JSA sanction appeal.

Daedalus

Posting on behalf of a friend.

She 'missed' a group session, by missed she was late by no more than 10 mins for an hour session and was refused entry. She was late due to her bus being blocked on a road by a parked car for 20 minutes.

Sanctioned for 2 weeks.

Does she have any grounds for appeal?

supertomsk

What was the group session for? I assume she was directed to attend. A direction has to be to improve someone's prospects of finding work - would this group session have done that?

miduck

I think she'll struggle to win an appeal. If the bus was delayed for twenty minutes, she was leaving it late to get there on time - even a ten minute delay would have left her in trouble.

supertomsk wrote: »

What was the group session for? I assume she was directed to attend. A direction has to be to improve someone's prospects of finding work - would this group session have done that?

I can see your line of argument, but it is likely to cause more problems than it is worth - it is very unlikely that the JCP would acknowledge that one of their/ their contractor's sessions was not constructive, plus it would make her appear as if she is not compliant, potentially leading to another sanction!

The_ICT_Engineer

She does have grounds to appeal, as her late arrival was due to the bus being delayed on route. She needs to contact the bus company for proof of this. As she was turned away for being late,
Was it recorded that she had arrived 10 minutes late? Or was it recorded she never turned up. It depends on what information that the DM was given, as to how they made the decision to give a Sanction.

chris1973

Sounds Reasonable, although two weeks is harsh.

If i'm late for work even if its not my fault, I get docked pay by my unsympathetic employer, I don't have any grounds for appeal

I would appeal over the 2 week penalty though.

rogerblack

Daedalus wrote: »

Posting on behalf of a friend.

She 'missed' a group session, by missed she was late by no more than 10 mins for an hour session and was refused entry. She was late due to her bus being blocked on a road by a parked car for 20 minutes.

Sanctioned for 2 weeks.

Does she have any grounds for appeal?

As others have said - it's at least arguable that she does.
If she is initially refused, she can (and should) proceed to a tribunal, and argue her case there.
If nobody disputes the refusals, the system is working fine, and there are no statistics to say it's not.

Daedalus

supertomsk wrote: »

What was the group session for? I assume she was directed to attend. A direction has to be to improve someone's prospects of finding work - would this group session have done that?

She is under 24 and they are required to attend a group session when first signing on. Basically discussing apprenticeships and work experience opportunities. She is a graduate with experience so the session was of no use, I don't think that is a valid argument though.

I think what annoyed her most is that when she attended the session in the following cycle the first 15 minutes were just 'introduce yourself'.

miduck wrote: »

I think she'll struggle to win an appeal. If the bus was delayed for twenty minutes, she was leaving it late to get there on time - even a ten minute delay would have left her in trouble.

Perhaps, the bus pulls up next door. I would imagine most people would take the bus that pulls in 10 mins before their JC meeting rather than one that pulls in 40 mins before.



As for getting proof from the bus company I am not sure how feasible that would be.


I did laugh that they sanctioned her and still expected her to go to the meeting during her sanctioned period.