On joint income support - Do I go to work programme? Slimey advisor!

craigjob

Miroslav wrote: »

Do you have any paperwork stating you have to go or that you do not have to go?

If not, ask both JobCentre Plus and your Work Programme Advisor for written confirmation of what they say. If they can back their claims up, they'll gladly put it in writing.

Receiving texts from your Work Programme Advisor is not an official avenue and holds no weight and i've never heard of anyone texting from these places before, so it sounds incredibly strange to me, especially as she doesn't then respond to your responses in whatever form they may be.

Hi, yup she also phones under private numbers so I can't phone back. I've asked the receptionist to pass on message, in which I get told she WILL reply. But she "Must" pretend to..lol seriously.

And also like I said the same person phoned me when I was not claiming JSA, handed all the documents to say I had a job. And I was getting phone calls and texts at 5pm and sometimes lunch hours to say I haven't been in for a appointment. Even once I said to her I'm in part time, and not claiming. She said yes but "wouldn't you preffer full time, and you still have to come in because it will effect future benifit" which is !!!!!!!! because the JC said Nope. No need, you're employed enjoy it lol. But when I had to put in a claim for JSA when that ended, they couldn't pay me for a month because of the santions she had put on me for that period of time.

But yes, it is strange I know.

Thanks for the reply I will have to do this tomorow and get it in writing.

Thank you very much.

HappyMJ

craigjob wrote: »

Hi thanks for the reply, I wasn't going to name epople so you people seemed right. lol. As it was the same people repeating what others said before, and I had answered.

Weather it's 25 weeks 50 weeks or 2 days it doesn't matter at this time.

The problem I have with going is it's up to 2 hours away, because I've moved. I've even asked her to transfer me to a closer office but there is no reply. So I am at the moment, stuck with having to travel up to 2 hours away (costs alot for the travel) for a 1 hour appointment. And just basically wondered how I can explain to her what I've had said to me. Because like i said, when I left JSA for a part time job, she still insisted I had to go and meet her, as it would effect future benefits. Which would mean all people in part time jobs are going to this WP? Understand my own confusion because now at the moment I came here to solve 2 people saying 2 different things. It ends up with loads of people, all saying different/yet the same/but off the topic things...lol. Thanks for the reply. As the one above you I shall follow that and get this sorted.

Thanks.

It sounds like you would be better off moving the claim to your local office. Keep at them they'll respond and move the claim eventually.

Miroslav

craigjob wrote: »

Hi, yup she also phones under private numbers so I can't phone back. I've asked the receptionist to pass on message, in which I get told she WILL reply. But she "Must" pretend to..lol seriously.

And also like I said the same person phoned me when I was not claiming JSA, handed all the documents to say I had a job. And I was getting phone calls and texts at 5pm and sometimes lunch hours to say I haven't been in for a appointment. Even once I said to her I'm in part time, and not claiming. She said yes but "wouldn't you preffer full time, and you still have to come in because it will effect future benifit" which is !!!!!!!! because the JC said Nope. No need, you're employed enjoy it lol. But when I had to put in a claim for JSA when that ended, they couldn't pay me for a month because of the santions she had put on me for that period of time.

But yes, it is strange I know.

Thanks for the reply I will have to do this tomorow and get it in writing.

Thank you very much.

Everything in writing makes things much more straightforward.

It sounds to me as if your advisor may be either on commission or has been set work targets to get people into full time work, hence she's hassling you. If you were in part time work, she should never have hassled you. JCP/DWP had done their jobs by helping you back to work.

If the Work Advisor was not directly employed by JCP/DWP, you would need to ask them to remove you from their list and close your file. That way they can be left in no doubt that you wanted to be left alone.

Now you are out of work it may be different, but as I say, everything in writing and finding out exactly what benefit you are on, why you are on it and if their is a time limit for you to be given the period of grace, would help sort things out.

Best of luck.

busy_mom_2

In a nutshell, you are eligible to be on her IS claim or you could of stayed on jsa same amount either way. the JCP has an 'off flow' target so by you going onto your partners IS claim they get one 'off flow'.
As for work programme, if you were referred before you closed your claim to JSA then you are still classed as on work programme and will continue to do so for 2 years from the date of referral. As these provider only get paid on sustained job outcomes, they are very keen to get you into work. They can sanction your JSA if you don't go. As you aren't on JSA obviously they cannot sanction your benefit but you may want to start working with them as they may get you into work before you have to go onto JSA and then you will have to go or risk a benefit sanction.

mealone

The weather here was ok today for November but quite chilly, it has nothing to do with IS or JSA though

adamantine

why do you not just go into your nearest JC office and ask to speak to an adviser there and get everything done through that office?

Adereterial

You do realise, OP, that once you were referred to the Work Programme you were on it for two years - whether you got a job or not?

The adviser is doing as the government has requested - working to get you off benefits and into a job. Something you need to do to support your partner and to set a positive example to your child.

Stop complaining, go to your appointment, and actively seek a job. Whether you're on JSA or not, you should be doing this as it's the right thing to do, not just because you're required to do so as a condition of receiving benefit.

GlasweJen

If your part time job was less than 16 hours a week then you wouldn't be paying national insurance and could have had a "contributions only" job seekers claim to keep your NI up to date for future benefits (state pension).

Now for your income support the rules are here :

Who can get Income Support

It's for people who all the following apply to:

are between age 16 and the age they can get Pension Credit
have a low income
work less than 16 hours a week
aren't in full-time study (but there are some exceptions)
don't get Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance
don't have savings above £16,000
live in Northern Ireland
You may get Income Support if you are one of the following:

a lone parent
on parental or paternity leave
a carer
a refugee learning English who arrived less than a year ago
Young people in relevant education may also get Income Support. Generally this means full-time education GCE or A Level. This might apply if you:

are a lone parent
don't live with a parent or someone acting as a parent
are at serious risk of abuse or violence
are a refugee learning English
You can get Income Support as well as some other benefits.

The paternity portion is only applicable if you have a job but don't qualify for statutory paternity pay. Does it matter what you're claiming? Yes! If you claim the wrong benefits then you can get done for fraud, you won't be much use to your missus or your bairn with a hefty repayment and a fraud conviction will you?

Chouette

craigjob wrote: »

I don't know why this turnt into a debate over goverment, and what the JC should be allowing me and my partner to go on and not.

Nor do I know why I'm receiving insults over this either.

I just need to know what happends with the Work Programme as they do have the right to stop benifits, and as the JC and WP don't communicate very well. And always inisit for me to pass on the message to the other, and not just phone each other. I keep getting told two things.

So once again I ask, anybody on a joint IS claim, with a partner. Are you going to work programme or no.

I'm not on IS - I'm on ESA but have been thrashing the same thing out wiht my work programme provider as they threatened me with sanctions etc and insisted I was on JSA (and that I was clearly a bit confused about what benefit I was on... er, no).

They can't sanction you. That has to go via the DWP, who do seem to have more sense (and didn't sanction me).

They can't contact the jobcentre about whether you are are not mandatory. This baffles me.

In my case, as a voluntary "customer", I can just ring up the jobcentre and say "Gave it my best, didn't work out for me", and I can come off the Work Programme. It took my provider three months to tell me this was what I needed to do though.

I believe that if you have now become voluntary, you are now able to chose not to go. It would seem to me to be worth getting this advise confirmed by the jobcentre - they are the only ones who will know.

I'm appalled by some of what has been said here. My experience of the WP has been abusive advisors who care more about outcomes than whether what they are asking you to do makes sense, and managers who are in a meeting for three months solid. I'm a normal human being, we all make mistakes, but it's galling to be treated like dirt and, for instance, asked why I "just didn't bother going" to an appointment I had been advised not to go to as it had been made at the wrong centre by mistake.

Benefits have literally saved my life and kept me off the streets. I've been deemed eligible for this support for quite an extended amount of time. I'm putting the necessary effort in outside of the WP to slowly get my life back on track, and I'm studying with the Open University to add some structure, deadlines, and intellectual challenge to my life -plus plug that nasty looking gap on my CV. Yet they weren't interested in working with me, or hearing what I need, just how many jobs I "needed" to apply for each week... on my Employment and Support Allowance

I'm not proud to be a stinking benefit scrounger, but I pay taxes like everyone else and don't see why I have to give up all my dignity just because I fell ill and wasn't old enough to have the savings to support myself or a pension to retire on

GlasweJen

Lol ONW I did the same last night!