I have had a compliant against the DWP since 2012. Long story. Now my partner is getting ear bashing. We have placed a complaint against two members of staff for victimisation and disability discrimination under the equality act. My partner still has to see one of the advisors that the claim is against. The problem is that both advisors sit right next to each other, and they both seem to back each other up and dive in. My partner recorded the conversation today. It was the only way to prove that our complaint under the equality act is correct. We now have a recorded conversation proving that these two staff dont follow proceedures, are victimising and discrimination against us, specifically my partner. So can I ask. Because recording the conversation covertly was the only way to get the evidence we needed, can we therefore transcribe to conversation and hand it in as evidence backing up the letters we handed in, and offer the recording on a CD if required. My partner wasnt in a private room, she was shouted at and harrassed out in the main room with other staff and claimants. Our arguement is that if it had been in a private room, and the staff had been informed we were recording, then the staff wouldnt have commited the crime(s), and we wouldnt have been able to prove it. So we are between a rock and a hard place. Obey the law and get nothing, or break the law and get the proof. Thanks

Hi Essexmat. Thanks for the reply. Im glad Im not the only one who thinks UJ is a joke. Its trying to sort the wheat from the chaff with them, all scare mongering with crap like going into JCP daily etc. Its know when to tell them to go jump, and how to tell them.

Hi Probably silly question. Ive been reading the RIPA 2000 law, as Ive just recently returned to the DWP after two years of hell with A4E. DWP are constantly changing how they want proof of your job search. Im now having to go in weekly instead of fortnightly. I was told by my advisor that I only have to provide job search lists if the week I go in is a signing week. I went in to the JCP today, not my signing week, to now find out that we are signing weekly, and that they want to see my email account on my phone to see the list of automatic replies from sites like Reed and CV-Library, to confirm that I have actually applied for jobs. I dont actually mind this except they dont politely ask, they just tell you and then ragg you. But my question is, unless you are investigated, can JCP staff request access to the private email account that you use for applying for jobs ? I feel a complete pratt for asking this, Im sure its covered by some Data Protection or copyright / infringement law. I dont use Universal Jobmatch as I have found from personal experience that a lot of the UJ jobs dont exsis, out of date, and a lot are just links to external job sites (like Reed and CV Libray) that I am already registered with. Its just that the DWP seems to be asking, in a very indirect and polite way, that they dont believe you when you hand them a list of jobs and refs, that you have applied for. So if they wanted me to log in to my email account, or if they asked for my log in details, can I quote law and tell them where to go ? Thanks Phillip

Hi Everyone Yorkshire bank have charged me for not having enough money in my account to cover a Direct Debit. They dont take the money straight out of my account putting me overdrawn, they send me a letter saying when they are going to, and Ive always had the money in the account when they take their monthly charges Would these charges be refundable the same as if I had been charged and gone overdrawn. Thanks Phillip

If HMRC dont accept offers, why would the letter from DLC say that HMRC wants it paid within a year at 50pounds per month minimum ?

Hi I recently received a tax bill from HMRC saying that I owe them £350.80 for the tax year 2012-13. I was (and still am) claiming JSA on a joint claim with my partner. I have done a basic work out using bank statements, and I only received less than 6000 pounds in JSA for this period, as a joint claim not single. DWP amalgamated their systems which shows I received over 9800 pounds, hence why Im getting a tax bill. I wrote to the tax man saying what Id earned and that I had bank statements to back it up, and said they need to go back to DWP to correct their mistake. HMRC wrote back saying they had contacted DWP who still claim that I received over 9800 pounds. I called DWP myself last week, I had a call back from someone who admitted it was a clerical error and that they would send out a letter. But a twist in the tail, 6 years ago I tried starting my own business and it failed. I owe the tax man 600pounds from this self employed business. I received a letter from DLC saying that I need to pay the 600pounds or the HMRC would send someone round to start clearing gear from my flat to pay my bill. I made an offer to DLC based on what my income/outgoings are, and have now received another letter saying that HMRC would not accept my offer, HMRC want the bill paid within one year, and that the lowest they would accept is 50pounds per month. So my questions are, can HRMC turn down an acceptable offer of repayment, and can a member of their staff just turn up and start taking gear away to sell at auction ? Plus why have they refused to accept my bank statements for the JSA as evidence that I did not receive over 9800 pounds. Thanks Phillip

Asking a silly question. Is there such a thing as a lien against someone if you want to sue them for harrasment / discrimination etc ? I had information sent from DWP to my local council housing dept, the info was made up, DWP are claiming they know nothing about it, that they did an extensive search and cant find it. Im claiming in a letter of complaint that they falsified info to have me investigated for low level fraud, IE giving false information on a housing benefit claim. Im basically getting cheesed off with the low level digging, back stabbing and rubbish from the DWP, and feel that with what I have, I wanted to force this to be sorted once and for all. A friend of mine says he has sent liens to the thames valley chief and three police officers for wrongfull arrest and assault, so wondered what he was on about. Thanks Phillip

Hi Everyone. Just wanted to post an update here. I won my sanction appeal and today have had the money paid into my account. The evidence I received via putting in a SAR proved some nice paperwork. A4E had contradicted themselves, and I used the line "A Statement was signed by someone who didnt even witness the events, and dont witness statements normally have to be signed by a witness who actually saw the events?" But Ive now had my DWP complaint referred to the Independent Case Examiner, and DWP have denied having any details regarding my previous address being in London. So 30 years of computer use tells me the details were changed, a report generated and sent to the local council, and then the original details being changed back again, hence why DWP has no record of this info, or someone is lyeing. But hopefully having the ICE team go to DWP MAY get this whole mess sorted. But thank you to everyone who gave advice.

Hi. Ive checked my credit report, and also got my partner to check hers. There's nothing on there that looks suspicious, we're both happy that everything is to do with us. So thankfully no identity fraud. So thats another thing off the list of reasons. So my paranoid mind is still doing the Sherlock Holmes "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". Hopefully someone here can suggest any other plausable reason for whats happened.

Hi Stan Lee. 1) - My family orginally come from Woolwich, but moved out of London during the war. My grandfather worked for Woolwich Arsenal, which moved to Theale. 2) - The exact words from WBC Housing were "We have been passed information from the DWP that links you to a house in London." So my mind, and the way it works says, they are accusing me of fraud. But as you say, if they are investigating, then the first I would hear about it would be when I get a letter on the mat saying Im to be interviewed, under caution. This will be when they produce evidence and possibily photographic / video evidence of me and my partner actually going in / out of the property. I also requested info under the data protection law for my original complaint. There were two comments which I sent a letter about, one from an advisor saying "PLEASE READ!! Claimant produced exact same jobsearch record that her partner had given!! Please keep an eye on these 2 in future as may be an asa doubt" Basically both my partner and me are office based workers, admin and data entry. So we go on Reed and apply for these types of roles, I list these jobs, so if both people go for a job listed as "Administrator" then "Yes" it does look fishy. But the advisors have no common sense, and dont ask questions. I also said in one letter that there is no reason why my partner cannot go for the same job as me, if she feels it is suitable for her also. Im scratching my head as to why they would say there is a link, because (as you said) the cost and the possibility of being accused of slander doesnt fit. Hence why I initially thought that its all releated to me complainning, and a very subtle way of saying "Quit complaining, take the £50 we offered you for bad service, and stop moaning. Oh and by the way, the day we wrote the letter saying we would uphold the sanction, it has nothing to do with you sending an email in the morning, asking for your complaint to be escalated to the Director General of Operations." Im assuming Im just being paranoid, and just trying to find plausable commections here, as I know that there is absolutely NO property in London that we are connected with ?

Hi Stan Lee. Yes Im living with my partner. We lived with her parents for 8-9 years, and then got offered a flat and we've been here for nearly 2.5 years. I put in a request to the Council for a copy of the information under the Data Protection Act, Im hoping it turns up today. So the only evidence at the moment is the Housing Officers Word. The council concerned is West Berkshire Council.

Hi Everyone. Long story short. I have an ongoing complaint with the DWP and my local JCP. Ive had my complaint referred to the Director General Operations. Background. I had an appointment for a course with A4E.. I turned up but asked if I could leave 20mins early to go sign on. A4E refused, so after a lot of chatting A4E said they would cancel the course and rebook later. I then receive a sanction doubt letter. I replied, and basically DWP upheld the sanction, my first one and for the whole month of january. The sanction letter to uphold was dated the same day that I emailed the complaints resolution manager, and demanded my whole complaint be sent to the Director General. Next bit is that today I had my local Council Housing Benefit Officer turn up unanounced asking if she could verify my DWP claim details. She stated quite specifically that "DWP have sent us information saying that you have a home in London". ANyway she illed out the paperwork, checked our JSA paperwork, and after 10 mins she left. I should have requested then that I have a copy. I went t the JCP this afternoon and signed on as normal. I also gave a letter to the assistand manager stating about the housing officer visit, and accused DWP of making accusations that my partner and me are guilty of fraud. So Ive made another formal complaint to DWP about this. When I got home I also sent an email to the council housing department asking for copies of the documentation that they have about this, using the Data Protection Act. So my question to you all is, hows the best way to proceed with this. Ive had no letters claiming fraud, no nothing. I believe this is an attempt by DWP to get me and my partner to go away. So I dont understand why this has happened. If there was any real evidence that I was frauding, then surely the first time I would hear about it, would be when I get a letter saying Ive got to go for an interview under caution ? Hope you can help Confused

Ive now had an email from the contract manager stating the following : "Thank you for your correspondence I acknowledge receipt and will contact you within the next 5 days to arrange an appeal meeting" So hopefully will have one soon.

HI I wrote an appeal, exported to PDF and emailed it to the two managers. I decided to email so I would have proof of sending, and I received a notification that one of them had read it.

Hi Thanks for your two posts. Id been there for two years. They had been paying me company sick pay, and for the two weeks they paid me ssp as well. The reason the sick note only covered two weeks was because my doctor would only post date it for two weeks, the second week covered the week that I saw her. Id had family problems and had a lot of things that were getting me stressed, family hospital, long hours, etc. I had to call the talking theorpists and have got an app for wed. So I kind of shot myself in the foot not keeping them informed.

Hi Hope you all can help. Ive been sacked from my job as a civil enforcement officer (parking) for gross misconduct. The basics are that I took time off work for "Stress and Depression". I was off for just over two months and had a sick note for two weeks. I took the sick note into work and had a meeting with the two managers (contract manager and finance manager). I requested my hours to be reduced as I was working in oxford and living in newbury, travelling to work long hours. They point blank refused to consider it. They then said i was having time off unauthorised and hadnt followed company proceedures. I was supposed to have a disciplinary meeting and didnt attend. I have also had an incident where I was assaulted by another ceo for being on his beat, I made a statement saying i had a witness who could have proved the other ceo's statement was lies. The contract manager didnt follow up with the witness and dropped it. I have also received harrasment texts from one of the other staff, who also posted comments on my facebook account, and also received three harrasment texts from the company mobile. I emailed a pdf letter to the two managers stating all the above, and that the reason why i didnt mention the texts before, was because of not knowing who sent them. I also stated that I was let down by the manager over the assault, and that he said i was going to be watched. I also stated that the reason why i didnt follow company proceedures was because of the stress, depression and internal bullying and hat the company should have had common sense to understand that under stress you dont think straight. So I was wondering if I have any leg to stand on. The last letter i received stated that as i was being sacked i was not entitled to any money except holiday accrued. Thanks

Now your confusing the issue at hand, and being pedantic to boot. If a vehicle stops on DYL then we have to observe what they are doing. If they are unloading goods for a shop, then they can. If they are dropping someone off then they have 3 minutes for an able bodied person or as long as it takes for a disabled person. We observe and if they have good reason then they have a grace period, so technically I am correct. Another example here is if someone is unloading, we give observation to see if they are unloading. But what if they are having to wait 5 mins extra for the paperwork to be signed ? We wouldnt know this so we would issue a PCN if we do not observe any unloading for 5 mins. But if they can prove they were waiting for a signature, then they could argue that point and get off with the PCN. So your wrong when you say there is no grace period on DYL. Unless you can provide a better meaning for your terms. And I object when you say Im confusing things. The bottom line here is that we have to observe to see if an offence is being commited, and to do this we need to allow x amount of time, its that simple. I bet your the type of pedantic person who thinks its OK to stop in a Disabled bay, just to drop your able bodied family member off to go do their shopping, and then you use the naff arguement about the difference between observation and grace. But I have to agree with you on the loading bay issue. If your not loading then you are correct, your not allowed to park / stop in a loading bay for any other reason than unloading. Unfortunately there is a subtle difference, and you are assuming (incorrectly) they are all the same. And to answer your question about giving 5 mins observation in a car park who's P&D had expired. The answer is "Yes", that is what we are supposed to do.

We can split hairs all day over what we call it. Observation or Grace period. Plus "I" dont hang around cars waiting to pounce. I I observe a P&D that has expired by 1 or 2 mins, I log the car, and for the 5 mins observation period I continue to check the rest of the car park. If after the 5 mins the driver still hasnt returned I then start making notes in my pocket book, car reg, type, tax disc no & expiry, P&D no and amount paid / expiry time. That way the driver gets an extra 3 mins to return, so in total they get 8-10 mins, which in my book puts them well over the expiry time. I then have 5-10 mins entering te details on my handheld, so by the time I issue the PCN they are 15-20 mins over. This, to me, is a fairer way of doing things, and allows drivers a proper amount of time to return and drive away scott free. At least if they are 20 mins late they have no excuse for purchasing the extra 30mins of time for 50pence. 50pence for 30 mins of parking is a rather good deal compared to London charges. Oh and for the record, West Berkshire Council does NOT have targets (not yet anyway), and we DO NOT get paid commission or bonuses, I get paid basic wage whether I book none, 1 or 5 a day. And my stock answer to being called a barstool is to say to myself "Is that the best they can come up with. I get called worse by my own mother." but then she does know me better than motorists. LOL

Hiya green_and_mean. The CEO's who have some sort of kindness, if any are around, would theoretically have to give 5 mins observation time. Drivers are supposed to have a few minutes over if they are running late. If I was to log thie vehicle, my handheld would automatically start counting down from 5 minutes, and wouldnt allow me to issue a PCN till after 5 mins. Another example is if the driver parks, then realises they have no change to purchase a ticket, same rule applies, they get 5 mins grace to go purchase something (like a paper) and then get change to purchase a ticket. Im surprised that a PCN was issued 1 min before expiry, that to me would be well out of order for the person who issued the PCN. But Id like to see the expiry time of the ticket and the time on the PCN. There should be two times on the PCN, first time observed and then time of issue, plus if the handheld is setup right you should have to enter the Pay and Display ticket number and the time of expiry, which should prove the PCN was issued before the P&D expired, so therefore should be illegal, but let me know if Im wrong. If this isnt the same in any other council run civil enforcement, then this would be for information only, and could give pointers for appealing. Councils may run their civil enforcement slightly differently to my area.

Now your just getting picky, as I tried to give you a slap wrist. And now west berks DOES have PCN's etc, etc, etc.

Shame you hadnt been in Newbury Court. You would have had 5 mins observation time from the CEO. And if you had only been 1 min over as you said, then you would have had a good case.

Totally Correct. Civil Enforcement Officers have two areas they cover, Off Street & On Street. Car Parks are Off Street and have one set of Contravention codes, while On Street has another. The CEO used an off street code for a on street offence, so by appealing to the council will get the PCN cancelled. From A CEO

But anyway we're all getting off topic, and not really helping people.

My post didnt say I do actively hand over my tickets, I said "And if I was caught handing over my ticket, I wouldnt come on here asking how I would go about getting out of it." I have to set an example in that if I did park illigally then I expect to be fined for it. Handing over tickets happens all the time, in any county. Ive been handed tickets with 30-60 mins left on them. I believe most people dont know that this is wrong. But lets face some truths here. There is a percentage of people who actively park illigally, and know they do it, and they are knowingly working the system, they even do it under CEO's (or parking attendents) noses. We even have people from other EU countries coming over here with their cars, knowing that of they get a ticket they wont pay it. They then go back to their own country, and we cant do jack squat to get the money, and thats even if the lines-and-signs were 100% correct, and the PCN was correct. The stories Ive heard about car drivers tricks to get out of paying for P & D ticket are quite funny, but true. The laws are designed (I believe) to stop the ones who actively break the law. But the downside to this is that the law abiding ones get screwed in the process. I was working the council car parks today. We had a car parked in a disabled bay and wasnt displaying a blue disabled badge. I was legally entitled to place a ticket on that vehicle, but I didnt have a machine on me to allow me to issue the ticket, as I was handing out warning sheets for the forth coming april 6th, so I placed a note on the car asking that they (in future) display the badge. I could have officially radioed for someone else to come out with a machine in which to issue a ticket for the car park. But then how do we know if it was someone taking the mick, or an OAP who had genuinely forgot to display their badge. If I had ticketed the car, they could have legally appealed and had the ticket cancelled, but only if they did indeed have a blue badge. So I think your wrong to call me a "hypocrite", as my understanding is that if I broke the law and whinged about it and tried to get off, then yes I couldnt preach what I practice, and I would then be a hypocrite. But as I said I would willingly "Pay the price" for my crimes, then I would probably be sacked anyway, and at least I could turn round to the whingers and politely tell them to pay up or not to commit the crime, and that its their own fault for trying it on, and getting caught, knowing full well that they were breaking the law, and there was a damn good chance of getting caught. Hope this clarifies my post a bit better.

As I said, the CEO needs to observe the "Offence" taking place. If you want to get picky then go for it. And if I was caught handing over my ticket, I wouldnt come on here asking how I would go about getting out of it.