JSA - Misled and cheated by DWP, HMRC and JCP

JInSuffolk

So I recently returned to the UK from abroad and imported my benefit for 3 months from another EU country and was paid by my former countries social office for benefits for 3 month but as condition had to register with JCP which I did and had to attend an appointment with them every 2-3 weeks to just show I'd be looking for work and they sent this on to my original country who then kept releasing payment.

When I registered with JCP those months ago I was given a work log book with a National Insurance number on which I could not remember my original one since I had been out of the country for 12 years before returning. I assumed it was correct because they confirmed that all my details were in line with that National Insurance Number and it was handwritten by the work coach that I had in JCP.

So I applied for JSA at the start of April, online and then DWP phoned me up and told me they could not accept my online application as my National Insurance No did not exist, I spoke to both JCP and DWP and the JSA helpline at length and they confirmed that they COULD NOT give me this number and I should write to HMRC to give me a reminder and just refused to talk to me at all without a National Insurance Number to give to them.

They stated I could not apply for JSA without a national insurance number, the local JCP stated to me that they know my national insurance number (having seen me the previous week!) and know I am genuine, but they cannot take my application until I enter it in an online form and they cannot give me the number themselves, only HMRC can, so I cannot apply for JSA until then but it will certainly be backdated.

I wrote to HMRC straight away after being told this and after a three week delay they wrote back to me saying they could not find my national insurance number and wanted more information so I had to fill in yet another form so I did so,. several weeks ago, today I finally got notice from HMRC that my National Insurance number is now being sent out by post, almost two months after I actually applied for them to send it to me.

In the meantime I went to register with a GP practice I used to attend and unbeknownst to me they had my NI number on record so gave it to me as 'a favour' and was able to get my NI number from them, so I applied online on 4th May 2017. and my claim was set-up, it is just as well I didn't wait for HMRC because their response times are a complete joke.

I produced proof of looking for jobs for the whole of April, and my work coach agreed that it would be back-dated and she would recommend it. On Tuesday of this week I spoke to JSA via phone and they said my backdated claim had been approved and would be paid with my next payment and confirmed that I would get the money on my next payment day.

Today I have gone into JCP and my work coach has confirmed that the backdating approval made by a "Decision Maker" has been over-ridden by a more senior 'Decision Maker' and in fact the payment will not be backdated despite the fact that they previously confirmed that it had been approved.l

Things I am angry about
- JCP made a mistake on the documents they put my national insurance number on (one number was wrong) and then prevented me from claiming until I corrected their mistake.;
- As soon as JCP made me aware of this I contacted HMRC the same day, who took 3 weeks to even reply and another 4 weeks to actually send me my NI Number.
- DWP confirmed that backdating was approved by the 'Decision Maker' until some mysterious senior 'Decision Maker' decided to over-rule the original decision maker.

My Work Coach has said I should appeal as in her words "it is shocking" but I wondered if anyone else has had this situation?

Teahfc

Welcome back to the UK things have got a little slower since you had dealings with the Government bodies. Bet you wish you had stopped in where ever you were now.

JInSuffolk

It's actually shocking how bad public services have got since I left, my experiences with the DWP and HMRC have been hugely frustrating, nobody there seems to be accountable for any errors that they may make and the hold times on the phone and the delays in any kind of correspondence, the very poor online services just are a few things I have a problem with.

When I left in 2005 I never really had a problem with Government departments, in-fact when I moved abroad, It was noticeable how good the UK services were compared to where I was, now it's quite the opposite, it feels like there have been years of neglect and massive cost cutting and they're being run on a shoestring budgets with awful processes and little accountability.

The attitude I've had so far is, we made a mistake, it had a big impact on you and yes we didn't reply in a reasonable time-frame and yes we made promises that we didn't keep, we're very sorry about that and realize it has cost you money you were owed, but no we're not going to do anything about it or take it into account.

teddysmum

There are a lot more of us now and services are spread thinly (or non-existent in some cases).

nannytone_2

all of the above would have been avoided if YOU had taken care to know YOUR NI number.

there are millions that the system have to deal with, where you only had to take care of 1 ... and didnt

JInSuffolk

nannytone wrote: »

all of the above would have been avoided if YOU had taken care to know YOUR NI number.

there are millions that the system have to deal with, where you only had to take care of 1 ... and didnt

Considering I hadn't needed to use my National Insurance number for over 13 years and I never thought I would return to the UK, I think that might just play a part.

And you will note that I was told my National Insurance number when I came back and it was written down for me by JCP, who made a MISTAKE themselves and now I suffer because of that.

pmlindyloo

JInSuffolk wrote: »

Considering I hadn't needed to use my National Insurance number for over 13 years and I never thought I would return to the UK, I think that might just play a part.

And you will note that I was told my National Insurance number when I came back and it was written down for me by JCP, who made a MISTAKE themselves and now I suffer because of that.

You need to appeal the decision (how to should be laid out in the decision letter about not backdating) putting out the facts as you have detailed here.

Not sure whether this has all been done on the phone or whether you have the letter but the first part of the appeal is to ask for a mandatory reconsideration.

If you haven't had the decision letter you could try asking for the mandatory reconsideration over the phone and then follow up with a letter.

Good luck!

JInSuffolk

I spoke to them on the phone and they said that JCP/DWP error and HMRC slowness is not a valid reason to backdate and unfortunately they do not compensate claimants for admin errors on their side even if it resulted in loss of payment.

I have not got the letter yet, but that does not surprise me.

JInSuffolk

I just got the letter and it says I met the Labour Market conditions but I did not have good reason for the delay in applying for jobseekers allowance.

I was told I cannot write an appeal until I ask them for a mandatory re-consideration, and to do so I have to phone and ask them, I did that and they said my chance of success was virtually zero.

Their view was they made an admin error which prevented me from applying earlier, however that is not a valid reason to backdate my allowance in their guide so there is "no chance" of a mandatory reconsideration succeeding.

Basically it seems to suggest they can make as many mistakes as they want and whatever effect it has on the claimant that is just tough luck I have to suck it up, meanwhile if I make a mistake, I'm sure they'll not hesitate to sanction me.