£50 civil penalty, Job seekers Allowance

abetterfutureahead

I dont wish to post my epic story on here at the moment. But basically I have received wrongly, in my opinion CIVIL PENALTY of £50 for a disputed overpayment of job seekers allowance of £71 Meaning I have to pay back £121.00
Has anyone else experienced these CIVIL PENALTIES . Not much about them on the Net. They were brought in in October 2012

HappyMJ

A civil penalty is an offer of an out of court settlement. Pay that and you will not have a criminal conviction. If you feel you would be found not guilty in court then decline the offer of a penalty and let them take you to court. Chances are they don't have the evidence and are chancing it themselves. They may end up just dropping the case...as you are on JSA (assuming you still are you may not be sorry if you got a job) then you can get legal aid to defend yourself. If you have a job the wages lost from taking a day or two off to attend court may not be worth the risk.

Wywth

abetterfutureahead wrote: »

I dont wish to post my epic story on here at the moment. But basically I have received wrongly, in my opinion CIVIL PENALTY of £50 for a disputed overpayment of job seekers allowance of £71 Meaning I have to pay back £121.00
Has anyone else experienced these CIVIL PENALTIES . Not much about them on the Net. They were brought in in October 2012

The notice should explain your right to dispute the matter in court if that is your desire

abetterfutureahead

HappyMJ wrote: »

A civil penalty is an offer of an out of court settlement. Pay that and you will not have a criminal conviction. If you feel you would be found not guilty in court then decline the offer of a penalty and let them take you to court. Chances are they don't have the evidence and are chancing it themselves. They may end up just dropping the case...as you are on JSA (assuming you still are you may not be sorry if you got a job) then you can get legal aid to defend yourself. If you have a job the wages lost from taking a day or two off to attend court may not be worth the risk.

No a civil penalty is not an offer to settle out of court. I would gladly go to court but I am not being allowed the priviledge. These civil penalties came into force in October last year but no one at the jobcentre knew anything about them. It is a fixed penalty of £50 for any over payment of £65-01. It is enforced when a claiment fails to notify any benefit agency of a change of circumstances at the earliest possible time.
I went for an interview including a practical skills test on the Monday, received an offer of employment on the Tuesday and started on the Wednesday. working from 8-30 till 5-30. I attendedthe job centre the next day and informed them that I worked the day before and was going to work that afternoon. An appointment was made for me for the following Tuesday to produce my wage slip and complete a B7. I attended the interview with the wage slip and completed the B7 earnings form.
They have imposed the penalty because in their eyes i did not declare working until that Tuesday when I gave them my first wage slip.
When I received the first letter informing me to contact them I rang the number on the letter 0845 6088637. I thought this number was Sunderland benefit centre but I now know it is a national helpline. I spoke to someone in Torquay and asked them what information they wanted. She told me they were missing some wage slips and 2 of the ones they had were dupicates. I agreed to have the wage slips photocopied again as I had them with me, I was using the phones in the job centre. I pointed out that there was not 2 duplicates if she checked the tax week and gross to date It is clear I received the same amount of wages 2 weeks running. I thought that would be the end of it, but 2 days ago I receive another letter imposing the £50 penalty. I took the letter to the job centre as I still sign on for NI contributions only and do not receive any benefit as my wage is higher than £71 I only worked up to 15 hours per week. The officer I sign with had never heard of these new civil penalties and even enquired with his manager and they also arent aware of them.
I made 10 phone calls yesterday trying to get this sorted out and spoke to people in Blackpool, Trafford, debt management, Sunderland, job seekers allowances, debt recovery Marton Mare ,Makerfield and Blackpool again!!!! I got the gist that I needed to speak to someone in Sunderland but they dont take calls from the public!!!
In desperation I returned to the jobcentre and spoke to the officer I had seen earlier. I had with me 2 letters of complaint and copies of the letters I received, I also completed a GL24 . The officer was as helpful as he could be but still no answers all I could do was send in an appeal. He emailed Sunderland asking them to contact me
The officer then told me to ring the number again (0845 6088637) He asured me it was Sunderlands direct number and I may only possibly be passed to a call centre if they were busy. I used the phone at the job centre rang the number and got put through to Blackpool again!!!!
Finally this morning the young man who imposed the civil penalty rang me and said I had failed to inform the job centre of my employment and failed to contact Sunderland!! He also told me that the conversation was not being recorded so neither of us would have proof of what either had said. He accused me of calling him a liar! I said I had not. I had said he was unable to provide me with proof of any phone calls he had made to me, apparently BA do not have to log any calls they make and there is no system in place to log the activities of workers. I then asked if there was anyone else in the room who was listening he confirmed his line manager was listening. He ended the phone call. Within 1 minute the line manager rang me. I spoke to him for nearly an hour. He explained this new penalty had been brought in and wasnt well publisized . I wont go into more detail about our conversation until the result of my appeal is heard. I am seeing my MP on Monday and checked my phone logg to confirm I have never had a call from a 0845 number on the days he said he tried to contact me.
Sorry for the long rant. But this civil penalty is not a sanction. It can be given by any government department where fraud is not suspected. It is purely to do with receipt of information.
I tried to post a link to the gov site but as Im a newbie here I'm not allowed, however if you google civil penalty JSA details will come up.

:mad:

agrinnall

This is a link to what appears to be guidance to the DWP/JCP http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/m-33-12.pdf

It does say in section 17 that there is a right of appeal, although it doesn't specify how to do it.

abetterfutureahead

agrinnall wrote: »

This is a link to what appears to be guidance to the DWP/JCP http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/m-33-12.pdf

It does say in section 17 that there is a right of appeal, although it doesn't specify how to do it.

Thanks, yes that is the link.
I would still like to know how many people know of these civil penalties and if anyone else has been subjected to one

Jules2012

"We're all in the together" I would like to wrap that saying around Cameron's face.

They really just want to take, take, take.