JSA Sanction - Urgent Advice please!!!

Welshwoofs

Blueeyes21 wrote: »

Birmingham if that helps - irrelevant now he's on his way to stay with me.:)

Op - probably an odd question, but why didn't you just Google for help with homelessness in Birmingham? He's in a large city, not out in the back of beyond.

I know sod-all about homelessness, JSA or indeed, Birmingham but even I managed to come up with the following in under 1 minute on Google:

1. Helping the homeless in Birmingham - City centre street teams, 15-bed Hostel, mentoring support. 2 Oxford Road Birmingham, West Midlands B13 9EH Tel: 0121 4426322

2. http://www.stbasils.org.uk/

3. c/o 300 Reservoir Road
Erdington
Birmingham
B23 6DB
0121 477 4644 ext 300

4. c/o Homeless Single Point of Access
Midland Heart - Homeless Services Centre
44 Bradford Street
Birmingham
B5 6HX
0345 60 20 549
http://www.midlandheart.org.uk/
Single homeless men aged 25 and over.
Young single homeless people with low-medium support needs, alternatively with a history of homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Young mothers and babies. 24 short-term crashpad beds for 16-17 year olds and mothers with babies.

5. c/o Homeless Single Point of Access
Midland Heart - Homeless Services Centre
44 Bradford Street
Birmingham
B5 6HX
0345 60 20 549
Single homeless men aged 21-60 who are vulnerable and in need of support.


... and you'll find another dozen or so more homeless shelters in the Birmingham area here:
Homeless UK - Quick Accommodation Search

AnxiousMum

And the above post from Welshwoofs is exactly the type of assistance you would've received for your friend had we known one more little bit of information.

RAS

And a check on whether the Trussel Trust has a food bank in the area.

Fridge3

Blueeyes21 wrote: »

Birmingham if that helps - irrelevant now he's on his way to stay with me.:)

Advice; yesterday it wasn't possible for your friend to stay with you. Today, with no postings of discernable changes in finances or the situation it is. Use whatever's changed since yesterday as the basis for staying until he starts the new job. Problem solved.

Wee_Willy_Harris

Blueeyes21 wrote: »

I think I have asked four times for advice - does that make everyone else on here fishy?? - sometimes people need to leave the pc to do other stuff, or reply to different posts and miss others.:doh:

Birmingham if that helps - irrelevant now he's on his way to stay with me.:)

Which was the advice offered all the way back in post #2.

dmna

For what it's worth, Refusing Employment/Leaving Voluntarily DM/Appeals decisions really can take a huge amount of time to come through and can be reserved from previous claims. I would not be surprised if this case was entirely genuine. While a decision of this time is pending benefit can still be paid.

Regarding assistance from the JC, unfortunately pretty much what was said was correct - crisis loans are not payable when benefit has been removed by a sanction (Social Fund Direction 17(1), in the circumstances outlined by Direction 17(3)(C)(i) applies).

The gent would have been referred initially to JC Additional Support and Help, which is where the hostel details came from. Until 2 weeks have passed, hardship isn't available, and until a reconsideration or appeal is made, little else can be done in the mean time.

Rights or wrongs of the case and his actions asides, I hope he sorts something out soon.

Blueeyes21

[QUOTE=AnxiousMum;42009998]Blueeyes - sometimes, in order for people to give the advice being sought, they need further information. Now I would bet that, if you had answered the first time asked, that he was in Birmingham (where in fact, I will be tomorrow!) somebody from the Birmingham area, or familiar with it and the services available there - would've been able to offer some good local advice which might have been of use to your friend.
Immediate problem solved now though - as he's on his way to your place - glad that the DWP was able to provide him with the trainfare to do this.

You can't slam people for not being able to give the advice you are looking for if:
a) it doesn't match what you are wanting to hear, or,
b) you don't provide the information that is requested in order to offer that advice.[/QUOTE]


The advice I was asking for regarded what he should do next as in how is he suppose to get by on a daily basis with NO income, and, if this was legal, and if the DWP could indeed do this?

I never asked for advice about where he should look for shelter. This I'm quite sure my friend could work out for himself .. sleeping rough wouldn't have killed him for one night, but it may have been a problem had it gone on for longer .. thats why I asked if being left with No income whatsoever was lawful and correct.
All I was told on here was that he could apply for this benefit and this loan.
All of which he's done, appealed against and is awaiting a decision.
There was no further advice about how he's suppose to live on a daily basis until MAY, when his sanction ends, or he starts his new job, which quite frankly I don't know how he can start when he has no money to get to the job, and no money to enable him to eat at lunch time.

He has to sign on at the JC every week to go through the process of looking for a job, but they refuse to give him help to travel to the interviews.
There is a severe lack of common sence missing at the JC.

The Law says a person needs a minimum amount of money to live on.

So why are the JC making their own laws up??

Blueeyes21

dmna wrote: »

For what it's worth, Refusing Employment/Leaving Voluntarily DM/Appeals decisions really can take a huge amount of time to come through and can be reserved from previous claims. I would not be surprised if this case was entirelygenuine. While a decision of this time is pending benefit can still be paid.

Regarding assistance from the JC, unfortunately pretty much what was said was correct - crisis loans are not payable when benefit has been removed by a sanction (Social Fund Direction 17(1), in the circumstances outlined by Direction 17(3)(C)(i) applies).

The gent would have been referred initially to JC Additional Support and Help, which is where the hostel details came from. Until 2 weeks have passed, hardship isn't available, and until a reconsideration or appeal is made, little else can be done in the mean time.

Rights or wrongs of the case and his actions asides, I hope he sorts something out soon.

:j Thank you.
Genuine it most definately is .. as unbeleivable as the facts sound.

How can being Homeless and without the resouces to buy food NOT be a crisis?

It says in the dwp literature that a person would qualify for a crisis loan if they 'are in a situation that is unsafe to their health and well-being'.

If sleeping on a park bench in Birmingham, with no access to food isn't unsafe for a persons well-being I would like to know what is.:eek:

Blueeyes21

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Which was the advice offered all the way back in post #2.

Which whilst appreciated - wasn't the advice asked for.:o

Blueeyes21

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

He has more immediate problems than this "job". That's what he needs to concentrate on.

That's a no reply to the questions ?