed my NI credits again in the future I would be referred back to A4E again but no time scale was mentioned.

No problem shelly i understand. I was just curious if you asked them how long before you can claim again? The problem is as others have said, that once you have signed up with a provider and you are on Stage 4 and then sign off, they may put you back on FND as soon as you try to make a claim. Unless of course you have found work and can wait approx. 6 months to a year before reclaiming. Hope it works out.

donnajunkie wrote: »

people get sanctioned when they are signing on and not fulfilling the requirements. in relation to fnd this could be something like refusing to do a work placement. you cant get sanctioned if you are not claiming. if you sign off you are not claiming so cant be sanctioned. they cant take benefit off you that you arent getting.

Yes i agree donna there is some confusion about this. It could be the jobcentre are automatically be sanctioning people when they sign off at Stage 3/4. If they know you are signing off because you dont want to attend a course/provider. But if you have found work then it maybe different. This is still not clear yet.

laser wrote: »

Anybody out there actually work for JCP?
last night I was told by somebody who works for JCP that there's a magazine JCP employees can get called "Touch Base". Apparently there's been a lot of discussion about the legality of forcing jobseekers to work for less than minimum wage to repay their benefits or as in the case of those that don't get benefits, being forced to work for nothing just to be able to keep signing on.

21st century slavery. If people are being forced to work for benefits then that is wrong. Perhaps the government feel minimum wage doesnt apply to someone on benefits. But technically i suppose they arent employed by anyone so they dont have proper rights. Its a sad situation.

coupes

Someone has told me that there would be a gap on my N.I. contributions and i would need to pay for this myself if i were to sign off. But if i can get some part time work of up to 16 hours then the jobcentre will still pay for the NI. (Class 3?)

Does anyone know how much exactly i would need to pay each week for N.I.? or how much the jobcentre pay? Would my employer automatically deduct this?

Also what happens if there are gaps on your record for N.I. contributions that you dont pay? Does it affect your state pension in future etc? thanks