Crisis Loan

kimmeh90

I have received a letter in the post today regarding a sanction that has been placed on my JSA.

I have been sanctioned for failing to attend a work programme appointment in January. At the time, I stated the reason I did not attend the 'appointment' as I did not get any letters, emails or phone call that an appointment has even been arranged, thus I did not know the said appointment existed.

I assumed the case was closed as I have continued to receive JSA as normal since January and they did contact me any further about the issue. Now out of the blue, I have been sanctioned for no fault of my own. I am not ruling out the letter did not get sent as it may have simply got lost in the post. Either way, I did not receive the letter informing me of the appointment.

The sanction is from 01/08/13 to 30/10/2013. I would be due to sign on next Wednesday and receive a payment on Monday, 19th August. However, I now know I will not get that.

I live with my mum who is also on JSA and we struggle with our money combined, JSA to share between two people simply is not going to cut it. (Yes, I am doing by up most best with my job search to acquire a job)

I start University at the end of September so I would be needing to sign off anyway but what am I supposed to live off from now until then? This brings me to my Question of the crisis loan.

Two years back I applied for a crisis loan on the grounds I needed gas, electricity and food - the basic essentials to live and survive. Well, at least the food. I was offered a shocking £6.

I do not want to spend an hour at the phone box wasting money I cannot afford to be presented with such a low offer or even worse. (The guy I was talking to was not English, so I am not quite sure if he even registered how dire the situation was).

Do you think it is worth contacting them to be either rejected or offered a patronizing low offer again?

I was even contemplating on getting a small loan from Shopacheck and make small payments out of my University maintenance grant if I budgeting accordingly. I am just not sure what else to do.

All I know is that my mum cannot support me from her JSA.

starrystarry

Crisis loans were scrapped earlier this year if I remember rightly. I think you have to apply to your local council now and the support they offer varies.

kimmeh90 wrote: »

I do not want to spend an hour at the phone box wasting money I cannot afford to be presented with such a low offer or even worse. (The guy I was talking to was not English, so I am not quite sure if he even registered how dire the situation was).

How do you know he wasn't English? Did he tell you?

joeblack066

Find some work? It may sound condescending, but you are unbend fortunate position of not having a HB claim in your name, and can therefore accept work via a temp agency. At your age, your JSA would be around £50 per week- can you really not find a way to earn that??

sammyjammy

You cannot get a crisis loan because you have been sanctioned, you can claim hardship payments which you'll need to ask the Jobcentre about, these are managed very strictly and will only be a short term solution.

DWP do not have staff abroad so the person you spoke to definitely lives in the UK whether they are "English" or not.

benefitbaby

In addition, while seeking support from your local council (which in most areas is foodbank voucher and help in kind) you should consider appealing the decision to sanction you.

kimmeh90

starrystarry wrote: »

Crisis loans were scrapped earlier this year if I remember rightly. I think you have to apply to your local council now and the support they offer varies.

How do you know he wasn't English? Did he tell you?

It was evident when we was having trouble communicating. I don't think he could quite understand what I was saying, and vice versa. I think when somebody has a strong Indian accent, it is clear that English is not their first speaking language.

joeblack066 wrote: »

Find some work? It may sound condescending, but you are unbend fortunate position of not having a HB claim in your name, and can therefore accept work via a temp agency. At your age, your JSA would be around £50 per week- can you really not find a way to earn that??

Already registered at my local temp agency's, unfortunately there is not anything in the City I live in. In fact, not many people even bother going there now apart from myself and a few select others.

If I could find a way to earn that, I would not be on JSA. I do have dignity and a strong work ethic.

jacques_chirac

kimmeh90 wrote: »

It was evident when we was having trouble communicating. I don't think he could quite understand what I was saying, and vice versa. I think when somebody has a strong Indian accent, it is clear that English is not their first speaking language.

Wow, that's really ignorant. Many people that have lived her all their lives will have an accent, picked up from older generations.

You might want to look into equality and diversity training.

starrystarry

kimmeh90 wrote: »

It was evident when we was having trouble communicating. I don't think he could quite understand what I was saying, and vice versa. I think when somebody has a strong Indian accent, it is clear that English is not their first speaking language.

That doesn't mean they're not English, which is what you said above. And as jacques said, just because he had an accent doesn't mean English is not his first language. I doubt the DWP would employ people who can't communicate, so I suspect the problem was at your end rather than his.

MidnightHour

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Wow, that's really ignorant. Many people that have lived her all their lives will have an accent, picked up from older generations.

You might want to look into equality and diversity training.

Totally unfair on the OP and off topic! Let's not turn this into a racism or 'equality and diversity thread' as you call it.

The OP is on her !!! and needs help to survive.

My only suggestion is to appeal the sanction and in the meantime ask your local council about help.

jacques_chirac

MidnightHour wrote: »

Totally unfair on the OP and off topic! Let's not turn this into a racism or 'equality and diversity thread' as you call it.

The OP is on her !!! and needs help to survive.

My only suggestion is to appeal the sanction and in the meantime ask your local council about help.

Then she needs to pick up the phone and stop worrying about whether the advisor has an accent or not.

Not off topic at all - the OP has made two posts about this issue.

I did not suggest that the OP is racist, I suggested they needed diversity training. Diversity is about recognising that everyone is different, not jumping to conclusions based on a stereotype.

MidnightHour

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Then she needs to pick up the phone and stop worrying about whether the advisor has an accent or not.

Not off topic at all - the OP has made two posts about this issue.

I did not suggest that the OP is racist, I suggested they needed diversity training. Diversity is about recognising that everyone is different, not jumping to conclusions based on a stereotype.

Diversity training? in what capacity? are you for real? you moaned at the op for not understanding an accent?

I'm soooooooooooooo waiting to understand what you think is not acceptable about not understanding an accent?

Please ?