JSA Disallowed due to Religious Committment

mro

emmjayeff wrote: »

I had to attend a personal adviser (PA) interview at my job centre on the same day I had a religious engagement. I didn't go to the PA interview and attended church instead. My JSA was disallowed and my claim was stopped. I took it to tribunal and they said I could have gone to the PA interview and foregone church. I appealed this and it's currently being re-assessed, but the DWP are questioning my appeal saying no error of law took place. But I say it did - the tribunal chairman said I could have gone to 'any old service' but the one I was going to on the same day as the PA interview was NOT 'any old service' - it was a specific type of religious service. I believe the tribunal was selective in its assessment of me going to church because they've lumped the sort of service I went to into the same pot as all the other services, but that's not the case. Therefore the tribunal made an error of law because it applied a blanket interpretation of the rules and applied them to ALL types of religious service, rather than considering that the type of service I went to on the day I should have been at the PA interview was something I couldn't have gone to at any other time. I wondered if anyone had any comments please? This is, as far as I can see, almost an infringement of Article 9 ECHR!

When did all this happen, when was your JC appointment ?

If you've taken to tribunal, you must have been looking into this for quite a while ?