JSA mess up, annoyed and need advice

drbluebox

Got another phone interview on Monday as they lost my details from the first time.

Only thing is now I have a cold, which is annoying, prob due to walking around in pouring rain last few days.

Been writing a letter of complaint plus appeal last few days, trying to make it as professional as possible.

dmg24

There does seem to be lots of colds going round, I am sure they will take that into account if your voice is not as clear as usual.

Best of luck ... let us know how you get on! x

stevieglesga

Your post raises a few questions.

If you locate to another jobcentre(plus) area you CAN transfer a claim using a JSA3 or JSA1 retaining your same signing day and cycle as long as it is within 10 working days since you last signed. You should have attended a New Jobseeker interview(NJI) at your new jobcentre. Did you attend said interview?

If you did, were you not advised to attend the jobcentre each fortnight for a signing declaration?

Why did you stop signing having previosly signed?

From your comments Re calling different Jobcentres and them "losing" your info it seems that you may have called the contact centre number that has sites across the country. They record your details on a system called CMS and i can't understand why a) they could lose your details and why you ere instructed to claim via this route. If you make a "reclaim " to JSA within 12 weeks of a previous claim then you need normally only complete a JSA4RR and attend a local NJI.

If DWP made an error in transferring your claim you should not have needed to claim backdating as it would be classed as official error. However if you did not attend the jobcentre within the specified time period then your claim would be taken from your 1st date of contact and backdating would be required. Most likely the reason that your most recent b'dating was refused is that the decision maker may have decided that you should have known to sign on as it should have been advised on your Jobseekers agreement(JSAG) and your signing card and that you had previously signed. It may seem harsh but guidance does not allow for ignorance of rules. I wish you luck but cannot offer more help unless you can provide more info

And sorry to ll for the longevity of this post:eek:

drbluebox

No was never told to go in for a interview, was never given a JSA agreement, never got a sign on book so never knew, I just assumed I would get a letter in post when backdating was sorted.

As for the transfer I moved on a Saturday, went in on the Monday and was told to contact old JC first, did so who told me to contact new JC did so and was told to make a new claim on the line, which I did, then was told to go back to the jobcentre.

Did so and got messed around again. By this time it was time to sign on/

They did log most of my enquiries thats why backdating was granted for the first claim

As I say for the second I never recieved a interview, or JSA agreement or sign on booklet.

dmg24

How did your interview go dbb? x

stevieglesga

drbluebox wrote: »

No was never told to go in for a interview, was never given a JSA agreement, never got a sign on book so never knew, I just assumed I would get a letter in post when backdating was sorted.

As for the transfer I moved on a Saturday, went in on the Monday and was told to contact old JC first, did so who told me to contact new JC did so and was told to make a new claim on the line, which I did, then was told to go back to the jobcentre.

Did so and got messed around again. By this time it was time to sign on/

They did log most of my enquiries thats why backdating was granted for the first claim

As I say for the second I never recieved a interview, or JSA agreement or sign on booklet.

As someone who works for DWP i have to apologise if what you say is accurate. I can only imagine that you were advised to return to your previous office as there may have been a need for you to sign. Otherwise they could have faxed a ES90 requesting that you sign temporary at the new office until your claim was transferred. I can not for the life of me think why you were advised to make claim via telephone and why you were not booked a NJI. DWP has a code of practice that says we must reply to ALL complaints/requests within i think 15 days, so complain and see MP if required. Good luck.

We DO make mistakes and as a previous poster said the majority of us will put our hands up and move heaven and earth to rectify the problem. There are some bad eggs like any organisation but i really think some people hold really unbalanced, negative and prejudiced views about DWP staff- not that i'm implying that you do!! i personally take great pridein helping people whether it be to find training, work or to make claiming benefits as painless as possible and i would like to think that my colleagues feel the same- in Glasgow at least!!

drbluebox

I think its the local office, I have only signed on twice now, the first time I was waiting 45 minutes AFTER my slot to get seen.

Second time as I was seen I got a phone call as I forgot to turn off mobile from the university(as im part time) and said come in for an uni interview, the call lasted less than a minute. and the advisor started saying he heard what the person said on the other end that I was at uni and I cant be at uni, and I must be getting a loan, and essentially being an !!!., and I got the impression he didnt believe what I said

Since you are JC staff can you understand how my claim was disallowed since it was the JC's error I never had a interview and never got a sign on booklet(nor signed any sign on booklets)

stevieglesga

drbluebox wrote: »

I think its the local office, I have only signed on twice now, the first time I was waiting 45 minutes AFTER my slot to get seen.

Second time as I was seen I got a phone call as I forgot to turn off mobile from the university(as im part time) and said come in for an uni interview, the call lasted less than a minute. and the advisor started saying he heard what the person said on the other end that I was at uni and I cant be at uni, and I must be getting a loan, and essentially being an !!!., and I got the impression he didnt believe what I said

Since you are JC staff can you understand how my claim was disallowed since it was the JC's error I never had a interview and never got a sign on booklet(nor signed any sign on booklets)

Not got a clue Exhausted all my avenues. Can't believe you had to wait 45mins to sign if arrived on time. Shocking!! And as for the Adviser's (or more likely a signing clerk's) questioning technique- or lack of it- you could put a complaint in against them. There are many thousands of p/t students claiming JSA/ IS and i can't understand why he would be so confrontational especially when we are trained to be much more sneaky than that:p

oldmotherreilly

drbluebox, are you sure that this is the reason you are not being paid? Have you had any notification of sanctions or had your claim suspended for any reason? You say that you are at uni part time-have the Jobcentre asked you to complete a course stencil and seen a copy of your Learning Agreement? If you haven't provided either of these and they know you are attending a course they can actually suspend your claim until you bring it in. If you have given them the Learning Agreement if it states that the course is part time, you would be fine. Might be worth asking the Jobcentre to provide a letter to state exactly why you have not received benefit. Ask them for the information recorded on their computers for details of the conversations you have had with them, together with the dates of the conversations.

drbluebox

Havent heard back yet but went into my bank today to check if this fortnights payment is in(as its due next week) not in, im now worried they have stopped it, hope to phone in morning