I am sick to the back teeth of Ingeus. I did used to attend the appointments in my hometown for a little while. Not bad, twenty or so minute appointments with a pretty nice lady. Then I received a letter in February saying my hometowns Ingeus offices were closing and we were being transferred to other offices (over 5 and a half miles away) My first appointment at the other offices seemed to go okay. I spoke with my new advisor and told her which day of the week was my signing on day (JSA) and that I do two full days of voluntary work each week (which I'm gaining the experience needed and also some recent references as I had none) She told me she would want me to travel there twice a week and insisted I attend on my signing on day. Her exact words were, "We'll work around it" Fair enough. When my second appointment arrived, I'd been up since the early hours of the morning with a vomiting child. (I am a single parent of two children) I managed to get my other child to school and then called Ingeus and spoke with a lady on Reception. Informed her I could not attend and was told that was alright and the message would be passed on to my advisor. The following week, after finishing my voluntary work for the day, I receive a text message saying my appointment was for the following morning (my advisor knew I was also working that day) it had gone 5pm by the time I got home and saw the message, so I called Ingeus and left a message saying I had only just got the message, couldn't attend because I had work. (I volunteer in a school as a teaching assistant and the class teacher specifically has my duties set out, I couldn't just call into school the next day and say I wouldn't be in that day. Above it being inconsiderate and rude, it's not good ethics when these are the people who will be giving me my references) I receive a letter from Ingeus for my next appointment. I attend that appointment but was ten minutes late because the bus ran into trouble. My advisor was pretty awful to me. She claimed I never called Ingeus when my child was sick and put me down as a 'Failed to Attend' Then she berated me for not attending the following appointment (when I was in school working/volunteering) and said, "We don't work around you, you work around us" She was very vocal about what little free time I had during the week to attend her 'job searching clubs' and used the term my "other commitments" aside from voluntary work - which I perceived as she meant my children by that. She then got me to open my Universal Jobmatch history and said she didn't think I was applying for enough jobs. I've never had that issue raised before. I believe I apply for enough each week and JCP have never questioned it either. She also questioned the types of jobs I apply for.. Which I thought strange. I am qualified in Childcare but I do apply for other roles.. Retail, admin, waitressing.. I pretty much apply for all types if I believe I can do it. I was then made to stay and jobsearch for over two hours. Since that last appointment, I have not attended. Not because I didn't want to, but because I have had a very serious personal problem going on. The father of my children took them as usual for a weekend, but refused to return them to me. I spent the best part of two weeks liasing with the police, courts and social services to get my children returned. (They were taken 25 miles away from where my children and I live) I received a text from Ingeus saying my appointment was set for the Monday at 10.30am - the same day as my signing on day and the time for that was 10.50am. I physically couldn't be in two places at once, over 5 miles apart, so I called Ingeus and explained it was my signing on day and also gave them information on what was happening in my personal life, asked for some discretion regarding appointments with everything I was going through. My JSA has been stopped. I had no payment almost two weeks ago now and I'm meant to be signing on on Monday morning. Everything is a mess right now The only good thing is that I have my children back now!